Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist
Crawfordsville, IL — Police officers in Crawfordsville appear to have attempted to get a man to incriminate himself for entirely legal actions he took at his local banking institution. To be clear, we do not know the identity of the Youtube user who goes by thechannel name of SSTX9. We found the channel linked to SugarShaneTX9 on Instagram but the user has a private channel. Also, we’ve learned “Shane” may also be disabled. In a recent forum, SSTX9 posted he lives in Indiana, is disabled, and has to make frequent visits to several doctors monthly. It is unclear if he is disabled because he is a veteran, or otherwise, but at any rate, we found his most recent police contact disturbing to say the least.
It may come as a surprise to our readers but your bank tellers are required to report any suspicious financial activity at their bank to the authorities, especially amounts involving more than $10,000. Yes, that’s right America. The government works closely with your bank to make sure the money you deposit into their accounts stays right there. As TFTP has reported on numerous occasions, if you attempt to withdraw your money in the form of cold hard cash, and it’s a significant amount, and your bank thinks you’re up to no good (criminal activity), they are required to notify the police. It is called a Suspicious Activity Report.
Shane may have learned the hard way which bank to trust when Crawfordsville, Indiana police pulled him over and began to question him about his bank account. In the small town of Crawfordsville (population 16,000) a motorist was stopped by armed men with guns and badges and asked to explain recent transition activity he made in his bank account. There are neighborhoods larger than the town of Crawfordsville so the small town cop harassment of a motorist is making big news as it serves to illustrate the reaches of the powerful police state in which we all live.
As the cell phone footage begins, a Crawfordsville cop asks Shane about his recent bank activity whereby he allegedly “was down at the bank and you tried to switch 40,000 dollars worth of cash”. The unidentified police officer was not dealing with a rookie. Shane responded by asking a few questions of his own such as, “did I do something wrong?”
“That’s what I was asking. I’m trying to have a conversation with you,” the officer replied.
At this point it’s apparent that someone “down at the bank” reported Shane to the cops. We at TFTP really don’t care if Shane is an upstanding citizen or a criminal. We do, however, concern ourselves with police department overreach and how it affects our constitutional rights to comport ourselves as free individuals, free from being asked to explain any and all bank transactions to men with guns. Shane states again:
I’m just curious if I’ve done something illegal because I need to know, I have business to take care of.
Shane remained quiet and did not respond to the presence or the imposition of the officers with guns standing at his car window. He did ask the officer, “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Yes,” the officer responded.
“What might that be,” responded Shane.
“I’ll ask it again if you want…no I’m just asking you…my understanding is you were trying to switch over 40,000 dollars at a local bank,” the officer stated apparently wanting Shane to detail his personal financial business with an armed officer of the state.
Not getting any voluntary, private, financial information from Shane, the officer then attempted to imply Shane must be crazy to be driving around with $40,000 dollars in his possession, something Shane did not admit to be doing.
By all accounts it seemed to be an attempt to ascertain whether or not the officer could detain Shane under the suspicion that he may be unwell. We at TFTP have seen this too. When some citizens do not comply with officer commands they will have the good citizen committed to a psychiatric facility, forced medicines, or even worse, all in an attempt to have their way over the public. In this case we suspect if Shane had admitted to having $40,000 dollars in cash in his possession the officer would have confiscated the money and held it until Shane could prove beyond a reasonable doubt he earned the money legally.
We have reported on cash confiscation schemes by police on numerous occasions. Sometimes the citizens get their money back and other times they don’t. It’s called highway robbery by police accountability activists and we would like to say it is an isolated phenomena. But it is not. In fact the Supreme Court of the United States weighed in on the practice of Civil Asset Forfeiture on the side of motorists saying police do not have the right to take from someone an excess of money or assets which go far beyond the fines for the criminal activity with which they have been charged. But they still do.
Just this passed week, CNN encouraged citizens not to rush to their banks to withdraw their money because they fear the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s unclear if that was the reason why Shane was shuffling money around at his bank but his story highlights just exactly what might happen to citizens who do wish to withdraw their money from their bank account for safekeeping at home. The cops might just pull you over, attempt to interrogate you, or later visit your home to check on your so-called well being when in fact it’s your money they may be after.
In our opinion, Shane handled the police interaction in a courteous fashion, not incriminating himself, or violating any laws in the process. We are also impressed by the fact he is confident enough to exercise his First Amendment rights to drive around town with a “F**k Police” sticker in his car, something which did not escape the officer’s notice.
It’s really none of his business why Shane displays the sticker but he asked why nonetheless. Shane simply responded with the stated fact he has been assaulted by cops in the past and is currently suing them in court, both things we would like to know more about. Shane, if you’re out there reading this, please contact us at contact@thefreethoughtproject.com and tell us more if you’d like.
Cops are ALWAYS trying to illegally interrogate motorists in the hopes of escalating a situation to the point where you do or say something that will give them reason to detain and search you and your vehicle.