Police officer caught on camera asleep at the wheel in lane of traffic

KANSAS CITY,  Kan. (WDAF) - A Kansas City, Kansas police officer was caught on camera snoozing in his vehicle in a lane of traffic on a road near the Legends Outlets.

The man who shot the video says the officer - who was on duty at the time - chose to fall asleep in a lane of traffic between Children's Mercy Park and Nebraska Furniture Mart.

On his way to work around 4 a.m. Thursday, LaMar Lynch saw a KCK police car sitting in a Northbound lane of Village West Parkway with its lights off. After checking to see if the officer was OK, Lynch realized he was sleeping in the driver seat.

"My concern went to a little bit of frustration because I felt like he is here to protect and serve us and that's why I started the video," Lynch said. "I circled around to confront the officer. I wanted to hold him accountable."

After waking the officer up with a honk of his horn, Lynch can be heard on the video asking him, "Why are you dead sleep in the traffic lane?" To which the officer replied, "I'm on break man, I'm waiting on somebody."

"What about all that parking lot over there?" Lynch asked. "What if somebody is not paying attention? They are going to hit you right in the back of your car." The officer replied, "Not working for Nebraska, I am doing something for Sporting."

In fact, the officer was working for the tax payers of Kansas City, Kansas, on duty, in a city-owned vehicle.

"My tax dollars are not for officers to go to sleep in turning lanes and parking lots or anywhere. My tax dollars that I go to work for is for them to come out here and protect the community and do their job," Lynch said.

The recording continues with Lynch's voice, "I'm just saying from a traffic standpoint if somebody ain't paying no attention they`re going to run right into the back of your car bro and your sleep. That's all I'm saying. That`s all I'm saying.'" The officer asks "You said what?" Lynch replied,  "I said that`s all I`m saying." The officer responded, "If somebody run into the back of the car, they run into the back of the car."

"That really really upset me and that`s what made me decide 100% to go ahead and share the video," Lynch said.

The Kansas City Kansas Police Department is not commenting on the situation other than to release this statement: