Tag Archives: florida

Cops Keep Getting This Wrong | When Can Cops Force You to ID?

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Police officers around the nation continue to misunderstand the Fourth Amendment and the concept of reasonable suspicion. This footage was submitted by Nick Failla, showing his arrest in Cocoa, Florida several years back. He just recently obtained the bodycam footage.

Many cops believe that they get to forcibly ID anyone they encounter as a part of their job. They are taught that its policy to do this for officer safety reasons. We see it over and over again. In this particular video, the female officer, who is a supervisor, explains repeatedly to Nick that, because she’s a police officer conducting an investigation, Florida law allows her to obtain the ID of anyone she encounters – whether or not a crime is even alleged. Nick disagrees with her and asks repeatedly for an explanation of what crime he was alleged to have committed. Let me see if I can clear this up.

Here’s Nick’s original video, along with his explanations.

This is a common issue and is the subject of one of my most popular Youtube videos – a case currently being litigated in federal court, involving the arrest of my client in a West Virginia Walmart. When police officers encounter pedestrians, they could trigger an investigatory detention, which requires reasonable suspicion, or they could just be engaged in a consensual encounter, which requires nothing. It’s just a conversation. 

Consensual encounters, i.e., a conversation, does not trigger the Fourth Amendment, and can be easily identified if the subject asks whether or not he’s free to leave. If the question isn’t asked, courts will look to the circumstances. Would a reasonable, regular person believe that he was NOT free to leave? Were emergency lights activated? Multiple police officers? Guns drawn? Put in handcuffs? Accused of criminal conduct? Told to show your hands? Told to get on the ground? Or was it just a conversation. 

The question is whether a reasonable person would feel free to terminate the encounter. If the person was involuntarily detained by the officer, that constitutes a seizure under the Fourth Amendment, no matter how brief the detention or how limited its purpose. 

If a detention occurs, the courts require the detaining officer to be able to articulate why a particular behavior is suspicious or logically demonstrate that the person’s behavior is indicative of some sinister criminal activity. It must be based on suspicion of illegal conduct. In other words, it cannot be based on suspicion of legal conduct, such as walking down a public sidewalk, or hanging out on top of your van with two women in a parking lot in front of a lake.

Here, there was clearly a detention. Therefore reasonable suspicion is required. Even in Florida, a police officer must have a particularized and objective basis for suspecting the person stopped of criminal activity.” United States v. Campbell, 26 F.4th 860, 880 (11th Cir. 2022) (en banc).

Florida Man’s Huge “I EAT A**” Sticker | Free Speech?

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In May of 2019, Florida man Dillon Shane Webb was pulled over by Columbia County Sheriff’s Deputy Travis English, who objected to the sticker on the back window of Webb’s truck, which said, in all capital letters, “I EAT A**.” Deputy English ordered Webb to remove one of the letters during the traffic stop. Webb refused  citing his First Amendment rights. But he was arrested and booked in jail for “obscene writing on vehicle” and “resisting an officer without violence.”  Did he have a First Amendment right to have that sticker? Was the arrest unconstitutional? What happened to the criminal charges? Was there a lawsuit? If so, was it successful? You might be surprised…

Section 847.011(2) makes it a misdemeanor offense to possess

“any sticker, decal emblem or other device attached to a motor vehicle containing obscene descriptions, photographs, or depictions . . . .” 

Florida law further defines “obscene” as material which


(a) The average person, applying contemporary standards, would find, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; (b) Depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct as specifically defined herein; and
(c) Taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. 

Fla. Stat. § 847.001(10). 

Under section 843.02, Florida Statutes,

“[w]hoever shall resist, obstruct, or oppose any officer . . . in the lawful execution of any legal duty, without offering or doing violence to the person of the officer, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree . . . .” 

