You got any ID on you? Why? Because well, the violation here is that you're walking on the wrong side of the road. You have to walk facing oncoming traffic, which be that side >> for my dog that lives down right there. >> You got an ID on you? >> Going to take me to jail? >> I'm I'm just asking for your ID right now. >> I'm just walking down the street. >> I told you what the violation was. >> 57 traffic. Actually, I don't have my >> 6,500 block of Jefferson on one black female foot traffic. >> Yeah. >> You don't have a Texas ID on you? >> No, I just moved here. I just got married to my husband. >> Okay. >> Yeah, [snorts] that's her. >> She's walking on the wrong side of the road. That's all. >> She was just walking on the wrong side of the road. They turned around harass me and they could have just kept walking straight. It feels like harassment. Y'all see me walking. Y turn in a black walking in a white neighborhood. So you guys turned around to harass me. >> That has nothing to do. You're walking on the wrong side of the road. >> Get a ticket for walking on the wrong side of the road. >> Copy one by name and date of birth. >> Down the street. >> Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. >> Okay, y'all can both stop. We are not harassing nobody. She was walking on the wrong side of the road and all is stopping to tell her that. >> Oh, so everybody else can walk. >> She is walking on the wrong side of the road which is why I'm here. walking while black. Is that what it is? >> No, she needs to be f >> against traffic so that way they can see her walking. >> That's a traffic stop. >> Yes, it is. You see these red and blue lights on? This is now a traffic stop. >> Yes, it is. >> No, that all he was doing was making contact with you to tell you the wrong stuff. >> Fine. Give her ID back. You don't have to ID. >> She committed a crime. >> Yes. Yes, she did. >> Walk on the road. >> Arrested for interference. to what interference walking. Go ahead. >> Go ahead, Brad. Just go home. It's okay. >> Get your phone record. Listen to me. Get your phone. I'm pregnant right now. >> Okay, that's fine. >> So, Brad, Brad, go get your phone. >> Go get your phone and record it. Please go get your phone and record it. >> 57. >> It's all being recorded and that's fine. I'm literally walking on the side of the road. Look. And look who's down there who I'm looking for. My freaking dog. Okay. Well, we keep it going, Joe. Everybody else always I sit outside every day. Watch everybody walk across on this side of the road, walk on that side of the road. I literally sit outside on both sides. They walk on both sides. They bike on both sides. The other person I am a freaking resident here. I have No, no, I don't. This is walking wild black. This is >> You're a resident here. Why don't you have a Texas ID? >> Because I just moved here. I just married my husband. >> Okay. How long have you been here? >> I've been here a couple months. Why? Couple months. >> Investigation now. Question. >> Investigation now. It's investigation now. >> Because when you change your address, >> walking black. >> When you change your address, you're supposed to update it. >> Walking while black. >> Walking while black. >> It is. It's evidently true. I see thousands of people walk on this side of the world all the time. And he would have stopped. >> All the time. No, y'all wouldn't have. No, y'all wouldn't have. No, y'all wouldn't have. No, y'all wouldn't have. All the time, bro. Omega, can you come in the house? You got me getting stopped by the cops cuz they drove down there minding their business. Want to turn around and harass me. Go in the house. Omega. I'm going to the damn jail getting a ticket. Getting harassed because of you. But [ __ ] I'm not even walking in the grass. I'm in the grass. Okay. Big whoop. Like come on now. Everybody walk down the street all the time. I literally sit there all the time. See, people walk on this side ALL THE TIME. WALK ON BOTH SIDES ALL the time. All the time. >> It's literally just a traffic stop because y'all were driving down there. Y could have kept driving. I saw you on the wrong side. Y'all were driving down there and you saw a black woman walking in a white neighborhood. You saw a black woman walking in a white neighborhood. You saw a black woman walk. That That's what it is. Let's be real. Let's Let's be real. You don't got to You don't got to [ __ ] me. I'm grown as >> you like me to pull it up in the field. >> I can pull it up in the trash. >> All right. All right. All right. Yes, ma'am. That's why people don't respect y'all now. >> Is that a Was that a yes or no? Would you like to see in the traffic code or not? >> I don't care. Go ahead. Pull >> Well, you should cuz you're making a big whoop about it. It >> is a big whoop about it. When y'all driving, going about y'all day, they got crackheads in this city. They got a lot of other [ __ ] to worry about. Y'all want to freaking pull me over, put the lights on, and harass me all on the wrong side. >> All them ought to be doing the same thing, too. >> Yeah. Yeah, sure you would have. No, you wouldn't because I see them walking all the time. I see them walking all the time. >> Well, there's only one of them all the time. Anytime I see it, anytime I see it, I I deal with it. >> Obviously, it is. >> Anytime I see it, I deal with it. >> What's your badge number? Your name? >> Uh 57. Officer Solis. >> I can't walk down the street and look for my dog. And I bet another person they walk they they jog down here all the time. The freaking police the freaking what's it called? The post office man walks down this side of the road ALL THE TIME. YOU GOING TO ARREST HIM? You going TO STOP HIM AND tell him he doing a viol a violation of um [ __ ] >> Does it look like you're under arrest? >> Huh? Does it look like you're under arrest? Okay, stop crying. What? You checking me and stop crying. You checking me. You're not supposed to do my