As far as the bills, you don't want to take it. >> Well, it's going to take it cuz it's your citation. >> That's your citation. That's littering. Step out of the car. Citation. That's littering. Step out of the car. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Yes, ma'am. Step out. >> I'm not stepping out. >> Step out. >> Yes. I'm not >> a school zone. 40 in a 25. That is the entire reason this stop happens. And if it had ended the way almost every stop like it ends, you would never have seen a second of this tape. 8 minutes later, there are three officers on scene. A woman is on the pavement in handcuffs. Her child is watching from the car and she is going to jail. I'm Brad Graves, and I'll set your expectations. Honestly, this is not the video you're used to from me. Nobody here is a monster. The officer does several things exactly right, and I'll show you each one. There is a single moment where this stops being a ticket and starts being an arrest. It takes about 4 seconds. Watch for it, then stay to the end because the police department cut 3 minutes out of the video they released and put a card on screen telling you they were doing it. Hi there. Hi. >> I'm Corpal Morgan with the Hurst Police Department. Reason why you're getting stopped. You were just driving through a school zone going 40. It's a 25 through there. Do you have your driver's license, proof of insurance with you today? >> Where are y'all heading to this afternoon? >> Home. >> Coming from >> Why? >> Just a question. >> It's none of your business. >> I'm sorry. It's none of your business. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah, >> it is. >> Okay. Do you have your insurance? >> I'm showing the back. >> Any reason for the hurry this afternoon? >> I I wasn't in a hurry. I didn't even I didn't even see a school. >> There was a flashing signal as you were driving through directly on the side of the roadway. Start with whether he could stop her at all because everything downstream depends on it. Uh 40 in a school zone posted at 25. The stop is lawful. That is not the interesting part. Listen to what she is asked next. Where are you coming from? What are you heading to this afternoon? Any reason for the hurry? Here is one of the most useful things in this whole video. You do not have to answer any of those. Not one. where you came from is not an element of speeding. And she doesn't. She says, "It's not your business." She is right. Now, notice what happens to her for saying it. Nothing. He moves on. That is what a lawful refusal looks like when it actually works. Can I see your phone? That's good till March. Let me go check on your license. I'll be right back with you. Y'all just stay in the car for me. So far, an ordinary stop. Speeding, a license, a citation. 90 seconds from now, that is over. Okay, Tanisha, you'll be receiving a citation today for the speed. I just need to get a signature from you. This is not an admission of guilt. >> It's a promise. You're not going to sign it? No, >> that's fine. I'll just put refuse. Um, I need to get the VIN number on the car real quick. I'll enter that. I'll print you your copy and send you on your way. Where's your registration sticker on the car? >> I just bought this car, so I'm waiting for it. >> No question. >> I'm just asking. Okay. >> Do you have your bill of sale with the car then? >> No, I don't. >> Okay. You should probably carry that with you if you're not going to display your registration sticker. >> Quick word cuz it matters right here. Everything that goes wrong in the next 15 minutes comes down to one piece of paper in about 4 seconds. I put the exact words to say at a traffic stop and the law behind every one of them in my know your rights playbook. 67 pages. Link in the description. Now watch this because this is the part of the tape I would show a police academy. He comes back with the citation and says, "I just need a signature. This is not an admission of guilt. That is correct. And it is the most misunderstood sentence in American traffic law. Signing is not a confession. It is a written promise to appear. That is all it has ever been." Then she refuses. I'm not signing it. Listen to his answer. That's fine. I'll just put refused. Stop the tape there. That is a deescalation. He had a lawful basis to make that refusal into a problem and he declined. He wrote refused and by his own words, she was about to be sent on her way with a piece of paper. I have covered stops where refusing to sign is exactly where it all goes wrong. This is not one of them, and I am not going to pretend otherwise because it would make a better video. >> Well, I wasn't told that. So, we might need to get updated on the walls. All right, give me just a second. All right. Here's your copy of the citation. As far as the bills, you don't want to take it. >> Well, it's going to take it cuz it's your citation. >> That's your citation. That's lettering. Step out of the car. Citation. That's lettering. Step out of the car. No. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Step out. I'm not stepping out. Step out. Yes. Call out. I'm not out. Don't touch me. Step out. Don't touch me. Step out. I'm not stepping out. Call out. >> I am the supervisor. You're not the supervisor. I am the supervisor. I'm not your hand off. Get your hand off me. Get your hand off me. I will step out from the supervisor. I am the supervisor. Nothing. Get your hand off. >> Get your hand off. I'm not letting go. You You littered. You dropped the ticket. Not me. >> I put the ticket in the car. >> You dropped the ticket. >> You dropped the ticket, not me. Get your hands off me. >> Here is the 4 seconds he hands her the copy. The paper ends up outside the car. They do not agree about how it got there, and they never will. He says, "I put it in your car and you threw it out." She says, "You dropped it." I have watched this frame by frame and the truth is this camera does not settle it. You see the paper leave, you never get a clean angle on the hand that sends it, but the legal consequence does not wait for that argument to be resolved. The moment he forms the belief that she threw it, he has a second offense in front of him littering. Uh in Texas, for a small item, that is a class C misdemeanor. The same class as the speeding ticket. not serious, but it is an offense he now believes he watched happen. And that changes his authority. He is no longer a man delivering a piece of paper. He can order her out of the car. That is exactly what he says next. >> Take the ticket. >> You're touching me. Give me the ticket. You're touching me forcibly. You're holding me tight and you're big. Out of line, sir. I'm sorry. Can she just get the ticket? >> No. You stop. Why are you holding my arm like that? Because I gave you the ticket and you proceeded to throw it down. I put it in your car. I told you I did not want you proceeded to throw it out of the car. >> You dropped it. You're doing too much. I'm not afraid of you. Get your fine. But I've asked you to step out of the car possibly for no reason. >> Because you need to step out of the >> step out of the car. >> No. Why do I STEP OUT OF THE CAR? >> Is there anything I can do to get you to comply? >> Look, Mom. He just said take the ticket out. You threw the car out of the car. >> No, I did not. YOU DID THAT. YOU THREW THE ticket at me. >> I gave it to you so you could leave. And then you >> step out of the car. 1977, Pennsylvania against Mims. During a lawful stop, an officer may order the driver out and needs no extra suspicion to do it. That is not a gray area. It is nearly 50 years old and it is not getting argued away through a car window. So when she says, "I'm not stepping out," the legal question is already closed. Not the moral one, the legal one. And uh the place to win that argument is never the roadside. There, the officer decides what happens next. In a courtroom with this exact tape, your lawyer does comply physically, object verbally, let the camera hold it for you. You just watched a lawful stop turn into an arrest without anyone breaking a law they meant to break. That is the part people never see coming. It is almost never about whether you are innocent. It is about knowing what to do in the 90 seconds while somebody decides how big to make this. That's why I wrote the know your rights playbook. Links in the description. >> Grabbed it and threw it out. It's on your phone video. Give me the ticket. No, we're be we're past that. You're under arrest. Step out of the car. Literally. >> Step out of the car. You're under arrest. When the ma'am when your beyond that getting out of the car with my child and I'm not understand you're with your child. Step out of the car. >> Step out of the car. Step out when when another officer gets here. I'm not I don't trust you. You're You're holding me too strong because I don't trust you not holding me like I'm not going anywhere. Where am I going to go? >> I will stop holding you if you step out of the car. >> I'm not stepping out of the car. >> You need to step out of the car. >> I will get out of the car. This is resisting arrest. I'm not resisting arrest because you're not answering my order. Literally under arrest for I I didn't litter. You did that. No, I did not. You did that. YOU DID THAT. IT'S ALL ON CAMERA. CORRECT. When your colonel gets here, then I will step out. I have my child with me. I'm getting out of >> You have a You have a supervisor. Okay. >> I am the supervisor on supervisor gets here. I am the highest ranking supervisor. I don't have anyone else. >> There is someone else. >> Not right now. >> There is someone else. >> You need to step out of the car. Stop. Get your [ __ ] away. Please sir, stop. Get out. Wake up. WAKE UP. STOP. PLEASE STOP. STOP. Get out. Stop. Stop. Please stop. Please stop. >> Please stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. >> Now. Watch how long this goes on because the length is the whole story. She asked for a supervisor. Reasonable. Most people don't know they can ask. Listen to the answer. I am the supervisor. He is a corporal, the ranking officer on scene. And he tells her so. She doesn't accept it. He says, "When your colonel gets here, then I will step out." That is the turn. A conditional is not compliance. I'll comply