license registration. >> Well, no. You're stopping me for something that's not a crime. >> That's not true, sir. >> Yes, it is. Pull up the statute or get a supervisor out here. >> Your license. >> Get a supervisor out here. >> No, I want to check my lights first because I believe they're working. And if if they are and you're mistaken because I'm familiar with the car, then it's not a legal traffic stop. >> You want to get out and check the tag lights? >> Yeah, I do. Yeah. Back lights on. Man, >> I already know why y'all pulled us over. Cuz we looked at you. We looked at you guys and you didn't like it when we were coming past that intersection. I took we mean we looked over there and we mugged you guys. >> Listen, the tag light's working. Okay, but I can see that it's working now. But I can see that it's working now. This stop is no longer lawful. Listen, I want everybody's name out here. >> When corrupt cops target drivers for personal reasons rather than legitimate violations, they often fabricate equipment defects to justify unlawful stops, as seen when deputies pulled over Mark Stout and his brother after they made eye contact at an intersection. Virginia law requires passenger cars manufactured for the 1986 or subsequent model year to be equipped with a supplemental center highmount stoplight whenever operated on the highways. Every Virginia registered passenger car manufactured for the 1986 or subsequent model year shall be equipped with a supplemental center highmount stoplight of a type approved by the superintendent or which meets the standards adopted by the United States Department of Transportation. Yet the officer claimed the missing third brake light was a violation despite the entire assembly having been removed, not merely a burnedout bulb. This rendered the initial pretext invalid and exposed the stop as pretextual harassment rather than lawful enforcement. The deputies then shifted to alleged tag light failures while refusing to let the driver verify the lights himself, prolonging the detention without probable cause. Once Stout checked and confirmed the tag lights were functioning, the stop lost any remaining legitimacy. >> Hello. >> How's it going? >> Good. Do you have your license registration? >> Why'd you stop me? >> Cuz your both your tag lights are out and your third brake lights out. >> What third brake light up top? >> There isn't one. There isn't one up top. There's not required. Well, it's not up there. So there's no light required by state law. >> Okay. In Virginia, you have to have >> No, you do not. >> Okay. >> If if it's taken down, if it's not there, then the light doesn't have to work. If it's if it's installed and the bulb is out, then it must work. >> License registration. >> Well, no. You're stopping me for something that's not a crime. >> That's not true, sir. >> Yes, it is. Pull up the statute or get a supervisor out here. >> Your license. >> Get a supervisor out here. >> All right. You you're required to provide me your least >> if I've been legally stopped in which I have not been >> stopped. I have a supervisor on the way. >> You know the statute that you have to provide your at least your name and date of birth. >> There isn't one. >> Yes, there is. >> Okay. What is it? >> You have to provide your information. It actually has to be written. >> What has to be written? Foot has to be written. How you doing? >> All right. >> What's going on tonight? >> Who are are you a supervisor? >> I'm just trying to figure out what's going on. Help him out. See if I can figure out anything. >> Are you a supervisor, though? >> Is everything okay tonight? Is there a reason why you don't want to provide him any information? >> Is there a reason you don't want to answer my question? >> I'm not a supervisor. I'm deputy. >> Okay, then. No, you cannot help me. >> I cannot help you? >> No. >> Do you not believe this deputy? But I would like to look for myself. I'm I'm more familiar with the car. >> Okay. Once you identify who you are, we verify that you're not some terrorist criminal person. We will allow you to step out of the vehicle and walk back and check your tag lights. >> No, I want to check my lights first because I believe they're working. And if if they are and you're mistaken because I'm familiar with the car, then it's not a legal traffic stop. >> I want to pull you over for some bogus traffic. >> Listen, that ain't how it works, buddy. That ain't how it works. He's not familiar with the car. The car may work. The lights may work. >> And he's just not familiar. >> This is not immediate. >> Well, until I can check my lights, you're not