You own this? Y'all own this property? What you think? We here, ain't we? That doesn't mean you own it. We own this. Let me see your IDs. You need to get Get off our property. Let me see your IDs now. Get off our our property. Let me see your IDs now. A married couple was sitting in their car in the rain on their own property, minding their own business. Out of seemingly nowhere, a sheriff's deputy appears. He drives onto their property. He gets out of his car. He approaches them. He thinks their presence is suspicious, and he begins to ask them questions. but they didn't want him on the property. They told him to leave, but he did not leave. He ends up putting the husband in handcuffs and in the back of his patrol car. After a little while, the deputy acknowledges that these are the homeowners. Yep. You are the property owner. Again, I didn't know that pulling up. He lets the husband out of handcuffs, but understandably, they are not happy at all. He arrested my husband on the property. She later uploaded that video to social media where it went viral. It even made the local TV news. In the news report, which the sheriff's office calls one-sided, the couple makes the allegation that they were victims of racial profiling. And I see two black people sitting in there. They have no business there. I did reach out to the sheriff's office to get their side of the story. They provided me with the police reports and the original raw footage. So, who was right and who was wrong here? Was there racial profiling? Were this couple's constitutional rights violated? Well, I have an answer to that, at least in my opinion. So, let's go through it and you can form your own. Some of you have sent me messages about my beard that it's too long, it's too shabby, it's unprofessional, I need to do something about it. And to make matters worse, last weekend I actually caught my beard on fire because I got the grill too hot. 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Or you can get what I got, the Beard Hedger Pro kit, which also comes with everything you need, but also more such as the shampoos, the conditioners, the oils, the beard balm, the beard scissors, the beard brush, the beard comb, the storage case. I highly recommend these products and can get you now 15% off your entire order when you use code civil manscape.com or using the link below. That's 15% off with promo code civil at manscape.com/sivil. Now, let's get back to the video. A video of a Maring County Sheriff's deputy detaining a man on his property is getting hundreds of reactions on social media. He arrested my husband on the property. He's not under arrest. I don't care. You put him in handcuffs on the property. on our property racial profiling us. He pulled up on our property and said that we are trespassing on our own property. Can you believe this? Now he's taking a handcuffs off my husband on our property still. It's so wrong. And this police department will be sued. I'm going to see my lawyer tomorrow. Someone just pull in and ask, "What are you doing here?" Then we tell you we live here. In my mind, you're thinking, "Oh, I see a old Honda 2000 Accord parked in front of a a nice new construction building and I see two black people sitting in there. They have no business there." Welcome back to the Civil Rights Lawyer channel, where if you're a subscriber and you watch these videos, you'll be able to answer the questions such as, "What is the one and only thing that you should say to a police officer if they approach you like this on your property?" This comes to us from Marian County, Florida, which is the Ocala, Florida area. It's sort of rural horse country. This couple apparently lives already on the property and they're building this new construction barnaminium. And this construction site is all brand new. I looked it up on Google and it doesn't even show the barnaminium yet, much less a driveway coming in. They also put in new fencing and a gate, which is important for reasons we'll get to. So, like many other videos that I do, no crime is reported at all. There's no 911 call. Nobody has requested the presence of police. ID card. Stop doing your name on it. That's my ride. I'm going to go ahead and go. No, you're not. I didn't bring you off, sir. So, stop, dude. You can make an emergency, please. I got one resisting. I I worked here, sir. I just thought I This is just a police officer out on patrol being proactive and he sees something that he thinks is suspicious. So, what did the officer think was suspicious here? Just two black people sitting in a car. Well, these are his own words to his supervisor about why the interaction began. I was driving by. It's a new construction. They're starting a barn, like a barn dominium out here. So, I keep an eye on the place cuz I know how often those places get hit. So, as I'm driving by, I see a vehicle parked in front. This is completely unfinished. They've got the sidings done, but the inside isn't even touched. I see a vehicle parked in front of the