foreign [Music] T where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers suspect descriptions pointing firearms and professionalism and is brought To Us by azcentral.com and the Arizona Republic's Channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve on August 29 2020 Hawthorne Suites hotel manager Sean Hoover called the non-emergency police line in Tempe Arizona to request the two individuals who were suspected of conducting illegal activities be removed from the property after making the call Mr Hoover and his employee travonier compion encountered a man and woman smoking in a stairwell with the exit door propped open when Mr Hoover asked them to leave the female exited the premises but the male suspect allegedly pulled out a gun Mr hoover then told the man to put away the gun and leave and the man complied shortly after this incident occurred officer Ronald kerzia of the Tempe Police Department responded to the original call and approached Mr Hoover in the hotel lobby the interaction that followed was captured on officer karziah's body camera Hey sir how are we doing some guys I've got a 473 George here I'm gonna need some additional hands managers advising a male subject here just pulled a firearm on them where is he now white male blackmail what do we got is he a white male a black male come on right now uh he's gonna be wearing a uh black shirt pant pants he's gonna be coming down the staircase and exit off that door right there tempore um he's probably gonna be poking out on the West exit he's walking out now [Applause] get inside now 41 I'm gonna hold on that exit responding units if you're coming off price I want you to come in that entrance and hold hands up wanna come Point step out you work here okay put turn around I'll work here that's fine Step this way Hey listen to me listen okay I got my hand I am responding to somebody with a firearm who matches your description you understand that despite the fact that the suspect was described as a white man wearing a black shirt and tan pants officer kerziah points his firearm at Mr compion a black male in a white shirt and dark pants and claims he is looking for an individual with a firearm who matches Mr compion's description under the so-called mere presence Doctrine established by the Supreme Court in the 1979 case of yubara vs Illinois an individual's mere presence or so-called mere propinquity to criminal activity alone does not support probable cause to search or arrest that individual however in the 1999 case of US versus Buckner the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which has jurisdiction over Arizona held that while quote the mere presence Doctrine has logical application where the facts and circumstances do not support an inference that the individual is connected to the prox submit criminal activity in the case at hand where the defendant was a passenger in a car that was procured under suspicious circumstances and loaded with a commercial quantity of marijuana quote a prudent and experienced police officer might reasonably suspect that the passenger is involved in drug smuggling courts have also found that Reasonable Suspicion may exist even when an individual's appearance does not entirely match the description of a suspect for instance in the 1985 case of Alexander versus County of Los Angeles the 9th circuit upheld the Detention of two men despite discrepancies between the description of the suspects and the individual's appearance including the fact that one suspect was older and not as heavy as described and did not have a gold tooth the court Justified its decision which it referred to as a so-called close question by arguing that the individuals matched some aspects of the description because they were driving a similar car and one of the men was wearing a blue and white striped shirt and had a mustache in this situation Mr compion did not in any way match Mr Hoover's description of the suspect as he was the wrong race and wearing opposite colored clothing to the description and for this reason alone Mr compion would have a strong argument that officer karzaya did not have the Reasonable Suspicion necessary to detain him however in the 2022 case of United States versus Arteaga the U.S District Court in the Northern District of California which is in the ninth circuit held that officers had Reasonable Suspicion to detain a Hispanic man who was quote within an arm's length of a BMW vehicle that was allegedly involved in a road rage shooting despite the fact that the suspect was described as black the court reasoned that quote the officers would have been justified in detaining anyone who appeared to be connected to the BMW and that even if the defendant's race lessened the likelihood that he was the shooter quote it did not remove the possibility that he was still involved in the road rage incident therefore while it is certainly possible that a court could determine that officer karziah did not have Reasonable Suspicion to detain Mr compion because he clearly did not meet the description of the suspect it is also conceivable that a court would conclude food that officer kazaya was within his authority to detain Mr compion because he exited the door where Mr Hoover informed Mr karziah that the suspect was headed and accordingly may have been involved with The Suspect come here I got my hands up man for real I got my hands up where's your idea no you don't get to tell me what to do where's your idea take the gun off me man no we're your supervisor right you're gonna shoot me no another person on the news get on your knees I didn't do nothing shut the up put that on your knees remember this I need your badge number you'll get everything you need put everything on the ground where are my other