an off-duty police officer to chase somebody down and RAM a vehicle for having a tail light out I told you about the crash she said you're investigating criminal mischief I told you what happened there that's it I kind of feel like they're trying to protect their officer at all cost we don't want to put you in a position where you have to make a decision like that let me put it that way he was like well he had a gun drawn was it a flashlight attached to the gun pointed at you in your face yes sir yes sir I get what you're saying man but you're not being forthcoming I'm be honest with you what you're saying does not line up with the evidence welcome back to the lackluster channel in early summer of 2023 Deputy Finn of the Ellis County Sheriff's Office was dispatched to the home of a man that wanted to make a police report concerning damaged property yeah my name is corpal f I work for the sheriff's office I got a call that you had an issue you wanted to speak about yes all right so just take me through what happened okay so it was about 10:30 11:00 we just got off of the lake and leaving the lake Ryan was pulling my 1983 Mastercraft we left the lake he got a little ahead of me Ryan said that going down Roach Road this Jeep started following him and like riding his butt and you're driving aggressive so he was flashing his his white light bar on his Jeep at him this guy Curtis uh Curtis Farmer Walk haty police officer Mr farmer had uh gone around Ryan at some point was like break checking him um stopping in front of him and so Ryan passed him and Ryan says that uh that this Jeep flew up around him stopped in front of him kind of diagonal ac across the road and uh Ryan still had no idea what was going on did not know it was a police officer trying to stop him so Ryan hit the ditch he thought somebody was you know trying to stop him and beat him up or something you know he was scared this officer goes into the ditch and comes up beside Ryan on the right side and steers into to my boat trailer he like basically pit maneuvered my boat trailer um destroyed my trailer so that's the wheel that he hit the axle on my trailer is knocked back 6 in on both sides he hit it hard I don't know if that's from the tire the bumper on his Jeep but it it cracked the fender on my on my trailer um pushed the fender into the boat and scratched the boat after he hit the trailer well the guy rig of beer when I got there I just saw uh I saw the Jeep behind my trailer and my trailer sitting there with a flat tire on it so I stopped and I was like hey Ryan what happened um he didn't didn't exactly tell me what happened right then he just uh he was like well I didn't hit anything I didn't hit anything he said uh something else happened and I said okay I I don't understand I said whatever I'm going to go get my spare tire come back we'll put a spare on it and we'll go so I get back with the spare we put it on there sitting there talking Curtis is drinking a beer standing there on the side of the road he actually he offered me a beer went to the the passenger seat of his Jeep and got a CO's light and gave me a CO's light I sit there and drank it with him I I mean at that point I knew he was a police officer and I was like well I guess I'm going to drink your beer you know I've got property damage and you know somebody's going to have to answer for that and I I feel like my reason for for reporting this is I feel like if this officer feels like he gets away with something like this what does it escalate to next time does somebody get hurt next time um that's what concerns me you know after speaking with the claimant the deputy verified details about the incident from another witness that was on scene so you couldn't tell if he was holding a can of beer when you got back no okay he did get one out as we were sitting there fixing the so you saw him walk back to his vehicle and get a beer out could you tell what kind it was mty light or something light it was a silver can silver can the case was then handed off to investigator at Alano to dig further into the incident he began by calling other Witnesses I think he said his name is Curtis he's a walk cop he was like well he had a gun drawn and I was like are you sure is he in his cop car or is in like you know and he's like no he's in a jeep I've known CS for a very long time so we pull up and I get out and I'm like chuz what in the world are you doing he was like oh n just back roaden he had a gun draw I was like what do you have his gun drawing for and I looked at the trailer and I said Ryan what in the world did you hit well immediately Curtis is like an armadillo so I just kind of like looked at him and I looked at Ryan and Ryan's looking at me like just don't say anything you know Curtis made a comment and was like something about looks like a 35 inch tire hited or something huh then when Ryan finally said told us what happened I was like okay that makes sense and of course when you look at the tire or the trailer you can tell did Curtis appear into toxicated to you at all he did he was intoxicated for sure more intoxicated than I've seen him in a very long time honestly right his next call was to the man driving the trailer when it was damaged there was a vehicle parked in a driveway and uh they pulled out behind me and kind of sped up and then turned on a light bar and they proceeded to like get closer to me so I took off you know pretty fast and they chased me and I stopped like to say okay well who is this you know well they went around me real slow and then got in front of me and they were going really slow he was breake checking me and I'd stopped and so I tried to go around him when I tried to go around him he swerved to the left and he hit the boat trailer with his Jeep got stopped and parked to see what the damage was and when I got out it seemed like a flashlight was being pointed at me then he said my name because I knew the guy there was no absolutely no damage to his Jeep I think it was just the tire probably hit and rolled over the fender itself did Curtis appear to be St skated to you or yes sir I believe so and he was like GD Ryan why are you doing this and he put the flashlight down I could tell it was a