house. Tail lights are on. It looks occupied. So I walk up, go make contact. I'm like, "Hey, what are y'all doing here? Just trying to talk to him." The guy gets instantly aggressive and defensive. Starts screaming at me to get off his effing property. Says he owns this. Like, "Okay, if you own it, let me see some ID. I'll verify that and we'll be good." And here is the beginning of the body cam footage where we can see that the car at the time that the deputy first arrived. Since it's raining, the car window is up. It looks close to impossible from that distance with the car window up to tell who is sitting inside that car. So, he pulls onto the property through an open gate. He gets out of his car and he walks up to this Honda Accord. And as he's walking up, they're rolling down the driver's side window. And that's when the interaction begins. Y'all own this. Y'all own this property. What you think? We here, ain't we? That doesn't mean you own it. We own this. Let me see your IDs. You need to get get off our property. Let me see your IDs now. Get off our our property. Let me see your IDs now. Get off our property, sir. So, you get off our property. Don't put the car in drive. Put the car in park. ID. Get off our property. Don't Don't get upset, baby. 67. Send me another unit 51 coop. Get off my property. That's crazy what he got going on. You come pull in our property. Tell her ID. Get off our property, man. No trust. Give me your ID. No, no, no. Give me my ID. Give me no trespass. Sure. Let me see your What's your name, sir? My last name is Artman. A R T M. My ID number 6057. Get off our property. No, baby. Give me your ID. No, you need to do Get off our property now. ID, please. Ma'am, do you have your ID as well? Um, no. I have to go back down to my where I write down your That's fine. I can just write down your information. That's fine. Why is you here? It's a new construction house. I see a vehicle sitting out front running with a house. This is my home, baby. Don't question. Calm down. If it's your home now, for pulling up in our house, baby. No. I'm going to call 911 myself. Call him, baby. Now, you dead ass wrong. Racial racial profile. Baby, I didn't know who was the dead. Cut off. I don't like that. Stay the off our property. Get off our property, man. That's all you got to do. No, I'm going to call now. We told you we own it. We own it. Call him, baby. Ma'am, I'm calling now. Ma'am, what's your first name? No, I'm calling 911. And here's more of the deputy explaining to the supervisor about why he thought this couple was suspicious. He wants to get argument. I've been screaming at me and then the wife starts screaming at me and he provides me this DL and it says 17335. The house number is 17327. So, the I the numbers are close. They don't match. So, I still don't know that they actually live here or have the right to be on the property. By the way, I looked up both of those house numbers on Google Maps and both of them came back to exactly the spot where this incident occurred. And as a police officer going off a hunch where no crime is reported, you're sort of out on a limb. You have to always sort of ask yourself, I think, why am I here? What am I doing? What am I trying to achieve? It's like at some point the investigation becomes an investigation to justify the investigation and they forget the entire reason they were there in the first place. All right, this suspicious vehicle in front of this new construction site. Well, he talked to them. They said they live there. They told him to leave. They provided ID that is awfully darn close to where he thought he was. And they called 911 on him. That might have been the point at which he could have thought to himself, you know what? Maybe I'm wrong. These people have just called 911. I have their ID information. Maybe I just leave because they told me to leave. But that's not what happened. You dead ass wrong. Dead ass wrong. Listen, until I can verify this is your property. I'm conducting a criminal investigation. Therefore, you need to provide me with your name. Criminal investigation. You collect [ __ ] cuz nothing been stolen around here. Nothing. I'm sorry. Yes, ma'am. six or seven or something on our property and provide information. I don't know, but he's on our property telling us we're not we don't live here. Can you have somebody come out here right away? We don't own our property. The address is 17 335. That's crazy. North Highway 32 property in the rain. Re, you think I want to be out here standing in the rain? You dead ass, man. You dead ass [ __ ] Why you got to be hostile? I'm trying to do my job. You being hostile now. I'm not being hostile. Cuz you just pulled up on our property and acting like we don't own that. Wait, wait. You cannot hear me. You dead ass wrong. It's 1735. 67, right? 65 tag. The deputy radios the car's plate number to dispatch. And literally, as the dispatcher is reporting back the information on the plate, the husband starts to get out of the car. Now, mind you, they are on their own property. They are not under arrest. They have not been told yet that they are being detained. As far as any citizen in that situation knows at that point, it's a consensual encounter. There's no way of knowing because they haven't asked and the officer did not say. The officer then makes a split-second decision to undoubtedly turn this into a detainment. Hey, stay in the car. Stay Hey, stay in the car. Get back in the car. Get back in the car now. My property. Sit back down in the car. I ain't being detained. back. Yes, you are. Until I can verify you read it in my name already. And also put the husband in handcuffs. Hands on your back. You're being detained right now. Hands on your back. Drop it. Drop it. Put the phone in the car. Put the phone in the car. Drop the wallet. Hands on your back. Hands on your back right now. You're being detained. Okay. You know, I'm going to sue you. I'm going to arrest me. Arrest me. something your shirt. You dead serious, man. You dead wrong, man. Over the car. No, I'm going stay right here from bed. Walk over to the car now. Marion, have them step it up, please. Dead ass wrong, man. You dead ass wrong. This is my home. You have anything in your pockets that'll stick to me, poke me? Any kind of weapons on you? No, I don't. Nothing illegal. No illegal substance right your feet for me. head. He's put him in handcuffs behind his back and he's about to put him in the back of the police car. And what we just witnessed on the body cam was him asking questions where he's fishing for incriminating information. Do you have anything illegal on you? But he's also fishing for what should be justification to frisk him. Do you have any weapons on you? Now, the husband said no, but the deputy frisked him anyways. We saw him do it. But according to the US Supreme Court, to frisk somebody during a detention, during a Terry stop, to perform a Terry frisk, a police officer has to have information that the individual is armed or dangerous. Here, he said he was not armed. And there's no indication that he's dangerous, at least not that I've seen. So unless the officer can explain why he believed that this man was armed or dangerous, that was an illegal frisk, which is an illegal search and seizure. Oh, watch the door and everything. You dead ass, man. Yes, you did. You see me eating, man. You dead that ain't right. This is my home. Watch your arm. So now, very quickly, we've gone from a conversation to the husband being placed in handcuffs and put in the back of the police car. That means that there's no doubt at this point that a detention is occurring as opposed to a consensual encounter. Therefore, the fourth amendment is implicated, which then requires the question, was the detention justified? Or also, depending on how it occurs, the detention could turn into an arrest. If it ends up lasting an unreasonable amount of time under the circumstances or it goes down in some unreasonable way, here is the deputy's explanation to his supervisor about why this occurred. He starts getting out of the car. I said, "Sit back in the vehicle." He wouldn't listen. Wouldn't listen. I didn't trust him. So, I detained him and put him in the back of my car. Before I even did that, she called 911. So, he has the guy's ID as he waits for backup to arrive. He walks over to the front gate of this property. And he notices that there's actually two different numbers, one of which does match the guy's ID. 67. Mailbox says 17335, but the fence says 17327. Could possibly be the occupant. Still have another wrap. And after this point, is it reasonable to still be suspicious that the guy could be trespassing on some third party's property, but just happens to have an ID with his picture in at least one of the two numerical addresses for the actual property. He provided me this DL and it says 17335. The mailbox says 17335, but the fence says 17327. Pretty much statistically impossible, but like I said, now sort of investigating to substantiate the investigation. Jackson, that's possible. Okay. Where where where's the house? That's one that's 335 where the house is. You went to the other office. Don't worry about that. Listen, I don't know why y'all have to be so aggressive and hostile. You work on that property, sir. You Okay, listen. Can I Can I explain Can I explain a little bit? Can I explain a little bit? You're trespassing. Can I explain a little bit? No, you can't explain. You're trespassing. Okay. And I'm suing you. So, next time I'll let someone just come in and break in and steal stuff. No, no, no. If you want to play button, ma'am, how was I to know that was your How did I know it was your property? How did I know it was your property? Know why did you come on here? How did I know it was your property? You don't need to know. And then you're going to arrest my husband. Your husband's not arrested. He's just being detained. I didn't know. Oh my goodness. I'm not I'm not arguing. There's a house somewhere that ends in 335. Where's the house