sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me they do hurt some people and those are the people with very very fragile egos that get bruised and crushed at mere words and then they have to physically retaliate and that class of people is known as law enforcement police officers policy enforcers welcome back to this live stream I wanted to talk about this court case that I thought was absolutely fascinating which goes along with City of Houston v hill it's called Duran versus city of Douglas Arizona and I'm for the most part I'm just going to be reading this because it pretty it's it's a pretty interesting read and basically what it does is in this court case which was solidified and set as precedent the right and power of the people is returned to them in regard to speech against police officers I mean brutally profane speech so this plaintiff Ralph Duran directed a series of expletives and an obscene hand gesture can't do that the cops they don't make them go crazy a defendant Gilbert Aguilar a police officer officer Aguilar responded by detaining and arresting Duran who along with his wife now brings this lawsuit for injuries he suffered during the incident this is interesting because Duran is highly intoxicated during this entire Exchange in the late evening of November 18th 1987 Aguilar and another officer of the Douglas Arizona Police Department were dispatched to a downtown hotel in response to a bartender's complaints about an unruly Patron and that Patron was Duran the officers arrived to find Duran intoxicated and threatening the bartender Aguilar and Duran exchanged a few heated words following which Aguilar escorted Duran out Duran left the bar in an automobile driven by his wife Alice stay tuned because it does get better soon thereafter while out on patrol Aguilar observed a car with the passenger who is directing an obscene gesture toward him through the open window you never want to do that to Cops Aguilar did not know the passenger's identity says at the time because the car had Darkly tinted windows making it impossible to observe its occupants except through the open window and then it says Duran's obscene gestures caught Aguilar's eye and and Aguilar began following the car so what's the reason for officer Aguilar following Duran's car the car of the durans the obscene gesture in the profane language and Aguilar began following the car as he followed the Duran's down rural Highway beyond the Douglas City Limits Ralph Duran began yelling profanities in Spanish and continued to make obscene gestures makes me wonder how did the cop if they're driving down the road how did the cop hear what Duran was saying at this point Aguilar identified the passenger as the man who he had confronted at the bar that says Aguilar and Baka so he calls for backup this Rudy Salazar his partner followed the Duran's car into a mobile home park where it stopped in front of what turned out to be their residence Aguilar does not contend that Durand was yelling or otherwise causing a disturbance when the car drove into the park nevertheless Aguilar initiated a traffic stop by turning on his emergency lights for what reason what was the emergency Mr Aguilar Aguilar ordered Duran to step away from the car to which Duran replied I don't have to blah blah blah Aguilar then told Duran that the reason for the traffic stop was to find out why Duran had yelled profanities and made an obscene gesture toward him so Aguilar officer Aguilar had no problem using the resources provided to him by the tax cattle to go after Duran because Aguilar obviously got his feelings hurt Duran responded with further profanities in both Spanish and English oh go for it Duran in response Aguilar decided to arrest Iran for disorderly conduct a scuffle ensued during which Aguilar and Duran were injured before Duran was subdued and Shackled after his transport to the police station it was discovered that Duran had dislocated elbow requiring hospitalization Duran claims to have suffered some permanent loss of range in his elbow and you know we've seen that a lot too they put that those torture cuffs on you and then people can start getting this you know nerve damage up and down their arms and in their hands Duran brought this action for damages stemming from the allegedly unlawful stop and arrest against Aguilar and Salazar and the City of Douglas and various other police officers and City officials the durands filed a motion for a partial summary judgment seeking a determination of liability as to defendant Aguilar under 42 USC 1983 which we talk a lot about on this channel Aguilar countered with his own motion for summary judgment on the grounds of what oh I'm gonna rely on the shield I'm gonna rely on the magical uniform and qualified immunity following a hearing the district court entered a single order ruling in favor of the durands on both motions Aguilar appeals The District Court's order so we're gonna we're gonna look at some of this stuff but it really there's one little twist that if something was done different we wouldn't even have this court case we wouldn't even be reading about this and I'll tell you what that is in a moment as a preliminary matter the durans contend that we lack jurisdiction this is talking about the court over this appeal and then they make this argument in this paragraph and these other paragraphs that no no we have do we have jurisdiction we have say in this matter It is Well settled but I wanted I wanted to go down to this right here it is well settled that police officers and other state officials are entitled to qualified immunity