gun was it a was it a flashlight attached to the gun yes sir and the flashlight was pointed at you in your face yes sir yes sir he was like you you have a brake light out that's why I was following you you can't be driving around like that I'm like well you're not even a cop right now you know you're off duty if there was a problem you probably should just called the sheriff or something you know mhm Ryan's allegations were disturbing especially if the described incident was conducted under the guise of being an officer the crash happened near Italy Texas but Curtis is an officer for waah hatchee the incident was way out of his jurisdiction even if he was on duty but even more disturbing was what the victims say about how the police department was handling the incident um hucke called Ryan yesterday and I mean just making it out to be like basically Ryan's fault that he shouldn't had a toil light out it's not fair that Ryan is gonna have to look over his shoulder for this either right I don't think that's the case taner had said the same thing that Huckaby basically was like ugly to him too I just don't want this to turn into you know how it can go I mean let's not be done I I get that but all of this is in the county not in the city it's not their jurisdiction to look into matters like that yeah well and I told Ryan I said you know even if he was in his police car like it was still out of his jurisdiction like is that the reason you chased him down or whatever like you know I said there's things that he has to answer for you know what I mean and right is right and wrong is wrong have you spoken to wache about this and I've only been able to talk to him one time they able to get to him you know get in contact with him and it was officer hucke and he kind of seemed a little uh I don't know upset about the situation towards me you know not towards Curtis kind of made it seem like it was my fault when they're asking me questions when walks a hatch she asks me what do I need to do because I kind of feel like they're trying to you know protect their officer at all costs kind of how I feel I don't know what walks Hatchy would even have jurisdiction over since you're on G and Dana Road any pass beef with you and Curtis no sir not at all we' I mean that's what I'm saying me and him always been good friends got it and so that's it's hard for me hard for me to sit here and do this but it ain't my so yeah yeah you know I got to respect the man's property sure you know I didn't want ctis to get in trouble I didn't think nothing about it when I told Tanner I was like well hell we'll just go through his insurance and figure it out that way but you know what this is the right thing to do it is then alleged that the agency and Officer Curtis farmer were claiming that the incident never happened and refused to provide insurance information for the estimated damage image which was nearly $3,000 basically they theyve not given me any insurance information for ctis Farmer anything else um and it you know at this point my main concern is the property damage that I have but um apparently he's alleging that uh this never happened that he never never rammed into my trailer and I don't know I'm I'm pretty upset right now this whole thing is just is it's ridiculous sure I mean is there is there anything that we can do to get his insurance information uh and at least even see if they'll file a claim on this yeah let me look into that um you you know you you always have the option as well of filing a civil suit I've been calling around to attorneys to do that and what it boils down to is nobody in this nobody in this County wants to sue a police officer so I'm I'm having to go out of out of County to figure this out and and nobody really wants this case whether it being in a police department you can always file it in JP Court cu the damage is it doesn't rise to the level of requiring it to go to county or District Court it's it's like five grand right mhm that's always an option you have so okay um and again you don't have to have an attorney to file that through JP Court and I did have a quick question uh Chief wiser says that there is zero damage to Curtis's Jeep uh have y'all had a chance still look at his G no I have just finished talking with everybody uh uh yesterday I talked to your wife yesterday at like almost 6 o'clock so I am still drudging my way through talking to uh Witnesses I see okay so I mean there there has to be something on his deep whether whether I mean like on my trailer I've got a black mark on there but it almost looks like a tire rub Mark and from as high as his Jeep sits that's about the only thing that could have trailer right there is is the tire and the wheel but I mean there's there's got to be something on that te unless he's had it fixed already it's possibility too at that point investigator adelano met with the victims to inspect the trailer so clearly you can tell it was just his tire he's got Big old tires on it and I guess what happened it shifted this Fender back into the boat bent the rim blew the tire I know he's saying that it never happened when box hat you told me he said he never made contact with it they won't give me his insurance information yeah we're still working on it yes so all right you ready to go to uh I'll follow you next they met at the scene of the crash while searching the area they found four empty Coors cans a smashed sidelight and a piece of black plastic so they return to the trailer to match the pieces [Music] together yeah cuz look at this one's the same way it has that little hole and everything in the center exact same thing I can pop one of the lights out on the other side too comp one that's complete with more than enough to suspect a collision did occur investigator adelano requested that Curtis farmer meet with him in person at the sheriff's office I just got your voicemail I'm uh I'm in a class so out real quick sure yeah man thanks for calling me back hey I was going to set up a time to see if you can come by and talk with me can I ask uh what what we're talking about is it like the criminal offense or anything yeah well we're going to talk about the the the incident on GS and derer okay is