your favorite man you can't be in here with this sign why not why not yeah because the language is inappropriate i'm not you you've got to leave you've got to leave then do you have any idea or anything did i do anything wrong well you're out here with this property sign do you have reasonable suspicion of a crime um maybe maybe that's not good enough but i'm not being detained no you're not being detained we're doing an investigation okay [Applause] that's your choice well his speech is offending other people welcome back to the lackluster channel today's story comes from michael picard be sure to head over to his channel and let him know i sent you on thursday november 14 2019 michael was protesting stanford connecticut's use of eminent domain the government center more on that later he arrived with a sign that read [ __ ] your property attributing the comment to stamford shortly after his arrival he was approached by the head of security you can't be in here with this sign why not why not yeah because the language is inappropriate you can't be here with this sign this is public property this is public property yes okay it's open to the public i'm the chief of security here right i can deem this inappropriate for this building by what policy mayor's policy can i see the policy be glad to get i'll be glad to get the director of operations involved but you got it you this sign you've got to put this down right now but i'm not you you've got to leave you've got to leave then i'm not putting let's have a talk come on let's have a talk let's talk right here let's have a talk let's talk right here okay let's let's go our office right here i'm standing right here right here i'm staying right here all right so what i'm gonna have to do is i'm gonna have to get the police department involved and they can explain and go further year i'm just here because i think eminent domain is wrong it's inherently wrong to steal people's property the city of stamford is saying if you don't give us your property we're going to take it from you what's up i do but there is a police on the way okay so any chance you want to step outside or i don't think you want to speak with them i don't think i have to why do you got this sign up anyway because stanford is threatening to steal someone's property steal some schools property through eminent domain eminent domain is the process through which the government takes private property for public use in exchange for just compensation the land can be taken for the widening of freeways roads train rails or even airports michael explains that in 1996 the city of new london seized people's homes promising jobs and economic growth but to this day nothing has ever been done with the land more recently big daddy government wanted to improve congestion issues on pulaski street the improvements would require the seizure of multiple properties including 21 pulaski street a house that a family had been living in for more than 40 years negotiations were fruitless and the city considered taking the house the fifth amendment is well known for imposing restrictions on the government's prosecution of persons accused of crimes it prohibits self-incrimination double jeopardy and mandates due process of law but it also stipulates nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation this means that you never own your land the government can take it as they see fit the constitution only forces them to pay you for it the city of stamford offered the owner of 21 pulaski much less than he thought was fair and on january 2nd 2020 he listed the house for sale at 1.6 million though it was appraised for only 630 000 just last june the city decided the property was worth 762 000 but it is unclear whether the state sanctioned theft was ever completed what you got to understand is you know we can't have this in the lobby it's inappropriate bro it's inappropriate talking here it's inappropriate you can't criticize if there was a sign in here saying i love stanford you guys would completely allow that because it's favorable to stanford but since i'm criticizing the city of stanford that's why this isn't allowed well maybe if you worded it differently no we'd be having the same conversation that's inappropriate see i have two we have we have children here huh what's the problem what's the problem with design the language did you hear that problem with the language yeah you don't believe in freedom of speech i do but not this it's inappropriate here in in the government center in the lobby especially when i have to we have children here in the lobby right now me yeah right now me right now [ __ ] me yeah exactly after a brief exchange with security multiple officers of the stamford police department arrived on scene they can turn around if they find it offensive no you don't have to look at it no not here good how are do you have any idea or anything did i do anything wrong well you're out here with this property sign in front of all these people so you heard uh what was it again to protest to protest the use of eminent domain by statements domain what uh like what what areas are you talking about like the south end or pulsar let's talk are you ordering me absolutely yes you are because this is a private product this isn't private property but you too you want to come along yes come on there's a government center you're right this is public property i want to find out what's going on so what's what's going on what happened i want to hear your side of the story i just told you i'm here uh that's all i'm here to do is protest i'm in a domain do me a favor can we uh we're going to see these two cameras as uh evidence right uh so what happened give me five when he's done we'll seize the two cameras as evidence okay all right so am i being arrested no i just want to find am i under arrest then i'm i'm just what what's going on i'm not i'm not