from section 1983 that's 42 USC 1983 suits so the jury decided no no we believe that officers do have qualified immunity those are magic uniforms those are Hocus Pocus pixie dust Badges and they do enjoy special rights that none of the rest of us have they're actually immune from personal prosecution because of qualified immunity is what the court is saying here and then it cites Davis versus Shearer a police officer's Duties are both difficult and dangerous you know what makes an officer's job more dangerous than it has to be they do they're violent actions against people they're supposed to be protecting and serving are ridiculous and makes it way more dangerous every traffic stop is more and more dangerous and is escalated in danger exponentially because of the actions of police officers circumstances on the beat often require immediate action in order to prevent serious harm to persons or property rarely is there a time for brushing up on the Supreme Court's latest pronouncements on warrant requirements probable cause and reasonable suspicion they just don't have time to get it right sometimes and if somebody suffers well guess what not going to be the officer in this case thus police officers quote generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known and we've seen time and time again that they they clearly violate constitutionally protected rights that they're supposed to be protecting and they walk away scot-free slap on the risk death Duty a little paid vacation this is an objective standard they say and it leaves ample room for mistaken judgment so even if you the people have to suffer and the cop makes a mistake he's got qualified immunity he has protection you don't what about qualified immunity for the people if there's anybody that should have qualified immunity it should be the people the people who are innocent who've done no wrong who've committed no crime who've left no victim that's what the Constitution is supposed to do to us the Constitution is supposed to provide us with qualified immunity immunity from any and all prosecution from any laws that they might make up that run afoul of and are you know basically null and void by the Constitution are supposed to be even what this is saying is if the person hasn't been engaged in criminal activity and left a real victim where you need to step in and protect that victim then you got to leave them alone nevertheless there are well-defined limits on what police officers may do and remember this is still Iran versus city of Douglas and discharging their Duty duties and police may be held liable for acting outside these limits oh yeah you just said they had qualified immunity and that qualified immunity is so subjective and can be applied to any cop in any situation up to include and including them ending somebody's life I.E Phillip brailsford ending the light and his henchmen and that LaQuinta and ending the life of Daniel shaver as just one example or a philando Castile getting snuffed out or any number of people James Boyd perhaps the most fundamental of these is the requirement that the police not interfere with the freedom of private persons unless it be for specific legitimate reasons in the absence of a valid valid warrant the police May generally not stop and detain an individual for investigation absent a reasonable belief that criminal or otherwise dangerous activity is afoot did you get that cops here are some of the high points of City of Houston versus Hill City of Houston versus Hill can be boiled down to you can say whatever you want to to Cops it doesn't matter if it's crass it doesn't matter if it's gross it doesn't matter if it's you know offensive highly offensive you have the constitutional fully protected First Amendment right to say whatever you want to to any cop said if Houston versus Hills a Houston Texas city ordinance prohibiting the interruption of a police officer and the performance of his duties was held unconstitutionally over broad on the basis that the law attempted to regulate speech that was also constitutionally protected in so holding the Supreme Court commented that the First Amendment listed this quote protects a significant amount of verbal criticism and challenge directed at police officers the court in Hill stated quote speech is often provocative and challenging but it is nevertheless protected against censorship or punishment cops you can't punish somebody for exercising a constitutionally protected right that you swore to protect defend and uphold just because your feelings get hurt unless shown likely to produce a clear and present danger of a serious substantive evil that rises far above public inconvenience annoyance or unrest even further it says the high court declared that quote the freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free Nation from a and they actually said it police state the problem is we have far too many officers out there who want to turn America land of the free Home of the Brave into a police state of land of the fee home of the slave back to Duran and remember this was passed down by the jurors missing from the record here is any and this is talking about Aguilar versus Duran officer Aguilar versus Duran missing from the record here is any legitimate articulate reason for Aguilar to have detained Duran in other words he went outside the constitutionally protected boundaries to do what he did pulling him over because he got his feelings hurt there is no evidence of a danger to Public Safety and Aguilar was not executing a warrant nor is there any evidence that Duran was in possession of a