A prominent judge in Houston, Texas, was pulled over on suspicion of DUI back in April. She was allowed to leave with only a warning, even though the officers believed she had been drinking and observed her driving on the wrong side of the road and speeding. Also, there was no footage of what transpired during the 45 minute incident, because the officers “obstructed” their body cams. There was however audio, and both the audio and dash cam footage later surfaced once it was realized by the media that the judge had seemingly disappeared – only to reappear under arrest several months later for DUI. But this wasn’t the same DUI, but a separate incident.
About a year ago, a woman called 911 reporting that a man had exposed himself to her in Daniel Boone Park, located in Charleston, West Virginia. She told the responding officer that she recognized the man from TV. As it turns out, it was Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper. Within days of the incident, Mr. Carper’s family told the media that he had a heart attack and the allegations were just an “awful misunderstanding” related to a health emergency.
In the ensuing year, Mr. Carper remained on the county commission, while the public was kept far, far away from the bodycam footage documenting the incident. Now the footage has been released. It shows that the responding officer began the coverup from the very first minute.
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 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:
This footage was submitted by the parents of this kid, who was arrested by police in Doral, Florida, while merely walking outside his family’s apartment. The criminal charges were dropped, thanks to the bodycam footage. The family filed a complaint with internal affairs. The result was predictable. Were the kid’s constitutional rights violated?
On October 16, 2021, the life of Silvester Hayes was altered forever. That morning, Hayes woke up early and went out to get breakfast for his four young children. While driving to get their favorite meal, which was french toast from a restaurant only a few blocks away from their home, Silvester encountered two Dallas police officers. He did not return to his kids with breakfast. Now a lawsuit has been filed and the bodycam footage has been released.
The lawsuit alleges the existence of a Texas state law conferring a right to resist an unlawful arrest:
In Texas, the use of force to resist an arrest is justified: (1) if, before the actor offers any resistance, the peace officer uses or attempts to use greater force than necessary to make the arrest or search; and (2) when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect himself against the peace officer’s use or attempted use of greater force than necessary. Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 9.31.
A police officer was pulled over in Wyoming, Ohio, after his wife, or ex-wife, called the cops on him after an argument following their attendance at a Halloween party. The woman told dispatchers she and Michael Matheson, a sergeant with the St. Bernard Police Department, had gotten into an argument. She additionally told them Matheson was leaving in his truck, intoxicated and possibly armed with his duty weapon.
Never forget that interactions with the police are interactions with the government. Many times the employers of police officers give the orders and guide policy and practice. On the state level, those could be career bureaucrats. But many times on the city and county levels, those are usually politicians. And never forget that voters tend to elect politicians who are often incompetent, tyrannical, or even criminal. In this video you’ll see a citycouncilman who personally meddles in law enforcement activities for his friends, his family, as well as himself.
The elected sheriff of Berkeley County, West Virginia has just been indicted by a grand jury on charges related to a video I showed you about 8 months ago where he showed up to a car wreck involving his daughter. Do you remember this? On January 20, it was reported in the media that Berkeley County prosecutor Catie Delligatti was requesting the appointment of a special prosecutor, in response to the public’s response to the video footage showing that county’s elected sheriff, Nathan Harmon, responding to the scene of his 22 year old daughter’s extremely suspicious car wreck.
The wreck happened on January 6. The sheriff’s daughter, Carrie Harmon, claimed that she was driving to her friend’s house to have dinner and watch movies, but that a deer ran out in front of her; the road were wet, and she swerved to avoid the deer and then wrecked.
But what really appears to have happened is that her father helped her coverup the fact that what really happened is that she was driving while intoxicated. Most of us, after having crashed while under the influence, would have been actually investigated by the responding police officers. This means that they would have tested our breath for alcohol, given us field sobriety tests and so on. But that’s not what happened here. Why? Because the investigating officer who responded was a deputy for the same county where the driver’s father was the sheriff.
Here’s my original video on this with the full footage:
Police officer Heather Weyker, of the St. Paul, Minnesota, Police Department, was found by the federal courts to have fabricated false charges against several dozen Somali refugees, including Hamdi Mohamud, who spent 2 years in prison for it. Hamdi is now represented by the Institute for Justice, who represents her in an almost decade-long lawsuit against Weyker, which so far has been unsuccessful. Believe it or not, Weyker is still working a six figure job at the St. Paul Police Department, despite having been adjudicated as a liar. Her attorney, Patrick Jaicomo, of the Institute for Justice, joined me to explain this insane story.
Even though the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals found in 2016 that Officer Weyker had fabricated false charges against numerous individuals, the St. Paul Police Department used her in a recruiting video in 2017!
Kentucky Civil Rights Lawyer Chris Wiest just filed a federal lawsuit in Ohio alleging multiple constitutional violations occurring during the arrest of Demetrius Kerns, which was caught on viral bodycam footage. You may have seen Chris on some of my prior videos. He joined me to talk about the footage and the lawsuit.
