pulled him out the car, took him to the ground gently. Having this in mind, do you wish to talk to us? Um, yes or no. Having this in mind, do you wish to talk to us? Yes or no? Went to the ground willingly. We and we were just like we were holding on to him as he was going to the ground. You have a magazine on your front seat. Okay. But is that illegal? We asked him to get on the ground. He willingly went to the ground, but we just still holding on to him as he going to the ground. On the ground. On the ground. On the ground. Get off my ground. In January of 2024, a viewer named Lyrell was sleeping for a few hours in the backseat of his car after working a job through a gig app. He had another job lined up early in the morning and was his best option for the night. He parked in an empty lot near a police station, thinking the area would grant him some security. After parking, an officer parked beside him for about 15 minutes before leaving again. Latrell changed into his flannel pajamas and crawled into the back seat and fell asleep. At 12:40 a.m., two officers of the Baltimore Police Department again drove into the lot and parked near Latrell, but this time, Officer Feeser got out to inspect the vehicle. You see it by the 24 Inside the vehicle, the officer saw an unloaded magazine and two bullets on the front seat before noticing the man sleeping in the back seat. Without realizing it, the items had fallen out of Terrell's belongings as he changed into his pajamas. Though possessing a firearm is not in itself unlawful. Tyrell did not have his firearm in his possession. Let me run on view off of Lwood by the district. I got a Texas tag for you to run right there. What's the address in that building? With no apparent hits on the vehicle or owner, officer Fezer now calls his supervisor. I'm going to call Sergeant. Hey, sir. Can you meet up with me real fast? I'm off I'm off Lwood by the district. I I got a guy sleeping in a car. There's a magazine with uh bullets in it in the front seat. I'm going to get more units down here, but I got to In Maryland, parking on private property without a trespassing sign is not a crime. However, the officers are within the scope of their authority to look inside a vehicle to look for items in plain view that may lead to probable cause. The magazine was an OEM, sixround magazine for a Glock 43, which is lawful under Maryland's high-capacity magazine ban. Neither a magazine or ammunition by itself is illegal in Maryland and does not indicate criminal activity, but instead of knocking to speak with the driver, the officers request several other units before extricating Latrell from the vehicle. Position units respond with 31. just advised me that the driver is flung over and there's a magazine with that t-shirt on. Couple more units and we'll get the guy out the vehicle. Next time you put that on the air. Okay, I was about to put it over there. I Let me get some more units out and clear. Several units now hearing a call regarding ammunition raced to the scene just a block away from the department's eastern district. [Applause] 31 equal 32. We have enough units. Hey, turn off your sirens. You're going to wake them up. We're about to approach it over there. 31. Cuz I'm going to actually bring a bunker down here. You want to wake up there? We got one with Mother Mary. The mag is right up here if you don't see it by the keys. Yeah, I see that. I don't I didn't see where the Is there any weapons near him? I I didn't see that. There's a gun. Want me to go hands with you? That's fine. Well, no, you you got yours out to go hands with me. Okay. Okay. Okay. So stack stack up on one side. Stack up on one side. Now without exigent circumstances, probable cause that criminal activity was a foot or at the very least reasonable articulable suspicion. Nearly a dozen officers stack on Latril's vehicle, preparing to pull him out by his feet as he lay fast asleep after unlawfully opening his doors and entering his vehicle and without ever announcing themselves as police. I got hands. I got hands. I got hands. I got hands. On the ground. On the ground right now. I got I got cops. I got cops. I got up. Stop moving. Open the air. We have him under arrest. We have the thing. Forward. He's in custody. Service. I ain't got the mag right there. Fully runs right there and the magazine is on. We have a level one for No firearm was found following the officer's unlawful search of Latrell's vehicle and person. And despite several years of experience with the department, officer Feer discovered a magazine pouch commonly known as a mag holster, but appeared unfamiliar with the item, mistaking it for a possible holster for an exceptionally small firearm. He had to consult multiple superiors to identify the object found during his illegal search. Is that a horser? Is that a horser? Is this a probably for the magazine? Hey, for the magazine. Is this a smaller magazine? Somebody put the magazine around. Okay. You check. Do you check the gun first? Scott because one right there magazine check under the seat during the excitement of finding a lawfully possessed mag pouch. Latrell was being interrogated by other officers. You know about the magazine that's trying to sleep. Yeah. Okay. Lay the gun to go to the magazine. Uh I don't have it. I thought this was the safest place to sleep tonight. Is this your vehicle? Yes. You have your right to besides anything you say can be used against the law. Excuse me. You had the right to talk to a lawyer had him or her present with you before any questions. You cannot afford to hire a lawyer. One will be appointed to represent you before any questions that you wish. If you decide to at any time exercise these rights and not answer any questions or make any statements, do you understand each and every right that I just ran to you? Yes, sir. All right. Um, having this in mind, you wish to talk to us? Um, yes or no. Is there a crime that's been committed? Having this in mind, do you wish to talk to us? Yes or no? Um, I don't I don't see a problem with I just need Yes or no, then we go from there. Um, sure. Okay. So, as of right now, like I said, you better stop because one, you park right here on the side of the road and you have a magazine on your front seat. Okay. But is that illegal? I mean, are you allowed to have weapons? Yeah. You got a um gun permit? Do I do I need one for ammo? You need one for ammo? It was at this moment that he knew he [ __ ] up. So, you got the gun with it. Go ahead with it. Where's the weather at? I don't have it. Where's it at? Uh, it is with Virginia. Virginia. And you reside in Maryland or you reside in Virginia? I reside in I just moved to Maryland right now. Where is it? You live in Virginia. I'm sorry. Sorry, my car is like All right. Just uh just have a seat right there. You're not We just need to We just need to put you somewhere cuz we got to move that car. Okay. Lyrell suffers a panic attack as during their questioning, he is moved into a police cruiser during which one of the officers makes phone calls to see if he is on the prohibited person's list. I just spoke to um Marine Gunter. He's not in the system as being prohibited. Oh, that's all. Thank you. I'll I'll investigate. For nearly half an hour, the officers dissected every square inch of the vehicle, leaving it in complete disarray. Where's his mag at? Show the front seat. I'm not sure who grabbed it. Okay. Trash mixed with personal belongings thrown around the interior. Clothing and blankets tossed onto the cold, wet asphalt. But they still found nothing to justify their unconstitutional invasion of Latrell's person, papers, and property. So, anything there's an examination? That's it. The supervisor on scene was unfamiliar with this type of situation and called his superior to come to the scene. Hey, what's up? Hey, have you ever done a youth before? All right, I'm I'm going help you. I'm doing this one. All right. A few minutes later, he arrives on scene. What's going on? What's up? How you doing, sir? What's going on? You know, they they pulled them up, one pull hands on them. I think somebody pointed a gun at him. They got a weapon. Yeah, they got a weapon. Okay, weapon. That was obviously a lie. A weapon was never recovered. Curious about why he was needed at the scene for nothing, the LT asked again. But he was lied to once more. We got weaponed with a and um and ammunition. After being lied to, the LT leaves, ordering his men to complete use of force reports. First, the supervisors asked each officer what happened. Got done using the bathroom, was going to cut down here, saw the Kia, thought it looked suspicious. Looked in the front seat, saw a magazine, looked back, saw him sleeping. We had a rifle, called for another rifle, and we called for a shield. He had the rifle. So then, soon as we opened the door, he woke up. We open the door, he woke up. He panicked a little bit. It was like a lot of young commotion for a second. He got pulled out the car. He pulled his arms. So I grabbed his arms. He grabbed his hands. When I opened the door, he startled him. I grabbed his arms and pulled him out the car. Pulled him out the car. We had hold of him as he was coming out the car. Got out of the vehicle. We got out the car. We turned around. How did he get out? He got on his own. Yeah. No, he got out on his own. Took him to the ground. As we ordered him to get to the ground, he still had hands on him and guided him down to the ground. Took him to the ground gently. I I don't think we can use force. That's the thing. No, they took him down, but not they didn't throw him. Okay. They just went to the ground willingly. We and we were just like we were holding on to him as he was going to. Um and that's when I placed handcuffs over. Next, the supervisor ordered them to write up a use of force report, to which some of the officers protested, appearing to claim that dragging a law-abiding man out of his vehicle by his feet at gunpoint was no big deal and didn't warrant documentation. 