you walked up on this property This was a consensual conversation I've asked you to leave several times Now you're walking through my yard taking pictures of my items You can do that from somewhere other than this property This guy and his girlfriend are having a yard sale But then the cops show up and accuse them of being shoplifterss because they saw multiple numbers of different items laid out for sale Despite being asked multiple times to leave the police officers refuse to leave I have asked you to leave I would like for you to leave and they stand there on the porch to harass and intimidate and to scare away potential purchasers from looking at the yard sale This is harassment I've asked you to leave and now you're impeding me from being able to sell the items There's a man with a gun on my porch Am I detained you're You are I'm detained for what reason for investigation I've not committed a crime I know I've not committed a crime That's what everybody that commits a crime says Can a police officer just stand there on your porch and demand that you answer his questions if he does not have a warrant i'm just asking some questions but you refuse to answer my question If she coupons she should have most couponers keep pretty good records I mean does she have receipts what about if it's your girlfriend's house and she's not there all police officers especially supervisors should know the answers to those questions and you should also You have a supervisor coming i've already advised you I am the supervisor The level of ignorance here is astounding I don't think I've ever done this before but I actually emailed this sheriff's department and asked them if there was any additional context to this that they could provide What have I heard back so far crickets Welcome back to the Civil Rights Lawyer channel where my mission is to help protect and defend your constitutional rights both through legal education and also showing you all of the crazy things that your government does to people just like you So if you share in that mission please subscribe like comment and share this footage so that maybe it doesn't happen again This video brings us to Bowling Green Kentucky That's Warren County Kentucky And it involves the Warren County Sheriff's Office and also the Bowling Green Police Department But primarily this involves a patrol supervisor named Sergeant Mark Hines I'm not sure how you pronounce it Sounds like Hines but it's spelled this way on his car The video begins with him on the front porch of this private residence where there is a yard sale going on in the front yard The video was submitted to me by the guy who filmed it His name is Anthony The home belongs to his girlfriend but this is where he's staying And his girlfriend had just left to go to the bank and she's coming right back In the meantime the cops show up and they start looking at the stuff in the front yard and they find the items suspicious Anony's girlfriend is a couponer She will resell those items at her yard sales and also will give them out to needy members of the neighborhood This police officer walks up and immediately begins asking questions and making accusations about shoplifting So what's your name and badge number my name is uh Sergeant Hines with Warren County Sheriff's Office 415 Thank you I'm now recording this interaction because this was a consensual conversation where you walked upon me and decided that because I won't give you my ID that you're going to say that the result of couponing is now shoplifting I've asked you to leave I said I I do not want to continue this consensual conversation You refuse Said I don't get to dictate when you leave And that's fine You didn't actually ask me Yes I did I would I I asked to end this conversation Asking that now I am asking you to leave I wanted to end this I wanted Okay Well I've given you the information I have unless you can speak to the items out there in the grass I don't know what else you can do to investigate I've explained that my girlfriend coupons to you I've explained that this is the result of that I don't know what else that you want She shops all over No answer I give you is going to is going to make you think "Oh what I thought when I walked up is not the case because you predetermined the the notion of what you were going to come upon when you saw this yard sale." Determine anything That's why we investigated But you have no reasonable articul suspicion that shoplifting occurred ever I've already provided that reasonable teachable which is what multiples and so it's illegal to own multiples of items and then sell those items So the people who are at the flea market who have multiples of items and are selling items should all be put under suspicion for committing shoplifting I just came here to have a simple conversation and I I I told you my name's Tony Obstruction of that is there's no obstruction Obstruction is a physical act I'm not obstructing you I do not have to help in your investigation That is not my job That is your job You're required to do your investigation I'm not required to say anything to you under the fifth amendment Do you have a supervisor coming i've already advised you I am the supervisor Okay I wanted your supervisor Isn't that your policy to try to contact your supervisor no Okay Do you have a card i believe I have one Can I have one yeah please So that when I file a complaint with your department I know exactly who I'm filing it on This is harassment I've asked you to leave I've asked you to leave I would like for you to leave You have no reason to be here I've explained to you how we have come upon these items I was asked to be here So I do have a reason to be Okay You can investigate somewhere else There's nothing else for you to investigate here This is where it's occurring This is Okay I understand that But I've asked you to leave You have no right to be here I don't want to give you a hard time but you're you're coming up here