Video: Man pulled over for making "direct eye contact" with officer

DAYTON, Ohio -- A video posted to Facebook shows an Ohio police officer acknowledging that he trailed a driver because the driver "made direct eye contact" with him, before giving the man a warning.

Motorist John Felton recorded the August 15 incident on his cell phone, and uploaded the video to Facebook. In the recording, the officer said he was issuing a warning to Felton for not signalling more than 100 feet before making a turn.

He acknowledged during the incident that Felton did actually use his turn signal, but not early enough.

Throughout the exchange, Felton repeatedly says the officer followed him for two miles, before catching the infraction.

"I watched you trail me the whole time. I said, 'I don't know why this cop is behind me,'" said Felton, who was in the car with one other passenger. "You just needed a reason to pull me over. Is there a reason other than that?"

At one point, when the officer briefly returned to his patrol car, Felton refered on the videotape to a recent incident in which a woman died in jail after being pulled over by Texas police.

"He ain't about to Sandra Bland me," said Felton, who was pulled over in front of his mother's house. "If he needs anything, I'm getting out the car, rolling my windows up, and I'll walk into the house."

After several minutes of back and forth, the officer said he had previously noticed Felton look at him and that's why he followed him.

"Because you made direct eye contact with me and held onto it when I was passing you," said the officer, who has not been identified by Dayton police.

After Felton posted the video to Facebook, it received tens of thousands of views, and on August 27, the Dayton Police department tweeted that they were aware of the video.

The next day the department said in a statement that although Felton had committed a traffic infraction, "making direct eye contact with an officer is not a basis for a traffic stop."

The Dayton Police Department said in the statement that Felton has agreed to meet with the officer to discuss the incident at a mediation center.