A cop in (Ludington) Michigan sees a drunk driver at 2am and pulls him over. Then he realizes it’s his coworker – an off duty police officer at the same department. It’s his buddy, who just basically smiles at him and they both know he’s in trouble. Gee, that really sucks, right? But not to worry…. Everything will be okay because they’re the cops. And they can just turn their bodycams off, collect no evidence, and drive him home. Then the public will never find out, right?
These cops are involved in a high speed pursuit, in the snow, with a reckless drunk driver. Then they find out that he’s actually one of their fellow deputies (Macon County Sheriff’s Office – Illinois). Surely they didn’t turn off their bodycams, actively try not to obtain evidence against him, and give him a paid vacation, did they?
Over two years ago I showed you a video about a 62 year old grandfather named Kevin Hinton. He was driving late one night on a road trip, returning from meeting his brand-new baby granddaughter in Oregon. He was too tired to continue driving. He couldn’t keep his eyes open. So he pulled over in a public parking lot in Spokane, Washington to take a nap. He was awakened by the arrival of Sgt. Clay Hilton with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. Three minutes later, he would have 8 broken ribs, a punctured lung, a severe concussion, a shoulder injury, and a disfigured lip. Why? Because Sgt. Hilton thought this 62 year old grandfather was rude to him. Now, over 2 years later, there’s a huge update on my original video. Sgt. Hilton has been fired, and is now facing federal criminal charges.
In October of 2024, Monroe County (Florida) Deputy Jonathon Lane pulled over a dad/husband who was hauling a boat too slowly. The driver had previously suffered from a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Deputy Lane immediately escalated the situation to a felony arrest of the driver, afterwards lecturing the man’s wife about his integrity and the importance of following the law. But as it turns out, Deputy Jonathon Lane has a “confidential” past that exposes his own law-breaking, as well as his department’s apparent coverup of that law-breaking.
Monongalia County Sheriff’s Deputy Lance Kuretza was indicted by the Feds as a result of this never-before-seen bodycam footage showing him suddenly confronting and arresting an innocent man, who was sleeping in a hotel room. I tried to get the footage over two years ago. Since then, he was acquitted by a federal jury in his criminal prosecution. Now he’s back to work as a deputy. But should he have a badge in light of this footage, showing what really happened that night?
The hatemail that jogged my memory about the incident:
Viral Twitter post about the indictment that first got people talking about it:
The US Attorney’s statement about the incident, from a radio show appearance (IIRC):
Here’s the press release by the DOJ about the indictment of Deputy Kuretza:
Photo taken by the police during arrest processing:
Monongalia County Sheriff’s Quote (recently retired now) about the trial result, commenting that he was “glad” the jurors came to the same conclusion he/his department had:
A media report about the trial, revealing shocking testimony from an EMT an unnamed deputy lied to her about the cause of Mr. Graciano’s injuries:
EMS was eventually called to the department and the jury heard from one of the emergency medical technicians (EMT) who responded to the call.
Camden Boggs, who worked as an EMT with Star City at the time, said a deputy in a black shirt told him Graziano “was drunk downtown starting fights and got beat up.” He could not say whether that deputy was Kuretza.
Boggs said a fight made sense because he initially saw blunt force trauma and at minimum a fracture to the nose or eye and at maximum a traumatic brain injury. He testified that Graziano’s right eye was so swollen, EMTs could not pry it open to evaluate his pupils for brain injuries.
Initially, Boggs said Graziano wanted to go to the hospital, but after being told by an unidentified deputy that by not going to the hospital he could see the magistrate sooner and go home sooner, Graziano then refused to go with the EMTs.
Fourth Circuit caselaw I referred to in the video regarding the 4th Amendment rights of hotel tenants is here. This is based on the US Supreme Court opinion from Stoner v. California.
The RAW footage, showing that not only did I not edit in a misleading way, I substantially censored the footage in order to comply with Youtube’s guidelines. The raw footage is much worse. Here is the full, unedited, footage from Lance Kuretza’s bodycam from January 18, 2018:
The full, unedited, uncensored, footage from Isaac Coe’s bodycam from January 18, 2018:
The full, unedited, uncensored, footage from Lance Kuretza’s bodycam during the arrest processing portion of January 20, 2018:
The full, unedited, uncensored, footage from Sgt. J.D. Alexander’s bodycam from January 20, 2018:
Here’s the full complaint from the civil lawsuit that was settled for $175,000:
Here’s a clip of Deputy Ethan Mongold encouraging Deputy Kuretza to give Mr. Graciano “the solution.”
Here’s the portion of the trial transcript (from above) that features Deputy Ethan Mongold testifying under oath to the jury that he admits that is indeed his voice that can be heard encouraging Kuretza to “give him the solution,” but unfortunately doesn’t remember saying it, and doesn’t remember why he would have said it – and also doesn’t know what “the solution” was.
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?
In April of this year, cops in Kent County, Michigan ran-over and killed two different people, in two different pursuits, within weeks of each other, one of which has resulted in murder charges being filed against a Michigan State Police officer. That was the incident resulting in the death of Samuel Sterling, age 25. The other incident resulted in the death of 17 year old Riley Doggett. The Prosecuting Attorney of Kent County just announced that he would not be filing any charges against the officer in that case. In both cases, the officers are apparently claiming that they didn’t intend to kill the individuals. So why the difference in criminal prosecution?
An Alabama police officer is now on leave while authorities investigate a viral video showing her tasing a handcuffed man. She tells him to lay down on the front of the vehicle. She puts her taser on his back and tases him, as he screams. She then asks him, “Do you want it again?”
Remember the super-friendly female deputy in Camden County, Georgia, caught on her dash cam attacking a woman at a traffic stop? Well, it’s time for an update. Even after this incident, she was named “Deputy of the Month.” But then she was fired and indicted by a grand jury. But that’s not all the problems currently being faced by the Camden County Sheriff’s Office.
A LaSalle, Colorado police officer has been charged with second degree murder after he shot a man in a dollar store parking lot, during an investigation about a car’s suspicious paint job. It was the officer’s third day of training with that police department. Can a police officer shoot a man attempting to flee a suspicious paint job investigation?
