on May 9th 2022 officer Stallings of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission received a call from dispatch regarding an individual spear fishing near the East Jetty in Destin Florida upon arrival officer Stallings observed the man with binoculars climb out of the water spear in hand and what appeared to be a fish in a bucket when the subject spotted his patrol truck he began to walk in the opposite direction and ducked behind a large group of rocks hey yeah put the spear down put the spear down where's the fish you had earlier fish yeah where's the fish you had your ID on you what your ID let's fall back up here you're not allowed to spear fish out of here you just about stuck me with that walk that way where you from live here you live here where am I from or where do I live where do you live go for it you didn't get any fish today I don't have a I have spear fishing let's go over real quick we just go to back of my truck and we'll look it up look it up in the statute book and go by the law yeah I did the judge I got you then you should know the law pretty well I I'd obviously expect you to know it consider you're an attorney you don't want to go to Fort over something that simple well I mean they take your gear and they you know they find you not ideal obviously so up here down in the keys you get charged and go to jail what misdemeanor it's a misdemeanor second degree s like problem with a century all right let's talk about it you want to pull up the the rigs but it's a what kind of gear do you have it's called a head hunter so there's obviously no band in there but spear fishing is defined as a hand or mechanically propelled device okay hand set your stuff up here and we'll look at what you got in your bucket so we just got a three piece like gig pole basically this is this just a wrist what's this stretchy that keeps tension on the on the tip so it goes in like this like that you want me to set it up do good job just want to see how you use it specifically well it's meant to be used with a band obviously to propel it into a fish so it's just a flip tip so you spear a fish and sticks into it comes off and then you just hold on to it that way um so this this is just to hold tension on the tip so fall off does fall off okay that's not to propel anything no I mean the band is to propel it but I mean if you're fishing obviously not if you're swimming in the water you can't stop the fish if you're just moving it with your hand like that it's not going to be strong enough fast enough to actually go into a fish and you have to pierce the fish at least three inches this far in order for this stay how do you how do you fish with it you have a band okay so what do you use it for when you don't have the band to poke sharks that's the only thing you're doing sharks today but if I see one what I'm saying is what are you swimming with it for what's the purp that's exactly it yeah you're just snorkeling basically diving yeah I mean did you against the Rocks today yeah I mean I was being being stupid I I hate getting my wet suit dirty if I'm not going to be in for very long just because it's it's a pain to clean up so I just what else you have I just got in without it so you got this in here yeah that's glove in here injecting what do you have that's bloody in here that coagulated blood is blood probably me yeah you didn't bleed that much I was bleeding pretty good yeah where out of that and then my knee as well okay dude come on where's the fish at I don't have a fish dude there's fish slime in here I can smell it and see it I don't have a fish I don't have a to get a fish what then what did all the fish line come from it might be from an old dive I mean I go spear fishing fish line does not stand there that long okay I got an eyewitness that says you had a grouper where is it I don't have a fish I don't have a why are you shaking I'm nervous and I'm cold okay where's the fish I don't have a fish dude come on man you think I'm going to believe that look I if I get my snirkle equipment on it and I go out there and find a fish you're going to jail do you understand that yeah I understand cuz now you're interfering FWC officer investigation you should know that I understand I'm not an administrative law attorney okay so now you told me you're not you're an attorney or you're not an attorney what is it there's different types of attorneys I don't what are you law so you're not criminal no what are you I don't practice I a law degree I'm not so you never passed a bar exam or anything like that it so in a second degree misor probably wouldn't hurt you then I understand what to do where's the fish at I don't have a fish you're going to tell me that that is from you you how long do you think I've been doing this job for it could be for me it could be for all of that blood right there and the fish slime in here they could be from an old di I take this equipment when I do actually go spear fishing with a spear gun you and I both know so you actually do go spear fishing now he's a spear gun okay how long does fish slim stay fresh in a bucket and smell like it and sticky and stuff like that fish smells like that for a long time not with my experience fish doesn't go away I've grown up my entire life fish line dries up okay there's scales there's also scales in here too fresh scales look at that what is it FR okay that's fine I'll just take the blood and have it DNA tested I'm going to go ahead and take that from you let's walk back out here through the Rocks come on leave your stuff up here Jack you're going to leave that there take your weight belt off S all that right there in the back of my chart we're going to walk right back out here I'm going to give you the opport opportunity to retrieve this fish cuz if I get in the water you're going to jail hey guys how are yall doing good how are you how long have y'all been here for five minutes you see that did y'all see that guy bring a grouper up earlier okay no problem I