This incident happened near a high school in Nevada, involving school district police officers and students. Officers later claimed they were investigated reports of the presence of a firearm. But the video shows something else entirely. The government fought release of this video for over a year. Even after being sued by the ACLU, they only released it after a court order. The police union claims it exonerates the officers. What do you think?
This happened in Texas. Brittany Trevino was driving down the road, when she saw a police officer whom she really disliked, so she gave him the middle finger. In obvious retaliation, the officer jumped in his police cruiser, sped down the road, and stopped her – allegedly for failure to signal a lane change. The only problem was, however, the officer was lying, as indicated by not one, but two, of his own cameras.
The protections of the First Amendment are not limited to spoken words, but rather include gestures and other expressive conduct, even if vulgar or offensive to some. For example, in Cohen v. California (1971), the Supreme Court held that an individual wearing a jacket bearing the words “F**k the Draft” in a courthouse corridor could not be prosecuted for disturbing the peace.
Consistent with this precedent, although “the gesture generally known as ‘giving the finger’ … is widely regarded as an offensive insult,” Bad Frog Brewery, Inc. v. N.Y. State Liquor Auth. , (2d Cir. 1998), it is a gesture that is generally protected by the First Amendment. See, e.g. , Cruise-Gulyas v. Minard (6th Cir. 2019) (“Any reasonable [police] officer would know that a citizen who raises her middle finger engages in speech protected by the First Amendment.”); Garcia v. City of New Hope (8th Cir. 2021) (“[Plaintiff’s] raising his middle finger at [a police officer] is a rude and offensive gesture but nonetheless, under current precedent, is a constitutionally protected speech activity.”); Batyukova v. Doege(5th Cir. 2021) (same); accord Swartz v. Insogna (2d Cir. 2013) (holding that giving the middle finger could not support arrest for disorderly conduct); see generally Ira P. Robbins, Digitus Impudicus: The Middle Finger and the Law , 41 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 1403, 1407–08, 1434 (2008) (observing that the middle finger can express a variety of emotions—such as anger, frustration, defiance, protest, excitement—or even “possess[ ] political or artistic value”).
Brittany Trevino’s original videos, including her update, are posted here.
This poor guy was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication and then had his head slammed into concrete while handcuffed. One of his family members sent me the raw bodycam footage that was just recently released. His mother has now filed a wrongful death lawsuit. In the video, you can see that the man, Anthony Silva, tries to tell the officers that he’s paralyzed. But they tell him he’s fine, and mock him. Apparently he spent nearly a year in the hospital, ultimately dying as a result of this.
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.”
Ring doorbell video surfaced showing the arrest of a man at his own front door, after he refused to provide identification to police officers in Clayton County, Georgia. The footage showed officers arresting the man without a warrant. After the footage went viral, the police department then made their own Youtube video responding to the footage, as well as the allegations. But the issue remains: can cops constitutionally arrest a homeowner at his own front door without a warrant?
The Fourth Amendment guarantees the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” The constitutional protection of people in their houses extends to the “curtilage” of the home, which is “the area ‘immediately surrounding and associated with the home.'” Collins v. Virginia, 138 S. Ct. 1663, 1670 (2018) (quoting Florida v. Jardines, 569 U.S. 1, 6 (2013)).
Subject to a few exceptions, the Fourth Amendment prohibits law enforcement from entering a home or its curtilage to conduct a search without a warrant. United States v. Walker, 799 F.3d 1361, 1363 (11th Cir. 2015). United States v. Stephen, No. 19-12172 (11th Cir. Aug 06, 2020)
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.
Big news: After winning the Family Court Judge Search case in a published Fourth Circuit opinion, facing jury trial in early January, the defendants have decided to settle. So the case is over. This is the final update.
