why are you pulling me over for your lights you don't have any lights on your bike put the bike down why put your hands behind your back let me see your face you slam me for no reason well I warned you that that was going to happen this disabled elderly man was riding his bike without lights on at night in St augustine Florida which is a noncriminal infraction where the first offense doesn't even come with a fine much less jail but that didn't stop this sheriff's deputy from grabbing him and slamming him to the ground you're not a young man i didn't want to do that to you but you really gave me no choice i don't mean that offensively but like how old are you once we go to the ground is paperwork so if a police officer thinks that an elderly man on a bicycle didn't listen to him is it lawful to just slam him to the ground at the end of the day because he wasn't using lights on his bicycle he spent 24 nights in jail welcome back to the Civil Rights Lawyer channel if you like going through civil rights cases usually on body cam and learning not only what happened but also what the law is please subscribe i understand that sometimes cops have to make difficult split-second decisions but here not only was this senior citizen physically abused but this deputy and his colleagues made fun of him during a time where he was having the most difficult time of his life 65 years old man i swear to God I got to the hospital i'm my life i got evicted from my place i'm living with out here suck he had to go in the hospital he got evicted he was homeless just trying to get something to eat that night but these officers laughed at him no I can't i can't even eat i got something to do it's going to feel kind of squishy no no I didn't i didn't let it all out have you really Did you I had a little squirt little literally just twice they even high-fived each other about using violence against the senior citizen stop doing this this footage was brought to me by Jeff Gray of Honor Your Oath Civil Rights Investigations he got all the footage he provided it to me and now we'll go through that together the public needs to know what happened why it happened why it is or is not a violation of constitutional rights this happened on February 17th of this year specifically this occurred on Palmer Street in St augustine Florida this is the exact spot where this man Danny Wkelman was just riding his bike that's it it's a Florida law that if you're going to ride your bike in public at night that you have lights on your bike this is not a criminal violation it's a civil infraction where the first offense basically gets dismissed without a fine if you put lights on your bike maybe they give you a safety brochure i believe it's it's basically just a warning and that is what was going to happen here a deputy with the St john's County Sheriff's Department named Kanan or Canain i'm not sure how you pronounce that because we have a Canain Valley here in West Virginia and then I know the Bible speaks of the land of Canaan anyways that's how it's spelled he's on patrol and he saw a man on a bicycle and he observed him riding on a public roadway without front and rear red lights this is what he said happened after initiating the stop the defendant continued to ride south on Palmer Street despite my emergency lights being activated the defendant stated "I'll pull over there." Despite being verbally ordered to pull over the defendant eventually pulled to the side of the road as I positioned my vehicle I observed the defendant throwing an item from his jacket pocket on the ground next to him the primary thing that we're looking at here in this video is whether or not it was a Fourth Amendment violation i.e excessive force for the officer to slam this man on the ground under these circumstances to analyze this we look at the Graham factors the first of which is the severity of the crime at issue the whole point here is for the courts to have a way to determine whether or not a police officer acted reasonably it would be much less reasonable for a police officer to slam somebody to the ground over a noncriminal bicycle infraction as opposed to say somebody suspected of robbing a 7-Eleven here according to the officer's own words no crime at all was suspected other than he was going to give him a infraction warning citation for not having lights on his bike not a serious crime at all in looking at the body cam footage we see the very first moment that the deputy encountered Mr wkelman he may be moving slowly and not responding the way the officer wanted him to he appears to be going to a specific location that perhaps he thinks is the safe or appropriate location to stop and get off his bicycle and interact with the officer i ordered the defendant to get off his bicycle which he initially refused after getting off his bicycle the defendant began walking away from me and refused to let go of the bicycle as I attempted to secure the defendant in handcuffs he pulled both of his arms away from me and attempted to walk away from me put the bike down put your hands behind your back nope for no resisting fighting all right I'm going back right now i'm not resisting you i'm going to steal your ass that's pretty you give me your other hand i will you mean don't beat me up man i hope you got a camera on one secure clear traffic i already got my You're under arrest for what resisting without violence i I'm not No violence i'm going to get you up all right he was violent why did you do that that is so stupid i don't know listen I'm just trying to eat food i got a puck watch that napkin he toss i just go to the hospital lay on the car okay let me see your face no I am you know what you [ __ ] slam me for no reason well I warned you that that was going to happen you continue to try to fight me i I got a hot pill [ __ ] for 5 days i didn't want to do that man listen you're not a young man i didn't want to do that to you but you really gave me no choice no I didn't i tell you what man i'll tell you soon i don't mean that offensively but like how old are you i'm 6 so what are you doing i mean come on man i'm trying to get over this cold and eat some food it's going to give you a warning for your bike light that's what this was about after being taken to the ground the defendant was secured in handcuffs the defendant was taken to the St john's County Jail for the listed charge without further incident the listed charge was misdemeanor resisting an officer or obstructing an officer without violence so that's what Officer Canain or Kanan said happened but to me looking at this body cam footage it looks like the deputy physically goes hands-on immediately grabs a hold of the guy's clothing and guides him to where they're heading to the side of the road so Florida is in the 11th Federal Circuit so that's where we look to other than the US Supreme Court for the controlling case law on Fourth Amendment issues such as these doing some research I pretty quickly found that the charge he ended up getting charged with specifically resisting arrest or obstructing arrest without violence has been explicitly found by the 11th Circuit to be not a serious crime for which severe force is warranted the second and most important gram factor is whether or not there's an immediate safety threat the only violence introduced into this incident was from Deputy Kanan the officer admits multiple times on the body cam footage that there was no safety threat towards him or anyone else posed by this senior citizen on his bike he makes clear that this man did not engage in any violence towards anybody he just didn't listen to him allegedly there are multiple officers on scene there is a huge disparity of strength of size of age it would be unreasonable for this officer to believe that this elderly man posed a serious safety threat and so he had to immediately slam him onto the ground rather it appears that he did so because the man did not listen how do we know that the officer admitted that well why are you throwing me on the ground cuz you didn't listen to what I said the final and probably least important grand factor is whether or not the suspect is actively resisting or attempting to evade arrest at the beginning remember he was not under arrest this was a civil infraction he was going to get a warning the body cam footage does not show the suspect attempt to flee and at most it shows passive resistance failure to put his hands behind his back when ordered to or to go to the exact spot that the deputy ordered him to go to the guy had a bicycle he got off the bicycle and he's walking the bicycle while the officer is guiding him with his clenched fist on his clothing he's making no attempt to run he didn't attempt to run on the bicycle he's not actively resisting or fighting in any way passive resistance such as not obeying commands does not entitle an officer to jump to slamming an elderly man's head on the ground the other thing the officer was upset about here is that the man allegedly threw a napkin on the ground all these officers were scrambling all over the place looking for whatever he threw which they think was some sort of contraband this is a homeless disabled hungry senior citizen just trying to go get a meal on his bicycle and then you don't want to stop you toss whatever's in that napkin which I watched you do no and then whatever else is on you you want me to check my Well I'm going to cuz you're under arrest at this point this could have been a simple traffic warning you were really for resisting without violence 100% okay [ __ ] i just got to the hospital yesterday man what did you get to the hospital for i went to the hospital cuz my legs are all [ __ ] up and I have not taken my medication i just got medication for a girl down the street here that she got for me and I was trying to get back to your coalition and take it do you got anything sharp in your jacket or anything no needles or razor blades i don't want to get stuck no I don't man sure no i had a little ball could you just put that uh lamp on me headlamp yeah Chris put gloves on and check that napkin he ditched that he might have dished something else back there too no that's a napkin but you look all you want i don't think that's just a napkin man you People don't do that when they're getting pulled over like that why are you pulling me over for your lights you don't have any lights on your bike that's why I'm stopping you i can't eat now what i was going home where's just that that That's the one I saw yeah my pocket here get out you want i eat i got to hospital i was in the hospital 5 days and my leg [ __ ] up okay you go anywhere you want out here you said you take medicine what do you take medicine for i take medicine i take medicine and I haven't been taking it i got evicted this is why I'm here my legs [ __ ] up all right you said that about 30 times i've been saying many times in the hospital we got Go ahead where's your ID my ID's in there you can look all you want i just want to get I'm fine i just want to eat i got to eat in jail put your hands on my deputy you're going to go to jail i promise you that i didn't know anything was done i didn't know about a battery he's just going to be resisting without okay all right that you slam me do you know why do you understand that part this is very critical i can explain it to you 55 years old man i swear to God I got to the hospital i'm [ __ ] my life is [ __ ] i got evicted from my place i'm living in [ __ ] out here it sucks i can't I can't even eat i got something to do yeah that's great you know what you slammed me on the ground and I wasn't resisting i did and you were I wasn't resisting i just said "What are you talking about man?" And you went bam and that's Is it on your cam yeah oh yeah i got I my hat yeah that's his who else who would it be you never know man right up there come on man this is harassment man you know what really I'm going to take this to I swear to God you know what I'm going to take it i I am in the lowest part of my life and you guys are really helping to be that way i already told you man this could have been a simple warning for the life i wasn't going to give you a ticket that's all it was i I had the worst part of my life two months ago when I got hurt my leg and my I'm I'm medically incapable of working that suck taking me to jail yeah really yeah that's bull man that's bull all right have a seat can you un lighten that one right up i got two fingers in there man that's standard policy have a seat you have standard policy two fingers if I fit them in there man [ __ ] you've been looking for me anyway oh wait come back they just I didn't lock them i'm going to go Damn it come back out here man well you know when we're on the ground it's kind of hard to lock them you know well why are you throwing me on the ground cuz you didn't listen to what I said multiple times i I did miss i can't walk man i got you you're not going to fall you got to what oh sorry have a seat windows up yeah man you're going to have to pay for this no guess who's going to be cleaning it me get the [ __ ] out of here yeah have a seat guys 45 St john's trying to raise me have a seat bud now do you It's going to feel kind of squishy no no i didn't I didn't let it all out here okay have you really Did you [ __ ] i had a little squirt and I I you did it man i'm going to say judge yeah I had the squirt man i bag i need something you got a bag for who let me go and let me go eat no where's my food going what food he ain't got any food i got food in that bag bag yeah I went I went to the goddamn store to get something to eat and come back here hey any of y'all got a um one of those blankets those little like space blankets really i'm sorry it's going to have a hard time classifying that as routine handcuffing once we go to the ground it's paperwork well we went to the ground it's going to be paperwork i know then let me go and let me go no no cuz what I'm saying is if you had just stopped i didn't stop because I can't stop there were plenty of places to stop yep that's perfect just something to lay down there you going to wrap me up in this [ __ ] no i'm going to lay it on the seat so all these cops are just standing around apparently nothing to do they're having a good time he's telling them the story of what happened and his story to them is that he violently slammed this senior citizen onto the ground and they think the whole thing is funny so I lit him up back there he was on the right side of the road he crosses over and he's like yelling back "I'm going to stop i'm going to stop." Well not stopping like stop now cuz there's no cars so then he pulls here while there's a car at the stop sign so I had to go real wide to not hit the car car and then as I get to here he like throws that napkin which there's nothing in it and then I'm like "What'd you throw?" He's like "Nothing." And he keeps trying to like ride away and I grab a hold of him and he walks his bike over here and I'm like "Let go your bike let go of your bike let go of your bike." So then he lets go of it and then he tries to like go the other way and we just went in so probably I mean I took another one to secure him yeah i'm not doing a snack sounds good to me i mean he's not hurt i keep hold it's not like I dumped him hard like we just you know that's what he said i heard you saying like something like "I can't." Just think about that for a second you watching this at home by now I'm sure the comments are full of people outraged at what they see this senior citizen who's down on his luck struggling in life being treated in this way and then our public servants think it's funny they're laughing at him that is the disconnect that we currently have in this society if you think there's anything funny about what they did please let me know in the comments what is so funny look at all the taxpayer money being wasted by these people standing there doing nothing the female cop who's clearly very close with this deputy at one point walks over to him and gives him a high five and she says something about him doing it again oh man what's this guy just like 109 i was like I heard it i was like I'm not stop doing this honestly this was supposed to be simple huh this is supposed to be simple yeah apparently and then he walks over to the group of other cops one of whom I think is his supervisor and they're laughing at and mocking the senior citizen that they just helped arrest literally just twice he said literally conference and then for the rest of their comedy session they mute their body cams so that we can't hear what they're saying but just to show you the length of time that they're talking while this guy as far as they know the senior citizen is sitting in the back of the police car in his own they're just taking their sweet time with their muted body cams talking about what we don't know then eventually he's taken to jail and as I told you this poor man spent 24 days in jail over what you just saw so you were just trying to get over here to the the homeless coalition i was going over here to lay down and eat okay the truth no reason to whin him and this man he he was physical so how long were you in jail 4 days for a bike what is your What is your current status so they gave you time served um you're not facing any charges at this point have you have you been able to find a home or anywhere to live no I'm still in the same I'm worked out i mean do you feel like that was justice do you think No it's not justice you want Do you think you should investigate the deputies involved what did you think when you found out they were high-fiving after this ordeal how'd that make you feel that I was being violated big time you know what and and you know what and because if you get homeless in your life it's You can help by watching and sharing this footage and I'll also attach this man's gofundme if you want to help financially i'll also link Jeff Gray's videos including that interview at the scene that he just posted up today so check that out if these were my public servants I would be demanding accountability here because this is exactly what they would do to you or one of your family members and then they'd sit around afterwards and they'd laugh about it just like they did here so thanks for watching please subscribe remember our rights don't end where your fear begins freedom is scary deal with it