really really I'm on the ground dude I know here's some newly released raw body cam footage showing police officers in Sterling Colorado pulling a man out of his doorway hog tying him and leaving him hogtied for around 16 minutes is it constitutional for police officers to hog tie someone under these circumstances is it constitutional for police to hogtize someone under any circumstances watch the footage and I just may have some information about that but I've researched the federal case law there and the results may surprise you also don't forget that time learning about constitutional rights is time well spent so make sure to subscribe both here and at the blog at thecivilrightslawyer.com October 9th 2020 Sterling police officer Paul McDaniel pulled Christian Wetzel from his apartment and threw him to the ground with the assistance of Sterling police officer Matt Williams and Logan County Sheriff's deputy Alton McGuffin the three police officers hogtied Mr Wetzel with his hands handcuffed behind his back his ankles strapped together and his ankles and wrists themselves tied together behind his back they drug him to a police cruiser threw him into the rear seat and then left him in that position until he was finally released at the jail approximately 16 minutes later there was a verbal argument between Mr Wetzel and his wife Brittany Wetzel Mr Wetzel was not ultimately arrested or charged with any criminal offense related to a domestic dispute that day the police officers had been called to the scene following a call from a neighbor of course of a possible domestic dispute due to hearing loud voices thank you all right wasn't you involved no all righty is that the vehicle though I don't know oh yeah after the officers arrived at the apartment they could not hear anyone yelling inside the apartment they did not observe any altercation taking place or any crimes at all being committed officer McDaniel asked Brittany Wetzel what was going on and she just stated just an argument she didn't appear to have any injuries she did not request their assistance she had not called them to the scene at all all right what's going on an argument okay at least Mr Wetzel then walks up into the doorway from inside the apartment he did not step outside the threshold of the apartment door he asked officer McDaniel what's up man in a calm non-threatening and non-aggressive manner officer McDaniel asked Mr Wetzel to quote come here and talk to me man Mr Wetzel in a calm non-threatening and non-aggressive manner stated I'm cool indicated that indicating that he wanted to stay inside the doorway of his apartment to talk to them and not leave the apartment what's up man come out here and talk to me man I'm cool oh come out here and talk to me then come out here and talk to me come out here and talk to me dude hey do not pull away from me don't he can be seen making no sudden moves he did not threaten the officers in any way Mr Wetzel did not appear to be armed nor did the officers appear to have any information or any indication that Mr Wetzel was armed Mr Wetzel was ultimately hogtied for approximately 16 minutes all right you gonna be cool everybody got that on camera real quick I didn't say anything or resist you approached me man look at all that videos Man really I'm on the ground dude I know what's wrong with you I didn't even fight let me see your camera dude hey you really you don't make the rules ah I ain't doing nothing let go of yourself what are you doing dude ah bend your legs hey there you go hey hey quit you quit I ain't doing nothing man ah get off me hey Gene will have a male in custody I don't like you guys for reasoning too like that I didn't even do nothing to y'all ready yeah please get off me dude one two three oh dude I ain't resisted let me walk yeah videotape this man get off me you did that we dropped you hey what's wrong with you man and there was no indication that any domestic related crime had been committed that day at all there were no charges pertaining to the underlying call which the officers had arrived to investigate now however Mr Wetzel was charged with disorderly conduct resisting arrest and obstructing all the charges were subsequently dismissed by Logan County court judge Ray Ann Brammer a lawsuit was filed just a few days ago in state court in Colorado over these allegations I'll post it up to the blog at the link in the description as for the facts based on the body cam footage and the facts presented in the media reports and the civil lawsuit constitutional rights were indeed violated why although the officers were called to the scene of a reported domestic dispute they ended up acting on a very small amount of information that even if true does not justify the arrest of the homeowner much less a use of force against him much less a hog tying of him a neighbor had called 9-1-1 reporting a suspected verbal argument there was apparently no allegation of any crime being committed or that anyone's physical safety was in Jeopardy when officers arrived at the scene they saw no crime being committed they located and observed both spouses at the residence neither appeared to be in distress or requested their assistance without Mrs Wetzel requesting their assistance under these circumstances the officers had no justification for pulling Mr Wetzel out of his house that's a Fourth Amendment violation right there but even assuming that they acted properly up to that point which they didn't then we have the arrestee being hogtied on the ground which is of course the purpose of this video now Colorado is in the 10th federal circuit a quick search of the case law shows that police officers hog-tying anyone is a terrible idea under almost any fact pattern it could theoretically be reasonable under some circumstances but I really don't even know what that would be it certainly would not be reasonable under this fact pattern where the arrestee had not committed any crime at all much less a severe crime watching the body cam footage shows that the oreste is not attempting to harm the officers in any way in that he poses no threat to them no reasonable one anyways rather it appears that the officers hog-tied the man in retaliation for not immediately respecting their Authority by stepping out of his house when they asked him to do so despite the fact that they had no legal justification to demand that this appears to be one of those common situations where the police are going to just teach a lesson about respecting the police it's clearly not about the safety of anyone at the scene including the arrestee there's a 10th circuit case Weigel versus broad from 2008 that discusses hog tying making it clear that the Court's consider it akin to the use of deadly force as it poses a very high danger of positional asphyxiation I'll put all the legal citations in the blog post on this which you'll find in the description now the Weigel case also cites another 10th circuit case from 2001 Cruz versus city of Laramie which is relevant here in the cruise Wyoming police officers responded to a complaint of a naked man running on the exterior Landing of an apartment building now when the officers arrived Mr Cruz the man on the landing was jumping up and down kicking his legs in the air when he descended from The Landing the officers wrestled him to the ground and handcuffed him then they hog-tied him shortly after that Mr Cruz's face blanched then he was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced Dead on Arrival expert reports indicated that Mr Cruz's death resulted from positional asphyxiation citing Crews the 2008 Weigel opinion denied those police officers qualified immunity for similar conduct issuing a clear warning to law enforcement to think twice about hog-tying arrestees as a result of this the Wyoming State Police as I understand it prohibited the practice for their officers back in the 90s the doj also warned against the cruel practice I also set up a rumble account there are a lot of other hog tying cases out there there as well but I gave you the 10th circuit case law as that is applicable to this particular jurisdiction as always thanks for watching and you can find more detailed information on this at the blog post Linked In the description at the Civil Rights lawyer.com I want to thank you for bringing me well over the 100 000 subscriber mark on YouTube if you haven't subscribed yet please do and make sure to also click the Bell notification of course so that YouTube doesn't get to decide when when you see my video also I set up a rumble account so make sure to subscribe over there it's also called the civil rights lawyer Channel just in case as you've seen some of the crazy stuff that's been going on and I'll probably also start uploading some of the more graphic law enforcement videos excessive force type stuff over there because YouTube gives me a really difficult time with them they'll restrict just about anything these days that isn't specifically designed for PBS or something also on Facebook you can watch most of these same videos at my page there titled John H Brian attorney at law and then actually been a lot better as far as not restricting or censoring ridiculous stuff over there you can also find me on Twitter the same name the civil rights lawyer specifically at johnbrien Esq thanks remember freedom is scary deal with it I'll see you next time