Police arrested and detained several young people in Watertown, Wisconsin, on Saturday while they were preaching at a public drag queen event. Video circulated on social media showing multiple police officers arresting Marcus Schroeder as he was reading from the Bible. One officer was recorded aggressively pulling a microphone out of his hands and walking him away in handcuffs. Nick Proell, another young Christian, was detained and removed from the venue but later released with a warning. Is this a First Amendment violation?
Tag Archives: Search and Seizure
Terrified Family Held at Gunpoint
It’s happened yet again. More innocent people ordered out of their cars due to police mistakenly believing the car was stolen – this time in Frisco, Texas. Police held a Black couple at gunpoint and handcuffed their son after mistyping their car’s license plate into their system, leading them to falsely believe the car the family was driving was stolen.
“We made a mistake,” Frisco Police Chief David Shilson said in the department’s later statement. “Our department will not hide from its mistakes. “Instead, we will learn from them.”
The last video I made on this issue was from Lehi, Colorado. Generally speaking, without more, police officers should not be aiming firearms at people. Reasonableness is the key. Aiming guns based on clerical entries and government policy is rarely going to be reasonable. Doing so should be based on actual perceived threats presented by the persons with whom they’re dealing.
Deputy Tases Man on Interstate & He Gets Run Over | Video Released
Body camera video showing a Larimer County Colorado Sheriff’s deputy tasing a man on Interstate 25 seconds before he was hit by a passing SUV was released Wednesday by attorneys for the man’s family and by the sheriff’s office. Who’s at fault here? Was this a constitutional violation? Is it the officer’s fault? The car’s fault? The guy who ran’s fault? Did the officer commit a crime?
Raw footage here.
Here’s the report from the District Attorney with all of the investigation details.
The department’s taser policy:
Lawsuit Filed After Arrest Goes Viral | Civil Rights Lawyer Chris Wiest
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.
Here’s the complaint:
Officer Assumes Teacher is a Felon
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This video comes to us from Hampton, Virginia, where a local high school math teacher got pulled out of his own car at gunpoint by a police officer, who mistakenly believed the car to be stolen. This happens all across the country, where police agencies have policies to perform so-called “high risk” or “felony” stops where their computer tells them a car is stolen. Often this results in innocent people being held at gunpoint by their government.
Here’s a prior post I did on the same issue for another video that goes further into the case law from similar incidents.
Another Police Scam Exposed | KNOW Your Rights!
This bodycam footage comes to us from Richland, Mississippi, showing Ian Alexander’s traffic stop for speeding. Similar to the video I posted a couple weeks ago from Bexar County, this stop also documents a police officer who believes that he has some sixth sense when it comes to detecting seemingly innocent people who are actually smuggling narcotics. As in the other case, he was completely wrong and achieved nothing other than embarrassing himself and violating the Constitution.
Cops Welcome Stranger | KNOW Your Rights!
This footage was submitted by Ohio native, Bud Swayze, showing an interaction he had with police in Chillicothe, Ohio, resulting in his bizarre arrest. All charges were subsequently dropped. What are your rights during a basic interaction with law enforcement?
Is There a Right to Call a Cop a Dumb@$$?
Bodycam footage was just released showing a police officer in Phoenix, Arizona arresting a guy for calling him a “dumbass.” Is that a constitutional arrest?
Cop Earns City a $9.3 MILLION Verdict
A civil jury in Wayne County, Michigan just awarded a $9.3 million dollar verdict against a Dearborn police officer after he performed an unconstitutional arrest of a kid on a bicycle. The false arrest and ensuing excessive force during the “rough arrest” was captured on officers’ bodycams.
Guy Regrets Taunting Cops on Facebook
Tanner Rhinehart of Newark, Ohio, taunted the local police on their Facebook page after they failed to capture him on an arrest warrant. Eventually they caught up to him and taunted him right back. Here’s the bodycam footage.
Here are some screenshots of the social media interactions:
