do you think this is I'm about to laugh the arrested for laughing case I'm the lawyer on that civil rights lawsuit and just last night we got a ruling finally on whether or not that police officer gets qualified immunity he got pulled over here in West Virginia for flashing his headlights at oncoming motorist in order to warn them of a notorious speed trap God flashing these lights warning everybody you're sitting there I'm going after him that wasn't a crime so the officer basically made up a citation and when he went to give it to my client he laughed and I could take you to jail today for your unsigned registration card but I just wrote you a citation for that that's actually up to 6 months in jail you think it's funny sir the officer didn't like that he pulls him out of the car he ends up putting him in handcuffs step out of the vehicle are you serious place your hands behind your back for me are you serious yes sir place your hands behind your back for me oh man you're serious brother I'm not your brother I've seen on some of the viral videos floating around the internet all sorts of claims about what actually happened in that case but they're all wrong I'm litigating the lawsuit and it's actually still pending but there's a huge update after we filed the lawsuit that officer and the sheriff of that County asked the federal court to dismiss it and to give the officer qualified imunity claiming that the driver had no right to warn others about a speed trap and also had no right to laugh at the police and the court answered those questions did he get qualified immunity or did the Court deny him qualified immunity I recently realized that I had no idea how many subscriptions I had on different devices and had no idea how much those were costing me every month and I was actually shocked to find out how much it was at least once I was able to finally track them all down and add them all up how great would it be if you just had an app that would keep track of all 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the actions of Nicholas County West Virginia Deputy JD Ellison the county seat of Nicholas county is Summersville West Virginia for many many many years the four-lane highway Route 19 that runs through or next to sommersville has been known as a notorious speed trap in fact in footnote one of the Court's order that I'm going to tell you about in this video the court took judicial notice of the fact that this incident happened at the site of a notorious speed trap I even found some news videos going way way way back discussing the fact that this spot is a speed tra never get a speeding ticket you didn't think you deserved well this is a story for you it's about Summersville West Virginia a town that likes life in the slow lane so much so it's known as a speed trap of North America handing out thousands of tickets a year for Canadians there is one big bump on the road through a late winter respit in the US South and it's here amid the Rolling Hills of the Appalachians where the local law patrols its Turf rigorously assiduously unrelentingly though they don't Target Canadians specifically no no they'll write speeding tickets to anyone passing through hey man have you operators mation there okay abandon hope all ye who enter here here being an otherwise tranquil little community of 3,000 or Soul Souls nestled alongside a roadway very very popular with thousands of Canadians traveling back and forth on Florida vacations at least back then they apparently were much Kinder at least when they were on camera to the Canadians than they were to William aan aona who was a guy that this happened to who originally brought me the footage williiam Ayan aona was driving through this notorious speed trap this stretch of US Route 19 on May 13th of 2022 and while doing so he noticed a parked police car that was running radar to catch speeding motorists so he decided to send a warning to the oncoming motorist that they were about to cross paths with the officer to send that message he began flashing his headlights at the passing cars as the court wrote his message got through to the oncoming motorist but unfortunately for him Deputy JD Ellison was among the recipients of that message Ellison a deputy of the Nicholas County Sheriff's Department turned his vehicle around and initiated a traffic stop in his body cam footage Ellison can be heard talking to another officer presumably the one that was running the speed trap notifying him that he caught the plan of doing this and that he was going to pull him over God flashing these lights warning everybody you're sitting there I'm going after him and after he did Deputy Ellison explained to Mr aona that he had pulled him over for flashing his headlights to warn other drivers of the officer running radar that was pretty stupid wasn't it what's up flashing your lights at everybody to let them know that law enforcement was sitting there running radar is that what I did is that a crime yeah it is I didn't know it yeah you got your license registration appr why would you do that you're flashing your hob beams at people to in the daytime yeah he admitted to the other officer why he did it he admitted to Mr Ayan Kona why he did it that's really not in dispute the driver then explained exped to the deputy that he was unaware that flashing his headlights as a warning to other drivers was illegal I didn't know that was a crime it doesn't say daytime or night time it just says that you can't do it and you did it I didn't know that was yeah you can't hob people at any time in the daytime or night time I didn't know that I didn't know I mean yeah night time I understand um I'm sure I could articulate some other kind of drive and charge in there for doing that too that's I mean that's pretty crappy yeah I apologize and he said that he believed he was engaging in protected speech by using his headlights in this way but as the court wrote Deputy Ellison was unmoved by plaintiff's constitutional appeal he proceeded to write out two citations to the plaintiff one for violating the special restrictions on lamps statute whatever that is and another for an unsigned registration card all right sir there's your stuff back there and I wrote you two citations today first one being special restrictions on lamps uh which you can read that code and it says no flashing lights shall be on a vehicle and at that point in time you have flashing lights on your vehicle it's unauthorized well under the Constitution it's a it's protected on the First Amendment I'm going to look into it that's in Tennessee yeah I'm going to look into I'm see about West Virginia yeah free speech yeah it's not illegal to do that to flash and warn but it's legal to high beam okay and it is legal to have flashing lights on your vehicle uh not being an emergency vehicle see huh I said I'll see okay before he gave the citations to the plff deputy Ellison proceeded to extend the traffic stop he began explaining to Mr Ayan aona that the maximum penalties for an unsigned registration card included 6 months in jail and that he could arrest him instead of giving him a citation the driver apparently finding this suggestion absurd began laughing that then infuriated Ellison who immediately retaliated by ordering him to get out of the vehicle and then he placed him in handcuffs and led him back to the cruiser during during this exchange where Deputy Ellison took exception to being called brother by saying I'm not your brother and I'll never be your brother and I could take you to jail today for your unsigned registration card but I just wrote you a citation for that that's actually up to 6 months in jail you think it's funny sir take the ticket sir I know but do you think this is funny take I'm about to laugh I can laugh all I want go and step out here I didn't do anything sir I'm asking you to step out the being detained yes sir you are step out of the vehicle are you serious place your hands behind your back for me are you serious yes sir place your hands behind your back oh man you're serious brother I'm not your brother believe me you're not yeah I'll never be your brother I'll never be your brother exactly be careful I don't want to be your brother be careful don't jerk away from me sir just be careful don't jerk away from me my my wallet is in the car okay I don't want you to jerk away from me right there I going away from the traffic no I was putting you in front of my car okay which is away from traffic you're you're arresting me for laughing no I didn't do anything I'm arresting you for unsigned registration okay all right that's fine okay so stand right there hang tight in front of my vehicle hang tight right here in front of my vehicle for me the plff was then forced to St handcuffs for several minutes along the busy Route 19 before eventually Deputy Ellison finally released him after speaking in his car with an unnamed prosecuting attorney I guess I'll see you in court all right ticket still stands there special restrictions on lamps unsigned registration card I gave you till the 23rd of this month to contact the Magistrate phone number's on your copy there once you contact them they tell you how to take care of it okay all righty sir be safe he brought the original video to me I helped him find a criminal defense attorney I did an update video on it after he beat the criminal case on appeal actually since then I filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that police officer asked the federal court to Grant him qualified immunity and the ruling just came out last night by the way this is what Deputy Ellison's boss the elected Sheriff of Nicholas County West Virginia this is what he had to say about the video that you just watched of what he did to Mr Ayan aona he specifically addresses this video so listen to what he says and then compare his words to the Court's opinion another topic I would like to cover is incidents regarding one of our other deputies Deputy Ellison there's been a live video circling circulating regarding the traffic stop the resulted in citations being issued during the stop the individual began laughing at said officer because of flashing lights and trying to warn other drivers of what could have been a high priority investigation examples trying to locate a missing child that's been abducted murder suspect someone bringing poison drugs into our area that possibly get into a child's hands trying to find a fender running the stop life we all know that's a current problem in our area when someone acts irrational it is not normal and raises questions for further possible involvement in criminal activity he was detained for a short period Then released with citation citations of what the officer believed was a violation to further add to the prosecutor believed a violation also occurred resulting in a hearing where a magistrate convicted and believed one occurred also the case was then appealed to the Circuit Court before judge Callahan where he ever turned ruler I will say I believe the wills of Justice was served and this F is exactly why we have the best justice system in the world nowhere else in the world has this type accountability and freedom is not perfect however it is very rare that fails the citizens of this country I also say as individuals none of us are perfect there was only one mistakes were made daily and addressed accordingly as his officer involved has received counseling not only from myself but my chief and as immediate supervisor our office has the utmost respect for our prosecutors magistrate and judges they do an outstanding job for a community 100% by that was the sheriff's opinion but here is the