a what's the off what's the criminal offense that's been well I'm looking at what you have to say because I've heard everybody else's so I'm I'm trying to give you an opportunity to tell me what what your side of the story is so all right all righty thank you I'll see you tomorrow I'll see you tomorrow by all right so July 30th was a Sunday MH what happened what is what are the allegations like what what is being said well they're claiming criminal mischief so I'm trying to figure out what happened like I damaged their property yes the guy that was pulling the boat yes I didn't damage any property okay so what happened do you not want to answer or at a loss here but you're here you as me to yeah he was passing me on the left pulled over in front of me and stopped his vehicle he said he had a blowout we looked at the tire at some point during our contact he thought that maybe either he hit me I hit him some vehicular contact took place we went and looked at my Jeep and there was no damage at all so we couldn't have stroke I drove my Jeep away there was no problems with it okay so you're saying you did not hit I did not hit his trailer no did you see the trailer I seen the blown out Tire yes with a with a bend in it which would indicate that if he struck something it would leave some kind of Mark or indentation or something like that there was nothing on my Jeep no no tire transfer no no nothing I took my Jeep to my PD and they've looked at it and they took pictures and there's no damage on it okay can you just tell me what happened that night then I mean I I know what you're telling me here but I mean we back up he drove by recklessly or fast um I follow where we at when this happened Roach Road he passed on Roach Road went left on 984 I followed him I seen him pulling over in the ditch or area of get dinner 984 I didn't know what had happened why he was pulling over so I was going to drive by left to check the vehicle out on gets it in a road he passed me on the left and then went over and stopped his vehicle that's when I got out see who he was asked him what happened he said blow out we looked at the boat we looked at my Jeep everything was friendly the boat owner came they changed the tire everybody was friendly the whole time and we left okay where were you going that night I was going home this map shows the 5em drive that was traveled while officer farmer chased down Ryan Curtis claims that he was heading home but his house is in the complete opposite direction home's the opposite direction I was going home until he passed the way he did but you were in the driveway right H you were in the driveway when he passed so why why did you follow him he wasn't in front he wasn't behind you yeah just trying to figure out why you're on gu and Dana Road when you live off of 34 I was at a friend's house he drove by on Roach Road recklessly my friend was out there he had his two daughters there I seen him drive by like that I was going to observe the vehicle and quality did you call it in I no I didn't have a chance you say you see any transfer on that TR on that trailer would have surprise you to if I told you there was transfer on that trailer transfer of what like tire marks on that trailer yeah surprising because there's nothing on my Jeep no tire transfer on my Jeep even if you hit a curb and a regular Tire the road the rot comes off and shows a mark man I've worked a lot of crashes anytime there's any Tire rubbing or anything there's there's a indentation or a uh a mark on the tire where it came from and there was nothing sure you've worked a lot of crashes I've worked crashes before yeah well so you know generally where there is an impact there's pieces on the roadway where the impact occurs sometimes yes right it's a good indication that there was a collision could be would surprise you to find if I told you that there was pieces of that trailer on the side of the road where on the road where the Collision was said to have happened I don't know if the pieces I don't know I wasn't there to see pieces you said you stopped yeah further down did you help him out yeah how long were you out there I mean I can't go it's obvious that at this point officer farmer is hiding something his answers are short and he cannot seem to stop blinking but it's his next set of answers that appeared to let his guilt shine through through the words he chooses did you know anybody out there yeah I knew some people who the driver of the boat anybody else uh a female passenger what are their names you asked me what happened I told okay what kind of je do you drive a 2002 Jeep rangler softtop 2002 Jeep rangler softtop is it new did you just buy it you've had it for a while or what I told you what happened at the crash there's no marks on my Jeep nobody accused me of hitting the boat nobody said anything like that and that was the end of it and everybody left friendly well that's not necessarily the case I me there is somebody multiple pie people okay so I don't know what to tell you man like you're seeing nobody at claim that you hit the boat nobody from your department told you that somebody claimed hit the boat claim that you hit the boat I told you about the crash I told you what happened that's it okay so you drive a 2002 Jeep Wrangler who's it registered to I'm not sure is it yours is it yours I've told you everything about the crash that's all I'm going to talk about okay did you have a flashlight with you that night I told you about the crash you asked me about the crash you said you're investigating criminal mischief I told you what happened there that's it okay the vehicle is registered to you I don't have anything else to say I told you what you wanted to know about the crash and that's it I don't think you've told me everything about the crash that's why I keep pushing to ask more question because what you're telling me doesn't line up with the evidence Curtis the evidence is there's no there's nothing on my jeep that would indicate that we had any crash I did not feel an impa nobody nobody accused me or said that you know they said they said that we may have had vehicle contact the driver the boat we went and looked at my Jeep and there was nothing on it