Two years ago, Darius Lester, a young black man in rural West Virginia, was shot by a West Virginia State Police SWAT team while still in his bed during a botched pre-dawn raid while executing a search warrant at his uncle’s home. Despite the passage of two years, the state police still have not released the findings of their investigation into the shooting. The reason? They were most likely waiting the two years the victim had in which to sue them.
A massive ring of corruption was just exposed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A massive group of crooked cops in three different agencies, taking a massive amount of bribes, all centering around one criminal defense attorney, Thomas Clear, III, who has apparently been the real-life Saul Goodman for the last 30 years. The feds are prosecuting many of the individuals involved and a class action lawsuit has been filed. In this video I interview the lawyers handling the class action.
For any additional victims or witnesses, here is the contact info for the attorneys:
Here’s the complaint from the class action lawsuit:
66 year-old John Hardwick is a dementia patient who loves to shop with his wife at the Walmart in Danville, Kentucky. As they were shopping, he became separated from his wife. He ended up being harassed by employees of Walmart, who then asked their cop buddies to join the harassment. Several officers with the Danville Police Department then violently arrested John. Surveillance footage captured one of the officers punching Mr. Hardwick 6 times. Sadly, they subsequently continued to prosecute him. Fortunately, his wife hired a great lawyer, and he blew the coverup wide open.
Five days ago, I told you about the tragic death of Doug Harless, shot by officers from the London (Kentucky) Police Department during a wrong house raid over the county “Judge-Executive’s” stolen weedeater. Since then there have been several updates, including a “Justice for Doug” march/protest, as well as a fiery town council meeting. But, in a “truth is stranger than fiction” style twist, an audio recording has surfaced of a phone call between the county Judge Executive, David Westerfield and London Police Officer Jared Hale, which tells us the real story….
An innocent Kentucky man was shot dead by the London, Kentucky police after they raided the wrong house, surprising him at night during an impromptu search warrant execution, looking for a “Judge’s” missing weedeater. So far, authorities have released almost no information. But here’s what we do know so far, and it doesn’t look good at all…
An on-duty New York State Trooper in a marked police cruiser pulled over to help a stranded motorist in a black Dodge Charger. As he approached the vehicle, the mystery driver began to shoot at him, wounding him in the leg. He quickly called for backup. The cavalry arrived, but the shooter was nowhere to be found. A massive manhunt ensued. But then, shortly after the wounded trooper was released from the hospital, to applause and salutes from his colleagues, authorities announced that the manhunt was canceled and the wounded trooper, Trooper Mascia, was suspended. His badge and gun were confiscated.
Road construction workers are facing felony assault and kidnapping charges after claiming they were the ones assaulted by a mystery driver. Even though the workers told the responding officers they believed the perpetrator was drunk, they let him drive away without a DUI investigation. It’s a secret case sealed by the courts, and authorities won’t say the name of that driver. As it turns out, the mystery driver was an off-duty police officer. Ten days after the incident, the workers were scheduled to have a TV news interview about the assault by the mystery off-duty cop. But instead, police officers arrested them prior to the interview.
In Park City, Utah, a 73 year old bicyclist named Gary Peacock followed a 22 year old driver into a park. Claiming the young driver drove “too close” to him, as Peacock was riding his bike in the road, Peacock forcibly held the young man in his car, refusing to allow him to leave, as he called the police. The 22 year old, Pierce Kempton, uploaded the video to social media and it went viral. I spoke with him and got the full story.
Here’s the citation that was issued to Pierce:
This is the Utah statute that Pierce was initially charged with:
On the evening of February 12, 2023, Edmond Exline was walking alongside Interstate 81 outside of Martinsburg, West Virginia. A West Virginia State Trooper approached Edmond and immediately pulled his firearm and pointed it at Edmond. He then switched to a taser and pushed Edmond into the highway and chased him against a concrete barrier. The trooper then repeatedly tased Edmond and called for backup. Two additional West Virginia State Troopers arrived on the scene and immediately began to physically attack Edmond. On of the troopers struck Edmond in the head with his flashlight before repeatedly striking Edmond in the face and tasing him. Another trooper slammed Edmond’s face into the concrete repeatedly and struck Edmond in the face multiple times. Edmond was also kneed multiple times.
Throughout the attacks by these West Virginia State Troopers, Edmond stated, “I didn’t do nothing.” … “You’re hurting me.” … “I need to breathe.” … “Let me up. I need to breathe.” … “I didn’t do nothing.” … “You’re trying to kill me.” After physically attacking Edmond the troopers attempted to stand Edmond up while he was handcuffed and realized he was unresponsive. Edmond Exline was taken to the Berkeley Medical Center and pronounced dead at approximately 10:31 p.m. During the time the troopers physically attacked Edmond Exline, he was unarmed, was not committing any crimes, and was not under the influence of any alcohol or narcotics.
The July 2024 statement from the West Virginia State Police:
My last two videos are both updates on a video I made back in February, where an employee of a firearms-related company in Virginia Beach, owned and operated by former Navy SEALs, was arrested for allegedly stealing a missing AR-15 lower. Only 10 minutes after the arrest, while James was being interrogated, the missing lower reappeared somehow. My first update video discussed the fact that the former SEALs want my first video removed. Here’s that video:
You can watch the original video here. Yesterday I posted yet another update video about the fact that the Virginia Beach Police Department is apparently attempting to coverup this incident:
After the first update video, several of you served FOIA requests on the VBPD for the police report from this incident. Some of you received outright denials. At least one of you received a basic report with basically no substance:
But one of you actually did manage to obtain the report, after threatening to sue the VBPD over their denial to provide the report. But unfortunately, this is what they provided:
This is their explanation as to why they redacted basically the entire report:
This is the law they’re relying on to hide the substance of the report, which clearly documents their own misconduct. Here’s a great explanation as to how this is possible, from the guy who obtained the report:
For a short time after the passage of HB2004 in 2021, records of closed police investigations in Virginia were opened to public scrutiny. With the changes from that bill, the Virginia Freedom of Information Act made disclosure of criminal investigative files mandatory when the investigation was “not ongoing.” After the law took effect, the family of Kionte Spencer was able to obtain video of his fatal shooting at the hands of Roanoke County police officers—video that the department had refused to show his family since his death in February 2016.
That newfound transparency dimmed less than a year later, with the passage of HB734. In a swift reversal, legislators amended the law to give police departments and other law enforcement agencies complete discretion to decide whether or not to release records of closed investigations. Legislators who voted for the bill evidently believed the change was necessary to protect victims and their families from the release of sensitive photos of their loved ones. “We do want to protect victims as much as we can. We don’t want those pictures out on the internet,” Sen. Richard Stuart said during a committee hearing on the bill. In fact, the 2021 law already prohibited release of such photographs.
Unsurprisingly, what’s happened is that the Virginia legislature has created a mechanism whereby police agencies can hide their own misconduct from the public under the guise of protecting sensitive crime-victim information.
While the statute appears to have all sorts of exceptions and varying applications, the key word is “non-mandatory,” which renders most of it meaningless. It puts disclosure entirely within the discretion of the police agency. If they want to produce it, they produce it. If they don’t, they don’t. So if it makes you look bad, they’ll produce it. If it makes them look bad, they won’t. This is unacceptable.
There is no public interest in allowing the government to coverup its own misconduct. Thus they either tricked the public with this legislation, or the law enforcement lobby tricked the legislature. Either way, it’s outrageous.
Also, here’s the 2nd Circuit opinion that was released yesterday that I discussed in yesterday’s video regarding de facto arrests:
