The Ulster County sheriff said his deputies “could have done better” in handling a traffic stop that caused a complaint, an internal affairs investigation and additional training for all the department’s deputies.

Spectrum News 1 obtained body-worn camera footage from the March 25th traffic stop involving four Ulster County deputies and Luis Rodríguez in Ellenville. The incident lasted about 40 minutes, included tense exchanges between Rodríguez and the deputies and led to three charges against Rodríguez.

The initial reason for the traffic stop, which included a lengthy search of the car, was a missing back bumper.

As seen in the unedited video, Deputy Kyle Frano pulls over Rodríguez, approaches the driver’s side of Rodríguez’s Dodge truck, chats about the bumper and asks for a license. After Rodríguez tells Frano he left his wallet and license at home, Frano asks Rodríguez to exit the car and walk toward the rear of the truck.

“I just don’t want to get hit by a car,” Frano tells Rodríguez, as he opens the door to the truck.

Rodríguez appears annoyed, but still calm, as he exited the vehicle. Frano asks Rodríguez if he has anything illegal on his person.

“I don’t consent to any searches and seizures,” Rodríguez replied instantly.

Rodríguez begins to tell the deputies, “You’re gonna have your dogs sniff the car…”

“Listen,” Frano says assertively.

“No,” Rodríguez responds, as he puts his phone on the back of his truck and begins to use his hands to make his points, “You listen.”

Frano then turns Rodríguez around and cuffs him.

“You’re not going to raise your arms at me,” Frano said, about two minutes into the interaction.

While cuffed, squirming and losing his temper, Rodríguez insists deputies have no consent, nor a valid reason to search the truck, and repeatedly asks for badge numbers. After two more minutes of Rodríguez saying he does not consent to a vehicle search, Frano engages for a moment.

“You’ll get it (badge number) when you get all the tickets I’m going to write you,” the deputy said.

While deputies search the truck, sorting through tools and reading Rodríguez's mail stuffed in the center console, Rodríguez stays cuffed in the back of a cruiser, continuing to insist he did not consent to a search.

“I was violated,” Rodríguez said during an interview last week in the same truck, now fully restored. “I felt my rights were being violated, [like] I had no privacy, because I know I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Rodríguez admitted he became “fiery” that afternoon after a workday that started at 4 a.m., and said he was taunted by deputies. In the video, deputies search the truck by hand and then with a dog, coming up empty-handed.

The deputies then say to one another Rodríguez may be hiding something illegal in his pants. They do not choose to search Rodríguez’s pants, uncuff him and let him wait in his car while Frano writes summonses for Rodríguez’s missing bumper, not having a license with him while driving and disorderly conduct.

Rodríguez filed a complaint against the deputies, kicking off a four-month internal affairs investigation. Rodríguez accused the deputies of frisking him and searching his truck without permission, nor cause.

“He said, ‘I don’t have to ask you for consent.’ That’s not correct,” Rodríguez said of Frano’s remarks, as he led a cuffed Rodríguez to the cruiser. “That’s not how that works. You do have to ask for consent. That’s the law…I’m just blown away that they did what they did.”

Sheriff Juan Figueroa released a statement, claiming Rodríguez consented to a search at first, though the body-camera video shows Rodríguez’s first words about a search were, “I do not consent to any searches or seizures.”

“Though the owner (Rodríguez) initially consented to a search, we acknowledge no follow-up was conducted by our members when consent was revoked," Figueroa said. "A person giving consent can revoke consent at any time.”

Figueroa went on to say in the statement that as a result of the traffic-stop investigation, all deputies are receiving in-service training on the four levels of police intrusion.

It is unclear what point in the video shows Rodríguez initially consenting to the search. Figueroa did not respond to numerous calls and emails asking when Rodríguez gave consent, and what disciplinary measures are being taken toward the deputies.

Rodríguez said that after conversations with the sheriff, internal affairs investigators and the district attorney’s office, he was strongly under the impression that the charges would be dropped.

But when Rodríguez appeared in Ellenville Court, he was told the charges would not be dropped and his case was adjourned until Aug. 31.

If a trial were happen, all four officers involved in the traffic stop could be called to testify.