foreign [Music] welcome to audit the audits where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers identifications tasers and obstruction and is brought To Us by law and crime networks Channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve on February 4th 2020 officer Kevin Munger of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office was working as an off-duty security guard at a Publix grocery store in Jacksonville Florida when local Mother Tawanda Crowell purchased some items walked back into the store area and then exited the store Publix manager Anna Augusto Bonner informed officer Munger that she saw Miss crawl exit the store with her items in a bag but did not see her pay and officer Munger approached Ms crawl after she had already sat down in her vehicle with her 12 year old daughter and two nieces in the back seat oh yes it is it is do you want to sit in my car no I don't want to sit in your car and I'm not sitting here then show me your receipt I will not if you took it without paying for it I don't steal okay I won't do that why I won't do that because do you realize you can go to jail for that oh I really if I stole it but I don't steal you're not cooperating I'm not cooperating because if you ain't got no probable cause cause they said so go watch the camera first ma'am I walk back in here with you and go watch the camera no I'm upset because I don't have everything I don't have access to the camera so how they gonna say I stole it they didn't see me steal ma'am you know that that I see it every day listen to me they simply asked if you had a receipt they didn't see you go through a registered and ask the people if they seen me ma'am let's come on let's walk back in there let's walk back in there no no cause that's no I'm not gonna let you go back in the store is that your receipt from today videos but I'm not showing because I ain't got no reason y'all don't can't make me show nothing I can no you actually I can and you're not giving me your ID so I can't prove that you didn't take anything no so I don't know anyway why are we arguing about this because y'all profile black people every day like that everybody that shops in here is black no everybody ain't well most of them are they yeah I see y'all up here every day Bob and people I don't bother anybody whoever can you just show me your receipt no I'm not gonna do that because that makes absolutely no sense at all can I see your receipt if they sent you out here that that means they saw me still they didn't see you go through a register why not do that protocol step out of the car to go look on the camera step on the car okay step out of the car all these kids in here you left in here by yourself do you want me to push this further well you went in the store they're not little kids they are little kids and you left them all in the store and what are you gonna do when you go to jail and they're all here so I call DCF to come get them all my mama stay right around the corner okay so I don't have to call your mom to come get them why don't you show me your receipt Publix and everybody in there okay step out of the car I'm not stepping out you have to step out of the car you have to call your sergeant like a lieutenant come on no you're going you're going to go to jail no I'm not you're gonna go to jail no yes you are no I'm not give me your receipt I'm not giving you my receipt no I'm not you're going to jail you're going to jail no I'm not you are going to jail no I'm not I'll tell you what I'll do no I'm not you're going to jail no I'm not call your mama officer Munger repeatedly demands that Ms Crowell show him her identification and her receipt from her purchase at Publix and when she refuses he informs her that she is going to jail according to section 901.151 of the Florida Statutes which is known as the Florida stop and frisk law quote whenever any law enforcement officer of this state encounters any person under circumstances which reasonably indicate that such person has committed is committing or is about to commit a violation of the criminal laws of this state or the criminal ordinances of any municipality or County the officer May temporarily detain such person for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of the person temporarily detained and the circumstances surrounding the person's presence abroad which led the officer to believe that the person had committed was committing or was about to commit a criminal offense likewise section 812.015 of the Florida Statutes states that quote a law enforcement officer who has probable cause to believe that a retail theft has been committed by a person and that the property can be recovered by taking the offender into custody May for the purpose of attempting to affect such recovery or for prosecution take the offender into custody and detain the offender in a reasonable manner for a reasonable length of time this statute creates an exception to the general rule found in section 901.15 of the Florida code that a law enforcement officer may only arrest an individual without a warrant for a misdemeanor committed in the presence of the officer in determining whether an officer has probable cause to make an arrest under this statute Florida courts have consistently held it quote information furnished to an officer by a store employee who has witnessed shoplifting may give rise to probable cause as the the fourth district court of appeal of Florida summarized in the 2018 case of bent versus State here it is certainly possible that a court could conclude that officer Munger had probable cause to arrest Ms Crowell based on Mr Gusto Bonner's accusation and it is highly likely that a court would determine that he had Reasonable Suspicion to detain and identify her however it's important to note that Ms crawl would not be legally obligated to show her receipt or any identification documents come on no I'm not gonna go to jail I'm gonna taser you I'm gonna tase you right here right now I'm gonna tell you right now get out of the car get out of the car get out of the car you're under arrest you're under arrest fault turn around right now for not cooperating cooperating turn around okay texting you right now still nothing keep recording thank you officer Munger deploys his taser against Miss Krell bringing her to the ground and then places her in handcuffs the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office order 551 regarding the Department's so-called response to resistance policies states that quote it is the policy of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office to allow officers to use only a degree of force which is reasonable and necessary to affect an arrest or to protect themselves or others from personal attack physical resistance harm or death prior to any use of force de-escalation technique should be applied when reasonable the policy classifies the use of a conducted energy weapon or cew more commonly known as a taser as a type of so-called physical control that an officer can use on an uncooperative subject in certain situations according to the policy quote JSO members shall not use cews when such use would violate applicable federal and or state laws or JSO policies order 551 also states that so-called less lethal Force such as the use of a taser quote should only be used when absolutely necessary and only to the degree needed to affect a lawful arrest overcome resistance or protect the officer or another person from bodily harm and that prior to using less lethal Force an officer must consider the severity of the crime or situation at issue whether the person is resisting the officer's attempt to place them in custody or attempting to evade an officer by flight and whether the person poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officer or others additionally the policy instructs that quote prior to an officer's decision to deploy the cew the following conditions must be met the officer must have legal authority to take the person into custody and the person is at a minimum exhibiting active physical resistance or the subject is an immediate threat to the officer or others or the person is preparing or attempting to flee in order to resist or avoid being taken into or remaining in lawful custody active physical resistance is defined in order 551 is quote physically evasive movements you used by a subject to defeat an officer's attempt to control him or her active physical resistance which is more than simply refusing to obey verbal commands may be demonstrated by one or more of the following acts by the person who is being taken into custody becoming increasingly more animated or exaggerated in his or her movement and or increasing his or her muscular tension blading the body and or moving the feet into a balanced or fighting stance circling the officer forming a fist rolling up sleeves or removal of clothing or valuables verbalization of aggressive intent and or any other behavior that indicates a likelihood or expectation of violence towards the officers themselves or others in his police report about the incident officer Munger stated that Ms crowl quote pulled away and told me to get away from her as she pulled away violently the suspect stood up and I was in fear that she was going to punch me in the face so I elected to use my cew to gain compliance however while some of his crowl's movements when she first exited the vehicle may have qualified as physically evasive of the body camera footage clearly shows that when officer Munger deployed the cew Miss crowl had been standing a reasonable distance away from officer Munger with her hands at her sides for several seconds which could in no way be reasonably characterized as active physical resistance and would not have caught a reasonable officer to fear that she was going to punch him stand up are you going to jail oh cause I'm black almost definitely walk walk to the car so it just got ugly over there so I had to taser her and stuff she's going to go to jail I don't know if she paid for her stuff or not but she's gonna go to jail so unfortunately I got myself in a big mess here for no reason all she had to do is show me a receipt she wouldn't do it she wouldn't give me your ID so here I am officer Munger repeatedly states that this crowd is going to go to jail for refusing to provide her identification and receipt but never identifies the specific offense she has committed section 843.02 of the Florida statute states that quote whoever shall resist obstruct or oppose any officer in the lawful execution of any legal Duty without offering or doing violence to the person of the officer shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree in interpreting this statute courts have consistently held that it does apply to individuals who refuse to comply with an officer's lawful orders for instance the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded in the 2007 case of versus Barner that probable cause existed to arrest an individual who quote disobeyed a command by members of law enforcement and in the 2008 case of vadimsky vs city of Melbourne that an individual could be charged with resisting for attempting to leave a lawful Terry stop however this does not mean that an individual can be charged with obstruction for simply being uncooperative or refusing to assist an officer with an investigation in the 1989 case of Robinson versus State The Fifth District Court of Appeal of Florida stated that quote the defendant's failure to cooperate his refusal to answer questions cannot itself be criminal consistent with fourth and fifth amendment protections the state's argument would effectively render all uncooperative Terry stop detainee's criminals similarly in the 2022 case of saraki versus State the second district court of appeal of Florida held that an individual could not be convicted for obstruction when he refused to obey an officer's commands to step outside of his home and speak with him when there was no probable cause to arrest the citizen the court noticed it although his reluctance to exit the residents to speak with police may have inconvenienced the officers his conduct was quote unquote entirely consistent with his rights under the fourth and fifth amendments here while miss crowl was certainly uncooperative she was in no way legally obligated to provide officer Munger her receipt or her identification and it is therefore likely that a court would conclude she could not be convicted of obstruction for these actions uh he works for us he's off duty he's got his badge with him so I just had him check on those kids I needed on his date of birth and stuff okay her information thanks can you send me a supervisor another unit to Publix that's 76 28 103rd Street reference to a 10 15 then I had a taser and also send me uh rescue me you want to pay me you want to keep me in my head yeah you should have caught up cooperated cooperated you do have to cooperate what's your first name I have to give my ID yes you do okay let me step out hey um is there any chance we could check the uh hold on a second [Applause] thank you Ms crawl was held in the police vehicle and when the Jacksonville fire rescue EMS arrived she was offered assistance with the removal of the taser darts however Ms crowl requested to be taken to the hospital instead to have the dart removed by a licensed physician as one of the darts had lodged in a private area another off-duty officer watched the children in Ms crowl's vehicle until the family was able to pick them up an additional body camera footage shows that officer Munger found Ms crowl's receipt in her vehicle after she was arrested after waiting for six hours Ms Crowell was taken to the hospital to have the darts removed and then taken to jail she was charged with resisting arrest without violence but the state attorney's office dropped the charge after reviewing the evidence the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office conducted an internal investigation into officer monger's conduct after it received a complaint from an individual who only identified themselves as a so-called disgruntled citizen a spokesperson for the Department stated that quote this incident and actions by the officer were investigated by the internal affairs unit by way of a formal complaint officer came monger's actions were cleared by way of the body-worn camera video officer monger's discipline history shows that 25 citizen complaints including allegations of profiling and excessive force have been filed against him since 2004 While most of the complaints were not sustained after an internal investigation because the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office policy is to purge all officer discipline investigations after five years details on many of the complaints are no longer available on June 11 2020 Ms Crowell filed a 50 000 lawsuit against Publix in Duval County Florida the case was dismissed with prejudice in December 2021 after the matter was quote amicably settled between the said parties the terms of the settlement agreement have not been made public overall officer Monger gets an F for unnecessarily using his taser on Ms crowl and then misrepresenting the circumstances of the deployment in his report demanding that Ms Krauss show him her receipt and identification when she was not legally required to do so and arresting Ms crowl when she refused to comply with his unlawful orders although we did not discuss this issue at length in this episode it should also be noted that when a bystander stopped to film his use of force on Ms crowl officer Munger ordered her to quote go away and made several negative comments toward the bystander in an apparent attempt to stop her from exercising Her First Amendment rights throughout the interaction officer monger's Behavior demonstrated a complete disregard for constitutional rights as well as Ms crowell's safety and bodily integrity and showed a willingness to coerce compliance with his demands regardless of whether compliance was legally required through both threats and the actual use of physical Force Ms crowl gets a b because although she was likely required to give officer Munger her name she stood her ground to defend her right not to assist officer Munger in his investigation and even suggested several alternative investigation methods by which officer Munger could discover that she did not steal the items she purchased without violating her constitutional rights although maintained a hostile demeanor throughout the encounter she was certainly within her rights to do so and I commend her for Having the courage to question the officer's commands there was no doubt that Miss crowl could have benefited from maintaining a calm demeanor but it is difficult to fault average citizens for a falling victim to the emotional stress of an accusatory and threatening police encounter let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic you would like us to discuss in the comments below thank you for watching and don't forget to check out my second channel for even more police interaction content [Music] foreign [Music]