job. >> Supposed to check me. I'm not oppressed. You work for me. >> What are you talking about? >> You work for me. You are a taxpayer employee. You work for me. >> Yeah. I live here and I pay taxes, too. [laughter] So, I pay myself. >> But you don't come [ __ ] check me. You don't >> That's what I'm doing now. Now you're lawfully detained. >> And now you ain't going nowhere. >> Oh, now I'm lawfully detained. I'm lawfully detained now. >> Yeah, >> I'm lawfully detained. >> Yeah. No, >> she's detained for committing a traffic violation. >> I'm detained for committing a traffic violation walking on the other side of the road when everybody else and their mama here in this in this neighborhood does it. I literally sit there at my house and watch everybody walk on the wrong side of the road. But I'm going to get lawfully detained and possibly arrested for walking on the wrong side of the road. >> Said that. >> Yeah. No, that's that's what he just said. Did you have a return for the 27? >> You are detained. >> Yeah, because I'm walking on the wrong side of the road. >> Yes, cuz it's a traffic violation. >> Got nothing better else to do in Groves. They got crackheads, robbers, all this other stuff. But they want to arrest a black person, a pregnant black woman for looking for her dog. Everybody else walk on the wrong side of the road. Everybody else >> like black people. >> Exactly. >> Go ahead, white man. >> I am. Look for my dog >> without a Texas ID or Dio. Can I still issue a citation? >> Ridiculous. Nothing better to do. >> Let me know. This what you would say. Hey babe, you're walking on the wrong side of the road. >> Oh, let me see your if you would have just stayed if you would have just stay compant when you guys are harassing me. What are you talking about? You guys are harassing me now. I'm about to get arrested cuz you guys are harassing me cuz I'm looking for my dog. Y'all could have kept straight, but y'all want to turn around and come over here. And you didn't say, "Hey, ma'am, you're walking along the wrong side of the road. You're having a traction." Before said anything, you started screaming. >> Before you said anything, you asked for my ID. And you asked if I had an ID like I'm some type of criminal. >> You could have asked. >> I didn't know who I'm talking to. Do I not? >> You can say, "Hey, ma'am. What's your name? >> I'm looking for my dog. I've been looking for my dog. I just literally I live right there. So I can't I can't even walk 10 steps without getting stopped by the cops cuz someone checking me. >> Everybody else doesn't >> I literally sit there I literally sit there and then maybe I need to get a cop to watch this right here and see everybody else walking on the side. >> Okay. Black and this how they going to treat you. >> That's perfectly fine. So now I'm lost. I need to sit down. >> What's your name and dad's number? >> What's your name and dad's number? [music] >> Looks like a good phone number for you. Yeah. >> All right, man. You got to take a photo of you. >> All right, got it. >> Sign for me on a red X for me, please. It's >> not a mission of guilt. Just promise to appear before the court. Yes, it is. >> I got to get a court, too. What am I doing for >> walking that wrong side of the road? Yes, ma'am. >> Okay, y'all got no life. Y'all got other job, other jobs, other problems in the world. I just got a ticket for >> All right. Here's your ID is going to be >> This is your ticket. >> April 29th at 1:30 p.m. at the girls court. It's your court day. >> Be careful. >> You have to face traffic. >> You have to face traffic. A damn dog. >> Dog's down here though. >> We just watched something that is becoming all too common yet never fails to be shocking. We saw a woman in her own neighborhood looking for her lost dog end up surrounded by four police cruisers. We saw a husband trying to advocate for his wife. and we saw law enforcement officers digging their heels in over a violation so minor most of us didn't even know it existed. Now that we've seen the footage, I want to take a step back. I want us to really dissect what happened here. Not just emotionally, but legally and psychologically. Because this video isn't just about a traffic ticket. It's a case study on discretion, escalation, and the very thin line between public safety and public harassment. Let's start with the basics. the law. We have to be honest here. Technically, the police were right about the statute. In Texas, and honestly, in most states, the transportation code is very specific. If there are no sidewalks, a pedestrian must walk on the left side of the road facing oncoming traffic. The logic is sound. It's for your safety, so you can see a car coming and jump out of the way if necessary. When you walk with traffic, a car comes up behind you and you never see it coming. So on paper, yes, she was in violation of the law. But here is where the legal conversation gets interesting. There is a massive difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. The spirit of this law is to keep people safe. It's to prevent pedestrians from getting hit. The letter of the law, however, is being used here as a tool for something else entirely. We call this a pretext stop. A pretext stop is when police use a minor violation, like a license plate light being out, failing to signal for 3 seconds, or in this case, walking on the wrong side of the road as a legal excuse to stop someone they actually want to investigate for something else. Now, ask yourself, what was the something else here? Was she looking into car windows? No. Was she holding a weapon? No. She was walking down a suburban street calling for her dog. So why the stop? Why the aggression? This brings us to the concept of officer discretion. Every police officer in America has the power of discretion. They don't have to write you a ticket for going 5 miles over the limit. They don't have to arrest you for every minor infraction. They