Shoot. My children and our his service dog. Okay. My husband has a traumatic brain injury, so his ability to process information and respond effectively is impaired. You want you want to shut off. On October 22nd, 2024 in Monunroe County, Deputy Lane initiated a traffic stop on Nolan, a 38-year-old man towing a boat at 10 mph in a 55 mph zone, citing safety concerns. Florida Statute 316.1835 states, "No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic." However, Nolan's slow speed was due to a trailer issue. a reasonable precaution to ensure safety, which the deputy failed to consider. The officer's immediate escalation to demanding Nolan exit the vehicle, despite no immediate threat, reflects an abuse of authority rooted in impatience. Nolan's brain injury impairing his ability to respond quickly, was dismissed, prioritizing enforcement over empathy. Hello. Hi, I'm Deputy L with the sheriff's office. How can I help? Uh, so we got called to Sunshine Key about you and then on the way up there I saw you going 15 miles an hour and hazard, right? Okay. That's not legal. You can't do that. Can't do what? You can't drive that slow under the speed limit. It's a safety hazard. It's a safety hazard for you to be on the road driving that slow under the speed limit. Correct. Do you have your driver's license on? Sir, I need to get it off of this. I work here. Okay, fantastic. Good for you. I need your driver's license. But okay, get out of the car. Get out of the car. Unlock the car and get out now. Calm down. Get out of the car now. Calm down. I am. Come here. You want to Hey, you want to try and grab me now? Oh, my truck. My trucking truck in the park. Yes, I am. Put it in park now. Put it in park now. Put it in park now. Code 41 resistant. I am not. Put it in park. Get out of the car. Turn around. Put your hands back now. Put your hands behind your hook. Put your hands behind. Stop pulling away from me. Stop pulling away from me. You're going to get tased. Stop pulling away from me. You're going to get tased. Stop. Stop. Stop pulling away from me. You're going to get tased. It's in your back right now. Okay. Stay right there. Okay. Well, he needs to listen to what I tell him to do. Listen. Did you see me? The glove box is even open. I was getting you and I was asking it says to do not stop on shoulders. Okay. Yep. Please record 51 other adjust the other way. Do you have anything on you that's going to stick me, poke me, hurt me? Uh, pocket knife. Your pocket knife. Uh, I'm good for now. If you can talk to her inside of the car. Is she being rude? I'm not sure. Why is she being rude, too? Because I'm a law enforcement officer, and so is she a handcuff right now. Okay. But no need to be rude, is there? I got up to DC with me as well. So, in the state of Florida, when you're told to identify yourself on a traffic stop by law enforcement, I did. Saying no when I say give me your driver's license is not complying. Saying no. Can you have this on recording, please? Yes, it is on recording. Just like when I told you to step out of the car and you said no. I tried to open your door. You grabbed my hand and pushed me away. That's law enforcement. That is not exactly what I was doing. You grabbed my hand. That's felony. Oh my god. I was trying to put Hello. Is there anyone else inside the car? Shoot. My children and our his service dog. Okay. My husband has a traumatic brain injury, so his ability to process information and respond effectively is impaired. I was going to try to see. I think his wallet is here in the boat. I was going to grab it. He has a brain injury card. I am his legal caregiver in addition to being his spouse. We were volunteering here at the park and it just became stressful because I'm Katie Bates. So, the problem though is that when I tell someone to give me their ID and they say no, that's refusal to identify. Did he say? He said no. No, he was not. And then when I tell him to open the door and he says no, that's again refusing an order from hold on, I'm talking. That's refusal to ident to identify himself and refusal to exit the vehicle, which is an order from law enforcement officer. Furthermore, when I reach inside the car to unlock the door and he grabs my hand, that's felony battery on law enforcement. Fourth, when I do finally get the car door open and he pushes me away, that's battery on law enforcement. He cannot touch me. Okay? it. I don't I don't The brain injury that sucks. I'm very sorry for you and your family. He cannot touch me. He cannot refuse orders that I give to him. This a legal lawful traffic stop. He's impeding the flow of traffic going 10 mph on US1. You cannot do that. He is correct. It is a safety hazard to do that. That's why I pulled him over. He can't do that. Okay. I apologize. Like I said, his response and his ability to know what to say in stressful moments is impaired because of the brain injury. He literally has missing pieces of his brain. And so when giving quarters or whatever, his responses are often off. Like even when I'm asking him to do something or reminding him to brush his teeth even or things like that, even if he's planning to do it, his words don't come out the correct way all the time. So I'm sure you know being in your career path, you've dealt with like how old are the kids in the car? Uh seven years old. Okay. Can you go back in the car and make sure they're okay? Yeah, absolutely. What are you doing back here? I was going to see if his wallet is in here. Yeah. Me to grab his wallet. Yes, please. If you could. Thank you. His wallet is not in there, unfortunately. And I don't see it on the boat. Our camper is here. If I need to go to the camper to get it. So, you don't know who he is yet? Do you have a social? Yeah. You know his social? What is it? Deputy Lane's response escalated when Nolan, confused due to his traumatic brain injury, did not immediately comply with demands for his ID. Florida statute 843.02 notes, "Whoever shall resist, obstruct, or oppose any officer without offering or doing violence to the person of the officer shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." Nolan's actions, reaching for his glove box and briefly grabbing the officer's hand, were not violent, but instinctive. Yet Lane