on baseless accusations You started with giving me a hard time That's where we started No I didn't I just told you I wasn't going to give you my ID because I don't have to Is that not true are we a stop and ID state and now you're impeding me from being able to sell the items because people aren't going to stop when there's a sheriff standing on the porch Why would they not stop because it it looks like there is something intimidating or scary going on here There's a man with a gun on my porch standing over top of me Well cuz I go to stores and people don't leave the store People aren't going to be deterred from a store They're going to think that I'm some type of criminal when there's no criminal act going on here Well I don't believe so You have no reasonable articulable suspicion Having multiples of an item is not a crime Selling multiples of an item is not a crime You have nothing to suggest that any of this was stolen Do you have me on video walking out of a store with all of these items without paying potentially You don't I can guarantee you 1,000% you don't Okay What about your girlfriend i can guarantee a thousand% that she is not on camera stealing anything ever in her life And the fact that you continue to sit here and act like this is ridiculous You're trying to be quiet now that I have you on camera but I want you to understand that I would like for you to leave You have no reason to to be here I have asked you to end this consensual conversation and you refuse on no basis I'm gonna foyer request that name and badge number sir Alex Bigford 486 Thank you Do you have a card yep I'm just watching I've asked you to leave several times Now you're walking through my yard taking pictures of my items You can do that from somewhere other than this property This makes no sense You walked up on this property This was a consensual conversation You're trying to say selling multiples of items is somehow shoplifting It is not My girlfriend coupons I explained that to you You're continuing to push this because of some ego trip that you have because I wouldn't give you my ID So are you going to come back and apologize when you find out you're wrong are you will you come back and apologize if you find out what with what you're doing right now is completely wrong I understand that I asked for his supervisor He's a supervisor I know I want his supervisor cuz what he's doing is completely baseless He has no right to just walk up and assume that all this is shoplifting I'm Officer Williams Badge is 171 And your name ma'am officer Bryant and badge number five Okay And do you have cards can I have one please i'd like to know who I'm complaining on whenever I go to the police department All right That's great Thank you I don't have an issue with y'all doing your job but now I think it's going a little too far There's four officers with a man sitting down in a chair So she's on return to duty so we're considered one cuz I'm training her Okay I understand that But there are four people with weapons standing in front of me Correct For what we're investigating crime You were requested to assist with an officer that was But my question is what reasonable articul suspicion do you have that this these items were stolen i don't know It's not my case I was requested to assist another agency So that's what we're here doing So nobody can give me any answers on why you reasonably believe these items are stolen I said this is the first time I've met you I don't know all the details I explained to him I explained to him that my girlfriend coupons Okay And that we come by these lawfully Okay She does this for a living for the purpose of selling these We have these sales years and years and years in a row and not once has anybody ever come up to us and suspected us We've had cops stop and shop here We've had no issues I just don't understand how somehow this is now a crime I I don't know I was just asking simple questions and you're immediately but I don't want to give you my ID because there's no crime There's no crime being committed Well we call that a clue You call it what you want It's me exercising my rights I don't have to ID We're not a stop and ID state I'm just asking some questions but you refuse to answer my question I told you that's your coupons That wasn't sufficient for you because you believe that the stuff is stolen So there's no way for me to convince you that it's not not the way you're been speaking to me now Well if she if she coupons she should have most couponers keep pretty good records I mean does she have receipts for all I'm sure she has tons of tons of receipts either in her purse or in house I said cuz you said there's no way to prove She does IATA She does IATA She does uh the other little thing that gives you stuff for your receipts Yes It it would be a very simple request for me to walk up and ask for to see the receipts Would you be willing to do that you could ask that Would you be willing but unless you can prove that there was a crime committed there would be no reason for me to have to Now she may voluntarily do it when she gets back She's on her way though I don't know where she's at but I don't have to give you my ID just because you asked for it That's not how the law works if maybe you had asked you know what was going on and then when I told you you stopped and waited in your car and you come back over here and you and you waited to speak to her when she arrived then maybe this wouldn't have escalated towards that But here she's not How would I know that from across the street when the car pulls in the driveway you would see Well how would I know who's selling it i don't know That's why we investigate You don't know And you don't know that there's a crime I really would like for you all to leave That's where investigation is I've not accused you of anything I'm just Yes you have You said the items are potentially stolen with no basis None whatsoever I don't know That's why we Do you