actually at? Cuz the number on the fence is different than the mailbox. Yeah, you listen. Where is that house at? The 17335. Where's that house at? This is new construction house right here. Okay. This house. What is this house number right here? Right there on the front page. The 17 uh 17327. Yeah. Okay. 6057. So 146. That's 104. The 17335. Where is that house at? What you mean? Where it's at? This is 1723 327. That's one piece of property. This is all one property. See, now if we just talked, it would have been a completely different conversation. You should have never did that, sir. You just pulled in here and assumed something. And hey, what you do? I own this. That is wrong, man. You got your club on me tight and we stay here. This is our property, sir. We told you that. It was at this point that the deputy gets back out of the car and then he calls his supervisor on his cell phone. I already played you some of that conversation. Here's where it picks up. He appears to live behind the in the house behind the property 104. But she there is, but I can't see the house number on the building. There's So there's a mailbox that says 17335 and then the fence post says 17327. I didn't see the mailbox when I pulled in. I only saw the number on the fence post. And on top of that, it's a new construction. There's a Carson sen out front with his lights on. I mean, how many times do we get them things broken into in broad daylight? But she's screaming, hooting, and hollering and won't give me her information. I'm like, you know what? If I can verify that she's her his spouse, and they live at the house behind, then okay, we're good. That's all I needed. She on the region of the vehicle. Oh yeah. I didn't get a chance to. I was just trying to talk to him. Then he starts getting out of the vehicle and I was like, I don't trust that you're not about to either run or fight me. So you're going to sit in my car. Not trying to cause crap for you, sir. I'm sorry, but just that's that's all it is right now. But he's already pissed off and they're all talking about suing and they're going to file a complaint anyway. So, I'm sure you'll see it. All right. I'll I'm still going to need one of them here so I can at least if we can talk to people at the house to verify that they live here and they have the right to be on the property. Awesome. I just can't go back there right now. And they're all claiming that I came out here and was being aggressive and stupid to them and I wasn't. I was trying to verify who they were. Yeah. And I and I don't doubt that. I didn't know there was another house behind this. I couldn't see it from the road. It just looked like it was a big driveway and a big piece of property. Yep. We'll do. All right. Bye. We're not going to take them off right now, but if I can verify that y'all live at the house behind, which I see your ID says that I don't see the house number somewhere in the back there. Once another you get here and verifies that that's your address, then we can get this done and over with. All right. I wasn't coming out your profile on you. I didn't know that until you gave me your ID. All right. Even then, I can't see that house back there. Right now, just loosen the handcuffs. We can put them in the front. Can you do that? Yeah. Hold on one second. I'll loosen them. Dang, they hurt me. All right. Here's what I'm going to do, Mr. Jackson. Kind of turn your back. Face that way. Which one's tight right now? Both. Okay. Okay. All right. Put them in the I ain't going nowhere, man. No. Wink. I'm not going nowhere, sir. This is my home. I got I again, Mr. distracted. I don't know that until I verify everything. All right. I'm just saying. All right. Here's what we're going to do. Go and step out. I'll put them around in the front and then you can see then we'll sit back inside. Okay. Go ahead. Trying to get out this police officer that is on our property. Okay. Just go and face the car for me. Okay. You good? You good? All right. Face the car for me. To my husband. He ain't arresting me, baby. He's not under arrest. I don't care. You put him in handcuffs on the property right now. He's just being detained. Okay. Okay. So, when I do when I release your left arm, just turn around and face me and I'll put him in the front. Okay. That we are trespassing on our own property. Can you believe this? Now, he's taking a handcuffs off my husband on our property still. Do me a favor. I don't care if you cord. Take a couple steps back. Okay. You know, take a couple steps back. Step back. Step back. There's a couple wrong with so I'm going to see my lawyer tomorrow. Just wanted to show you what happened. Stupid old go. The [ __ ] go live, baby. Turn face. We have the property over. Just go like that. Go like that. Nope. Turn your wrist that way. There you go. I don't want to turn sideways on you. Okay. Mhm. All right. I trust this one. Okay. I did not mean to make you drop your biscuit. All right. Somebody tell you they stay here, we stay here. That's how I know