Category Archives: Searches and Seizures

I Help YouTuber Arrested Over Lego Videos (Part 1)

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Hundreds, or maybe thousands of you, reached out to me about covering the Reckless Ben Lego videos. Ben reached out to me as well. Basically, he made a video about a stolen Lego collection that ended with him getting arrested and charged by the American Fork Police Department in Utah County, Utah. I was immediately intrigued and I wanted to help him. But before I could do that, I had to understand all of the facts. I needed to talk to Ben himself. I got a chance to interview Ben and review all of the court documents. This is Part 1, where I interview Ben. In Part 2, we’ll dive into the documents and the video of the interactions.

37 Days in Jail For Posting a Meme | County Pays $835,000 | Sheriff Gaslights Public

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A couple of months ago I told you the story of Larry Bushart, who spent 37 days behind bars simply for posting a meme in a Facebook group. That video was a collaboration with FIRE, a national nonprofit First Amendment advocacy organization, who had just filed the civil rights lawsuit against Perry County, Tennessee, Sheriff Nick Weems and Investigator Jason Morrow, for multiple constitutional violations. That case just settled. Despite costing taxpayers in his county almost a million dollars due to his total disregard of Larry’s constitutional rights, Sheriff Nick Weems remains defiant, blaming everyone but himself.

Blows a ZERO, Gets Arrested Anyway – WINS in Court (part 2)

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Nathan Stephens was arrested on a fake DUI in Kentucky. It was all caught on bodycam, which shows him blowing a zero on the breathalyzer and also passing all the field sobriety tests, and then him being arrested anyway. Nate knew he wasn’t drunk. Officer Bell of the Grayson, Kentucky Police Department claimed he could smell alcohol on Nate. He agreed to a breath test and blew a zero – no alcohol in his system. Nate then passed all of the field sobriety tests, which Officer Bell admitted, initially telling Nate he would not be going to jail for DUI because he had agreed to take the tests. But then, after Nate said he would have sued the officer had he arrested him, the two cops covered up the bodycam and had a private conversation, ending with them then changing their mind about arresting Nate, and throwing him in the back of the police cruiser, handcuffed.

All of this we covered in the last video – Part 1 of this story: In this video, I’m going to tell you everything that happened next, including what happened when it went to court, as well as the latest update from Nate’s lawyer (as of yesterday).

Blows a ZERO, Passes FSTs, Gets Arrested Anyway – WINS in Court

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Nathan Stephens is into fitness and bluegrass. He doesn’t drink. But after a teenager backed into him in his neighborhood, a local cop with the Grayson (Kentucky) Police Department accuses him of being drunk – which he wasn’t. Nathan takes a breathalyzer test and passes. He blows a 0.00 – no alcohol in his system. He then performs the field sobriety tests and passes (which the officer admits). Yet somehow, Nathan still gets arrested for DUI and is taken to jail. How does that even happen?

The Citation / Police Report:

The raw footage showing the unedited field sobriety tests:

Sheriff Claims Viral Cop Video Is ‘Misleading’ — So I Found the Missing Footage

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Chris Nixon posted bodycam video to Facebook showing him getting attacked by deputies with the Lyon County (Nevada) Sheriff’s Office. It showed a brutal attack by a heavily-tattooed and aggressive deputy, against a suspect who was at worst, failing to follow orders during a minor traffic investigation. The unedited bodycam footage just looked really bad to the public, and it started to go viral. So then, it makes its way to the local TV news stations. At that point the sheriff steps in and makes a public statement about the incident. The Sheriff tells the local TV news that he fully supports the actions of the deputies, claiming that Chris had misled the public by leaving out the first 5 minutes of the bodycam footage. And so the sheriff provided that missing 5 minutes of footage to the TV news. So the TV news showed some of this missing 5 minutes, but not all of it. So I ended up finding it myself, and I’ll show it to you. Does it change anything? I also tracked down Chris himself to hear his side of the story.

