Imagine there’s a bank heist committed in Fargo, North Dakota. Cops pull a grainy photo of the suspect off a surveillance camera. They run that photo through AI facial recognition software, and it matches with an innocent grandmother down in Tennessee (who has never even been to North Dakota). Imagine they just run with that AI match and issue an arrest warrant, without performing an actual investigation into whether the AI is correct… Angela Lipps was arrested at her home in Tennessee, jailed and extradited to Fargo, North Dakota. She sat in jail for months, with nobody even bothering to check and see if she was the actual suspect they’re looking for (she wasn’t).
In America, we don’t jail people for political speech. Yet Larry Bushart spent 37 days behind bars simply for posting a meme in a Facebook group. Perry County, Tennessee Sheriff Nick Weems sent cops to Larry’s home to intimidate him over a Facebook meme he posted. But he wasn’t intimidated. He knew his rights and didn’t back down. So then the sheriff obtained an arrest warrant that he knew was false and had Larry arrested and then put in jail for over a month. Only after national public outrage did county officials drop the charges and set Larry free. But now Larry’s out for justice and he’s being helped by FIRE, a national nonprofit First Amendment advocacy organization, who has now filed a civil rights lawsuit on his behalf. I got a chance to talk with Larry’s lawyer about the case – what actually happened, why it was so egregious, and how you can help.
In a Walmart in Danville, Kentucky, 66 year old John Hardwick (who had been diagnosed with dementia) was mistreated by Walmart employees while on a grocery shopping trip with his wife. They callously mistook John’s confusion (due to his dementia) for attempted shoplifting, and then called the police. But the police were worse. Officer TJ Godbey punched this vulnerable man 6 times, which was caught on video. And then he, along with Danville Police Officer Ben Ray, arrested John. A lawsuit was filed, which I covered about a year ago. That case has now been settled, with the government claiming the high road. But there’s something they’re not telling you, and they can’t be allowed to cover it up, and escape accountability.
On March 10, 2022, Lexington KY police officers responded to a report of a “disorder” at St. Joseph Hospital. The call was dispatched to LPD officer Myles Foster and officer Daniel Helo. The caller was a hospital employee reporting that a 61 year old female was being “disorderly” and was refusing to leave Emergency Room #3. The 61 year old female was later determined to be Linda Trapp, a homeless woman. Rather than help her, within 21 seconds of meeting her, Officer Myles Foster threatened physical force. He would make good on that threat shortly afterwards, violently breaking her left leg. Then the nurses and emergency room physician would do nothing to help Linda Trapp, leaving her in agony for another 18 hours.
Police Practices expert witness Ryan Wilfong’s report on the incident:
Cops respond to a silent alarm coming from within their own county courthouse, where they find intruders locked inside the dark, closed building. After taking them into custody, the ‘burglars’ tell the cops they are actually professional hackers, hired by the State Judicial Branch to test the courthouse’s security measures.
Then the local sheriff arrives, apparently embarrassed by the fact that the hired hackers were able to just walk right in an unlocked door in the middle of the night, and angry that he wasn’t informed of the security testing ordered by the state. So instead of releasing them, he orders handcuffs put on them and has them taken to the county jail and charged with burglary.
Then it gets even worse. The bureaucrats at the state judicial branch then get worried about their own jobs, and they attempt to throw the hackers they hired under the bus, initially claiming they did not authorize the “burglary,” even though they did. Eventually the State Supreme Court admits they hired the hackers and apologized for the confusion.
But the county still wanted to prosecute the two innocent hackers, who were caught in the middle of this government power struggle. Even up through the day before trial, the county prosecutor was refusing to drop the charges. He finally had to though, because they were innocent. So then the two hackers filed a civil lawsuit, which took years to litigate. Now, that just settled, with the two hackers receiving $600,000 from the county for their false arrest and malicious prosecution.
This is an absolutely insane story out of Iowa.
The official statement of facts from Justin and Gary’s lawsuit that was presented to the Court, much of which is quoted in the video:
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 cop walks up to the front door of a family’s home. Nobody answers the door, so he just lets himself in and begins to look around. About a minute later, shots ring out from inside the house. He just shot the family dog. The husband was at work. The wife was out of town. The 4 kids were at school. It was just Zelda, the family’s beloved Belgian Malinois, being a good girl, doing her job protecting their home from intruders. Then the cop walks back outside.
Does he call the family to tell them what happened? No. He calls more cops and basically an army of police officers arrive at this home in this quiet neighborhood, and they begin to circle the wagons. They then proceed to go all through the family’s home, garage and backyard, for a period of about 40 minutes – all without even notifying this family, or obtaining their permission to do so. Oh, and also – without a warrant. Surely they made this right with the family? Apologized? Compensated them in some way? Surely they fired the officer and prosecuted him for unlawfully entering the family’s home and killing their dog?
Police report excerpt:
Raw surveillance footage:
Raw bodycam from one of the officers (not the shooter):
Raw bodycam from another officer (not the shooter) at the Briggs home:
Raw surveillance footage of Paul Briggs leaving the home about an hour earlier:
