how's it going Paul I just want to talk to you for a minute sounded like you had an issue with one of our deputies when you're making the comments that you're making on Facebook that kind of brings issue to me this police officer in West Virginia just showed up at this guy's house because he got upset at something that this guy had posted on Facebook about police officers the direction that our Department's going in is a lot different than what it was 30 years ago secondly when you bring up Howard Ferris you bring up somebody that's important to me cuz he was like my uncle when you make comments like that that that kind of upsets me you know what I'm saying but when this guy says this was freedom of speech that triggers this police officer and even though he's at this guy's home without a warrant when his feelings get hurt he unconstitutionally grabs the guy and arrest him freedom of speech whatever I want I could 100% write up a warrant for you I'm not I'm not you you want me to do that okay that's fine I I'll gladly do that for you I I came well I came down hold on I'm talking to you you're not walking away from me no get back over here you me turn around unbelievably this police officer admits several times on the body cam footage that this arrest was retaliation against this guy's protected Free Speech under the first amendment I came down here to talk to you like a man and be cool with you and you wanted to say something like that to me cool it's fine a good job there for him to make some of the comments that he's making that's I just I'm not going to put up with that so because this police officer was butt hurt about something that this guy Paul said on Facebook he arrested him without a warrant from his home threw him in jail where he sat for two days which then caused Paul to lose his job even though because the charges were baseless the prosecutor later had to drop the charges why was that police officer smiling I'm going to break down this footage for you and you haven't seen a half of it yet and point out every single constitutional violation that this guy recorded himself committing on video here's yet another West Virginia video I almost wish these would come from other states but they keep coming from West Virginia and in fact this one comes only one County over from my last West Virginia video from Barber County this one is in Grafton West Virginia in Taylor County West Virginia and this Deputy that's featured in this video actually has the same last name male m a y l e as the deputy the the county over that was in the last video so why do I need to step out of this vehicle because there's a Supreme Court case ruling called Pennsylvania V Mims that a law enforcement officer can give you a lawful directive to exit the vehicle and so what happened here apparently this this guy Paul Paul O'Brien had observed a deputy McQueen who had set up a speed trap I take it he was running radar and and then Paul joked on Facebook that he wished he he wished that he had an M80 firecracker in order to set it off and give Deputy McQueen because he was across the street from his residence in order to give Deputy McQueen a heart attack in in the same Facebook post which I don't have or I'd show it to you Paul blamed this Agency for the deaths of three different people over the years so he's criticizing this department he thinks are responsible for these three deaths now one of the individuals who died that was mentioned by Paul is like a close friend or something to the deputy from this video so he's poed about that and he's presumably mad about the M8 comment so there's no warrant there's no arrest warrant no search warrant nothing like that he just shows up to Paul's residence and this is the body cam footage filmed by the other officer Deputy wear that shows the full inter action how you do man help you yeah Mr inside get I just need to talk to him real quick about issue just real quick let's step back and understand and where geographically this is occurring and whether that matters constitutionally speaking and also why this police officer says that he's there at this location so I have the police report and this is what it says on Wednesday July 12th 2023 at approximately 9:43 hours this officer arrived at the above-stated residence to speak with Mr Paul O'Brien in reference to a matter that was brought to this officer's attention in reference to Mr O'Brien making comments of which ing he had an M80 to give Deputy C McQueen a heart attack while conducting radar Patrol the previous matter I don't know if that's supposed to say morning this officer made contact with Mr O'Brien the officers were there to make sure everything was okay between Mr O'Brien and Deputy McQueen so according to his own words he goes to Paul's residence to where he lives no warrant he just wants to make sure that he's okay and if we look at the satellite view of this location he basically walks up and this appears to be the stepdad's house and he talks to the step The Stepfather here first and he says I'm here to talk to Paul go get him so this is the location where you walk out of the house up some steps and to the parking area again there's no warrant so the officer is there pursuant to a concentral encounter or what's known as a knock and talk and that's just a so-called consensual conversation where you talk to somebody if they're willing to talk to you and if they ask you to leave you have to leave you can't detain them you can't arrest them without a warrant it's just a conversation or it's just supposed to be but then things go sideways let's continue how's it going