have a video of of anybody stealing from any store with any of these items that looks like me i don't know yet This is unreasonable I I think it's completely reasonable Basically I'm unreasonable So I'm just going to assume I'm detained Am I detained you're You are I'm detained for what reason for investigation You no No No Reasonable articul suspicion of a crime Suspicion of shoplifting Okay And what evidence do you have to suspect me of shoplifting your yard my yard i have stuff from my yard for a yard sale guys You know yard sales are illegal now That is absolutely insane It's things like this that make bad relations between people and police officers walked up here You were not being You just immediately accused us of stealing I did not You did I I didn't You did I asked you simple questions I gave you answers You You weren't happy with those answers Answer all my questions Told you where the stuff come from Told you my first name Where anything came from It came from stores where they were purchased with coupons answer It is an answer There's multiple stores throughout this city There's multiple locations people can purchase items These were purchased from all kinds of different stores Like where like anywhere from Kroger to Walmart to Dollar General to Family Dollar to CVS to Walgreens Anywhere that offers coupons that you can get digitally and that you can use manufacturer coupons on That's how couponing works You find things on sale you use the coupons you get them for even cheaper I mean you're getting them for a price where it's almost a steal but it's not stealing I don't understand why you're still here trying to perpetuate the idea that this is somehow theft with your girlfriend So now no I said that you could have Now I've asked you to leave I mean this is unlawful detention You told me this is your home This is unlawful detention You told me this is not your home This is an unlawful detention Did you tell me this is an unlawful detention i have four people with guns detaining me for no reason I don't appreciate it Most people don't Yeah Especially when there's no right and no reason You just ask everybody for receipts used to walk up on everybody and ask them for receipts to their items When they walk out of a store you say "Hey do you have a receipt for that or did you just steal that ridiculous i know y'all have better things to do than to harass somebody who has done nothing illegal And you have no reason to believe they've done anything illegal You're violating my rights by unlawfully detaining me If you continue to violate my rights without reasonable articulable suspicion of a crime you will be subject to any litigation that comes afterwards So your girlfriend she coupons Yes Is she Is she here or she I've already explained to the sheriff she is not here She went to the bank to get change You guys have already run off several potential people that were going to stop you're impeding on my ability to sell any of these items This is completely unlawful You can't provide one strat of evidence that there's anything to even suspect us of It's it's called reasonable suspicion But it's not you can't articulate how it's a crime to have multiple things in your yard I didn't say that Okay It's not a crime then So you don't have reasonable suspicion You don't have a video You don't have a video You don't have any evidence Anybody saying my name that I shoplifted nothing matching my description coming out of a store You didn't provide your name Okay I told you that my name is Tony I go by Tony My name is Antonio in this world That doesn't help me at all My name is Antonio That's as far as I want to give you I don't have to ID myself to you I've not committed a crime I know I've not committed a crime That's what everybody that commits a crime says So that doesn't really help my investigation Okay You just remember what you're saying and how you're acting I I'll smile for you Is that what you want been nothing but cordial I give you a thumbs up and smile for you I've not committed a crime I don't have any issue with you all taking pictures of me I'm glad that you all don't have any issue with me recording you all because it is my first amendment right to do so I never said a word about it I know And I appreciate that Thank you for for not getting upset about that Some people do It's unreasonable Right When it first started it was different So people got upset about me Well you know now people have been more educated and people understand the law more Sure So how long are you legally allowed to keep me detained because it's not it's not infinite You're right But it's long enough to conduct the investigation Okay Well you're not investigating anything You've taken your pictures You've investigated What how have you come to a conclusion by taking the pictures you took you You told me the best person to talk to would be your girlfriend Correct And I also said that you could go back across the street to your vehicle and we could end this unlawful detainment and you can end this consensual conversation which is what it was from the start and you could wait for her Now she's pulling up and you can speak to her and then after you speak to her she gives you the same answer that I gave you Sure Is that going to satisfy you maybe We'll see what she says I I don't like to make snap decision Come on They didn't know Okay Do you have any questions for us no Besides I would like to know that little lady's name that recorded me so she can be banned from myself Yeah Unfortunately we just don't release that type of stuff cuz we don't want that kind of drama or people angry with each other or anything like that So well it's false reporting That's a Well it's a suspicion I think it's fair I mean after six years of being here I mean police stop and shop here that patrol this neighborhood The ice cream truck stops and shops here you know i mean it's like everybody stops to shop here for six years Every summer I have nobody has ever said anything to me It just makes me mad that somebody would call and that it would you have to have this many people out here and SC like for the last hour this yard would have been full of customers Now all these customers have missed this yard because some lady wants to to be fair I was just trying to ask some simple questions but I couldn't get a simple answer So it just made it more complicated It extended the time that we were here because we couldn't get a clear answer I get I told you what where the stuff came from You weren't happy with me telling you that it was from couponing though It's the same answer she gave you except for now you saw the coupons in her window right yeah A little bit of evidence goes a long way I mean you immediately walked on me I can't go anywhere I was detained from the moment you walked up because I don't know who you are Right So I can't give you any evidence I can't show you anything I can't do anything to help further I couldn't But you refused to And when you refuse to identify it the courts have held that that is legal to No it's not No it's not Okay That's all we got I appreciate you Is there an incident number no All right First off what is the biggest problem the major problem with what these officers are doing here where is this sergeant located he is standing on the front porch of this home He has been walking around the front yard of this home taking pictures of these items that he believes are stolen and standing on the front porch of the home basically forcibly questioning this individual about where these items came from what his name is about his girlfriend and so on It can't be disputed that he is within the curtilage of this home A front porch of a home is always within the curtilage and almost always any fenced in yard is going to be within the curtilage of a home Now what is the curtilage that's where the Supreme Court said the area around the home that is so closely associated with our home that it gets the same Fourth Amendment protections as the inside of our home And that means that if the police are going to intrude into that area the front porch the front yard next to the front porch that's just like going inside your house And what do they need if they're going to go inside your house and search for evidence they need a warrant This is a pretty easy one There was a US Supreme Court case in 2018 Collins versus Virginia holding that the police could not even enter the curtilage of a home to search a vehicle that was parked in the driveway with within the curtilage of that home without a warrant even if they had probable cause Kentucky is within the sixth federal circuit There's a sixth circuit case also from 2018 that is exactly on point and binding here Morgan versus Fairfield County Police violate the fourth amendment when they physically intrude into a home's curtilage which is the area immediately surrounding and associated with the home to search for evidence without a warrant even where they have reasonable suspicion So here the police officer keeps saying that he has reasonable suspicion which he doesn't He has a hunch which literally is not reasonable suspicion That's what they are not allowed to have But even if he had reasonable suspicion or even probable cause according to the Supreme Court it would still violate the Fourth Amendment if he does not have a warrant Constitutional law 101 The fact that he's standing on the front porch doesn't matter Still considered the same as inside the home a warrant is still needed And the fact that he's walking through the front yard literally seizing evidence in the form of pictures of these items he believes are stolen well that is literally a search under federal constitutional law He is searching and seizing evidence in a space that is considered to be inside the house without a warrant and clearly without the consent of the residents of that home And on that point does it matter that the guy that they're conversing with doesn't own the home or perhaps doesn't even usually permanently reside there no that does not matter either All the way back in 1990 the US Supreme Court held in Minnesota versus Olsen that overnight guests have a reasonable expectation of privacy at the home that they are visiting and they therefore are afforded full Fourth Amendment protections in regards to that home during the times that they are visiting That means that even though Tony was just a house guest when he objected to the presence of the police officers when he asked them to leave they had to leave and could only come back with a warrant Even though he didn't own the home even though he wasn't necessarily a permanent resident of the home he was entrusted with possession of that house by the resident of the home his girlfriend My opinion that is sufficient knowledge given to the police officers to know that they had to leave and come back with the warrant So what ended up happening here nothing These people were doing nothing wrong There were no criminal charges They just had to deal with their constitutional rights being violated But fortunately it was filmed and Tony actually did a pretty good job of asserting his constitutional rights And he certainly knew a lot more than this career law enforcement officer who demonstrated that he is just completely ignorant when it comes to constitutional law Or perhaps he just doesn't care because he knows that there's no accountability He's going to do what he wants But perhaps some of you that live in Bowling Green might have something to say about that to your politicians because they work for you They don't think that they do but sometimes you need to remind them Let me know what you think in a comment and I'll let you know if I hear any update on this And if any lawyers are interested in getting involved in this I can put you in touch with the individuals in the video Remember our rights don't end where your fear begins Freedom is scary Deal with it