getting my ID. Okay. >> Okay. Well, I'll wait for the supervisor. >> Sure. >> The supervisor eventually arrives at the scene. >> How you doing? >> How's it going? >> Sergeant Smith at the sheriff's office. What I can do for you? >> Okay. Listen, the this officer said he pulled me over for initially because my third brake light, the one up top, is out. >> Okay. >> I tried to explain to him Virginia law. Okay, you guys said that later, but please let please let me talk. Let me talk to let me talk to this man. >> So, I try to explain to him Virginia law states as long as the entire light has been removed and it's not just the bulb that's burned out, it's legal. Okay. >> Now, if if the light is still installed, but the bulb is burned out, then it's illegal. >> Okay. >> But the entire light has been removed, >> which >> he said that's why he stopped me initially. >> Which makes the stop illegal. Then he's saying, "Oh, your your tag lights are out." >> Okay. >> So, I'm saying, "Listen, let me get out and look. You know, I'm more familiar with the car than he is. Maybe you're mistaken." Like, you're mistaken about the brake light. >> Okay? >> You know what I mean? And he's saying you can't get out. >> The tag lights been removed. I mean, I don't want to answer any questions. I just want to get out to look before I I myself if it's a lawful stop, though. So far, it's not because he's already been wrong about the brake lights and I can't see the tag lights about the brake lights. He's telling me that the tag lights are are not working. You want to get out and check the tag lights? >> Yeah, I do. Yeah. >> Tag lights on. Man, >> I already know why y'all pulled us over. Cuz we looked at you. We looked at you guys and you didn't like it when we were coming past that intersection. I took we mean we looked over there and we mugged you guys. Listen, the tag light's working. Okay. But I can see that it's working now, but I can see that it's working now. >> This stop is no longer lawful. Listen, I want everybody's name out here. What's What's your name? Smith. What are you a sergeant? >> All right. Hey, what's your name, man? What's your name? edge number. All right. Oh my god. What? Don't worry about Hey, this this stop ain't good anymore, man. Those lights work. This is an illegal stop at this point. >> Y'all just illegally detain us without reasonable suspicion. You don't have qualified immunity anymore. It's clearly established. What you guys just did? You violated a clearly established law of principle. Orange County. Frederick. Where do you think you are? I don't know. I don't [ __ ] care. After the illegal traffic stop, Mark Stout and his brother drove straight to the Frederick County Sheriff's Office to confront the deputies involved. There, they challenged the officer's actions, educated them on the relevant Virginia statutes, and highlighted how the stop lacked lawful justification from the outset. >> Can I help you? Yeah, we just need to come in for a minute. >> Why are you videotaping? >> Because we're allowed to. >> It's a secured building, sir. How can we help you? >> So, the public is not allowed in here. >> Not unless you have a reason, sir. >> What can I help you with? We didn't ask for help. >> Okay. You're at a secure facility and you're walking around the gate. Walk around your pocket for me, sir. >> You got ID on you? >> My name is Sergeant Cunningham with Freddy County Sheriff's Office. You're on a secure facility. You're walking around our secure gate. I'm asking you to leave. >> You don't have that authority. >> We do not need you guys to come out and instruct us not to do that. We We know how to read. >> I can talk to you about the third brake light, the supplemental high mount stop light. Sergeant, go ahead. >> What? What about it? You're required to have one. >> Really? >> What's that big microphone? Enforcing the code of Virginia. >> You did a U-turn. How did you see that the back lights were out? If you had >> I was behind you at the red light, sir. >> You turned around. >> I was behind you at the red light, sir. >> No, you weren't. >> No, I wasn't. But I pulled you over. We got it all on camera. >> How I pulled you over if I never was behind you? I came down on Route 50. reasonable suspicion >> enforcing the code of Virginia >> and you tried to figure out a reason to stop it. >> I could see you smiling at me. >> You wanted to exercise a show of force. >> Okay. >> And that is what you did. That's >> that's why I gave you a verbal warning. Did anybody get charged with anything? >> You know what you did was wrong. >> Was it? >> I do enforce the code of Virginia