profile. You should not. You should never pull on nobody's car, man. I ain't going to argue with you, but you dead wrong. And you know you wrong. You in big trouble for this, bro. It's a matter of opinion. All right. All right. So, she's just sitting over hooting hauling recording. I don't really care about that. I need to try to verify badge they have on his license. I need to try to verify if it's that address back behind there cuz you saw the fence has one number. Yeah. The mailbox has a different one. Okay. Didn't see the mailbox when I pulled in here. I was focused on the car cuz where they're parked at right now. Car was sitting there, lights on. I could see someone was moving around in it and it's a new construction. So, I figured, hey, 13, I need to check it out. So, I pulled look at the lot box to see what the address is on a lot box. No, they told me the address for this property is the one on the fence. Just give us a minute. Y'all on my property. I can't believe this. This is the whole thing. Wow. Okay, we're on our on our property. Say we trespassing on our property. I need to try to get on property, but I can't get ma'am. That's fine. You do what you want. We're doing an investigation. We're doing an investigation. Investigation, ma'am. Just give us a minute, please. Investigation. Give us a minute. Ridiculous. I guess the black have a nice house. I couldn't even tell what kind of Just don't don't acknowledge. Um I can go check the lock box. Would they have the person's name who owns the property on that? Yeah, everything should be on the job box. I didn't Again, I was focused on the car because of all this crap. It's a nice freaking barn, though. Yeah. Devon. Yeah, this is theirs. Yeah, but again, didn't know that off the bat. Actually, hold on. Let me take a picture of that cuz I'm going to probably end up writing something on this anyways. So, what we don't have anything, right? Nope. We're good now. I just didn't have the chance to get that cuz I was focused on them. Hey, because I was focused on the car, I didn't see the lot box there. And even then, I was focused on them. So Chill just pointed that out. Went over and checked it. And both their names are on the lot box, which is in front of the construction that they are parked in front of. So I got nothing. I'm going to cut him loose. Uh yeah, I'm going to write up a third. Do you want me to write something up on this in case they complain? So there's documentation. Okay, 10. I'll do that. All right. Appreciate it. Bye. Nope. Nope. I'm getting them out. I'm getting them out. All right. Bye. All right. Go. Step out. I'll get those off. You check the lot box. Yep. You are the property owner. Again, I didn't know that pulling up and because of all the chaos of y'all guys screaming to me, I couldn't verify that. Okay. No chaos there. There was a little bit, man. You dragged me. You dragged me like a child. I did not drag you like a child. Did not drag you like a child. Yes, you did. I said we're going to walk over my car and you wanted to walk. You knew better than that. You not a rookie. You're free to go. Have a good day. You know better than that's why you let me go. Once the officer has left the world of consensual encounter and entered the world of a Terry stop or an investigatory detention implicating the Fourth Amendment, reasonable suspicion is required. For a lawful Terry stop, a police officer needs specific objective facts, not just a hunch indicating that a crime or violation has occurred. An officer may perform a limited investigatory detention of someone whom he reasonably suspects has committed criminal activity, but such stops can only last as long as necessary to achieve their limited investigatory purpose. And before police officers escalate the situation to this point, again, they should be asking themselves questions, not just am I investigating something in my own mind, or is it my department policy to always get an ID from somebody by force if necessary? You have to think about the Fourth Amendment. Am I involved right now in a consensual encounter or am I forcing this person to comply with my orders? So, if it's not a consensual encounter, what is my reasonable suspicion? What crime am I investigating? Most of these hunch suspicions can be resolved very easily with a consensual encounter. Police may approach anybody really in a consensual encounter and ask for ID or other information, but that person is free to refuse or to walk away unless they are being detained. And that requires reasonable suspicion. That's why the one question that somebody should ask if they're in a situation like this and they're unsure what the legal rights are, all you have to ask is, "Am I free to go?" If the answer is yes, then you have no obligation to provide ID or to comply with anything else. And if the answer is no, now it's been confirmed that the Fourth Amendment has been implicated. It's a detention, and you can comply and avoid arrest while still preserving your rights. Another thing