This is how police officers in Summerville, South Carolina treated a 13 year-old kid who was selling “roses” made from palmetto frawns. A bystander filmed the incident on her phone and then posted it on social media. It then went viral and people were angry about it. Then the Summerville PD posted the raw footage online, hoping that seeing the body cam footage would appease the angry public. In a statement, they defended the officers’ actions.
Media report here.
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 the full report: https://nj.gov/comptroller/reports/2023/approved/20231206.shtml
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:
A New Mexico law student, who has already been featured in an Audit the Audit Youtube video for cops harassing him at the entrance to his dorm room, has now been arrested in another unrelated incident. However, once the supervisor showed up, the student was quickly released with an apology. They ended up arguing back and forth on Fourth Amendment law. Who was right?
Joel Martinez Youtube channel is here with the original raw footage of both incidents.
The Audit the Audit video I reference is here.
Two police officers in St. Petersburg, Florida, arrested a homeless man for trespassing. The female officer who arrested him told him she was tired of citing him, so she was going to have him taken for a “ride” in the police van. He was shackled and placed in the rear of the van, that had no seatbelts. Along the way, the officer driving the van slammed on the brakes, rendering the detainee unconscious. But the officer didn’t stop. Later the officer opened the rear door to find the unconscious man. Then he dragged him out onto the ground. The man ended up paralyzed and having both his legs amputated.
Media report here.
Video surfaced from Andalusia, Alabama, showing a police officer entering a woman’s home to arrest her, while her 18 year old son filmed the incident. The footage was subsequently released by the woman’s attorneys, who accused the officer of race-related retaliation. The footage then went viral, prompting the mayor of the town to make a public statement. He apologized, stating that the officer was disciplined for not knowing the law.
Subject to only two exceptions, police officers cannot enter your home and arrest you without a warrant. The exceptions are consent and exigent circumstances. But where an arrest is initiated outside the home, can the officer then follow the person inside the home to complete the arrest?
Media report here.
Full video of the mayor’s statement here.
A man who was shocked in the face with a Taser by a Las Animas County sheriff’s deputy in 2022 was awarded $1.5 million in a lawsuit settlement with county officials. The incident began when deputies Trujillo and Noel pulled over the man’s son. The man stopped to wait. But the deputies confronted the man and eventually tased him in the face.
News report here.
My prior video on this here.
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.
An internal investigation from the Bountiful (Utah) Police Department found its own Cpl. Jon Joubert used excessive force while arresting 64-year-old Gretta Jensen in December 2020. Body camera footage, recently released, shows Joubert appearing to punch Jensen in the face while she is on the ground as she yells for help. Jensen has filed a “$1 million federal lawsuit” against Joubert, alleging that he violated her constitutional rights by using excessive force when he arrested her. She also argues that she had committed no crime. Despite the internal investigation findings, Officer Joubert was only given a written reprimand.
Media report here.
Raw clip of the use of force:
This footage was submitted by Bubba, from Wichita, Kansas. He says that his go cart was stolen, and apparently someone crashed it down the street, causing injury. Bubba recovered the go cart and returned home. But then the cops showed up, demanding information. Without a warrant, a police officer entered his home, tased him multiple times and arrested him. Can they do that without a warrant?
This is an interesting situation. A black employee of a firearms-related company, apparently run by military vets offering a number of different products, realized they were missing an AR-15 “lower,” which was supposed to have been mailed out by a particular employee. Rather than discuss the matter with the employee, they called the cops, who arrested the employee pretty much immediately, ultimately holding him for multiple hours. However, it seems that the missing lower was found only 10 minutes after this man was arrested. Oops… it was all a big mistake. But the employee was still fired and sent packing, with an apology from the cops.
Here’s the link to James’ GoFundMe.
Here’s James’ Instagram.