units at just hang tight okay I work here all you gotta do is call the manager and take the who's your manager stop telling me what to do okay what is your name Trey 41 can we get somebody to get the complainer on the line and find out if there's an employee here by the name of Trey are you a cop I'm not a threat are you a cop not a threat to you you don't tell me what a threat to me is you don't know just because you're a company you can hold a gun and somebody whenever you get good and damn ready I put my hands up but I'm responding to somebody with a firearm I can do what I need to to stay safe and go home to my family do you understand that Mr compion tells officer kerziah that he can't point a gun at him just because he's a cop and officer karziah replies that when he's responding to a call involving a firearm he can quote do what he needs to to stay safe according to the Tempe Police Department order 12.101 which includes the use of force policy for the Department pointing a firearm at an individual is recognized as a type of force referred to in the policy as a so-called show of force in general the policy states that officers quote may use Force which is objectively reasonable based upon the facts and circumstances known or reasonably believed to exist at the time of the incident and directs that quote employees will not use more Force than is objectively reasonable to accomplish their lawful purpose the policy also requires officers to consider the three factors for assessing whether force is excessive that are outlined in the 1989 Supreme Court case of Graham versus is Conor which include the severity of the crime whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the law enforcement officer or others and whether the suspect is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight based on these factors courts have held that pointing a firearm at an individual can constitute excessive force in some situations even if no physical contact is made for instance in the 2000 case of Robinson vs Solano County the ninth circuit noted that quote in cases involving investigatory or Terry stops we have consistently applied the principle that drawing weapons and using handcuffs or other restraints is unreasonable in many situations and determined that the use of a drawn gun pointed at a suspect's head from close range constituted excessive force because the crime under investigation was at most a misdemeanor the suspect was apparently unarmed and approaching the officers in a peaceful way and there were no dangerous or exigent circumstances Apparent at the time of the detention in addition to constituting excessive force there are some circumstances where the use of drawn weapons can transform a Terry stop into an arrest which must be supported by probable cause in the 1974 case of United States versus strickler the ninth circuit concluded that an armed approach to a surrounded vehicle constituted an arrest where it was clear that the officers had no legitimate fear for their safety and only tenuous reasons to believe that the occupants of the car were involved in criminal activity applying the gram factors to this situation although the underlying criminal offense involved was more serious and involved a firearm Mr compion was not holding a weapon did not appear to pose a threat to anyone and was completely compliant with officer karziah's orders coupled with the fact that Mr compian clearly did not match the description of the individual alleged to have a firearm it seems likely that a court would conclude that pointing a firearm at Mr compion for an extended period of time constituted excessive force and it would also likely violate the Tempe Police Department's use of force policy likewise if a court determined that officer karziah's use of force transfer formed the detention into an arrest it would almost certainly hold that officer karzaya did not have the probable cause necessary to arrest Mr compion through the extended pointing of his firearm I have somebody on the phone right now with Sean trying to confirm if you're an employee or not as soon as I verify that you can go and then you can get whatever information you need do you understand that it's crazy huh hey can you record this he's steadily got his gun on me and I got my hands up I'm recording too and I got my hands up here I know I work here but he steadily got his gun that's fine just stay back I got my hands up on the ground he still got a gun pointed on me anybody coming did he verify that somebody by the name of Trey works here get out of here Trey yeah you can stand by in the lobby if you need all my information I'll be more than happy to give it to you have a great afternoon if we have Sean on the line can you give me any more Intel on if this guy exited yet or not I exited the building to stand on the door and Sean was watching him on video yeah I need at least one additional to come to the lobby and uh meet up with Hoover and then I need stop right there I've got another one of Gumball get out of here now I've got one swinging back inside Hispanic or white male approximately 30 years old black bandana white T-shirt gray shorts listen bro stop right there where did he go where did he go where is he ain't got nothing to do with me no so why are you just talking to me like that God get out of the way no way okay go now while pursuing another suspect who fled after officer Karzai appointed his firearm at him while he was attempting to leave the hotel with his bicycle officer karziah screams at an individual in the hallway to tell him where the other individual went and continues to speak harshly with him when he does not provide the information requested as we have discussed many times on ATA citizens generally do not