threatened to tase him. This disproportionate reaction highlights a pattern of officers using excessive force to enforce compliance, especially against vulnerable individuals. Nolan's wife, Catherine, explained his condition, but Lane dismissed it, prioritizing arrest over deescalation. All right, I'm going to open the door for a second to talk to you, but I don't want you to try to get out or do anything. Okay. is your wife. Yes, sir. Last year, look, I am very I was not trying to be combative. I have a slow thinking. She explain she explained that to me. Okay. All of a sudden, I realized I'm not in park and I'm I wasn't trying to resist you. I was trying to let you, but yet and then we get out. When we finally got out, I promise you, I was not trying to resist. Like, I understand why you got back in the truck. That was probably for the best since you have kids in the car. I'm very sorry. I know I' I've worked in the fire my whole life and I know exactly what y'all go through at that moment. I know exactly. Okay. When you see me trying to jump back in, I want to thank you the highest for not pulling that trigger when I jumped back in. I know when the adrenaline starts pumping. Oh my gosh. Yes. My adrenaline was pumping. So, so the main problem that I have though is you grab my hand and you push my arms away. You cannot do that to I didn't mean to push you away. I was trying to to assure you that here you have my hand, but let me reach with the other hand and but I I can't think of how to say it. My adrenaline is pumping and I'm just like, here's one, but let me Okay, I I really I swear to you, I' I've worked I want to join yo so bad. I swear to you, on God's hand, I put God all over my life. Ever since my accident, I swear to you, I was not trying to resist. I put my life in God's hand on that swing. I assure you, if there's any way I can prove that to you, I guarantee you I will. Okay. All right. I'm going to close the door real quick. Give me just one second. I'll come talk to you again. Yeah. Cuz this is This doesn't look 17 ft. Does this have 17 ft? No, that's 24 at least. Yeah, it comes back. Come back to something else. So, I had to run the bin or the I'm sorry, what was your name again? Katie. Katie. So, unfortunately, I do have to take him to jail because he grabbed me. Okay. I could look past the initial refusal to give me his ID at first and I didn't I didn't give him 20 chances to do it. But if I tell someone to give me their ID and they say no or what for, I understand what you're saying. and he was reaching for the glove box. Um, I don't know that that's what he's looking for. If he's telling me no or what do you need my ID for? To me, that's that's a no. That's I'm not giving it to you. Okay. The the the problem though is that when I tried to get him out of the car, he grabbed my hand. He pushed my hands away from him and then I'm trying to put him in handcuffs and he's pulling and turning away from me. Because of that, I have to take him to jail. Is there any way you can I have to take him to jail. Is there anyone who could have the mercy in you to view it like someone with autism? You know that an autistic person would do something similar when someone's grabbing them. It's like an instinctive response if their mental if his mental capacity is so diminished that he doesn't know not to put his hands on a police officer. He should not have a driver's license. Okay. So either he is more mentally incapacitated than the state of whatever state his driver's license is out of knows. uh or he's more intelligent than you're leading me to believe because I either way he's driving a car. So, he's got to have at least like an 80 IQ to be able to drive a car. So, if he's got that, I'm not sure what he should probably know to not to grab a police officer. I'm not sure what the testing was that they did. They they've went through a a neuroscychologist, neurossychiatrist, full um driving tests, like more than just the driving test that a teenager goes through to get their permit. And he was approved through that. But of course, in a class like that, it's not going to be a situation where an officer's trying to grab him out of the car. So, it's a a different thing to be in the moment. And like I said, but you know, view it like a person with autism, like their initial response is to be like, "Someone's grabbing me. Oh my god, let go. There's a chance. You could please have I just talked to my sergeant. My sergeant said to take him to jail because he touched me." And listen, at the same time, I understand your perspective, but you also have to understand his perspective, but also with this incident, if he goes to jail, you also have the ability to go to court and argue that side of it. I understand that. I understand that, ma'am. But we still have to do our job. The incident occurred. Also, I have another issue with the boat. The registration for the vessel isn't coming back with the same thing as a hint. So, I was wondering to see that. Yeah. So, the registration, did you run her? Yeah. I added Okay. This it didn't come back to the same type of vessels. Nolan's traumatic brain injury, which impairs his ability to process and respond to stressful situations, was callously ignored by Deputy Lane. The Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that law enforcement make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, or procedures to accommodate disabilities. Lane's refusal to consider Nolan's condition, even after Catherine's explanation, shows a blatant disregard for legal protections. Instead of adjusting his approach, Lane insisted on compliance, equating Nolan's involuntary reactions to felony battery. This reflects a systemic issue where officers prioritize protocol over humanity, abusing their authority by failing to adapt to special needs. Okay, this it didn't come back to the same type of vessels. Catherine, here's your uh ID. Look, I I understand. I have to take him to jail. Okay, Catherine, that's that ship has sailed. I have to take him I I understand, you know, this this is hard. I don't I don't want to take someone to jail with a mental disability. But at the same time, if he's driving a car and I pull him over for a traffic violation, going 10 m hour in a 55 