appreciate it guys all right man the witness States you had a large grouper that you stowed it away inside a cave somewhere around here cave yeah they said you came up bragging about it to everybody but you killed a grouper and he said that he told you that you were spear fishing but you weren't spear fishing cuz you didn't have a tip on so it's going to be a while here unless you just go ahead and get the fish can I get a sht where's the fish dude I got multiple Witnesses saying you had a grouper now do you want to get the fish or not is it underneath the Rocks down here iore I don't know it's pretty easy when you got a weight belt and you can dive down can I get a shirt why are you going to get in the shirt if you're going to get the water and get the fish where's the fish at need a shirt get you didn't care when you were in the water all right where's your shirt at where's your car located my car there okay so um do you want to continue playing this game or you going to get the fish really is that right well okay we can explain that one in court come on let's go if he says I didn't have a TI you did have a tip I see the tip you said that the GU no you said you told the guy you didn't have a tip so it wasn't illegal the same thing you just told me earlier how long have y'all been here for um like one did you see that guy with a fish at any point I did did you see where he put it it was in a bucket did you see where he took bucket you got rid of the fish no I mean I saw him go on the Rocks but that's all I okay thank you you mind if I need you to get a a witness statement just clarifying that then another individual told me that and now you're telling me the same thing yeah yeah thank you I'll be back okay turn around put your hands while get back you're being detained until I can figure out what else is going on okay yes we do cuz I don't trust you right now sit right there and hang out we're going to get all your information just a minute all right so you don't practice law why did you tell me you were an attorney is there a reason for that a degree okay but you're not an attorney I understand the regulations everything but you're not understanding because you're spear fishing a jetty you go I've been watching you for a while with my binoculars right spear fishing all right look I'm all going to discuss it with you okay there's a definition for it you can go back to the court and they can Define it okay because that's up to the courts to Define it all right just so you know spe fishing under 379 testinal two4 to spear fishing definitions limitations and penalty for the purpose of this xsection spear fishing means The Taking of any saltwater fish through the instrumentality of a spear gig or Lance oper operated by a person swimming at or below the surface of the water okay so whatever definition they gave you is wrong I'm just decid I'm just trying to figure out what what you're thinking is okay and why you're thinking this is okay okay um because I mean you're not the first person doing this all right don't be the last person doing it no I'm not I'm not concerned about you guys at this moment but if you do have it that's good you're good man thanks let me know if you see a fish floating around out there you going to the very end if you don't mind just look around for me did you see him carry it anywhere no he went on he took it on the Rock oh it was out here yeah it's the last place you saw it on this yeah he was right where my uhuh right the edge of theedge of the on this side yeah okay did you see what he did with the fish okay good all right can we review your GoPro sorry can we review your GoPro search so you don't want to prove your point that you didn't Spirit grouper do you want me you want to show me your still record you don't you don't want to you don't want to show it to me you been recording all day how long has it been recording for okay that's fine wishing you two citations have fishing license and you didn't have you said there's one on the point where I saw you in the water I did not see a D's down flag no I still haven't seen it when you're in the water you got to have it you're also swimming down this side of the Jet and you didn't have one here either okay it's a ticket okay issu a warning for it you got to bring your own divers down flag display it you swim around it okay I need your signature on my copies it's not an admission of guilt it's just stating you understand these three options which I'm about to provide to you okay you can pay these fines at this address listed here in person or by mail or you can call this number and set up a court date okay that's your option we'll call that number and see if they'll allow you to pay online I think they have an eay in Okaloosa County all right I need your signature here and then on the fishing license citation this one is for the dver down flag this one is for not having your fishing license okay 6750 you got to have that all right you're out here all right sign here and the other one's right here you are free to go okay I'm keeping cop that that is your copy yes those are copies exact same thing okay list CT appearance yeah I'll get it to you just a second back here with me you understand everything that's going on the man was given citations for no die flag and fishing without a license but officer stalling is Relentless and after he let the man go he continued to look for the grouper which he ultimately found hidden under some rocks but that's not all officer Stallings got a search warrant for the GoPro SD card that he sees during his investigation and after reviewing that footage he witnessed the man's spear the exact same grouper that he found on the jetty just another example of why you shouldn't record criminal activities anyways guys if you'd like today's video be sure to hit that like button and if you're not already subscribed be sure to do so and watch my other content please for for the love of God some of it's pretty damn good [Music] again