Tag Archives: reasonable suspicion

I Help YouTuber(s) Arrested Over Lego Videos (Part 2)

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Since I talked with Reckless Ben about the stolen Lego situation and the ensuing harassment and retaliation he received from the American Fork Police Department in Utah, a lot has happened. I got the chance to talk to the other guy with Ben in the videos, Tyler Shaw, who was the one driving the car – the same guy the cops falsely accused of being on drugs. And most importantly, I now have access to the full set of unredacted bodycam videos, that believe it or not, make the American Fork Police Department look even worse than before. Whatever the truth is about the underlying dispute about the Legos, one thing is for sure. This police department chose to take sides in that dispute, and abuse their authority and trample constitutional rights in the process.

‘Welfare Check’ on Couple Sleeping in Car Ends in Arrest

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Cops get a call: two people are sleeping in a parked car in Lakeland, Florida. The caller requests a welfare check. No crime was even suspected. Cops arrive and confirm, yep, just a young couple and their cat, sleeping in their car. But instead of letting them go back to sleep, or even asking them to leave, the cops start barking commands at them, demanding ID. Knowing that they had done nothing wrong, the couple does not want to be detained and interrogated by these officers. So they assert their constitutional rights and they ask questions. But the officers mock them and curse at them, and they detain them anyways, and even arrest the husband, just because they got a call  – even though that call didn’t allege any criminal suspicion. Who was right here? Did they have to ID? Or should they have been left alone, or allowed to leave?

Paranoid Cop Mistakes Gas Pump For a Pistol

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This police officer with the Leon County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office is so paranoid, that he sees a guy (Robert) parked at a gas pump, with a gas pump in his hand, trying to pump some gas, and he immediately thinks it’s something else in his hand. He gets scared. He pulls into the gas station, gets out of his police cruiser and draws down on the guy, shouting at him.

Arrested for Reading a Book During a Thunderstorm | He Wins in Court!

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Remember this guy who was in his car reading a book in a gas station parking lot, waiting for a thunderstorm to pass? Officer John LaValley of the Athens-Clarke Police Department (Georgia) arrested him for not providing his ID just because the gas station clerk was worried that he had been in the gas station parking lot for too long. I did a video on it about 5 months ago. Well now that criminal case has gone to court, and the innocent guy who was arrested (John Choe) won. But it’s not over yet.

The court orders:

COURT ORDER john choeDownload

Cop Accuses Couple of Trespassing on THEIR OWN Property

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A Marion County (Florida) Sheriff’s Deputy saw a couple sitting in their car, on their own property, where they were building a new “barndominium” in the middle of a large field behind their home. The deputy pulled onto the property, got out of his police cruiser, approaching the couple, who were sitting in their car eating a meal, as it was raining. There had been no report of criminal activity. The deputy just thought they looked suspicious and that they could be trespassing.

The police report:

Incident Report 25-14568 RedactedDownload

Cops Humiliated by Angry Victim After Supervisor Arrives

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In Margate, Florida, Officer Sohn of the Margate Police Department observed a man sitting in his parked car during daylight hours in a local park. He approaches the driver’s side window of the car and begins to ask questions and demand identification. The officer refuses to take no for an answer, and the situation escalates to eventually holding the man in handcuffs. Once the supervisor arrives however, Officer Sohn is unable to justify his actions.

When Cops Demand ID for a Walmart Trespass, But No Crime is Suspected

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Eddie and his mom went to the Gadsden, Alabama, Walmart to pick up a pair of shoes. But a Karen security guard called the cops and requested that they trespass Eddie from the store. Even though Sgt. Unlu of the Gadsden Police Department admitted that Eddie had committed no crime, he wanted Eddie’s ID in order to provide his personal information to Walmart for purposes of a trespass notice. This is a common issue around the country. Is there a Walmart exception to the 4th Amendment, or does Eddie have any constitutional protections in this scenario?

CVS Employee Arrested Waiting on Bench for Lyft Driver (7 MINUTES after closing the store)

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22 year-old Paul was sitting outside the CVS store where he works in Edgewater, FL, sitting on a bench waiting for a ride using the Lyft app. Edgewater Police Department Officer Daniel Rippeon observed Paul and concluded that he looked suspicious. No crime had been committed. No crime had been alleged by anyone to have been committed. Yet Paul was almost immediately seized and threatened with being tased and bitten by a police K9. He was taken to jail, despite the fact that Officer Rippeon was fully aware that Paul was a store employee waiting for a Lyft driver.

Arrest report:

Other incident video from James Madison Audits.

Here’s the full unedited raw bodycam from Ofc. Rippeon, so that you can see what was cut and that there was no misleading editing involved. This is as provided via FOIA request from the City of Edgewater, FL:

Arrested For Reading a Book During a Thunderstorm

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John Choe was driving through Athens, Georgia. When it began to storm, he pulled into a gas station to wait out the thunderstorm. Somebody called the cops. The cops want his ID, even though it wasn’t a traffic stop, and even though there was no suspicion of criminal wrongdoing that was particular to Mr. Choe.

John Choe’s GoFundMe.

Full bodycam of Athens-Clarke County Police Officer John LaValley.

Off Duty Cop Mistakes Cigarette for Drugs | Cops Tear Apart His Truck, Find Nothing

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In Marysville, Michigan, Jake Kidder was washing his truck at a self serve car wash. An off duty police officer claims to have seen a black man in a Cadillac hand a suspicious bag to Mr. Kidder. Assuming he handed him drugs, he called his on-duty buddies, who responded within minutes. They confronted Mr. Kidder, who responded that the black man was his coworker, who handed him a cigarette. This occurred in St. Clair County, Michigan.

Here’s the link to Jake Kidder’s raw YouTube videos with the full footage.