all the time. >> I was behind you at the red light, sir. I was never behind your vehicle when I pulled you over. That's >> I already know that. That's what we say. That's what we just told you. >> How does that work? We were going opposite directions. You were sitting in a left turn lane. >> Your viewers can figure out sitting in a left turn. >> Hopefully your viewers can figure out how that doesn't really make sense. Cuz it's fake. >> We just post the action. >> Cuz it's a lie. >> We just post the action. >> Cuz it's a lie. >> Oh, definitely. >> Does that look good? >> Not really. >> Oh, that's >> I've seen better. Do >> you guys need any more help tonight? >> We never asked for help. You guys stopped us. >> Why'd you go to their police station? >> Pretty much just to troll them. To troll them because they trolled us. They they didn't like that we were out oftowners and that we came in there and that we challenged them with specific looks. They didn't like how we looked at them. They didn't like how we looked. So, they wanted to exercise a show of force against that. So, you know what we did? We went and exercised a show of force back against them. That's why we went up there. But when we went up there, if you if you see in the video there, the station was locked and closed. We never we didn't get to go inside, you know. So we that's why we were hanging outside by the gate. We came out back outside and that's when the sergeant came back out and he tried to tell us to leave. He's like, "Oh yeah, get out of here. You can't be here. We're going to trespass you." And then when when he was the sergeant was saying that me, we were like, "No, you're not. You don't have the authority to do that. We're going to stay right here." As we were having that conversation, that's when the officer the deputy who initially stopped us arrived to the conversation, which is so weird. He gets out of his car and like walks across the field to talk to us like and then made a pressing point to to emphasize that he was right and he's like, "Oh, I found the statute and all this stuff like who cares? Tell it to the judge. I mean, you know, tell it to your I don't know. Tell it to yourself." >> Yeah. 10141 says that um you must have a rear-mounted top brake light or stop light. I don't remember exactly what it's called. Um it says you have to have that. Now, the Supreme Court of Virginia, they've interpreted that statute to also mean and include uh if you have the brake light there and the one of the bulbs aren't working or anything is malfunctioning, it's considered a defective brake light. But because of 1014, uh you 10141 is really it's it's not applicable. See, the officer has the right to rely on his statute just like I have the right right to rely on mine. But he's allowed to actually stop people based on that. Until the legislature fixes the the conflict between the statutes, the cops are going to be able to continue to stop people and citizens are going to be able to contest it. The way I see it, like because there's no guidance. You know what I'm saying? Courts are there to interpret the law. Our legislature makes laws, our executive branch enforces them, and then our Supreme Court, our courts interpret them. Right. >> Yeah. So there's been no opportunity for the Virginia Supreme Court to interpret these statutes or the conflict between the two statutes. >> Each statute has been visited by the courts on its own, but the conflict between the two hasn't been uh hasn't been visited. >> When corrupt cops realize their initial justification has collapsed, they double down with contradictions and lies as demonstrated by the deputy who insisted he was behind the vehicle at a red light to observe the alleged defects despite the brothers driving in the opposite direction. Virginia law prohibits law enforcement officers from stopping a motor vehicle solely for a violation related to the supplemental highmount stoplight. No law enforcement officer shall stop a motor vehicle for a violation of this section. Section 46.2-1014.1 B code of Virginia. Yet the deputies ignored this limitation and fabricated visibility of the lights to defend their actions after the fact. The encounter culminated in the brothers visiting the sheriff's station to confront the misconduct directly. They faced further attempts at intimidation and trespass threats from officers who could not substantiate their claims. This ultimately revealed a pattern of abusing authority when challenged rather than upholding the law impartially. Like and subscribe for more police cam stories. Watch the next recommended video. Click to watch now.