going on here is the location that this is taking place. This is sort of a weird scenario. This is a home, but it's a new construction home. Nobody's moved in yet. The inside's not even finished. So, is this like an open fields situation, or are we talking about an actual home in the curtilage of a home where the rules are way different? The US Supreme Court said in 2018 in Collins versus Virginia that the police cannot even enter the curtilage of a home to search a vehicle that's parked within the curtilage of that home for instance a driveway without a warrant even where they have probable cause. So if that car is sitting in the driveway within the curlage of this barnaminium if it gets that protection yet according to the courts it doesn't matter whether the officer even has reasonable suspicion or even probable cause. He has to have a warrant. But setting that aside, let's look at what the officer's claimed reasonable suspicion is here. One, it's a new construction site. Two, it's an occupied vehicle that's parked there. And three, the guy gets quote instantly aggressive and defensive. Also, looking at their police report, they included this fact. During the past year, there have been 121 construction related offense reports with many of them being burglaries and criminal mischiefs. Now, that doesn't apply to this situation. That's just sort of like saying this was a high crime area and we were patrolling this area because there have been 100 plus burglaries or crimes that have occurred in that area before. Even including that fact, if true, that's not a whole lot. So, applying that law to all the facts that we just watched, do I think that there was racial profiling involved here? No. In my opinion, it does not appear that the deputy could see who was in that car, whatever race or color they may be. Now, perhaps he profiled the car being an older Honda Accord, contrasted with what looks like to be an expensive construction project. No, this, in my opinion, is yet another example of a police officer's unnecessary proactive hunch that achieved nothing good and that, in my opinion, was unreasonable. and therefore unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. I don't dispute that this police officer did have a hunch. He did have suspicions in his mind. I don't believe that it was nefarious or malicious. He saw something he thought was suspicious and he did go to investigate. But once he made the decision to turn what could have been just a consensual encounter, asking questions if they want to answer into a detainment, those suspicions were not reasonable. He had them, but they were not reasonable because nobody had reported that any crime had occurred. He had not observed anything illegal. All he observed was a car parked in front of this construction project. Even if we give that to him, the initial suspicion, even if we say that that is reasonable, that doesn't entitle him to just do whatever he wants. Remember, such stops can only last as long as necessary. And here immediately when he started asking questions, they told him they live there. When he asked for ID, it was provided and it matched at least one of the two addresses on the front entrance of the property. He provided me this DL and it says 17335. The mailbox says 17335, but the fence says 17327. And he had that information prior to placing this man in handcuffs and during the entire 20 minutes or so that he had him in handcuffs. That's just unreasonable in my opinion and I think many courts would agree with that. And that's not even addressing the elephant in the room. If this new construction house is to be considered a home for purposes of the fourth amendment and if he went in and seized this individual within the curtilage of that home, he had to have had a warrant or exigent circumstances. I looked a little bit into that issue and it's an interesting issue. Their home is elsewhere on the property. They're building this new barnaminium. It's completely unfinished. At which point would a warrant be required to arrest them within what would be the curtilage of that barnaminium? I think there's a number of factors that would have to be addressed whether or not a person would have a expectation of privacy. When you look at those cases, when you look at the curdilage cases in the 11th circuit, they place a lot of importance on whether or not there is a fence and a gate, especially a closed gate or a locked gate. In the 11th circuit in Florida, if you gate your property and you close and lock that gate and police officers hop over that gate, the case law is overwhelmingly that they have now entered the curtilage and a warrant would have been required. So keep that in mind for the future. So thanks for watching. Please subscribe both here and at the blog, the civil rightsawyer.com. You can also follow me on xjbryantesq and let me know in a comment what you think. I gave you my opinion. Let me hear yours. Remember, our rights don't end where your fear begins. Freedom is scary. Deal with it.