Cop Assaults Air Force Capt. for Not Knowing Neighbor, Says He Could Have Tased or Shot Him Instead

he pulls me over to the side of the driveway he then states he wanted to tase me if he had a taser and would have shot and killed me if he had drawn his weapon and he would have been fully justified in killing me ever since I was a a little child my parents have instilled in me a love for the values that the United States holds dear my parents came to the United States from a brutal military dictator ship and they chose the United States because of our constitution Nicholas aino was born and raised in the United States after his family fled Paraguay he says his understanding of his family's difficult past made him want to give back for the freedoms the US provided that is one of many factors in in terms of why I wanted to serve this country was so that I could uphold those ideals that I could fight that I could give back to to the community and make sure that they keep those freedoms when I was really little probably about three I went to my first air show I always loved the Air Force I remember just wanting to be a part of this country and serving it aino attends the Naval Postgraduate School in Montery California and in many ways has become quite the poster child for the military so when he found out there was a warrant out for his arrest he was shocked I never was arrested charged cited booked nothing I've never even had a had a ticket he found out he was being charged with resisting arrest during an incident that happened in December of 2013 an incident in which he believes he was the victim one of ao's neighbors had reported seeing a suspicious person at ao's address aino had been living there for a few months but the neighbor was rarely around and didn't recognize him sheriff's deputy Ivan Rodriguez followed up on the call and checked out the residents but Akino said the officer didn't provide any identification when he went out to greet him there are plenty of police impersonators out there a badge online costs 60 bucks to get so my question to him was EXC uh excuse me who are you and uh why are you here he said he was investigating suspicious activity in the area I asked him am I being detained he said said yes so I was like okay my name is Nicholas aino I live right here how long am I being detained for what are the charges and do you have a warrant everything that Nicholas was doing to me is sort of like textbook like okay I'm going to be respectful I'm going to answer questions but I'm also going to insist that you answer questions for me because I am within my rights on my property to ask these questions ao's lawyer Steven ler says that nothing Nicholas did suggested aggression and the arrest report report agrees the officer though he couldn't be reached for comment wrote in the report that the male looked to have a normal to slightly nervous demeanor but did not immediately seem confrontational or aggressive but that he later asked in a confrontational Tone If he was being detained the officer appear he appears to have been offended at the idea that a citizen would question his authority at the officer's request aino showed his military ID and other forms of identification but the officer was still unconvinced and moveed to physically detain him he just grabbed my wrist without any warning without provocation uh put me in a front headlock choke the technical term is a front Guillotine slam my head into the ground So currently I still have a fluid buildup in in the back of uh my right ear right head contusion both arms abrasions and contusions on uh the elbows knees hip right hip using Force should have been the last resort unless there was some reason to believe that um Nicholas was doing something that was um going to you know harm him at that moment and there was nothing that he was doing that would cause that eventually aino was able to convince the officer that he did in fact live there the officer did not apologize he pulls me over to the side of the driveway and he does basic victim uh victim blaming so he says it was my fault for not knowing my neighbors he then states he wanted to tase me if he had a taser and would have shot and killed me if he had drawn his weapon and he would have been fully justified in killing me I think that sometimes police officers are so used to being in control of every situation that just any small amount of perceived resistance from a citizen causes them to treat them like they are you know um a criminal there was no reason to physically detain me or arrest me um as far as putting me in a choke hold um even if my muscles tensed um the automatic reaction to being choked is to tense up reach for the neck yet the DA used this perceived tension as a springboard for the charges against aino resisting arrest and obstructing a peace officer are we supposed to to just bend over and excuse my friends just take it just because a person is on a power trip and feels that he can bully you into into submission liner says no Citizens need to ask these questions and stand up for their rights we have to exercise them we have to hold a police officer accountable make sure that he or she does their job properly that's all Nicholas was doing and we feel that this is an opportunity for all of us to talk about how it is that citizens have an absolute right to ask questions and that police officers should be respectful and civil and um and act lawfully which means not using Force unless it really is called for liner says that the public outry on behalf of aino helped Force the DA's hand and the charges have since been dropped though they still strongly defend the officer's actions the DA's office declined reason's request for an interview but said in a subsequent statement that the deputy sheriff had lawfully detained Captain aino I think it's clear by the public reaction to um this case is that there's a sense among the public that uh law enforcement um oversteps their bounds or oversteps proper procedure in the way that they deal with us getting the charges dropped is a victory but Nicholas plans to continue fighting he is filing a claim for civil damages against montere County to cover his legal expenses in addition to physical and emotional costs

Channel: ReasonTV

Views: 3,190,792

Keywords: Nicolas Aquino, Monterey (City/Town/Village), Police Abuse, Police Corruption, Law Enforcement, Reason TV, Tracy Oppenheimer

Id: Lh9Dc7w1d2Y

Length: 7min 9sec (429 seconds)

Published: Thu May 22 2014