Here’s the memorandum opinion from the case:

He Really Should Be in Trouble For This

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New bodycam footage surfaces of Officer Justin Peppers of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, as featured a few videos ago regarding the Braxton Smith traffic stop and arrest. In the first video, he’s shown punching a handcuffed arrestee, while another officer warns him to stop punching, and that his bodycam is recording. The second video shows an encounter with a woman who was asking Peppers questions during the traffic stop of a third party. That encounter resulted in the woman being taken out of her car and called a “fu@king retard.”

Here’s a video from another angle showing Peppers punching the arrestee.

Controversial Traffic Stop of Black Vet | Internal Affairs Did What?

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About 8 months ago I did a video on the Jacksonville, Florida traffic stop of Braxton Smith by Officer Peppers of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. After the bodycam footage hit the internet and the media, the agency received 14 complaints about the officer’s conduct, including a complaint by Mr. Smith. JSO Internal Affairs performed an investigation and the report has been released.

Here’s my original video with more of the uncensored footage.

Here’s another local TV news report on the same officer regarding the couple he was harassing over the window tint.

Here’s yet another local TV news report about him being aggressive and confrontational at traffic stops.

Man Flees Illegal Stop and Wins in Court

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Kary Jarvis was pulled over for a traffic violation in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was issued a warning ticket. But instead of then being allowed to leave, police officers asked to search his vehicle. When he said no, asserting his constitutional right to say no, instead of allowing him to leave (which he was entitled to do) they illegally detained him. He then fled the stop, dragging the officers, who were hanging onto his vehicle. He ended up being charged with multiple felonies.

The judge in the criminal case later enforced the Constitution, finding that everything that happened after the warning ticket being issued, was an illegal detention. Unfortunately, he spent a year in jail prior to that happening. He’s now suing.

Here’s the court order:

Here’s the police report:

Bodycam: Cop Shoots Cop | BOTH Suspended

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Two police officers in Clearwater, Florida, were suspended following an incident wherein they both shot at each other in the darkness. They responded to a call about a man firing a gun in his backyard. They approached silently, in the darkness, positioned themselves, and when the man fired a round, they both essentially mag-dumped at each other. One of the officers was hit.

According to the Tampa Tribune:

Reid fired 18 rounds and Woodie fired six, according to internal affairs documents. Reid fired toward where he saw a “muzzle flash,” believing that direction to be Wassman’s location. However, he did not see Wassman, internal affairs documents say.

Woodie told internal affairs he saw a person in dark clothing holding a gun and believed he was firing at Wassman. However, one of Woodie’s bullets grazed Reid’s arm, and officers also found four “projectile materials” from Woodie’s rounds in a neighboring home.

The original body cam footage can be viewed here.

Is There No Right to Remain Silent About Donuts?

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This footage comes to us from Lake City, Florida, where a couple of guys were apparently doing some donuts in a fairly-new-looking Corvette, ending in the car catching on fire. The fire department arrived, as well as the police. Bodycam footage shows the conversation that ensued between the investigating officer and the driver of the burned car. Was the driver required to provide a statement for the officer’s report?

Here’s the police report.

Original footage, thanks to Bodycam Files Youtube channel.

“Mr. Black Man, I’m Asking You a Question” | Another Military Vet Harassed

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Here’s yet another video showing police officers mistreating one of our military veterans for absolutely no good reason. Gee, I wonder, what’s the common theme? Some of you are quick to criticize me anytime I bring up race. Here’s the thing. The Constitution requires police officers to have reasonable suspicion that a crime was committed before detaining an American citizen. 

Does the Constitution allow police officers to pull people over based on a hunch? No. Does the Constitution allow police officers to pull people over based on their skin color? No. Does the Constitution allow police officers to pull people over and detain them for any reason at all, short of actual reasonable suspicion that some crime or traffic law has been violated by the driver? No. Do we see them do so in video after video, after video? We sure do. Let’s take a look at this one from Jacksonville, Florida, showing the traffic stop and warrantless arrest of Navy Veteran Braxton Smith.

Media Report here.

The driver’s cell phone footage: