Dash Cam Saves Citizen From Bizarre Police Encounter

[Music] welcome to audit the audit where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers pretextual stops detainment during a traffic stop and impersonating a public servant and comes to us from the Ocala posters channel but was originally uploaded by Tony Soto's channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve before we dive into the interaction I want to give a shout out to total AV for sponsoring this video on average one in three Americans will be affected by online attacks and in 2018 alone hackers managed to steal half a billion personal records if you've ever had a virus or malware infect your computer before you know how devastating it can be and finding cyber protection that is both affordable and effective has always been a challenge until now total AV is a premier antivirus software that offers scheduled scans and real time protection that constantly monitors your computer and automatically detects potential threats while surfing the web downloading files or sorting through email attachments total AV also offers advanced optimization tools to help improve your device's battery life and speed given their dedication to customer service privacy and security it is no wonder that total AV is the number one ranked antivirus protection on Google and best of all it's incredibly affordable right now you can save 70% off total a V's retail price and get a 1-year package for only $29.99 that's less than three dollars a month so try it out for yourself using my custom link in the description below and get that 70% discount while you can thanks again to total AV for sponsoring this video on March 25th 2015 28 year old Philadelphia resident Tony Soto was stopped by Philadelphia police officer Holloway near the 6700 block of Torres dáil Avenue just outside of the Philadelphia metro area this interaction has a strange and somewhat somber ending so I encourage you to watch to the end of the video where you say it's in the windows right that's the reason why you all stop my vehicle all right I'll have a to permit from the state of PennDOT that's what I'm going to show you first that invalidates your traffic stop sir all right what's your second reason like sir my headlights was on my head you say it like this out oh no it's not both my headlights on well no you can't you'll see the temperament and you'll see my identification but she won't see the vehicle registration because your traffic stop is involved they don't in 1979 the Supreme Court held that officers must have probable cause that a violation has occurred in order to stop a vehicle for a license and registration check in the case of Delaware versus Prowse nearly 20 years later the Supreme Court stood by that notion and what could be considered a sister precedent to the Prowse ruling in the 1996 case of Wren versus United States in the Wren case the court rejected the notion that subjective intentions of police officers play a role in stops initiated with probable cause here's an excerpt from the unanimous opinion reached by the court read by Justice Scalia the questioners do not dispute that the police had probable cause to believe that they had violated the DC traffic code instead they advanced a new argument that in the unique context of civil traffic regulations probable cause is simply not enough automobile use they say is so heavily and minutely regulated that total compliance is nearly impossible almost all motorists frequently commit technical violations the danger of approving all traffic stops based on probable cause they claim is that it creates a temptation for the place to use traffic stops as a means of investigating other law violations as to which no probable cause exists and enables the place to single out disfavored groups for unwelcome police attention for this reason petitioners argue the Fourth Amendment test for traffic stops should be not simply whether probable cause existed to justify the stop but rather whether a police officer acting reasonably would have made the stop for the reason given in earlier cases we have effectively rejected the notion that the constitutionality of traffic stops depends upon the actual motivations of the individual officers involved although the defense made a compelling argument in regards to the impossibility of motor vehicle compliance the court denounced the notion that a reasonableness test was sufficient for determining the legality of an officer's actions and ruled that the subjective intentions of an officer have no bearing on the legitimacy of their probable cause this ruling paved the way for pretextual traffic stops and essentially encouraged officers to zeal ously enforce petty traffic laws in an effort to seek out more serious crimes it's important to mention pretextual stops because many questions have been raised about the officers intent before this stop occurred many critics of officer Holloway's conduct have argued that mr. Soto was stopped because of his affiliation with certain activist groups which we will discuss later in the video officer Holloway was well within his authority to stop mr. Soto for his tint and headlight but the legal seizure of mr. Soto became illegal once mr. Soto had dispelled the officer suspicions by presenting the medical exemption paperwork for the tint and proving that his headlights were in fact functioning properly although each ruling is highly circumstantial many courts have held that officers may not continue to detain an individual once their suspicions have been satisfied and no criminal activity is afoot all right here's the sir you don't have the right open my door this car has video monitor my door so you violate my constitutional right now sir I don't have to step out the vehicle when I'm requesting your supervisor all right let me give you my paperwork for the vehicle well my temperament and my identification that's number one my driver's license is number one all right Fire Marshal identification that's number two and badge to go with it all right here mr. Soto presents a fire marshal ID and badge and displays it along with his identification to the officer it wasn't until after mr. Soto posted the video of this interaction that the Philadelphia Police Department discovered that the badge was fake and that mr. Soto was not a fire marshal upon further investigation the PPD also discovered that mr. Soto had a prior conviction for impersonating a police officer from 2008 and three years after that arrest mr. Soto was arrested again for impersonating a police officer but the case was eventually dismissed because Pennsylvania is impersonating a public serving code is a little different from most states Sylvania code 49:12 states that a person commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if he falsely pretends to hold a position in the public service with intent to induce another to submit to such pretended official authority unlike most states Pennsylvania requires an individual to benefit from impersonating a public figure before it is considered a crime mr. Soto was never charged for presenting the fake fire marshal Badgett officer Holloway and it is unlikely the charging mr. Soto under code 49:12 would hold up in court but it does raise valid ethical questions about mr. Soto's conduct during this interaction and in the past and I'm requesting a supervisor we call free supervisor sir thank you