Paul how are you all pretty good man I just want to talk to you for a minute because it sounded like you had an issue with one of our deputies yeah he followed me home last night follow you home last night Zane I listen man when you're making the comments that you're making on Facebook that kind of brings issue to me you know what I mean for one I the direction that our Department's going in is a lot different than what it was 30 years ago okay secondly when you bring up Howard Ferris you bring up somebody that's important to me cuz he was like my uncle yeah so the name being mentioned is Howard Ferris and apparently he was a lawyer in Grafton West Virginia and it looks like he died back in like 2011 and for some reason Paul blamed the sheriff's department here and believed that they had something to do with the death and criticized the sheriff's department for that okay so if there was something anything negative or ill or anything like that towards him I would have 100% looked into that okay so and and when when you make comments such as if you had an M80 you give him a heart attack that can be taken as a terroristic threat okay so I've always been cool with you I've always been 100 with you and and but when when you make comments like that that that kind of upsets me you know what I'm saying so instead of freedom of speech I say whatever I want listen man I I fought in the Marines I'm 100% for freedom of speech but when when you make certain comments that that passes freedom of speech you get what I'm saying when you're when you're saying you wish you had an M80 to give a deputy a heart attack that I I could 100% write up a warrant for you I'm not I'm not you you want me to do that okay that's fine I I'll gladly do that for you I I came well I came down hold on I'm talking to you you're not walking away from me no get back over here you turn around that's fine you want to do that we can do that no problem bud by the way the law is clearly established that an individual has a First Amendment right to express profanity during an interaction with law enforcement C con versus California US Supreme Court 1972 you can also look at Lewis versus City of New Orleans from 1974 US Supreme Court where they reversed a conviction under a Louisiana statute that provided that quote it shall be unlocked lawful and breach of the peace for any person wanly to curse or revile or to use obscene or appr probius language toward or with reference to any member of the city police while in the actual performance of his duty I came down here to talk to you like a man and be cool with you and you want to say something like that to me it's fine a good job there all right got anything on you not supposed to have no take that stuff out I don't understand why you got to be like this when I'm coming down here to talk to you and be cool with you what's your reasoning my reasoning is you're threatening one of my officers oh really that's my reason here the officer really screws up maybe the reason that he was there to engage in a consensual encounter was because he believed that Paul was threatening one of his officers had he believed so he could have attempted to obtain a warrant for as he called it terroristic threats and showed up at Paul's house and arrested him but he didn't do that he decided to show up for a Knockin talk for a consensual encounter and then when Paul wasn't interested in continuing that conversation he said I have to go to work and he goes to leave I I came go to work well I came down hold on I'm talking to you you're not walking away from me no get back over here [ __ ] he lost his temper because his feelings were hurt the officer made the Split Second decision to detain him and arrest him at that point and now he's painted himself into a corner and when Paul asks what his reasoning was he says because you threaten this this other police officer but that's not what the paperwork says he was actually charged with West Virginia's obstruction statute so any obstruction here would have been this process crime that had to have occurred during this conversation that we see on the body Cam and what's the problem with that well this is supposed to be a consensual conversation right and this is at Paul's residence the officer is there with his Express or implicit permission if he ask him to leave he has to leave so Paul expresses that he's not interested in continuing the conversation he's got to go to work and he goes to leave then the officer grabs him really the obstruction with have to be Paul refusing to engage in this so-called concentral encounter and attempting to leave and go to work which of course he had every right to do in a concentral encounter where he's not under arrest and he's not supposed to be detained therefore there could be no obstruction here and regarding the alleged terroristic threats Paul says he wishes that he had a firecracker so that he could startle a police officer and he'd have a heart attack I mean all right he wishes he had an mad I mean that doesn't even come close to an actual true threat under the Oodles of case law out there you know defining what a threat is as opposed to what it actually was or other protected speech anything in your waistband no I mean I mean I raised him I know that's why I came he I don't understand that I say he's on that [ __ ] he's got that [ __ ] in him that's all I can because cuz he's not like that I mean he's never he's never been that way he's been fine for I mean he just his grandpa just died not long there I mean he spent three years taking care of him and he's been I don't know what's