on January 8th 2021 a man was on his way home in his personal vehicle unfortunately he took a wrong turn causing his car to get stuck on the railroad tracks despite all his efforts he was unable to maneuver he called 911 in an emergency and Tampa Police Department officers responded immediately instructing Patrol officers to assist within minutes two Tampa police officers arrived on the scene and made contact with the man let me have them tell you let me have them tell you let me have them tell you hold on hold on hold on hold on hello hi okay so I'm trying to find I'm trying to see where my girlfriend I need my girlfriend to know where I'm at sure we're asking you what happened can you get off his phone please we're trying to figure out what happened here well I TR to turn make make this turn and I thought it was this turn um it was dark and I made this turn instead be short as I ended up off the tracks and it's start right now so that's why I'm stuck now and I can't move back or forward at all I was asking them to not send a police cruiser I wanted them to send me a tow truck to be able to pull me out but I TR in myself drunk but it doesn't work that way I'm sorry because you're drunk but it doesn't work that way unfortunately I'm sorry you heard me I heard you but that didn't make no sense at all no I'm not drunk okay remember my M quec 53 it's black okay so we do have um I want more do you havean and this is not a traffic stop I called you out here in the footage the man was speaking to his girlfriend on his phone when the officers arrived however he was immediately asked to put his phone down a request that seemed unjustified given that he wasn't being detained or handcuffed typically officers need specific facts to justify a detention based on Reasonable Suspicion of criminal activity in this case there was no logical reason to suspect the man of a crime as it was clearly an accident with no reported injuries or victims adding to the situation one of the officers accused the man of being drunk solely based on appearance despite no mention of alcohol odor and lacking supporting evidence the officer made the claim you know it's for right it's a crash it's not a crash at all I vitim where's the victim vitim who's the victim license registration Insurance sorry CSX CSX is the victim you not see what happen they are the victim right now are they the victim right now they're having to stop their trains because I know black and white how it goes I know exactly how it goes ignorant LIC registration en LIC it's already right in there but I'm not going to give it to you until I need to right now you need to I'm at Meridian and Jackson what are you doing who whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa who she's pulling the knife out of your pocket the officers insisted the incident was a crash not an accident claiming there was a victim however the distinction is crucial as an accident implies no fault despite this they demanded the man's ID for an alleged accident investigation under Florida law a report is required only if specific conditions such as significant property damage or injuries are met in a troubling turn one officer assaulted The Man Without warning leading to an unlawful arrest with the help of her colleague they proceeded to search his vehicle without a warrant or consent violating constitutional rights and their own policy rendering the arrest invalid why did you this why did no no no stop resisting resting what are you talking about yo you just pushed her no I Victor are you kidding me no I didn't no I didn't are you serious yeah I called you guys and I call you yes I did somebody I know I know the two boys that called you for true and then I leftward oh my goodness so I call you for help and I get arrested that is crazy F you the aggressive one you just pouched my partner you can say whatever you want that's fine you are the aggressive you say the person who did not want to provide his information we got it's all right there for me I'm not your [ __ ] I don't go to your car gra sh I called you for help I didn't call you to be arrested I called you for help I called you by help well here we are maybe if you would listen to instructions you would not be arrested no I didn't call you to listen to nobody I called you for help I needed some help I needed an assistance pictor three we need a 1031 for that here o what the heck I think alcohol we're going to this I'm trying to get his well 28 you heard 28 so then inventory signal 28 so inventory yeah so inventory okay I got the insurance and I got his license and you have his phone the officer provided no warnings and abruptly reached into the man's trousers claiming to remove a knife without apparent cause despite the man not posing a threat and not being detained the officer violated his fourth amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures the Fourth Amendment states that people have the right to be secure in their persons houses papers and effects and no warrant shall issue without probable cause in this case the officers unreasonably searched him and his vehicle and seized him through an arrest placing him in handcuffs in a patrol vehicle notably the officers falsely accuse the man of pushing one of them which is contradicted by the footage showing the man brushing the officer's hand away as a natural response to her attempt to reach into his trousers further more the officers demonstrated a lack of Good Intentions by refusing to loosen the man's handcuffs despite his repeated complaints of pain revealing a troubling misuse of authority in this encounter handc up this hurt please y please L up this just hurt how do I turn how do I turn your phone off how do I turn your phone off huh how do I turn your phone off I don't know what's the password this [ __ ] hurt you hurt me you stop Hur can you check my my handcuffs at on what's the code to turn your phone off I can't can you loosen up please she don't have my code either can you loosen my code up he pushed an officer no I didn't he pushed an officer no I didn't no I didn't no I didn't refusing to loosen the man's handcuffs May violate the eth amendment which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment this amendment applies not only to postconviction punishments but also to the treatment of detained or arrested individuals the National Institute of Health emphasizes the importance of addressing pressing pain from handcuffs as overtightening in violent situations can cause considerable trauma leading to fractures lacerations and nerve injuries so you heard it on the phone this is this is obviously an accident because your tires have to make contct cuz I'm like I can't understand this I can't this is an accident he he hit something that made him end up like that right so we asked for his driver's license his registration insurance and he said no I went he has a knife right here and he keeps putting his hands where you are so I went to take the knife and he pushed her so that is why he's arrested we can't he's obviously drunk we can't do anything about the DUI but like we said this is a crash and he good and like how did I'm trying to figure out like how did this happen like he won't tell us so it's like and he pushed you I can't believe he pushed somebody he's drunk so and he push you no he so that's why he's going to jail car's being Tow and that's that that's the only thing he's getting charged at he's battery lot person we can't we don't we can't charge him with the so if you got lucky in that aspect but we do have to S the car you you wouldn't be able to drive it even why not right no even why why I can't drive it cuz it's total the under Carriage has damage you can't you got to get a toil truck to pull that off the tracks it just it doesn't just drive off yeah cuz he told me something about that and I I just ran down the street like I just put on my clothes and come out here like yeah unfortunately there's no way you can't pull that out of I could I could but then there's damage to the bottom of it I could pull it out I could take it home I mean like not to his home okay well when the T tr get is it your car too is that no it's not my car his girlfriend his girlfriend that's his girlfriend that's her car okay well then if it's it's not your car then it's not my car my car is down the street I don't have no problems like this and I don't play with you know police officers and I don't push people and I don't do these things well unfortunately this your car we can't let you take it if I can't take it no no you can't it's not your car it's not in your name it' be a different story maybe if it were your car but it's can I call an owner no no he's an adult and these are the cons I know he's a big big trust me a tow truck is a lot cheaper than the $10,000 DUI that he would have gotten had he been sitting in that driver's seat yeah okay but now we need to start doing the paperwork and stuff so I I I'll get I y out of you guys have a good night good okay well he's being 10:15 due to the signal 4 originally so it's a crash and it can be ordered this way yeah I have to do call or Road jail and don't have anything to do with the jail you have to figure out the Google jail and it'll pop up but uh excuse me ma'am what can I tell my girlfriend something no I can't tell her anything no that would be me using my discretion and being courteous which I don't have to do you don't have to exactly because I don't need to you've given me no reason to go out of my way to do anything for you but I'm a citizen I don't care I'm a citizen too yeah but you work for the citizen you people you don't care be cour to people I don't have to be courteous to someone who pushed me I didn't push you stop it's on video so whatever take Court stop it stop it stop it stop it stop it you also wouldn't give us the information we asked for so information is all the car you all have right now already so now what is the issue your pride that's it you are people your pride is what makes you I work for the city I don't work for the for people you for people we pay your tax we pay your tax I pay my taxes too oh don't worry I'm requesting everything all of theme request everything I my all okay good for you Dam can't no C at all y won y w't treat citizens we will check them give us a second no second at all you had thousands of seconds so well you called your girlfriend to come over here so we had to deal with her I don't know what she's going to do I C no didn't two F don't understand for yeah cour ma'am step away from the car I was his registration okay well you need to put that back so I just turned the car off can I have the keys back thank you you can't go in the car and we already told you this told you this no yeah I didn't can you please now thank you sorry yeah let me see the cups you want me to listen them there's no purpose of call Y it's with I'm doing it myself this the result people they supposed to Ser they come and harass and arrest why call them to I got Triple A already too and I told them I have Triple A don't even use them I have three more moves that I can move on them I pay for it yearly everything is registered my leg my my license my registration everything is fine everything is fine but you just want he just want you uh uh want to get the uh thing for your arrest you like [Music] damn TR eventually the man was jailed and arrested for battery against Law Enforcement Officers two police officers were also fired as a result of an unlawful arrest in a different case although it is unclear if they were connected to this incident on February 8th 2023 a fire broke out in the apartment of a woman named Taylor Brown in Normal Illinois fire officials and officers from the normal Police Department responded to the fire Miss Brown agreed to go to police headquarters for questioning but after being held for more than 40 minutes she requested to be taken home all right are you who your phone with so we're going to have to seize your phone so go ahead and hang up seize my phone for what goad go ahead and hang up why go ahead and hang up they want to seize my phone but I'm not under arrest for you're not under arrest but your phone's going to be seized no no we're going to you're going to hang up the phone um my phone but I'm in C them all around me I you you listen for a second so the fire is going to be under investigation that's fine okay and we're going to seize your phone why because we are cuz the fire is under investigation I need to know where my phone so you can hand me the phone or I can take the phone but I need to know where my phone's being they're not telling me a reason why my phone I just I just did but you said it's under investigation what so so listen to me the fire her phone so the fire is going to be under investigation and your phone's going to be seized oh no because you you never told me that my phone would be seized when I got here she didn't tell me that okay and when I and when I got here the detective wasn't here you told me that you were about to take me home okay so I'm not going to sit here and argue with you so you can hang up you can hang up with your the phone with and I can take you home yep no they're not taking my phone and letting me leave I don't know what I'm going it's 3: it's 4:00 a.m. I can't go without my phone well if I do the interview can you can go do the you can go do the interview but your phone's going to currently be seized can I talk