This well-known content creator (Michael Bowman) goes deep into the hills of West Virginia, where locals are upset about a small-town sewage disaster (Worthington, WV). They ask him to come document what’s happening. So he does. He drives there and he begins to document what they show him. And it’s terrible. You have raw sewage basically coming into people’s homes and going other places it shouldn’t be. It’s literally forcing people out of homes they’ve lived in forever. This is a failure of their local public officials. So Michael goes to a public meeting seeking more information. But it doesn’t go well. The public officials aren’t interested in discussing this ongoing disaster that is harming their constituents. But he doesn’t give up. The next day he comes back and tries again, and ends up getting arrested.
On June 14, 2023, the United States Marshals Service listed Joshua Smiley on the “15 Most Wanted” list. He was the 26 year-old male suspect in an August 2021 shooting death of a man in Mobile, Alabama. On June 20, 2023, about a week after Joshua Smiley was put on the most wanted list, he was peacefully apprehended in Avon, Indiana – a suburb of Indianapolis. It was no big deal. They found him in just a couple of days, called him out, he came out and was arrested with no issues. It was a success. So why did the US Marshals raid Cathy George’s home in Sandy Springs, Georgia three months later?
Michael Brewer spent 14 days in jail for a crime that was never even committed. He goes to a local gun store to buy a gun. The store employees run the routine NICS instant criminal background check, as per federal law. But there was apparently a mistake in Michael’s criminal record somewhere, making it look like he’s not allowed to possess, purchase, or even handle, a firearm. Days later he’s driving down the road and gets pulled over. He ends up getting arrested and going to jail. As he’s sitting in jail, his lawyer provides proof that they’ve made a mistake. But they ignore him.
Remember the video I did back in July of 2023, with attorney Chris Wiest, about the lawsuit that he had just filed for a guy named Demetrius Kerns? Kerns was almost hit by a police officer who was driving recklessly. Then when he stopped to get her information afterwards, and she apologized to him, her supervisor then showed up and began to escalate the situation, demanding Mr. Kerns’ ID and ultimately putting him in handcuffs – and later falsely charging him with obstruction, in retaliation for the fact that he was filming and being critical of the police. As Chris and I discussed, eventually he would have the opportunity to take the depositions of these two officers.
Well, it’s been a couple of years now and I have an update for you. The case isn’t over yet. It’s still pending. These things can take years. But I actually have the full video depositions of these two officers, and I’m going to go through them with you so that you can hear exactly what they had to say when confronted under oath. First, part 1 – the sworn testimony of Officer Carly Lewis. And then in Part 2 we’ll get to the rather-unbelievable video testimony of her supervisor, Sergeant Naftali Wolf.
Two officers with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources set up a sting using a decoy deer in a field next to a road. They saw a guy just stop and look at the decoy deer. He didn’t shine a light on it; he didn’t shoot at it; just looked at it, and then drove away. He did nothing illegal. But, he was an irresistible target for the two officers, because his truck was new and expensive; he had valuable gear they wanted for themselves. He hired a lawyer; she obtained the bodycam, and she was shocked at what she saw. She got the charges dropped and has now filed a lawsuit on his behalf. I got a chance to interview her and review all of the bodycam footage. It shows an out of control government agency, harassing law abiding citizens and trying to steal their stuff.
Imagine if cops showed up at your front door, banged on the door and demanded that you come outside and answer their questions. Why? Because the contractor working next door says you yelled at him and hurt his feelings… Knowing your rights – that the police cannot just stand on your front porch, detain you, force you to answer their questions, and shout things at you without your permission – you tell them to leave. You even call the cops on the cops. I mean, they don’t have a warrant, and they don’t have your permission. Right? But even though the courts have said this violates your constitutional rights, what if the cops just don’t care? What if the people at 911 don’t care? What if the supervisor doesn’t care? What if they just ignore your constitutional rights?