controlled substance or had been or was about to be engaged in criminal activity to be sure this is the this is the jury Duran was intoxicated but defendant does not contend that any law ordinance prohibited Iran from writing as a passenger in an automobile while drunk nor can Aguilar claimed that he detained Duran on account of what had happened earlier in the evening at the bar Aguilar had already confronted Duran regarding the incident and had let him go the stop was over the call was over at that point there is no indication that Aguilar learned new facts to justify detaining Duran for further investigation of the earlier incident what then is left says the jury defendant relies heavily on the fact that Duran was making obscene gestures toward him and yelling profanities in Spanish while traveling around along a rural Arizona highway we cannot of course condone Duran's conduct it was boorish crass and initially at least unjustified our hard-working Law Enforcement Officers surely deserve better treatment for members of the public does anybody here believe that law enforcement officers deserve better treatment from the public but disgraceful as Duran's Behavior may have been it was not illegal criticism of police is not a crime and then they cite City of Houston versus Hill Aguilar further contends even if Duran's verbal conduct with those otherwise protected he believed that it constituted disorderly conduct or disturbing of the peace however says the jury because the car was traveling late at night on a deserted road on the outskirts of town Durant's conduct could not have Disturbed the piece or incited a riot Aguilar was has presented no evidence showing it could have nor could Durant's conduct suggest that he committed or was about to commit any other illegal act indeed one one would expect someone engaged in Shady business to act in a more stealthy fashion than did the plaintiff here in other words if Duran was actually engaged in criminal activity do you think that he would key Aguilar would want to draw attention to himself by flipping you off or speaking profanity to you the answer is you know use your common sense no in some we do not see how Duran's boisterous conduct tasteless though it may have been gave Aguilar any cause to detain him absent such a cause the Stop and detain the detention was illegal and maybe thus subject of liability the bottom line is nothing that Duran did Justified Aguilar pulling him over and harassing him and the point that I want to tell you that would have changed this entire thing is if Aguilar officer Aguilar lied and said he pulled him over for something other than First Amendment protected speech and we see that all the time we see oh no I pulled him over because he didn't activate his turning signal I pulled him over because his brake lights were out I pulled him over because he veered over the fog line if Aguilar had made a believable lie we would never have Duran versus city of Douglas and that's the sad fact and we know that police lie all the time but we do have the court case the ram versus city of Douglas and we do have City of Houston versus Hill and according to those Supreme courses court cases in concert with the First Amendment because you don't need those Supreme Court cases to realize hey I've got the freedom to say whatever I want to say yeah you have the freedom to say whatever you want to say not because of the Duran versus city of Douglas or city of Houston versus Hill and not even because of the First Amendment but because you're a human being you have the natural right to say whatever you want to say you don't have the right to be offended there is no right listed that you you have the right to be offended and seek damages because somebody hurt your feelings or reach out your hand and touch somebody and physically damage them because they emotionally harmed you or you allowed something to emotionally harm you in some way see one of the most dangerous things that could ever happen in America is that you encounter a badge state functionary law enforcer whose feelings are hurt because of something you said or something that you did because they'll make stuff up and they'll make your life really really difficult anyway leave your thoughts about this for the world and the global thought police in the comments section below what do you think about the court case Duran versus city of Douglas and while we're at it the city of Houston versus Hill and do you think it's advisable to cuss out cops and display obscene gestures I'm not saying it's wrong I'm not saying it's right would you do it what would you expect a reaction from a cop uh to be if you did something like that too leave your thoughts about this for the world and the global thought please in the comment section below if you haven't noticed already subscribed to this channel hit the Bell notification icon give it a thumbs up share it with everybody you know don't forget to subscribe to my email list through my website High impactflicks.com if you want to support the channel further the links are in the description you can grab a hard-hitting conversation starting shirt like this one sheet volusion or here's the deal logo or whatever you know every purchase supports the channel I put it back into the channel so they can create more content for you guys I really appreciate you sticking around just remember freedom is now and will always be dangerous it'll be uncomfortable and at times it'll be offensive but what's more dangerous uncomfortable and offensive is not having Freedom I'll see you guys in the next video foreign [Music]