‘Welfare Check’ on Couple Sleeping in Car Ends in Arrest

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Cops get a call: two people are sleeping in a parked car in Lakeland, Florida. The caller requests a welfare check. No crime was even suspected. Cops arrive and confirm, yep, just a young couple and their cat, sleeping in their car. But instead of letting them go back to sleep, or even asking them to leave, the cops start barking commands at them, demanding ID. Knowing that they had done nothing wrong, the couple does not want to be detained and interrogated by these officers. So they assert their constitutional rights and they ask questions. But the officers mock them and curse at them, and they detain them anyways, and even arrest the husband, just because they got a call  – even though that call didn’t allege any criminal suspicion. Who was right here? Did they have to ID? Or should they have been left alone, or allowed to leave?

Cops Use Drug Test Kit on Innocent Man’s Prescription Pills

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Bryan Getchius is on a road trip, headed back to Florida, where he works. He gets pulled over by the Greenwood County (South Carolina) Sheriff’s Office. It begins as a routine traffic stop. They ask him if he has anything illegal in his car. He knew he had nothing illegal, so he consented to the search. They search his vehicle and they find his perfectly legal IBS medication that is prescribed to him. Despite having all legitimate markings, the officers claimed it was fentanyl – or maybe cocaine (they didn’t know), but they really wanted to arrest and charge him anyway. It would take Brian 1 year, 4 months and 28 days from the date of his arrest, to clear his name. And at no point during that period of time was Brian ever in possession of any illegal controlled substances.

The lawsuit:

ComplaintDownload

Content Creator Arrested Exposing Town’s Sewer Disaster

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This well-known content creator (Michael Bowman) goes deep into the hills of West Virginia, where locals are upset about a small-town sewage disaster (Worthington, WV). They ask him to come document what’s happening. So he does. He drives there and he begins to document what they show him. And it’s terrible. You have raw sewage basically coming into people’s homes and going other places it shouldn’t be. It’s literally forcing people out of homes they’ve lived in forever. This is a failure of their local public officials. So Michael goes to a public meeting seeking more information. But it doesn’t go well. The public officials aren’t interested in discussing this ongoing disaster that is harming their constituents. But he doesn’t give up. The next day he comes back and tries again, and ends up getting arrested.

The “police report” slash charging document:

The dismissal order:

BowmanGrantedMTDDownload

SWAT Raids Wrong Home Looking For Guy They Already Arrested (3 Months Earlier)

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On June 14, 2023, the United States Marshals Service listed Joshua Smiley on the “15 Most Wanted” list. He was the 26 year-old male suspect in an August 2021 shooting death of a man in Mobile, Alabama. On June 20, 2023, about a week after Joshua Smiley was put on the most wanted list, he was peacefully apprehended in Avon, Indiana – a suburb of Indianapolis. It was no big deal. They found him in just a couple of days, called him out, he came out and was arrested with no issues. It was a success. So why did the US Marshals raid Cathy George’s home in Sandy Springs, Georgia three months later?

GA-Botched-Raid-Amended-ComplaintDownload

Cops Arrest Man on His Own Property After Karen Neighbor Hears Gunshots

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Zebulon likes to shoot guns on his property in rural Macon County, Tennessee. His neighbor doesn’t like hearing Zebulon shoot his guns because it “agitates” him. So he calls the cops and tells them he heard gunshots on Zebulon’s property. He admits that he didn’t see shots fired into the air, but “assumes” they were fired into the air. Then the cops go onto Zebulon’s property, where he’s busy mowing his field. They tell him they aren’t there to take his gun. But actually, that’s exactly what they do. Then, while standing on this man’s property, holding his gun that they claimed they weren’t there to take, they demand to see his ID, even though he told them he didn’t fire any shots into the air, or do anything illegal. But he doesn’t want them there and invokes his Fourth Amendment rights, asking them to leave. But these cops brag about the fact that they could care less about the Fourth Amendment.