The Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist
Tracy, CA — A video was uploaded to YouTube Tuesday which shows an infuriating interaction between a man practicing his first amendment right to film in public and arrogant SWAT officers.
The video was published to YouTube by Troy Stevenson.
Stevenson was a victim of ill informed police officers whose complete disregard for an individual’s rights, epitomizes the state of police today.
According to Stevenson he saw a raid going on in Tracy, which happened to be in a place of interest to him, so he began filming.
On Friday Oct. 17th I saw what appeared to be a police swat team raid in Tracy, Ca. I just so happened to live behind the house that was being raided when I was a kid 15 years ago. Our landlord from when we lived there owned and lived in the house that was being raided.I don’t know if he still does or not, but he was a friend of my Aunts. So I had a particular interest to film what was going on.
I realized pretty quickly it was a training raid while I was across the street filming.
After realizing that it was a training raid he was approached by two plainclothes SWAT officers, Officer Ramirez (Badge #129) and Officer Sisneros (Badge #126) who immediately start questioning him without identifying themselves. Shortly after the conversation began one officer tried to grab his camera.
A few seconds into our conversation, he tries to grab my phone out of my hand. I put my right hand up in the air while keeping a firm grip on my phone. A short struggle followed and this is when my recording was stopped. His partner came up mid-struggle and that’s when he let go of my phone. They continued to ask me for my ID and ask what I was doing here while I was trying to start recording again. That’s when the second part of the video starts.
As Stevenson continues to proclaim his innocence to these overzealous officers they become more and more offensive. They demand his ID, then they try and frisk him, then they have the audacity to claim that the reason they are detaining him is because he had a “concealed weapon.” A pocket knife, which was visible to the officer, was apparently a concealed weapon.
At this point I tell him he can actually take that [the knife] if he likes, purely for my safety. I move my hip forward and voluntarily allow him to take my legally carried and partially concealed pocketknife. Then all of a sudden the “Concealed Weapon” is the cause for the investigation and my detention.
After running his information and finding out that he is completely clean, he is let go.
A quick search of the California penal code and we can see that Stevenson had done nothing wrong by having this knife; it could have been completely concealed and he would have still been adhering to the law.
These officers were completely out of line and provide a repugnant example of what law enforcement should be. They denied Stevenson his rights as well as lied to him about the law, and even went as far as to say that Stevenson tried to reach for the knife!
This interaction was merely an attempt to bully and harass a man for knowing and practicing his rights. The last second of the video is quite possibly the most disturbing part of this entire interaction. Officer Ramirez, who was just making up charges that could have gotten Stevenson jailed or even killed by these cops, tell him to “Enjoy your safety.”
As if these officer provide some sort of safety; the only immediate threat to the safety of Stevenson at this time, were the cops.
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/swat-officers-wrongfully-detain-man-filming-public-infuratiating/
obviously they (swat) were doing something wrong, or why would they not want to be celebrities fighting for our rights?< yeah thats a bit of sarc.
“Stevenson was a victim of ill informed police officers….”
No, Mr. Agorist. The police officers are not “ill informed”. What they are is a gang of thugs who’ve learned that they can abuse their power, and the public, with complete impunity. This isn’t an isolated incident. It happens every day, if not every hour.
You’re apologizing for a system of “law enforcement” which has proven itself to be a dangerous, and tyrannical menace to all of American society, and I think you’re still harboring the mythological “good cop” image that was drummed into your head by the television, or you’d be able to see this for yourself already.
Wake up idiot. The police of today were chosen (or avoided being weeded out) because they’re brutal idiots who lack any capacity for empathy, and their new role in our society is to deliver the traditional communist “reign of terror”.
It’s unfortunate for all of us that morons like you are still waiting for Starsky & Hutch to save the day, because we’re quickly running out of time to nurse people out of their idiocy.
And thanks for providing their badge numbers. I guess you believe we can just ring up their captain to get this mess straightened out, right?
This author couldn’t have missed all of the recent news about police abuse, so this article makes me think that he only writes to support the status quo.
There’s your fifteen minutes of fame. Now everyone knows you’re a wannabe propagandist.
NEVER TALK TO POLICE!!!
See they way they use word games? Its great that the guy is showing these monsters for the public to see and to identify these guys.
Just for the record it was these goons who were bullying and trying to start a fight, and not just a confrontation. They are laughing at us now because they are a gang committing gang rape. Pure and simple this man was raped by these COPS.
Wouldn’t it have been more fun to show up filming with a squad of militia? Wonder how they would be if they had to fight real men who are taking back their liberty from tyrants. I suspect they would not fair so well in a real confrontation.
Notice how 50% of those goons were foreigners from that POS country to the south? YOU know? MEXICO!!!!! Those spicks were showing Americans’ what a real communist dictatorship is about, because this is what they do in MEXICO. And yes. These were true SPICKS!!!! Very few of them are actually worth a dam. The whites with them by the way providing the White Face, were no better, but you can better believe the Mexican cops here in this country are hell on earth. They will be coming for you, your family and all your stuff.
Take the 2 Thugs to Court Civilly for infringement of your rights. Make thier life a living HELL legally for a few years.
jolly, god knows you’ve pissed me off a time or two but you do have a way with words that would give the establishment a heart attack if you were ever able to make it to mainstream.
That bald-headed goofball looks like he has an IQ of a 3rd grader. I just wanna beat the hell out of him just by looking at him. How can anyone take that little bald-head twerp seriously? He looks like a friggin’ ogre. I’d follow the bastard home and beat the hell out of him and afterwards say, “ENJOY YOUR SAFETY!”
Hahaha lol NC. I don’t need to say anything because you said it all already! 🙂 That closing line from that little brown commie bastard is what crawled under my skin too. As if my safety had ANYTHING to do with his efforts working on my behalf. Pig