opinion that matters so far and that's from the federal courts as applied to these specific facts as alleged that I've just recited to you the Court held this plaintiff contends that Deputy Ellison stated he initiated the stop because plff was signaling other drivers of the presence of another officer there does not appear to be a law in West Virginia that criminalizes such behavior taking the facts as the court must and the light most favorable to the plth deputy Ellison allegedly initiated the stop without Reasonable Suspicion such a stop would violate the Fourth Amendment the court explained that unconstitutionally extending a stop by even a Dem Minimus amount of time violates the Fourth Amendment so even assuming a valid traffic stop exists police officers cannot extend that stop any amount of time or they violate the Fourth Amendment the court said by failing to hand over the already written citations and prolonging the encounter Deputy Ellison argued ably made the stop longer than necessary to effectuate its purpose regarding the fact that Ellison ordered Mr Ayanna Kona out of the car the court said while it is true that an officer May order a suspect out of the car during a valid Terry stop such order is only valid if an officer possesses an articulable and objectively reasonable belief that the suspect is potentially dangerous the defendants cite nothing to suggest that between initiating the traffic stop and plaintiff's laughter that Ellison noticed any that was suggest the encounter became dangerous to him without such justification the act of ordering plain if out of the car is arguably unjustified in regarding the Frisk of the plff the court said again there is nothing to suggest at this time that Deputy Ellison became aware of an evolving threat to his safety thus even assuming this was a Frisk of the plff it was arguably unjustified based on the facts alleged so I've told you many times that police officers forget that element in order to pull somebody out of their car and Frisk them there has to be facts objectively available that the individual is armed or dangerous and in many cases that does not exist just like here in many cases that's used as sort of a retaliation for perceived disrespect the defendants argued that there's no First Amendment right to flash your headlights and warn oncoming motorists about a speed trap here's what the court said about that given the fact that plff contends that Deputy Ellison knew and understood the message he was attempting to to send the court finds no reason to conclude that flashing one's headlights do not constitute protected speech moreover initiating a traffic stop because of protected speech and without probable cause would certainly deter a person from engaging in that protected speech in the future regarding qualified immunity the court said this defendants assert that Deputy Ellison is entitled to qualified immunity because it is debatable and thus not clearly established that flashing one's headlights to warn other motorists is protected speech that assertion however misses the point every reasonable officer in the United States is aware that retaliation for First Amendment speech is a violation of a person's constitutional rights whereas here the allegation is that a defendant knew of the speech and reacted to it accordingly qualified immunity cannot serve as a proper Shield if Justice plaintiff alleges Deputy Ellison knew of plaintiff speech had no probable cause to initiate the Stop and stop plane if anyway because of that speech then the actions make out a classic First Amendment retaliation claim thus the court denied qualified immunity to Deputy Ellison also the court said qualified immunity is not applicable to the officer's decision to order Mr Ayanna Kona out of the car and handcuff him because it's clearly established that an officer may not arrest an individual either absent probable cause or with sufficiently provable retaliatory animus in other words police officers are supposed to know they can't arrest people just for their engaging in protected speech like flashing headlights so there you have it like you heard in the sheriff's video where he tried to Gaslight the public and claim that there was some legitimate Public Safety threat because this man flashed his headlights he knows the real reason that Mr ayona was stopped everyone knows the real reason and the fact is is that flashing headlights whether the Supreme Court has recognized it yet or not is a physical act of among many many others that are described by case law that can be protected speech and in this case as we've alleged it was intended as protected speech and it was received by the officer as protected speech and he admitted that several times during the body cim footage and that protected speech made him mad so he retaliated so this is just the motion to dismiss stage which is based on the allegations made in the complaint the court will address all of these issues again at the summary judgment stage which which will include the testimony of the individuals and all other evidence including the video footage we're still in the discovery process that's still happening but I anticipate the facts will show as we've alleged because it's all on video doesn't really matter if anyone disagrees with that therefore no matter what you've seen on any viral video this is a pending case these things take time sometimes it can take years depositions are actually coming up in this case and then we'll go to court again and after we get a court order at that point I'll hopefully give you a positive update at that time so if you want to follow along Please Subscribe both here and at the blog at the civils lawyer.com you can also follow me on X John brryan Esq remember our rights don't end where your fear begins freedom is scary deal with it