95 because of the forcable take down. They said anything here. Sergeant said it was a forceful take down. So I got hands. I got hands. I got hands. I got hands. He asked him to get on the ground. Willingly went to the ground. We just still holding on to him as he was going to run. On the ground to get on the ground force take down, buddy. Okay. On the ground right now. I got I got I got it. 95. I don't have to do that. I think you got to do like the comms and everything. Stop moving. Sorry, but what did I do? One of the most surprising things to hear was that nearly every member on scene had less than 5 years on the job. How many years, General? Uh, three years complete. And how many years you got complete? Two. How many years you got to complete? And how many years you got to complete? Four and a half. Four and a halfish. Finally, they worked on deciding whether to release Latrell. So, they're letting him go. This is one. They said they investigated us, right? Let's still take pictures of him since it was a level one. They took me down to the ground real quick. He's going to be released. I don't know. Somebody said stop. Well, I mean, all investigators. Are you So, are you locking them up? No. No, I can't lock them up just for the bullets. It's a shame that none of the officers knew they couldn't do much of anything they did to Latrell just for bullets. I'm uh Sergeant Mustafa and just to let you know you've been a video recorder. All right. Um in a minute they're going to cut you loose. All right. But before we cut you loose, I just got to take pictures of you. Okay. Okay. Um my face looks terrible. It's not going away. Yeah. Is there like a towel or something? At least I a towel? Yeah. I mean I don't know if I need napkins, man. Like Okay, let me see if Let me know, man. Huh? If I'm a bad person, just let me know, man. I don't know. It's not Let me see if I can find you something. All right. Um, can you send me the number for MSP? Can I just uncip your face? All right. So, I'm going leave this here for you. I just got to take these pictures for you real quick. Okay. 45 minutes after first approaching his vehicle, the officers finally start wrapping up and prepare Latril to be released. You can step out. We're going to get you on for handcuffs. You're not under arrest. I'm going to let you go. We're going to explain everything. We're going to give you your names and all that stuff. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We'll get you. We're going to take your handcuffs off. I'm definitely taking tomorrow. Before he is set free, the officers explain why he isn't under arrest without ever explaining the unlawfulness of their actions. The reason you're not being charged for the ammunition is because you're not prohibited by the state of Maryland. That's why if you would have been prohibited by the state of Maryland, then yes, it would be illegal to carry ammunition. At the beginning we encountered you, we did not know that and we believed you were armed. Okay. Yes. And then it was in the within we saw the magazine within the span of your arm. So we're assuming that you were armed. Okay. Again, being armed is not enough to establish the minimum requirements for detention, let alone entering and forcing him out of his vehicle and searching through all of his belongings. The traumatic experience triggered asthma symptoms. And because he requested to use his inhaler prior to being released, the officers kept him detained for even longer as they waited for an ambulance to assess him. Even though Latrell denied needing emergency care. Um, do you have any questions? No. All right. You can sit in your car. If you're cold, you grab a blanket. The meds are going to be here and um you don't have to freeze here. Okay. All right. Good. Good, man. All right. Might need it here so I can take care of this um lady down there. Go take care. You got to take care of me. All right. You good? Yeah, I'm good. All right, then. Medics arrived on scene. Latrell told them they weren't required and the medics left. He tells me that the experience left him haunted and that he had trouble sleeping for nearly a year after the incident. Latrell finally filed a complaint in February of 2025, 12 months after the encounter. It took the department 2 months for them to assign an investigator to the case. Since April, he has not received an update and the case remains open. I'm helping Lyra find legal counsel to pursue civil action in this matter, but I'm curious what you think of this interaction. So, let me know in the comments down below. And if you like this story, be sure to check out another one linked on screen. [Music]