have a duty to assist officers with their investigations and the individual in the hallway was well within his rights to Simply inform officer karziah he had nothing to do with the situation officer kurziah on the other hand was required to follow the Tempe Police Department's code of conduct which is contained in Department order 3.201 the policy states that quote police employees shall always conduct themselves both on and off duty in such a manner as to reflect favorably on the department and that quote police employees are expected to conduct their personal and professional lives in such a manner as to avoid adverse reflection upon themselves or the department it also notes that being quote abusive in Attitude language Behavior or conduct toward the public is considered a so-called violation of procedure as is speaking quote an unprofessional inappropriate or offensive remark it seems likely that officer karzai's treatment of the individual in the hallway as well as his conduct in interacting with other members of the public throughout this interaction violated the department code of conduct I'm just inside the West entrance I don't know where the hell he went [Applause] Jesus Christ the guy with the gun where the hell did he go he walked outside Jesus Christ [Music] Sean just told me that he went back inside he may have popped out the main entrance which way did he go I told you and why do you have my employee of blackmail at gunpoint he's clearly not white somebody else to talk to Sean the manager is explaining that she may have fled out the East entrance now but he doesn't hi my camera can't go on mute someone as he speaks with another officer outside the hotel officer karziah appears to turn off his body camera it was later reported that the other officers who arrived on the scene completed the investigation and the armed suspect was never found the Tempe Police Department launched an internal investigation into officer kraziah's conduct and found that he violated several policies during the interaction as a result of the investigation officer karziah was given a two-week unpaid suspension and placed in an administrative role with the department for at least one year he was also required to take part in a performance improvement process in His official response to the Department's internal investigation officer karzia wrote that quote I understand that my actions have caused a tremendous amount of Anguish for many different people and I cannot convey enough how remorseful I am for my actions and the aftermath that so many people have been forced to deal with and continue to deal with to this day officer curzia's immediate supervisor who was also on scene at the hotel received a 40-hour unpaid suspension notably officer curzia was also involved in a controversial use of force case in June of 2019 where he deployed a taser on an unarmed man while holding his one-year-old child in his own home after the Hawthorne Suites incident the Arizona peace officer standards and training board opened an investigation into officer cruzia and in early 2022 officer karziah voluntarily and permanently relinquished his Arizona peace officer certification without admitting any misconduct or failure to meet minimum qualifications according to State rules officer karziah will be permanently banned from re-entering law enforcement in Arizona for relinquishing his certification while facing potential disciplinary action after the encounter Mr compion hired prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump who also LED George Floyd's family's legal team to represent him in September of 2020 he filed a two and a half million dollar notice of claim against the City of Tempe as a result of the incident and on December 9 2020 the Tempe City Council unanimously approved a three hundred thousand dollar settlement agreement that did not include any admission of liability overall officer curzaya gets an F for pointing a firearm at Mr compion when he in no way matched the description of the suspect and was entirely compliant and speaking to multiple citizens in a rude and completely unprofessional manner the way that officer Karzai appointed his firearm at anyone who crossed his path demonstrated a complete disregard for the physical and mental well-being of everyone who happened to be at the hotel during the incident and a total lack of respect for the potentially life-ending power he wielded by carrying a deadly weapon throughout the incident officer karziah's actions appeared to be driven by a sense of fear for his own well-being and while fear is certainly a natural human instinct effective police officers must be able to conquer their fears and behave responsibly and constitutionally despite feeling afraid officer karziah's conduct during this encounter demonstrated that he did not have the temperament necessary to do this and I believe that relinquishing his peace officer certification was ultimately the right decision Mr compion gets an A plus for complying with officer karziah's orders respectfully challenging his unreasonable use of force and taking prompt and effective legal action against officer karziah after the incident Mr compion explained that in his response to the encounter he was at least partially motivated by fear that officer karziah was going to kill someone in the near future and based on the body camera footage from this incident this concern was more than Justified I commend Mr compion for taking action to protect the public from a potentially dangerous officer and would encourage other citizens to learn from his example of challenging police misconduct after the completion of the encounter through the legal system 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] thank you [Music]