going on he's just got a lot of confusion going on right now and I'd say he got that D last night yeah I mean I'm not sure but I'd say that's what's happened so cuz I mean honestly I I wanted to come down here and talk to him because I I I have I heard I heard you being respectful and he just got a he's got a tell I don't understand that but when when you're saying that you're going to when you're taking pictures of my deputies doing the job and then you're saying you're going to throw m80s at them well I understand that's a that's a threat man that's a threatening manner yeah it would be it would be not to mention the deputy wasn't following him he was literally parked in front of the hot dog house running radar right yeah yeah I see him down there nothing wrong with we've had a lot of drug activity down through here we' been getting I understand that so we're working on it and right I understand that there is a lot of people running around down here for him to make some of the comments that he's making that I I just I'm not going to put up with that so yeah I wouldn't either so so I I appreciate it like what was your name all righty s all stuff I'm not to take all right I'll get it thank you guys I appreciate it I'm sorry you had that sir thanks sir roll that subject's also going under arrest at this there's a little bit of conversation that takes place in the police car it's difficult to hear what's being said but the officer wrote this in the police report once Mr O'Brien was placed into the car he stated he wished this officer would be a civilian because he would do harm to him further making derogatory comments to this officer that's fine with me Paul I've been doing this job for okay that's fine okay soon as I get released I'll put something else on Facebook that's fine go right ahead you have the freedom to do that you have no right to threaten my officers either [ __ ] okay watch Step pushing man God damn I'm see stay do whatever you want yeah stay in there so there he was in jail haha very funny hands up spending two days in jail strip searched all that I believe he was in solitary confinement as well for a period of time he was charged with obstruction C so that was July of 2023 then in October of 2023 it was dismissed first time it goes to court like boom in 5 minutes it was dismissed because because it was completely bogus and here's the dismissal order right here the prosecutor submitted a motion to the judge asking for it to be dismissed and it says this the state believes the facts as alleged by the investigating officer would fail to meet the elements of the crime charged to the defendant by a Beyond a reasonable out standard for reasons that I've already explained there was no obstruction because he had no obligation to stay there and talk to the officers he could leave if he wanted to he could ask the officers to leave if he wanted the officers to leave they were going to attempt to force a consensual conversation on somebody what it was is this is your typical goon squad visit where they show up to intimidate you to send you a message and when Paul really wasn't intimidated by that message the officer got but hurt about it and he decided just off the cuff to go ahead and arrest him right then and there but he was not in a public place he was on private property and the most protected place under the Fourth Amendment which is within the curtilage of this guy's home according to the US Supreme Court and a warrantless arrest cannot be made there default unconstitutional unless there's exent circumstances and there's not here but he did still spend two days in jail he was prosecuted for 3 months by the time the charges were dropped not only does the First Amendment protect freedom of speech it also protects the right to be free from retaliation by a public official for the exercise of that right the four circuit where this is controlling case law has warned that a plaintiff possessed the right to question or challenge the authority of a police officer provided that fighting words or other appropriate language is not used and that any resulting arrest under a general obstruction statute is violative of the First Amendment but for the protected speech that Paul engaged in he would not have been arrested that day and he wouldn't have been prosecuted for three months they therefore violated his clearly established First Amendment rights they also violated his fourth amendment rights because this was an unlawful or unreasonable seizure there had to have been a warrant first to arrest him in in that place even assuming that there was probable cause that he had violated some law so there you have it you have government filming itself violating somebody's constitutional rights I mean just egregiously like couldn't be much more clear although it didn't hold up in court he beat the r but he didn't beat the ride they got to drag him through two days in jail and three months of prosecution that was the punishment for exercising his first amendment rights because they did not like the content of what he said and they wanted to teach him a lesson these sorts of constitutional violations cannot be tolerated in a free Society the problem is nobody knew about it at least not until now so if you live in Taylor County share this video show this video to your politicians ask them for an explanation ask them why they never even responded to Paul's complaint to the sheriff because if they've done it once they'll do it again what do you think let me know in the comments remember our rights don't end where your fear begins freedom is scary deal with it