to him first can he come down here cuz no we're we're not going to do that so you can hang up the phone or I'm going to take the phone that's how this is going to work oh absolutely not so she said hang up the phone and they're going to take the phone cuz at this point I'm being threatened it's not a threat I've asked you several times and you're just going to go back and forth with me a reason as to why my is being taken so the fire is going to be under investigation by the fire department so stop stop don't interrupt me to do with myice so don't interrupt me the fire there going to be under investigation don't ever tell me not interrupt you and not so the phone's going to be seized so in a second I want to what I'm asking you I'm asking you a reason I'm not being rebuttal I'm asking you a reason so if you would like to talk to the detective you can do you wish to talk to him yeah but do you want to give an interview no you're not no I wanted to ask him why my phone's being seized cuz she said she could take me home but without my phone that doesn't make the officer seized Miss Brown's phone during the apartment fire investigation claiming it was necessary the Fourth Amendment generally requires a warrant based on probable cause for such seizures the officer cited exceptions including exigent circumstance ances but it remains unclear what evidence they had to justify seizing the phone without a warrant Miss Brown filed a lawsuit revealing the officer's attempt to obtain a post seizure warrant which was not approved this suggests a lack of probable cause initially even if lawfully seized the officers would generally be prohibited from accessing the phone's contents without a separate search warrant so are you going to talk to the detective no I'm I need I need everyone to come and tell me why my phone's being seized cuz no one told me this until right now cuz it seems like the question so the question no it seems like he's being petty cuz he woke up and I won't do the interview so this was so the so the question is are you going to talk to the detective as a matter of fact are you recording this are you going to talk to the detective and provide an interview yes or no is that with or without the phone without the phone the phone's being seized are you talking to the detective or no is the phone I don't know that my that's not my question I need to answer to that before I get so the question is are you going to provide an interview no unless go hand me the phone I have to know if my phone is go hand me the phone are you a black woman we're going this way they're white I expect them from them black dude the officers attempted to confiscate Miss Brown's phone and used Force to subdue her when she resisted using physical Force against a non-threatening person to seize lawfully owned property is considered a constitutional violation in Illinois resisting or obstructing the authorized action of a peace officer is a Class A demeanor however obstruction charges do not always require physical acts and refusing to surrender seized property may fall within this scope however it is likely that if the officers did not have Reasonable Suspicion to seize Miss Brown's phone without a warrant she could not be convicted of resisting an unauthorized police action you also kicked me in the head so you also I can't here willingly cuz I trusted you and look at what you're doing are you willing to provide a statement or no what is that that mean are you going to talk to me if we go back there or not you are forcing me to I'm asking you if you're going to but you're forcing me to I can't force you to talk you're taking my items I'm seizing this for now yes what does that mean you want to provide a statement my detective I need to talk to her I need an attorney president you can you can okay I need a lawyer you can take her to jail all right take me to ja where's her property whatever charges you guys have you have resisting and aggravated battery of a police officer oh my God I didn't aggravate you you assaulted me okay so relax you assaulted me I'm 18 years old you assault after handcuffing Miss Brown the officers charged her with resisting an aggravated battery if the court finds the seizure of the phone unlawful as discussed earlier it is unlikely that she will be convicted of resisting aggravated battery is applied when an officer is harmed or insulted in the line of duty unlike charges of resisting the court accepts an officer acting in good faith regardless of subsequent constitutional considerations had Miss Brown made physical contact she could have faced battery charges I'm aggravated I I wasn't a resisting arrest you didn't say that I was under arrest I asked you so listen don't I asked you to provide your phone and you refused okay when you you didn't give me a reason so no I said your phone was being seed I asked you the reason I trusted you that's why I came did not hand me your phone then we took your phone I came here officers you're going to jail I kicked you all because you all were men handling me I couldn't move I was scared we kick police officers but I was scared hello you would do the same thing why is my stuff being seized you told me I was coming here for an interview I came here under false pretenses that is a case itself do you want to go back and talk or not there will be three cases filed in the morning I promise you yes or no you want to go let's go let's go to the cage jail wherever we're going I need to make a call I get one call I know that much I I resisted because you gave me no reason you cannot search me or take my my items was giving me no reason and it wasn't aggravated assault it's called defending myself when I feel that I'm In Harm's Way and that's the situation that you put me in because I thought I was coming for an interview and now I'm in handcuffs without a phone why would you lie to me I didn't lie to you you did lie to me I did not lie to you times you told me he was here when we got here you told me I was doing an interview and you would take me home why are you treating me like I'm a criminal there was a fire at my house that doesn't matter to you when I'm sitting here talking to you I tried to talk to you and reason with you weren reasoning with me you were just telling me and I'm asking you questions like a human being and you're smiling this is funny to you Miss Brown was taken to mlan county jail and released the next day without charges related to the altercation her phone was returned several hours later on February 23rd 2023 she filed a federal lawsuit against the officers alleging false arrest excessive force failure to intervene and Battery the lawsuit cites physical and emotional trauma as of now the case is pending