this footage shows my client Brian being arrested at a West Virginia traffic stop for not rolling down his window the entire way hello go ahead and roll your window down for me it's it's all right go ahead and roll your window down for me what you need it down for cuz I said roll the window down or you go to jail why are you being like that roll the window down now man sorry man I was arresting guy for being a god sucker I love it after I posted this footage to YouTube almost 2 years ago the criminal charges were dropped the officer was fired and a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed well final update here we just settled this lawsuit why did it settle and for how much let's recap the footage on January 31st 2022 Brian Becket was traveling home from work driving north on West Virginia Route 19 in Mount Hope West Virginia it was around 545 p.m. he ended up getting pulled over for speeding allegedly by Mount Hope Police Department Officer Aaron Shrewsberry instead of just getting a speeding ticket or even a warning Mr Becket ended up being pulled out of his car and arrested for obstructing an officer disorderly conduct speeding and reckless driving Mr Becket was driving home from an industrial work site in a nearby County he's not a criminal he was just trying to drive down the road and get home luckily for him he had a dash cam recording which appears to to show that he was driving safely it doesn't indicate his speed but this isn't about his speeding ticket officer Shrewsberry would subsequently swear under oath in the criminal complaint that he filed with the court authorizing Mr becket's arrest that not only did he radar Mr becket's speeding but that quote as I was catching up to the vehicle I noticed the vehicle weaving through traffic recklessly but that I was able to pull behind the vehicle and get it stopped here is the client's dash cam which survived thankfully which saved his rear end here take a look at it yourself and see if it shows him driving recklessly for I e is so fortunately the dash cam paid for itself here it showed that there was no reckless driving but the crazy thing that happened here was officer Shrewsberry just immediately medely arrested Mr Becket for obstruction for not rolling his window down all the way and he never bothered to ask Mr Becket for his license registration proof of insurance or even his name he just demanded that the window be rolled down all the way not even providing a reason just because just because he demanded it hello window for me it's it's all right go ahead and roll your window down for me what you need it down for U cuz I said roll the window down or you go to jail why are you being like that roll the window down now I'm not going to all right go ahead and St on the floor for me walk back here man sorry man I was arrested guy for being a goddamn sucker I love it then he immediately removed him from the car and arrested him the officer never even identified himself the reason he pulled him over or explained any legitimate reason that he required the window to be rolled all the way down in the subsequent criminal complaint no allegation was made or even charged that it is illegal in West Virginia to not roll one's window down completely during a traffic stop he was merely just charged with obstruction West Virginia courts have held that when done in an orderly manner merely questioning or remonstrating with an officer while he or she is performing his or her Duty does not ordinarily constitute the offense of obstructing an officer at no point did Mr Becket refuse to participate in that traffic stop that was being conducted by Officer Shrewsberry he rolled down the window partially he was clearly visible through the non-tinted glass his hands were visible and non-threatening he hadn't refused to provide his license registration or proof of insurance he hadn't refused to identify himself or to do any act that he was required by law to perform and I'm still aware of no West Virginia law nor was one identified in this case requiring motorists who were subjected to traffic stops in West Virginia to roll their Windows completely down as a matter of routine officer Shrewsberry also charged Brian with disorderly conduct under West Virginia law why well he said that as I walked him back to my vehicle Mr Becket said this was [ __ ] I then informed Mr Becket to stop cussing and placed him inside my vehicle so he charged him with disorderly conduct but under West Virginia's disorderly conduct statute no probable cause would exist for a warrantless arrest for disorderly conduct by saying this was [ __ ] first of all if that were possible it would be a First Amendment violation as the West Virginia Supreme Court warn law enforcement way back in 1988 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 police state there was also a West Virginia Supreme Court case Masten versus Wagner which held specifically that the West Virginia disorderly conduct statute while potentially criminalizing some profane language under some circumstances it has to be in public in front of other third persons who complain who are actually offended it does not criminalize profane language used by a citizen directed towards law enforcement during their interaction with law enforcement and then you have the Supreme US Supreme Court cases con versus California 1971 Lewis versus City of New Orleans 1974 that Free Speech however offensive or controversial to sensitive virgin eared police officers is afforded a high level of first amendment protection after not before after I posted the original YouTube video and the public saw it as usual then the criminal charges were dismissed ultimately the officer was fired from what I understand one other interesting here thing here that I pointed out in the earlier video is that this police officer was completely uncredible to begin with because he had been previously desertified as a police officer as I explained in the prior video in fact the politicians and the prosecutors behind the scenes of this particular police officer Aaron Shrewsberry really should explain to their public why this police officer is allowed to victimize citizens in the first place given the fact that he had previously lost his certification to be a police officer in West Virginia while working at the fet County Sheriff's Office for quote dishonesty SL willful falsification of information no unfortunately I'm not making that up that's right this same police officer who filed false and incorrect charges against Mr Becket as we've just explained has somehow in the past managed to screw up his job as a police officer so badly that he lost his certification to be a police officer for lying as a police officer truly unbelievable and how scary is that that this man Brian was being prosecuted for multiple misdemeanors which together I mean could be years and jail Technically when theoretically if he did anything all right let's just say he was speeding but he was charged with obstructing an officer he was charged with disorderly conduct he was charged with reckless driving on top of speeding and he spent like 24 hours in jail for speeding if he was speeding just because one bad cop decided to show him what he can do to punish him how often did this happen before where people did not have dash cams in their vehicle now fortunately once exposed to the public eventually the prosecutor did the right thing the town did the right thing but it was only exposure to the public exposure to you that made that happen and at the end of the day the town did the right thing in settling this case so we filed the lawsuit and very early on in the process they wanted to settle they came to the table my client came to the table and we reached an agreement in the civil lawsuit all you can do is agree on amount of money if they will pay an amount of money and they did agree to pay a fair amount in this case the ultimate amount that we ended up agreeing on in this case was $662,500 why that amount well it was a search and seizure case a false arrest case there was no use of force you have to compare to Prior verdicts prior settlements that involve similar facts and there are not a whole lot of them a lot of the value of these cases are attorney's fees so at the end of the day we believed it was a fair amount and if they wanted to go forward yeah of course we could potentially get a lot more but that's what your government should do is settle these things when they're legitimate earlier on so that the taxpayers don't have to pay way more in the end so that's the final update in this case and I know some people want to hear like it was you know1 trillion doll settlement in these cases but that's just not the reality it's always a possibility a very very good possibility that you lose these and not only you get nothing but you're out all the expenses that you had it's always a great possibility that even if you won a jury trial especially in West Virginia a jury gives you like 500 bucks or something so when the government pays you know in excess of $25,000 or so you know it's likely a very legitimate case so if you like following along with these cases Please Subscribe both here and at the blog at the civils lawyer.com and videos like this keep the government honest our rights don't end where your fear begins freedom is scary deal with it