mph zone is a traffic violation. He can't do that. That That's why that's why I pulled him over. When I tell the driver of a vehicle on a traffic stop to give me his driver's license, he has to give it to me. If I tell him to step out of the Please, you can't. Please. If I tell someone to step out of the vehicle under Pennsylvania versus Mims, they have to step out of the vehicle. If they refuse, that is obstruction. I understand. I understand all of that. And I understand from your perspective, you have to protect yourself to get home to your own family and all of that. Trust me. I wish he didn't have a brain injury. I wish he didn't have those moments where he doesn't. I'm very sorry that your family has to deal with that, Catherine. But please, cuz this is something that's like you're basically putting me in jail, too. I'm not putting you in jail. You're still here. You can take the car and the boat, go back to your campsite. You can get him out tomorrow. We'll have first you you can look there. There's ways in the court. If he's actually got a brain injury, you could ask. Catherine, are you able to Are you able to drive this back to your campsite? Probably not. Okay. Cuz the other thing we'd have to do is call tow truck. Um I can probably get someone here in the park. One of our friends here. Yeah. This guy right here. I don't know if you know him, but why why was he going so slow? Because we drove from here. We were headed to Marathon to get gas in the boat. And as we were driving down the road, he realized that the trailer was like bouncing too much and he didn't feel safe driving it. So he pulled over at that gas station. Go ahead. That's his items. I was given to you. He pulled over at that gas station by the RV park and he just wanted to be able to use their marina real quick to scoot the boat further forward on the trailer. Um, and one person told us, you know, no, it's a liability reason to use it. So, he tried like kind of break checking the boat to scoot it forward. He tried cranking it with everything he could to get it forward and he felt nervous to get on the road with it. And then he went in and talked to the management and they were just trying to explain to him that it was liability. He said that he would be happy to pay as a guest in order to be able to use the boat ramp. And they were trying to, you know, tell him there were boat ramps a mile up one direction and a couple miles back the other direction. And so then they had called for an escort to bring him back here. And he was just stressed and flustered and just kind of decided to get on the road and try to go slow coming back here to cuz when I was heading up there, I saw you guys. cuz I don't you probably saw me pass you when you were heading south and then when I pulled in there he the manager there said that he was not very nice to them that he flicked them off and that he was very rude. Um he's he just got extremely stressed and worried about driving the boat and he was frustrated that he couldn't just use the ramp to scoot the boat for it. And I tried apologizing to the management there and explaining, you know, that he has a brain injury. So normal things that would stress anyone. Yeah. amplify with him or more stressful for him. And um when we saw you pull off here, we kind of thought maybe you were helping escort us the rest of the way to the boat ramp. Um which is why I didn't pull off initially and stopped to talk to you. Yeah. I just couldn't pull you guys over on US1 because the construction site and I he started that turn so I didn't want to try to stop him in the middle of the road when there was cars coming. So I waited till you guys were here to pull him over. It I I wouldn't have even given him a ticket. I was just gonna tell him that he was driving slow and he can't drive that slow on US1, right? And all I needed was his driver's license. Is there any way you can like modify the report where he's falling out of the vehicle and he grabbed you to brace himself? Not grab I'm not going to I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to perjure myself or someone I don't know. I'm going to watch my body camera and handcar camera and I'm going to go word for word and action for action. When I write the report, I will document in there. How are you telling me he has a brain injury? Uh what was that caused by? Um a motor vehicle motorcycle accident where headed dinner one night in a vehicle the other direction took a lefthand turn in front of us. He actually wasn't supposed to even live and then they weren't sure if he was going to be paralyzed or what sort of function he was going to have and he's made amazing progress. Um but there's still, you know, those deficits just like if you lost a limb, there's things that are difficult. He lost a a chunk of his brain. So, okay. Certain things are difficult. Am I able to give him um his anxiety medicine before he goes? They have all the medicine down there. As long as he knows the name of it, they'll be able to supply it to him. He's not going to know the names. Can I give you like a list or something? Can I write? Yeah, I can uh I can take a picture of it. Despite Catherine's pleas to view Nolan's actions through the lens of his disability, Deputy Lane insisted on arresting him, citing a felony for touching his hand. Florida Statute 784.072B defines battery on a law enforcement officer as intentionally touching or striking an officer. But Nolan's actions were not intentional aggression. Lane's refusal to amend his report or show leniency even after learning of Nolan's condition underscores a corrupt adherence to power over justice. His claim that Nolan's mental capacity should preclude driving dismisses medical evaluations that approved Nolan's license. This rigid stance reveals how officers can manipulate narratives to justify arrests, ignoring mitigating factors. By prioritizing punishment over mercy, Lane's actions highlight a troubling trend where corrupt officers abuse their authority, disregarding disability and context to enforce compliance, leaving families like Nolan's to navigate the legal systems fallout without recourse or compassion. Like and subscribe for more police cam stories. Watch the next recommended video. Click to watch now.