when somebody else arrives. Is is legally a refusal with a timet attached. And he keeps asking, "Count them on the tape 15 times. Is there anything I can do to get you to comply? I understand you're with your child." Three full minutes pass between the first order and hands going on her. That is a long time to be frightened in your own car with your kid in the back and a long time for an officer to stand in a traffic lane repeating himself. This is what happens when neither person moves. >> Roll over. Roll over. >> Roll over. >> Roll over. >> How am I going to roll over? >> Roll over. Roll over to the left. >> Pull your hand out. >> All you had to do is take the ticket and leave. She's in custody. >> Get my phone. >> All right. I'm going to lean you this way. Step up. >> So, uh, the part everyone argues about the hands. She says it on camera. You're touching me forcibly. Get your hand off me, he answers, because I don't trust you. Here is the standard, and it is the same everywhere in this country. 1989, Graham against Connor. Forces judged by objective reasonleness, weighing the severity of the offense, whether the person is an immediate threat, and whether they are actively resisting. Run this stop through those three. Severity very low. Speeding and littering, both class C. immediate threat. Nothing on this tape suggests one. Actively resisting. Yes, by her own words, she is refusing to exit. Conditioned on a supervisor who is not coming. That third factor is why the internal affairs complaint came back unfounded and why she is the one facing a resisting charge. I'm not telling you to like that. I'm telling you that's what the test does with these facts. And if you're ever in that seat, it's the test being applied to you. knees. There we go. Throw into this car back here. Face the number 11 right there. Spread your feet for me. No guns, drugs, knives on you. Right. No guns, drugs, or knives on you. >> Yes or no? >> Do it look like I got any guns, drugs, or knives on me? >> I don't know. It's why I asked you. It's a yes or no question. Okay, he's in the back of my hand. >> Get my phone in there. PLEASE WAIT. PLEASE STOP. PLEASE STOP. Pull over. Pull over. Pull over. Pull over. lower to the left. >> Pull your hand out. >> All you had to do is take the ticket and leave. >> Number 13. One female. She's in custody. phone. >> All right. Yeah. Get her set up and have her sit up against the bumper of the car. >> All right. This way. Step up by the feet, please. There we go. This car back here right there. Spread your tree for you. No guns, drugs, knives on you, right? >> No guns, drugs, or knives on you. >> Yes or no? >> I got any guns and drugs or knives on me. >> He doesn't know. That's why he's asking you. >> That's why I asked you. It's a yes or no question. >> Okay, he's in the back of my hand. Get my phone. Getting there. So, here is the part that is actually worth your time. What you do instead, four things. They cost you nothing and they end almost every version of this one. Take the paper. Whatever you think of the ticket, accept it. A citation in your hand is a court date. A citation on the ground is in the officer's mind a second offense he just watched. And that is the hinge this whole video turns on. Two, sign it if asked. It is not an admission of guilt. It is a promise to appear that officer said so himself correctly on his own camera. Three, when you're told to step out, step out. But as your hands leave that wheel, say the words, "I am not resisting. I do not consent to any searches once clearly to the camera. Four, ask for a supervisor once and accept the answer. Naming a rank you'd prefer does not summon one and conditional compliance reads as refusal on every tape. At the start, I said one moment turned this from a ticket into an arrest. It is the paper leaving the car. I also said the department cut 3 minutes from their own release and said so on screen. They were open about it, but it means the version everyone is arguing about on both sides is not the whole tape. I have requested the unedited recording. I put every one of these scripts and the statutes behind them into my know your rights playbook. Link is in the description. And if you have a son or daughter who has just started driving, send them this one. 4 seconds and a piece of paper is all it takes. Educational only, not legal advice. Laws vary by state. Look at how this ended. A school zone ticket and a woman face down on the pavement with her child watching from the car. Nothing she did that afternoon was a crime when the stop began. What changed was 4 seconds in a piece of paper. That is the part that should stay with you because it means the whole thing turned on something you can actually control. Not your record, not your innocence. Knowing what to do while somebody at your window decides how big to make this. So I wrote it down. The know your rights playbook. 67 pages, the exact words, the statutes underneath them, what you must hand over and what you never have to written for people who don't have a lawyer on speed dial. Link is in the description. can keep it in the glove box next to the registration.