The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable seizures of persons under Terry versus Ohio a lawful investigatory stop requires reasonable articulable suspicion of ongoing criminal activity that standard is not met by conduct that is already concluded at a separate location before the officer arrives on scene when the officer withheld the subject's identification and conditioned its return on compliance with a verbal command a Fourth Amendment seizure occurred regardless of how that demand was framed withholding identification as a coercive tool without articulable suspicion of active criminal conduct has no basis in Georgia law or federal constitutional doctrine the stated basis for detention was verbal conduct at a bar specifically the use of racial slurs directed at service staff under Cohen versus California decided in 1971 the government cannot criminalize speech merely because it is offensive vulgar or morally reprehensible city of Houston versus hill decided in 1987 extended that Protection explicitly to confrontational language directed at law enforcement officers Georgia Code Section 16 11 39 defines disorderly conduct to require either violent or tumultuous conduct or fighting words that tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace the key modifier is immediate offensive words spoken at a bar after which the speaker voluntarily departed do not satisfy that statutory threshold at the time of police contact witnesses on scene unprompted correctly identified this legal boundary offensive language without physical conduct does not meet the elements of the charge once a seizure occurs any use of physical force to effectuate it is governed by Graham versus Conner decided in 1989 Graham requires objective reasonableness evaluated from the perspective of a reasonable officer on scene accounting for the severity of the offense the threat level and the degree of active resistance the alleged offense was verbal disorderly conduct a misdemeanor with contested legal basis the subject displayed no weapon and made no physical threat at any point during the encounter the subject verbally stated his willingness to comply on multiple occasions under Graham these factors collectively weigh against the proportionality of a takedown in a crowded public terminal extended ground restraint while simultaneously ordering a subject to stand is internally contradictory and creates unnecessary duration of force without a corresponding threat justification a secondary charge consideration is Georgia Code Section 16 10 24 obstruction of a law enforcement officer that statute contains a critical prerequisite the officer must be in the lawful discharge of official duties The Georgia Court of appeals in state versus Henderson established that resistance to an unlawful police action cannot independently constitute obstruction under that statute if the predicate seizure lacked Fourth Amendment justification which this analysis concludes it did the obstruction charge built on that foundation does not survive legal scrutiny can I have my ID where you going can I have my ID where are you going can I have my ID come on walk with me or you're gonna be going to jail to clean the county jail I will walk with you no worries but can I have my ID please no we're not gonna play these games out here what have I done I haven't done anything can I have my ID you was being a disturbance at this restaurant you were I just want my ID on September 20th, 2024 the Atlanta Police Department responded to a reported disturbance at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport this footage raises three distinct constitutional questions each one traceable to a specific moment in the encounter first whether the detention was legally justified second whether the speech involved was criminal third whether the force applied was proportionate what happened what happened well um I know everybody at the bar could tell you but I wasn't here for majority of it but he was calling people n*ggas and calling us black girls he just walked past yeah just walked past after all of this whispered in my ear like you guys love he's just acting making everybody yeah he left his wallet right there he uh he addressed her she was behind the bar I was walking up and he said hey black girl so I was like what you say I was like sir I'm gonna need you to leave because you know you don't address nobody like that but then um as he leaving he gonna call me a stupid ass n*gga I said excuse me he said you heard enough came back he's going this way I know how he look he can't walk past cause he's trying to get inside yeah he left his wallet up and then I realized he left his wallet alright so what so what you want me to do I don't need to know what you can do but like Springfield yes I know everybody at the bar was super uncomfortable that lady yeah over there she's the one who gave me card so so I mean she flying Delta we can talk to a redcoat cause I can't not let him fly you know what I mean I don't yeah yeah he ain't do nothing to be arrested yeah that's what I'm saying so cause names ain't gonna hurt nobody yeah but so that's what I'm saying unless you wanna get a redcoat then they can you know don't fly so you want me give him his wallet that's why y'all giving it to me hey you can if you want to get it on but uh he was walking up drinking out beers and stuff like that like I think this is better wrong yeah I don't know you said you're down this way yeah I'm pointing out to you yeah alright OK I'll be right back with you yes hey how you doing alright yeah let's say we could talk to Rico which one which one this one right here hey what's up come here what you want sir what you want I got something of yours your wallet you want sir you want your wallet or not keep walking doesn't bother me I just I just take it lost and found it ain't it ain't my wallet it ain't mine so huh there you go what is it I asked you to come talk to me you kept walking I told you what it is what is it what is what what is it right what is it right is this yours yes or no yes I asked you to stop I didn't hear you you didn't hear me yes you did hear me can I have my ID where you going can I have my ID where are you going can I have my ID come on about to get in trouble sir who who's gonna get in trouble can I have my ID so I can walk with you who's gonna get come on can I have my ID come on come on cause you don't need to be flying can I have my ID please sir can I have my ID walk with me