shut my door please oh yeah that's accurate say that's my word for it so you know we won't stop all this nonsense with you guys down here just stopping people and going whatever you want so that's best done so my hobbies second suggestion is that my vehicle headlights oh one of my headlights were solved sound like similar to the branded safe Brown issue you know but uh both my haloxyl functioning properly requested a supervisor 728 at this point mr. Soto has more than satisfied the officer suspicions and officer Holloway has no authority to continue detaining him mr. Soto mentions that this interaction is unfolding similarly to the Brandon Tate Brown incident which is referring to a controversial 2014 police shooting of 26 year-old Brandon Tate Brown of which officers were cleared of any wrongdoing mr. Tate Brown was killed by officers of the 15th district in Philadelphia which is the same district that officer Holloway and his partner are assigned to prompted by mr. Tate Brown's death mr. Soto became heavily involved in the civil rights activism community and claimed that he was already known and disliked by the PPD before this interaction took place and uh refused to give him the paperwork to the vehicle because the state of Pennsylvania for the reason why he's stopping me and vomiting such traffic stop for for stopping a vehicle just for the sole purposes of Sun screening and wish pen - oh you can stop on one side % paperwork - you involved in the traffic stop this well I showed it to you refused to look at you don't have a step and I can hold it right here and you can flash your flashlight I'll do it again I can tell you whatever I want cuz you're a public servant you work for me I pay my taxes you pay I pay look I pay my taxes you work for me you work for me tonight you work from you also Holloway all right that's why you're standing there Boz and I'm sitting here I'll be down here all day nobody after that and every time you stop me there we go let me commit again just so you can see officer Holloway's snatches the paper through the window and spends over two minutes reading the exemption and getting the paper soaked by the rain after handing the paper back to mr. Soto officer Holloway hovers over the car for a moment and then returns to his patrol car mr. Soto continues to wait in his car for the officer to return but after several minutes of sitting he realizes that the officers have abandoned the traffic stop the officers backed their car up and drove around the corner without telling mr. Soto that he was free to go or letting him know that the stop was concluded in any way mr. Soto then gets out of his vehicle and films the officers for a moment before they decide to drive away without further incident mr. Soto posted the interaction on YouTube the following day and it immediately went viral adding to mr. Soto's reputation as an activist following this interaction mr. Soto filed an official complaint against officer Holloway and had several other police encounters one of which also went viral and he began to gain a small following on Facebook and YouTube but on May 18th 2016 mr. Soto was arrested once again for impersonating a police officer assault and pulling a gun on an off-duty Philadelphia officer mr. Soto was issued a nine hundred thousand dollar bond and has been in jail since mr. Soto's mother created a Facebook page called justice for Tony Soto in the months following his arrest but it appears as though it has since been acquired by another entity as mr. Soto's mother passed away from cancer the following year mr. Soto had been her primary caregiver until he was arrested the pages about section features a relatively detailed letter explaining mr. Soto's prior offenses as well as his use of fake badges and presents mr. Soto as a victim of syndicated police misconduct and harassment some of the letters points seemed plausible and it is worth the read mr. Soto's last video on YouTube would come nearly one year after his arrest and it appears to have been filmed while he was incarcerated the video consists of a nearly 15 minute rant that incoherently shifts from a church sermon to a motor facial speech and back again several times after spending two years in jail the charges against him were dismissed on speedy trial grounds but then reinstated by the district attorney with a much lower bond of $75,000 but mr. Soto remains in jail a GoFundMe account was set up to help pay mr. Soto's bond but was shut down by GoFundMe without explanation the Philadelphia Police Department released a statement claiming that the officers did nothing wrong and questioned the validity of mr. Soto's window tint medical exemption overall officer Holloway and the Philadelphia Police Department get an F for illegally detaining mr. Soto after he dispelled the officers probable cause and for abandoning the traffic stop without any explanation or due diligence the irregular and unprofessional nature of officer Holloway's conduct cannot be understated and the fact that the Philadelphia Police Department defended his actions is disturbing in early 2015 the Fraternal Order of Police posted an alert warning officers and civilians that mr. Soto was a quote/unquote fraud who attempted to bait police into misconduct adding merit to the notion that this interaction was a pretextual stop either way officer Holloway's conduct was inexcusable and most likely illegal and no department should condone such behavior from its officers mr. Soto gets a C because although he was within his rights to deny the officer his registration repeatedly impersonating public officials for any reason is highly unethical especially during a police encounter because mr. Soto was able to cultivate a social following to back his work as an activist he bore a burden of social responsibility that is greater than the average individual and wielded that responsibility and influenced recklessly by impersonating a fire marshal during this encounter mr. Soto's actions had the potential to damage civil rights activism as a whole because he actively took on the role of representing a sect of that movement and then conducted himself in a way that reflected badly on the community ultimately mr. Soto style of activism resulted in his incarceration but other than falsely claiming to be a fire marshal he handled himself relatively well throughout the encounter and I commend him for his calm and collected demeanor there are many layers to mr. Soto's story that I was not to cover in this video and I highly suggest taking a deeper look into it yourself let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic you would like us to cover in the comments below thank you for watching and don't forget to Like and subscribe for more police interaction

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 1,206,074

Rating: 4.805593 out of 5

Keywords: amagansett press, first amendment audit, 1st amendment audit, auditing america, news now california, sgv news first, high desert community watch, anselmo morales, photography is not a crime, san joaquin valley transparency, first amendment audit fail, walk of shame, news now houston, police fail, 1st amendment audit fail, public photography, auditor arrested, police brutality, highdesert community watch, pinac news, cops triggered, news now patrick, east hampton

Id: HELcimPxfEI

Length: 15min 27sec (927 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 07 2020