um questions excuse me do you have reasonable suspicion of a crime um maybe maybe that's not good enough i i refuse to uh get off the property you can't come back and i just uh we asked you to come out that's the only reason you came out though okay i refuse to answer questions is there anyone that you made an appointment to see to tell them about what your cause is about no so you just show up and you expect to be heard like this are you a stanford resident i refuse to answer questions am i being detained i'm sorry am i being detained well you can't go inside the building right now okay but i'm not being determined even though it's a public government center you can't go inside because you're being asked to be remotely okay okay but i'm not being detained no you're not being detained we're doing an investigation okay [Applause] let me just ask him if he wants to speak to him at all joe i love these guys nothing better to do with their time how you doing do you work here i'm not the advocate yeah oh okay gotcha i wasn't i wasn't sure i saw the bad show i wasn't sure oh no no they're like a known presence no i know i i i know him what'd you guys say what's happening outside i i don't know i don't know what um arthur said to him but you know we just wanted to make sure no one was getting hurt or anything that's all you know that's right what's up i make their appearances yeah you know they got to keep themselves uh got to keep themselves known you know yeah um i thought he was gonna leave no no don't let him leave you don't let that guy leave either we're gonna seize their cameras okay um so what happened uh he just showed up in the lobby do you know who this kid is okay we gotta find out who he is but what was he's protesting against some eminent domains it's a specific property i think i don't know it's just part this is public property correct i believe okay do you see i'm not too familiar does he need a permit to be out there i normally would yeah out there not in here out there as well after being told he wasn't being detained michael walked to the public sidewalk to continue his protest your rights are strongest in what are known as traditional public forums such as streets sidewalks and parks you don't need a permit to protest on a sidewalk as long as you are not obstructing vehicle or pedestrian traffic blocking access to a building or interfering with other purposes the property was designed for a citizen complained to the sergeant on scene that her teenagers were offended by the sign and the officers used this to conspire to seize michael's camera and arrest him uh the delays complained that there was teenagers here they were offended by this there's a profanity on there basically i think you do need a permit for a protest right i'm not sure on that but this is this is public probably going first i think one person satisfies the incredible protest like it's gotta be a certain number or more okay but he's just to leave or quickly i think you're not free to leave you asked me before because we're doing the investigation okay all right is that fair enough i don't know i feel bad that i don't know your name so i don't have a good partner that's fine i want to get names [Applause] what's that i said obviously no i'm on okay just uh the lady and there goes some some teenagers were offended by by uh i guess by the sign um you know it's it's basically it's a beach because it offends other people yeah i mean he has he has his first amendment right to do it but you know i mean i don't know permit wise as far as that i'm not sure i'm great on that right now right pat but but if they are if the security asks him to leave he refuses you know that's different you know he refused at first i want to id this guy we have to id him i know the other guy is a michael fred i don't know who this guy is michael friend he had the case up north with uh sergeant casparino he okay you know he's got all that going on well if he's over there and he's probably we could seize his uh is his phone and his and his um and his thing that's evidence huh his gopro whatever it is yeah hi so i'm gonna do it you know what it's it's okay it's actually documenting uh whatever we're on so yeah we need we need id on him okay get up so hey luke get his id please id he doesn't want to show it all right so he's going 39 then excuse me and now you guys go inside get get the names of the people who are offended there are young kids there stuff so this guy we need his name too and we need his phone so you said you don't want to show your id i tell you to keep your hands out of your pocket right you're arresting me are you concealing anything in your pocket sir [Applause] now do you have any of your weapons on you at all your weapons holder does it look like it well i'm gonna check right now but people have concealed weapons under their nuts so that's why i'm asking you all right watch yourself can you go through them again please yeah just stand right here sir she's gonna check you out again can i at least have a drink just give me one minute let her finish what she's doing okay all right turn around have you been arrested before the reason the reason i'm asking is i want you to know how this process works i'm if i'm being arrested then i'd refuse to answer any more questions okay obviously can i have a glass of water please no sir you're not being cooperative i was just going to tell you how cooperation goes a long way i don't know what's in this since it's open already it could be like poison or something and when i give it guys and then i get jammed up for it i michael was arrested and charged with breach of peace for offending people interfering and for refusal to id during his arrest he exercised his fifth amendment right to remain silent when he asked for water he was denied because of his exercising that right cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase in common law describing punishment that is considered unacceptable due to the pain suffering or humiliation it inflicts on the person subjected to the sanction the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the eighth amendment doesn't list specific examples but denying a man water especially because he won't aid an officer in the process of convicting himself seems to fit the bill for me while michael is arrested his friend is still detained on scene what's your name sir what's your name well i don't consent to this either i don't consent to it either right okay and that's fine you could do whatever you want but that becomes evidence because you're here and you're recording it sent to you taking my phone well you don't have to because i can do that okay okay it's part of evidence okay sir but i just want to find out what's going on you guys are just doing this here hey that's fine what's your name what's his name right there sir we got michael friend friend okay and you're with this guy right so who is he who is he do you know him i mean listen i agree he should be heard whatever he wants i don't i know i don't care it's his right to to uh to protest i totally agree but then he's in there there's kids in there they're being offended by that sign there's about seven teenagers in there said what the heck is going on here they have rights too huh yes i am well listen i'm not here to bust any chops all right me neither i'm telling you do not respect you who's [Applause] i totally agree with you he has a right to protest but the people in there they ask him to leave there's other kids you know what it is what it is you know what i'm saying that's fine that's your choice it's not my choice the people in there call the police it's your choice well it is you're making the you're making the decision to arrest him for his speech that's your choice well his speech is offending other people we're not only his his protector we got to protect the people in there too did you forget that did you forget that i got the tip zip over there no we got to get kids infos in there i wasn't offended by the sign i was just shocked as to why [Applause] i have kids here with special needs so if if he was to engage with them they might not understand what he's no completely i understand well i'll tell you this let me let me tell my boss just what you told me real quick i don't know what he's gonna you know i mean you know just so that i can say man i mean yeah no no just that i could fill him in i don't know what he's gonna want to do i mean it was appalling to see i don't know i'm just telling you what he asked me to do so i'm just letting you know okay yeah i'll be right back but i'll definitely say it appreciate it you know what they're um we know the two of them they they do this kind of stuff all the time the problem is you know when they come in holding signs like that and they're disturbing other people causing the scene you know they have protections but you guys also have the same protections yeah exactly so when they come in and they're asked to leave and they refuse to do that that's you know that's when it becomes starts to become a problem and they're spreading that obscenity that's the first thing i saw i didn't see what else was on the side exactly i guess they didn't notice it right away because i said where's security what's going on with that you know and you know two of them in this day and age [Applause] not you i'm sorry i'll explain to the other gentleman i don't even know his name i'm gonna go talk to him here's your is your thing uh just you know just be aware you know i understand you want to get points across the people just be aware of other people that have rights too you know what i mean and we're all we all live in this world together and we have to you have to get one you know i'm saying all right and i you know just not that you're not you today i know but just you know i'm going to talk to you uh uh what's the guy what's the gentleman's name over there well i'll talk to him and who's friend yeah so michael okay so i'll talk to him and we'll see we can do but there's just other ways to go about things more more of a professional way i don't even know what he's upset about yeah i mean i'm not going to say you guys should have other things to do no i'm not saying that i mean you guys do what you want to do this is a free country and i love this country you know free country it's not no why not you just put a guy in a cage for a word but it's not it's because people are complaining there's other people in their rights too in this day and age we all have rights what is not included is the right to not be offended michael's friend was detained and had his phone seized for an hour and a half all for filming an incident michael picard was arrested for a word the arrest sparked a yearlong battle against the city in court but eventually the case was dismissed he recently got his gopro back but the judge ordered that his sign be destroyed in this day and age we seem to live in a country more concerned with safety in the expansion of an overreaching state instead of our individual liberties there was quite a bit that i cut out of this video but michael's version can be found on his channel please go check it out and let him know that i sent you thanks for watching if you have a video you'd like me to review email it or send it in via facebook messenger you can also view this and other content on my website if you're new here subscribe for future content if you've been around for a while remember to like share and comment down below of what you think of this interaction shirts and other goodies are available at the teespring store linked below channel membership start at just a buck if you'd like to further support the channel and get a slick lack logo next to your name i'll see you in the next video all links are down below you