This involves the Coolidge, Arizona Police Department. Here’s the Police Report and Dispatch Log:
As the Supreme Court held in the 1980 case of Payton v. New York, absent valid consent or exigent circumstances (i.e., an emergency actively occurring) law enforcement may not cross the threshold of a residence without a warrant.” Either to search or arrest.
As the Supreme Court held in the 2018 case of Collins v. Virginia, police cannot enter the curtilage of a home (which is the area close to the home that is treated as a part of the home, such as an enclosed yard, garage or driveway or porch) to search a vehicle parked within that curtilage of that home without a warrant, even where they have probable cause. The Courts (including the 9th circuit) have held that it is “commonsense” and “easily understood” that area “an arm’s-length from one’s house” is curtilage. (citing Morgan v. Fairfield County 6th circuit 2018)).
A so-called “knock and talk” exception to the warrant requirement isn’t really an exception at all. But it allows police to enter the curtilage of a home to ask questions of its occupant “precisely because that is ‘no more than any private citizen might do.’ (Florida v. Jardines (2013). So while police, like “the Nation’s Girl Scouts and trick-or-treaters,” can approach a home to speak with its occupant, nothing in the implied license to have that consensual interaction suggests a visitor can restrict the movements of a homeowner next to his own home any more than she could force the resident to buy cookies or hand out candy. (U.S. v. Lundin (9th Circuit. 2016)).
There is no right to detain, arrest, or otherwise seize the homeowner implied by the license to perform a knock and talk. To the contrary, that implied license may be revoked by the homeowner. (Davis v. US (9th Circuit 1964)).
An autistic father was playing Pokemon Go with his 10 year old son. A police officer with the Canandaigua Police Department (in Canandaigua, NY) interrupts their game, detains the father, questions him, mocks him, searches him, and interrogates him, accuses him of being on drugs or drunk – even though he was very clearly autistic. He not only violates his rights, but humiliates him in front of his son. And humiliates his son as well. And then just walks off into the sunset, like he just performed some great service…
A man in Owensboro, Kentucky accidentally butt-dialed 911 by pressing the emergency button on his phone’s Lock Screen. Then, some of the most constitutionally ignorant cops I’ve ever shown on this channel, arrive at the guy’s front door. He tells them it was a butt dial; that he’s alone in his house and there’s no emergency. But sensing something other than complete and total submission to government authority, the cops claim they smell marijuana, stick their foot in the door, and detain him without a warrant. Even worse than that, they tell him that they’re about to come in his house – also without a warrant, just due to the alleged smell – just completely disregarding longstanding and clearly established constitutional law saying that they can’t do that. He asks for their supervisor. But when the supervisor shows up, he’s even worse than they are.
This is Braden, a blue collar guy who saw a state trooper violating traffic laws in his small town of Rigby, Idaho. He’s considering making a complaint, because it’s a double standard. He snaps two photos of the cruiser so he could ID the officer in a complaint. But then the officer stops and detains him, accusing him of being a possible terrorist… forces him under threat of arrest to provide his ID, openly hoping he had a warrant; he then looks for his vehicle, hoping to find a reason – any reason – to take Braden to jail.
When the trooper finds out Braden has a concealed weapon permit, he harasses him further, putting his hands behind his back and generously frisking Braden – again almost hoping for any reason to escalate the situation. The trooper claims that even though he, as a police officer, gets to look into the windows of our vehicles, that we can’t do the same to a police vehicle. Because they’re special. Fortunately, Braden had a dash cam that captured the trooper’s driving, and additionally, there was a good cop there, who documented – with his bodycam – the trooper’s open and defiant retaliation against this citizen exercising his First Amendment rights to document police misconduct.
This video was recently posted on the Sgt. Pepperspray YouTube channel, titled “Cocky Teen Driver Gets Chewed Out by Dad After Fleeing Police.” It shows a 19 year-old girl’s father confronting her on the phone (in front of the police, as they were in the process of illegally arresting her) and insulting and berating her (for all to see/hear), helping Officer Scott Riera of the New Smyrna Police in his attempts at ruining the young girl’s life over what should have been traffic citations. Instead, she’s facing a felony charge, due in court tomorrow.