have the choice to say, "Hey ma'am, just so you know, it's safer to walk on the other side. Good luck finding your dog." That interaction takes 10 seconds. It builds trust in the community. It keeps the officer free to go catch actual criminals. But that's not what happened. Instead, we saw immediate escalation. Let's talk about that escalation. Did you notice how quickly the officer demanded ID? Do you have ID? This is a friction point in so many of these videos. In the state of Texas, under Penal Code 38.02, you are only required to identify yourself if you have been lawfully arrested. However, for a detention like a traffic stop, you generally have to provide information so they can write the citation. But put yourself in her shoes. You are frantic. Your dog is missing. You are two doors down from your house. And suddenly, two officers are approaching you with hands near their holsters. Your brain doesn't go to traffic code violation. Your brain goes [music] to survival mode. When she asked, "Are you going to take me to jail?" That wasn't sarcasm. That was genuine fear. And instead of deescalating, instead of explaining calmly, the officers treated her confusion as resistance. [music] This is a psychological phenomenon often called contempt of cop. It's not a real crime, but it's a reality on the streets. When a citizen challenges an officer's authority, even verbally, even by asking why, some officers take that personally. They feel their control slipping. So to regain control, they clamp down harder. You want to ask why. Now I need your ID. You want to argue. Now I'm calling backup. It becomes an ego battle. And in an ego battle between a citizen and a man with a badge and a gun, the citizen will always lose the argument, but the police will always lose the public's trust. And then let's address the elephant in the room, the four squad cars. The Groves Police Department later released a statement saying they had so many cars there because two officers were in field training. Basically, rookies learning the ropes. But think about what that teaches a rookie. If you are a field training officer and you are teaching a new cop how to police a community, is this the lesson you want to teach? That a woman walking her dog requires a multi-unit response? That a minor ordinance violation is worth tying up half the department's resources? It sends a message that command presence is more important than common sense. And we cannot ignore the racial aspect. The couple's attorney calls it selective enforcement. And the video provides pretty damning evidence of this. The husband, did you notice him? He was walking on the same road. He was walking on the same wrong side. He was actively engaging with the police. Did they ask for his ID? Did they threaten him with jail? Did they write him a citation? No. So, if the goal is safety, why is his safety less important than hers? If the goal is enforcing the law, why is the law only applied to the black woman and not the white husband? This is the textbook definition of bias, even if the officers didn't wake up that morning thinking, "I'm going to be racist today." Their subconscious bias led them to view the woman as a suspect and the husband as a bystander, even though they were committing the exact same act. This is why communities lose faith. It's not always about the big tragic shootings. Sometimes it's about the daily indignities. It's about feeling like you can't walk in your own neighborhood without papers. It's about the feeling that you are being hunted rather than protected. The wife said something very powerful in the video. It feels like an excessive show of power. And legally, she has a point. The Supreme Court has ruled in cases like Terry vers Ohio that police intrusions must be reasonable. Was this reasonable? was holding a pregnant woman on the side of the road, stressing her out and calling back up reasonable for a walking violation. I think most of us, regardless of our political stance, uh would say no. Let's look at the outcome. She signed the ticket. She has a court date. The police won the encounter. They got their citation. But what did they lose? They lost the respect of that couple. They lost the trust of everyone who watches this video. They exposed their department to a lawsuit that will likely cost the taxpayers money. And for what? A $50 ticket? It's a bad return on investment. So, what should have happened? Let's rewrite the script. Imagine the officer rolls down his window. Hey folks, sorry to bother you. Just a heads up, it's safer to walk on the left side facing traffic. We've had some accidents lately and I don't want you to get hurt. By the way, cute dog. Hope you find him. That's it. If that had happened, this couple would have gone home thinking, "Wow, the Groves PD really cares about us." They would have posted a positive status on Facebook. The community bond would be stronger. It costs nothing to be kind. It costs nothing to be reasonable. But instead, we are here analyzing body cam footage of an arrest threat over pedestrian etiquette. It serves as a reminder to all of us. Knowing your rights is crucial. Remaining calm even when the police are not is crucial, but it's also a reminder to law enforcement. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. The badge is a symbol of public trust, not a license to bully. I want to hear from you guys in the comments. Do you think the police were justified because she was technically breaking the law? Or do you agree with the husband that this was selective enforcement? And for my viewers in law enforcement or legal fields, how would you have handled this stop? Would you have called for three backup cars? This case isn't closed yet. The couple is fighting the ticket and we will keep an eye on the outcome. But until then, stay safe, know your local laws, and maybe, just maybe, walk on the left side. Thanks for watching. I'll see you in the next breakdown.