A police officer in South Whitley, Indiana pulled over an 18 year old high school girl for allegedly speeding, as well as for one of her headlights being out. Within minutes, he violently pulled her out of her car and slammed her onto the asphalt. He handcuffed her and put her in the rear of his police car. This was her first time ever being pulled over. The charge? She didn’t provide her ID quickly enough. Her father showed up to the scene, and is now fighting for justice.
The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller recently published a scandalous report detailing private for-profit police training of 1000’s of police officers from around the country that, among other things: promoted the use of unconstitutional policing tactics for motor vehicle stops; glorified violence and an excessively militaristic or “warrior” approach to policing; spoke disparagingly of the internal affairs process; promoted an “us vs. them” approach; and espoused views and tactics that would undermine almost a decade of police reform efforts in New Jersey, including those aimed at de-escalating civilian-police encounters; and which included over 100 discriminatory and harassing remarks by speakers and instructors, with repeated references to speakers’ genitalia, lewd gestures, and demeaning quips about women and minorities.
Specifically, the report details a 2021 seminar held in Atlantic City, NJ, attended by approximately 1,000 police officers from across the country. Along with the report, the Acting Comptroller released video footage…
Here’s a media report about one of the instructors subsequently being charged with criminal violations for the video he bragged about, showing him shooting at a fleeing vehicle.
Here’s another media report about the founder of the training company retiring from police-work shortly after being sued for misconduct.
Here’s the list of states that sent police officers to the 2021 seminar featured in the report and video footage:
Video from Texas shows a guy being pulled over based on the allegation that his mud flaps were too short. But then, the officer opens the passenger side door on his own, while holding his pistol. He orders the driver out of his truck, making the new allegation that he smells marijuana. Then he frisks the man and searches his vehicle. During this entire ordeal, the driver is filming with his phone and questioning/accusing the officer. He actually did a really good job of completely destroying the alleged justification for the officer’s conduct.
This footage was submitted by Rhet. It involves the Manistee Police. Rhet is a DJ. Earlier in the evening, he played the song “Bad Boys” when this officer walked into the club. Well, later in the evening, the same officer pulls him over for what was seemingly not an actual traffic offense. One thing leads to another, and Rhet ends up arrested.
This footage was submitted by Malik (full video here) showing him being stopped by Savannah Police over allegations that he wasn’t wearing a seat belt. He was getting out of his car when the officer jumped out of the police cruiser and immediately escalated the situation. Malik claims racial profiling. Fortunately, the officer was captured on his own bodycam explaining the situation to his supervisor. Does the footage match-up?
The former sheriff of St. Johns County was not issued a ticket or arrested after he was pulled over with 8 grams of marijuana in his vehicle. David Shoar, who served as sheriff from 2004 to 2021, was pulled over at Pope Road and A1A Beach Boulevard about 9 p.m. after failing to stop at a red light before making a turn, an incident report from the St. Augustine Beach Police Department states. Was he given special treatment?
This is the statement released by the St. Augustine Beach Police Department:
On Dec. 15, 2023, at approximately 9 p.m. officers from the St Augustine Beach Police Department conducted a traffic stop on a motor vehicle for a minor traffic infraction near the intersection of Pope Rd and A1A Beach Blvd. The driver of the vehicle was identified as David B. Shoar. Officers detected the odor of burnt marijuana emitting from the vehicle.
Upon approaching the vehicle, officers saw what they believed to be marijuana visible inside the vehicle. A roadside investigation and interview were conducted by officers. No driver impairment was detected during the interview/investigation. After a search of the vehicle, three marijuana cigarettes were seized for destruction. SABPD officers conducted a thorough investigation adhering to agency policy and standard operating procedures. The driver of the vehicle David Shoar was subsequently released.
Watch the bodycam footage and see for yourself this “thorough investigation.”
I literally received hundreds of requests for my take on this outrageous bodycam footage that was originally uploaded by Lackluster, showing a lady being arrested in Kentucky, after she attempted to criticize a police officer for his poor driving skills. Well, you were right that I would be interested in this incident. Here’s my take on it.
Here are the relevant Kentucky statutes (I mistakenly used disorderly conduct in the first degree in the video, but the operative portions are identical):
Gregory Bombard was driving through his hometown of St. Albans, Vermont, enjoying a coffee and a cigarette. He committed no crime — not even a minor traffic violation. Twenty minutes later, he was sitting in a jail cell. Bombard’s alleged crime? Cursing at a cop and giving him the finger during a traffic stop — conduct that is squarely protected by the First Amendment. A federal civil rights lawsuit has been filed, and the dash cam footage has been released.
The Indiana State Police performed a traffic stop on a tractor trailer. Inside the truck they found around two million dollars in cocaine. Here’s the bodycam footage. But will this seizure hold up in court?
Thursday, May 26, 2022, at approximately 4:00 p.m., an Indiana State Trooper stopped a tractor-trailer at the thirty-seven mile marker eastbound on Interstate 70 for a routine compliance inspection. The driver of the tractor-trailer was identified as Leonardo Hernandez, age 38, of Miami, Florida, with one passenger in the vehicle. During the conversation with the driver and passenger, criminal indicators were observed, and a consent search revealed approximately forty-four pounds of suspected cocaine. Leonardo Hernandez and Rolando Bermudez Acevedo were taken into custody and transported to the Putnam County Jail.
The tractor-trailer was enroute from Phoenix, Arizona, to Indianapolis, Indiana.
The estimated street value of the cocaine is one million dollars.
Cops in Wisconsin successfully nabbed some teenagers engaged in Door-Dashing. Originally a speeding stop, the officer quickly pivoted to a drug investigation, and basically went on a fishing expedition in an effort to find any reason at all to arrest them.