or you're gonna be going to jail to clean the county jail I will walk with you no worries but can I have my ID please no we're not gonna play these games out here what have I done I haven't done anything can I have my ID you was being a disturbance at this restaurant you were I just want my ID you called me a stupid ass nigga for you left twerking you called a girl black a black girl fine if that's how you feel yo come on where are you going where you flying I'm going with you what the f*ck you talking about okay come on stop touching me okay stop talking to me I'll walk with you stop touching you or talking to you stop walking with me I'll walk with you right that's what you asked right you wanna make a scene you wanna make a scene out here that's what you asked right I will walk with you let's go you just walked you just dropped your hands are in my pocket you just you just dropped your uh your your credit card I appreciate it thank you I appreciate it you you wanna make a scene out here no I just want what you do all this yelling and screaming Jesus Christ oh my God what put your hand behind your back what are you doing I'm gonna show you what I'm doing what are you doing cause we ain't not gonna be doing this OK fine yep fine thank you man appreciate it go ahead I can't believe that you would take a word to f*cking make it happen bro I'm all about you come on OK don't push me stop pushing me bro come on stop pushing me walk with you walk I will walk with you walk stop walking with me stop walking with me stop walking with me right right stop walking with me stop walking with me I walk with you I'm stuck with you stop walking with me stop walking with me I'm not walking with you cut it out cut it out I was gonna take you to the front you wanna act a fool now get up get off of me I need I need walking with you I need walking with you I need walking with you I need walking with you now get up no I'm fine you're fine ah please now get up get up I didn't wake you get up I didn't wake up man get up get up I was just trying to break what you just said get up come on get up I didn't do anything to you man 37 o one to radio I was just trying to get them into my room man I was just trying to get them into my room man 33 ah get up come on get up I didn't do anything to you come on come on I was just trying to get to you girl come on get up I was just trying to take to get a Gucci okay I was just trying to get to you trying to get to you I didn't do anything to you okay now you're going to jail I need to wait for you okay come over here huh you're not going nowhere huh sit down I'm not going nowhere you stupid f*ck yeah until you grab me until you grab me f*ck you I'm in my own parents I know that's good that's good yeah I know that's what that's the call I got yes that's how you gonna remember me when these f*cking b*tches f*cking talking that sh*t bro I never he's not talking shit he didn't say anything come on man stand up let's go no you don't sit down sure yeah you wanna grab me and everything let him sit down we're alright alright I didn't do sh*t bro yes you did huh I didn't do sh*t bro no problem hey you better fucking touch me n*gga you better touch me get up hey I didn't do nothing brother I know that's why you going to jail cause you didn't do nothing okay lost it lost it look at this shit lost it f*cking love you better f*cking let go and think it this n*gga lost bro huh he lost we're down here so popcorn i'mma lose you on the question of civil liability any person subjected to an unlawful seizure or excessive force by a state actor possesses a cause of action under 42 United States Code section 1983 to defeat such a claim the officer must demonstrate that the constitutional right at issue was not clearly established at the time of the conduct the qualified immunity defense both the First Amendment Protection for offensive speech and the Fourth Amendment prohibition on seizure without articulable suspicion were clearly established law well before September 2024 qualified immunity would face substantial difficulty as a defense on these specific facts given the depth and age of the governing precedents in this area the officer receives a d the initial detention lacked the legal foundation required by Terry the stated probable cause for arrest did not satisfy the elements of Georgia disorderly conduct the physical force applied exceeded what Graham versus Conner permits against a verbally compliant unarmed subject Miranda advisements were absent during a prolonged custodial interaction credit is given for not deploying a weapon and for attempting verbal direction before physical contact those factors do not offset the constitutional deficiencies at the core of this arrest the subject receives a C plus his legal assessment of the situation was accurate his conduct at the bar however offensive was constitutionally protected expression under existing doctrine his repeated verbal assertions of cooperation were legally significant and created a record that strengthens a potential civil rights claim however physical resistance to a detention even an unlawful one is legally perilous under Georgia law the appropriate remedy for an unlawful arrest is a suppression motion not a physical confrontation sustained verbal escalation while constitutionally protected reduced the clarity of an otherwise strong legal position and complicated the evidentiary record for any future proceeding three lessons emerge from this encounter applicable across jurisdictions first the threshold between offensive speech and criminal conduct is a constitutional line not a moral one officers who conflate personal offence with legal authority to detain invite Section 1983 liability second when a subject verbally agrees to comply continued physical force loses its gram justification de escalation at that point is not only tactically sound it is constitutionally required third for individuals who believe they are being unlawfully detained the most legally protective course of action is verbal assertion of rights combined with physical non resistance courts can suppress unlawful arrests and award civil damages they cannot undo the consequences of resistance that generates new and independent criminal exposure let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic that you would like us to discuss in the comments below thank you for watching and don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more 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