Benny Pena-Rivera, a 24-year-old motorcyclist from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, rode his motorcycle to his shift at Wingstop. As he paused at a red light, off-duty Manheim Township police chief Duane Fisher followed him, unbeknownst to Benny. He was in an unmarked car and dressed in civilian clothes.

Pena-Rivera said the two exchanged smiles and waves, and he continued with his ride to work. When he pulled in behind the building to park and head inside, he ran into Fisher again—but this encounter was less than pleasant.

Without lights and sirens, Fisher pulled up behind Pena-Rivera, drew his gun, and ordered him to get on the ground. Before Pena-Rivera had time to react, Fisher was on him, grabbing him, and pressing the weapon to his face.

“All I heard was, ‘On the ground. On the ground, or I will shoot you,” he told Local 12. “If you’re a cop or something, you’re supposed to identify yourself and not come up the way you came up to me. While he is slamming me on the electric panel, he still has his gun in his right hand, pointing it over here. I’m telling him, ‘Don’t shoot me. What’s the reason you’re going to shoot me for?”

The motorcyclist was able to escape, but not for long

After wrestling with Fisher, Pena-Rivera managed to run away on foot. Two minutes after Pena-Rivera fled, Fisher switched his lights on and called for backup, as recorded on video. In his later affidavit, Fisher claimed Pena-Rivera committed “several” traffic violations—including running the same light they had both stopped at and using his motorcycle to knock him over before fleeing.

He also claimed the motorcyclist resisted arrest and ignored all lights and sirens. Fisher also wrote that his motorcycle was unregistered and was “driving erratically.”

Police arrested him the next day and charged him with aggravated assault, evading arrest, and resisting arrest.

“I woke up in the morning and went to the gas station, grabbed a pack of cigarettes, and when I was talking on the phone, apparently someone overheard my situation, and they called the police. Five minutes later, eight, nine, maybe 10 cops pulled up to where I was at the moment, and that’s when I got arrested,” he recalled.

Security cameras revealed the truth

Once Pena-Rivera submitted the footage, even without audio, Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams announced that all criminal charges against him were being dropped.

“The Mainheim Police Department and the parties agreed with the resolution of the charges in this manner based on the facts and the circumstances of this case,” she wrote in a statement to the outlet.

The department confirmed it’s investigating the chief, and has suspended him with pay while the investigation continues.

Pena-Rivera hopes justice is served—it’ll be the only way he’d be able to feel comfortable around police.

“I hope justice goes the way it should because right now, I don’t feel comfortable being outside,” he said. “Every time I see a police officer now, I feel threatened.”