Remember the video I did on the Broken Arrow Police Department, where the officer really hated this guy Richard, and schemed over a way to take Richard to jail, even though he was safely inside his own home? Well here’s an update, and it involves numerous police officers who no longer have a job.
Do you remember the video I did in June of last year showing the Phoenix Police Department arresting (Kenneth) Ronald McDonald in retaliation for calling one of them a “dumbass?” Not only did McDonald single-handedly beat the corrupt City of Phoenix cops and prosecutors, representing himself pro se and winning his criminal case, but he made it into the HUGE DOJ investigation report released a few months ago. Whatever happened to the two cops from the video?
The full DOJ report is here.
In Alaska, the Anchorage Police Department shot and killed Kristopher Handy, following several 911 calls by a neighbor alleging a domestic disturbance and that Handy had a gun and was waiting for law enforcement to arrive. By the time they arrived, Handy, who had gone back inside the apartment, emerged from the apartment holding a shotgun in one hand. Officers opened fire, killing him. At their initial press conference, the APD said that Handy “raised the longarm towards the officers” prior to deadly force being used. But then neighbors produced surveillance footage showing that Handy did not actually make any movement towards raising the shotgun prior to being shot.
Here’s the raw footage showing the moment he was shot – a view not captured on the officers’ body cams, at least one of which was covered:
Here’s the full video released by the APD.
Here’s the 9th Circuit opinion in Calonge v. City of San Jose, 22-16495 (9th Cir. Jun 07, 2024) that was discussed the video:
Here’s the full video from the Colonge shooting, including Officer Carboni’s bodycam footage.
Here’s the media report on the female juvenile recently shot and killed by the APD.
A little over a year ago I put up a video about the Loveland Police Department officer who was captured on bodycam punching a handcuffed woman, resulting in his being fired just three days later. Well, here’s the update. The officer was prosecuted, and the case went to jury trial a few days ago. Was justice served?
Here’s an updated media report.
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.
This is the text of the statute they rely upon:
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:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca2.55201/gov.uscourts.ca2.55201.85.1.pdf
Here’s my complete breakdown of the important parts of the Sonya Massey shooting, utilizing indisputable screenshots from the bodycam footage of both deputies. There’s been a lot of confusion, as well as misinformation about both the facts and the law surrounding this incident. We can have differing opinions as to conclusions, but nobody is entitled to make up facts. These are all provable facts. Comparing these facts to Illinois self defense law, former-deputy Grayson faces an uphill challenge in his murder case.
Self defense in Illinois can be asserted as an affirmative defense by someone who uses force against a police officer under certain circumstances:
“A person is not authorized to use force to resist an arrest which he knows is being made either by a peace officer or by a private person summoned and directed by a peace officer to make the arrest, even if he believes that the arrest is unlawful and the arrest in fact is unlawful.” Id. § 7-7.
The Illinois standard for police use of force:
The peace officer’s use of force when making an arrest is governed by section 7-5, which provides, among other things:
“[A peace officer] is justified in the use of any force which he reasonably believes, based on the totality of the circumstances, to be necessary to effect the arrest and of any force which he reasonably believes, based on the totality of the circumstances, to be necessary to defend himself or another from bodily harm while making the arrest.” Id. § 7-5(a)….
“The decision by a peace officer to use force shall be evaluated from the perspective of a reasonable officer in the same situation, based on the totality of the circumstances known to or perceived by the officer at the time of the decision, rather than with the benefit of hindsight, and that the totality of the circumstances shall account for occasions when officers may be forced to make quick judgments about using force.” Id. § 7-5(f)….
If the officer’s use of force is not justified under section 7-5, then it is considered excessive, and section 7-7 no longer applies to the arrest. People v. Bailey, 108 Ill.App.3d 392, 398 (1982).
After the officer uses excessive, unlawful force-but not before (see People v. Haynes, 408 Ill.App.3d 684, 691 (2011))-the arrestee’s own use of force is instead governed by section 7-1(a), the general self-defense statute, which states, “[a] person is justified in the use of force against another when and to the extent that he reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or another against such other’s imminent use of unlawful force.” 720 ILCS 5/7-1(a) (West 2022). Section 7-1 is limited in turn by section 7-4, which provides that a person’s use of force is generally not justified if he is the aggressor, except in certain specific circumstances. Id. § 7-4.