okay but there's markings all over the trailer okay there's pieces on the roadway from Impact they didn't observe any of that so I don't know that's what you telling me I get what you're saying man but you're not being forthcoming I'm going be honest with you I understand what you're saying but what you're saying does not line up with the evidence okay you're saying you didn't hit the vehicle at all that's not what the evidence shows you're saying there was no marks I'm telling you there are marks you live on 34 you told me you were going home but yet you're on getson Dana road to call in something that you never called in I mean you know these people they know you well right is there anything else you want to ask me I mean I've told you about the crash and that's what we've talked about were you drinking that night and and that's all I want to talk about were you drinking that night have a good appreciate it we'll find out we got the can 2 weeks later sheriff's deputies arrive at the the home of Officer Curtis farmer after locating him on the property Curtis is told that they are there to seize his Jeep got a search warrant to seize your vehicle for a limited period of time we'll return it to here when we're done and it should be today Curtis provided the Jeep's keys and the vehicle is loaded up to be taken to a local shop throughout this process one of the deputies reminds Curtis that their body cams are on and offers some tips Curtis this guy help you just as much okay because this is the last part of what we got to do and if there's no evidence of anything or any kind of collision then I don't I can't speak for investigator Alano but I can tell you that at that point we don't have anything to cooporate the other person's side okay so the warrant for the Jeep yes and it's here just well the warrant it so the warrant it don't matter where the Jeep's at on yeah like I said I ain't trying to I ain't trying to be hard to called me I would told you to come get it you know and Josh didn't we don't want to make you put you in a position where you have to make a make a decision like that let me put it that way I don't know that anybody else in this particular situation would have done or anything different it's not a at the end of the day we have to sometimes we have to prove innocence just as likely would have to prove I don't understand a word you just said and this way it doesn't look like we're showing favoritism the jeep was taken to be inspected we believe this vehicle was involved in the Collision okay uh I didn't give you much details about it but we're thinking that if there is evidence it would be somewhere on the wheels or under carriage or inside the tire or outside the tire um I'll leave it at that and if you see anything that PS your interest just point it out we'll photograph it if not then it is what it is evidence is evidence okay without being told details of the incident the inspector finds several markings indicating a recent Collision it's just as likely that it got hit on the left side as the right side the left side you mean the driver's side yes yes sir hey what's that this is old talking about but that right there that's still loose bumper of Stu that could be this right point that one time right there bumper SC yeah and then you got that right there that's not consistent with the rest of the tire eventually investigator ad Alano shares details of the crash with the inspector so what we're looking at is the two vehicles are driving down the road the second vehicle is pull in a bat trailer with a fiberglass fender well it said that this vehicle ran into the passenger side trailer tire single boat trailer Mastercraft 19 ft and the tire blew off the rim and the rim was bent back and there's markings from the T tar markings on the trailer it actually bent the axle of the trailer is there anything else in this that would you would think you expect anything could have grabbed hard enough to fend that Rim like that the weight of the weight of the Jeep on top of that if it went up over it I think that's what that would that would have been a possibility and that could have been this and this if it pinched that you see that little line right there saw that in the light yeah if it if it got up on top of it and push down on it then yes if it caught something on that that tire wheel or anything to to give it some lift it would have got up on and there wouldn't be as far out as those tires stick there might not be any other damage on the Jeep when one person says we never struck yeah versus another says he hit me yeah there's evidence to indicate that there was yeah there there was there was an impact to your left front wheel sometime sometime there definitely was whether it was on the boat trailer or something else but there was there is evidence of an impact on that left front got it all right po it out the inspector's conclusion was consistent with Ryan's statements and officer Farmer's jeep was returned the owner of the trailer was finally given insurance information as well as the videos from the vehicle inspection a month and a half later the damage to the trailer and boat was covered under officer Farmer's policy the case was initially classified as criminal mischief but was later downgraded to obstruction of a highway investigator adelano wrote that he believed the statements from the Witnesses were credible and that the statements from officer farmer were not he wrote that he believed he had probable cause for the incident however he continued by adding that due to the legal standard of proving guilt Beyond A Reasonable Doubt the case was suspended unless further Evidence appeared the case was suspended in in August of 2023 and as of today Curtis farmer has not been charged with an offense if you've been involved in an incident you can submit your footage anonymously by using my links below this story was provided by the good Folks at ITX n.net check out the website for more details on this case be sure to let me know in the comments what you think about this incident and how it was handled and as always if you like this episode check out another video linked on screen 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