DIGHTON — A Facebook post accusing a Lane County Sheriff's Office deputy of treating a speeder like a "drug-running criminal" was quickly rebuffed by the department on social media Sunday with footage of the encounter.
The original post — which since has been deleted — accused the deputy of asking to search the vehicle and said the alleged speeder "wasn't in the wrong."
Sheriff Bryan Kough offered a rebuttal to the accusations on Facebook, along with the video of the encounter.
"As always, we encourage anyone with concerns to come to us and we will look into them," Kough said. "I encourage this individual to provide us with a written complaint and we will handle it professionally. This is a serious matter, and we wanted to clear up the accusations before they got out of hand."
Dashcam and bodycam video posted by the department shows the deputy acting appropriately and issuing a warning for the speeder who was allegedly clocked at double the posted speed limit.
"During the investigation, it was found that not only did Deputy Montgomery act in a polite and professional manner, he actually issued him a verbal warning when a speeding ticket was justified," Kough said. "At no time was Deputy Montgomery rude or disrespectful.
"When asked why he didn't issue a traffic citation for speeding, Deputy Montgomery said that he felt that a warning was more appropriate being that the driver seemed to be polite and understanding that he needed to slow down while passing through town, and the fact that there was very little traffic at the time of the stop," he said.