Therefore, the use of excessive force by a police officer in Illinois invokes the arrestee’s right of self defense, just like any other situation where someone is using unlawful force. A jury assessing this would consider the following factors:
“In order to instruct the jury on self- defense, the defendant must establish some evidence of each of the following elements: (1) force is threatened against a person; (2) the person threatened is not the aggressor; (3) the danger of harm was imminent; (4) the threatened force was unlawful; (5) he actually and subjectively believed a danger existed which required the use of the force applied; and (6) his beliefs were objectively reasonable.” People v. Jeffries, 164 Ill.2d 104, 127-28 (1995).
Here’s the general Illinois self defense law that applies when police officers use excessive force and lose the protections of Illinois law authorizing police use of force:
“A person is justified in the use of force against another when and to the extent that he reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or another against such other’s imminent use of unlawful force. However, he is justified in the use of force which is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm only if he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or another, or the commission of a forcible felony.” 720 ILCS 5/7-1 (West 2002).
But, self defense is not available as an affirmative defense to an assailant who:
(c) [I]nitially provokes the use of force against himself, unless:
(1) Such force is so great that he reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, and that he has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant; or
(2) In good faith, he withdraws from physical contact with the assailant and indicates clearly to the assailant that he desires to withdraw and terminate the use of force, but the assailant continues or resumes the use of force.” 720 ILCS 5/7-4(c) (West 2002).
Here, former-deputy Grayson is forced to assert the Illinois general self defense statute, which prohibits him from doing so, if he was the initial aggressor. Or, I suppose he could contest the application of the police use of force statute by arguing that he did not use excessive force. Either way, he faces some difficult legal hurdles.
Even though it’s perfectly legal to board an airline in the United States with any amount of cash, the TSA and the DEA are running a scam where they will attempt to seize that cash, even where you are not suspected of having committed any crime. Then they make you fight to regain your cash, which can take years and thousands of dollars in legal fees. The government makes a lot of money this way and it has nothing to do with investigating or fighting crime. This is rare footage of exactly how they run this scam.
This footage was provided by the Institute for Justice and was recently highlighted in a video they posted on their Youtube channel. They currently have a class action lawsuit where they are challenging this illegal practice and attempting to hold the federal government accountable for numerous egregious examples of this practice, which are detailed in their complaint. Read the full class action complaint here.
You can help fund this important litigation by donating to the Institute for Justice now:
The bodycam footage was released this afternoon by the Sangamon county Sheriff’s Office, following an investigation by the Illinois State Police that resulted in murder charges being filed against (now former) Deputy Sean P. Grayson. Here’s my initial analysis and breakdown of the footage.
Here’s the uncensored clip of the shooting:
Some cops and pro-police activists on X are claiming that the video shows Sonya Massey “throwing” the pot at the officers. In reality, the conclusion of the Illinois State Police, as well as their police expert is that it only shows Sonya raising her hands while holding the pot. It does not show the pot being thrown. Moreover, the only view available is from the non-shooter officer (who did not fire, presumably because he didn’t feel it reasonable to do so). The shooter had his bodycam off in violation of his department policy, thus we have no footage of his point-of-view.
Here’s the language from the Indictment charging the shooter, mentioned above and in the video:
A kid (young adult living at home) in St. Croix County, Wisconsin pulled his truck into his driveway, left it running, and walked up to his garage to get some things for a bonfire he was headed to. He stopped at the bottom of the driveway so as not to wake his family inside the house. A deputy with the St. Croix Sheriff’s Department saw the truck and was concerned about the way that it was parked, partially in the road. He parked and approached the truck with his flashlight. He opened the door and began looking inside the truck. Then the kid came outside. Within about 5 seconds of saying hello, the officer assaulted the kid.
Here are the relevant portions of the police report, as discussed in the video:
Here’s the scene:
This 18 year old country music singer from Montana was pulled over for speeding by a state trooper who is looking for reasons to accuse him of driving intoxicated. Even though he blew a 0.0 showing he had no alcohol in his system, and even though he did all the stupid human tricks he was asked to do, and even though he was 100% polite and cooperative with the officer, he was still wrongfully arrested and charged. A blood test taken after the arrest showed what any rational police officers should have known: that the kid was completely sober. Yet this happened to him. He wrote a song about it.
Jaden’s test results, both the official blood test and the urinalysis:
Jaden Decker’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@JadenDecker
Here’s the song Jaden wrote about the incident: