Dash Cam Saves Citizen From Lying Officer

[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 traffic violations undercover vehicles and the right to remain silent and was privately submitted so there's no link to the original video available online on the night of april 22 2021 new york resident stephen ortiz was driving along ocean avenue in south brooklyn when he came upon two cars traveling very slowly and blocking both lanes when devo tapped kids is flat [Music] i'm always in the no no november light [Music] oh my god i'm on the wrong side of youtube once the vehicle activated its lights and revealed that it was an undercover police car mr ortiz immediately stopped honking and gave them some space but once he approached the next stoplight the officer initiated a verbal exchange with him stay off the horse i had no idea what y'all was doing you were blocking traffic back there you're only allowed to honk your horn when there's imminent danger of collision that's the vehicle of traffic law understand you don't hulk your just because you're a noise you got it it wasn't because i was nervous because you were blocking traffic the officer stops in the roadway to inform mr ortiz that he is not allowed to honk his horn unless there is imminent danger of collision according to section 375 of the new york vehicle and traffic law quote every motor vehicle operated or driven upon the public highways of the state shall be provided with a suitable and adequate horn or other device for signaling which horn or device shall produce a sound sufficiently loud to serve as a danger warning but shall not be used other than as a reasonable warning nor be unnecessarily loud or harsh similarly section 4-12 of title 34 of the rules of the city of new york states the quote no person shall sound the horn of a vehicle except when necessary to warn a person or animal of danger these statutes are similar to horn regulation laws in other states which generally limit permissible horn use to issuing a warning for example section 39 3-69 of the new jersey statutes requires the quote the driver of a motor vehicle shall when reasonably necessary to ensure safe operation give audible warning with his horn but shall not otherwise use such horn when upon a highway courts have reached different decisions as to whether the restriction of horn use violates the first amendment right to free expression in the 1998 case of state versus kumpa the montana supreme court upheld two convictions for disorderly conduct against an individual for honking her horn when driving by a certain rv park quote to protest the rv park and its location on the yellowstone river the court determined that because activity that is intended to embarrass annoy or harass is not protected by the first amendment the honking quote did not constitute a protest to government of government acts which would be entitled to protection under the first amendment however in the 1992 case of city of eugene versus polovsky the oregon court of appeals held that a statute prohibiting the use of a horn for purposes other than a reasonable warning violated the first amendment because it was unconstitutionally overbroad finding that because the ordinance restricted all horn honking for any purpose at any time except as a warning quote the ordinance is not limited to those circumstances when because of noise or abuse the public interest may be implicated in mr ortiz's case his use of the horn likely violated the relevant statutes but it is unclear whether a court would determine this application of the statute was constitutional no you don't want your heart for that reason sir got it why are you talking to me like that i'm just letting you know what the vehicle the traffic law is no no no no no i'm i'm not asking you the vehicle traffic law i'm asking you why are you talking to me like that i'm talking to you like that because you honk your horn and you obviously but you understand but clearly you understand why the officer abruptly ends the conversation by driving forward as he was being spoken to leaving mr ortiz somewhat confused and offended after a moment of pause mr ortiz continues driving and it initially appears as though the interaction has ended but as mr ortiz approaches the next intersection he notices the officer's vehicle idling on the side of the roadway and the officer initiates a traffic stop on mr ortiz as soon as he passes by how you doing put your hands on the wheel put your hands on the wheel thank you put that camera back to where what if you want to film if you want any information you're gonna get it yeah no i want the information because this is kind of ridiculous why are you pointing the camera that way you you're important to my safety you can push it wherever you want no problem you wanna film i don't care yeah i have everything on camera my question my question to him was why just put your hands keep your hands there all right license and registration all right i i i want the business card i don't want a supervisor yeah you don't get everything talking to one i'm finding a complaint this is this is ridiculous that's fair enough this is ridiculous i'm finally gonna play with ccrb okay 1-800-341 ccrb and my mother's a police officer we're at at the 1pp okay you said to me why are you talking to me like that did i say anything discourteous to you yeah it's very disgusting what is discourteous i use profanity i was trying to you don't have to use profanity to be the scourges okay what was discourteous well i was trying to explain to you why i was honking clearly you knew why i was honking uh-huh and i told you once i saw the lights i stopped talking okay i have respect for cops my mum was a cop but i also understand what's going on in the world today that you know as you say your mind's a cop yeah all right whatever she's a cop puerto rican i'm a hispanic so so i'm so listen let me here we're just looking for somebody you getting that did you hear that all right if i'm talking to him it's because i probably have something or the guys that are working without right now has something the fact that you're actually honking to us like desperate i get it you want to get somewhere right now probably home to your family whatever but come on bro let's just just let it be we let you work let it work mr ortiz had no way of knowing that these undercover vehicles were officers before he honked his horn and the dashcam footage shows that he stopped honking the moment the officers activated their lights in new york police officers are permitted to use unmarked vehicles for a variety of law enforcement purposes including traffic patrols in fact new york police departments often make use of specialized concealed identity traffic enforcement vehicles also known as site vehicles which are unmarked suvs intended to blend in with traffic allowing officers to catch drivers who violate the law off guard while new york officers in sight vehicles or other unmarked vehicles are not restricted from initiating traffic stops and can pull over people they witness violating the law this was not always the case in 1996 then governor george pataki issued an executive order prohibiting unmarked police vehicles from being used in routine traffic stops however when david patterson became the governor of new york in 2008 he revoked governor pataki's order while new york law does not place constraints on the use of unmarked vehicles for traffic patrols some states have restricted the circumstances when an officer can use an unmarked vehicle for example in ohio officers cannot conduct traffic patrols in unmarked vehicles section 4549.13 of the ohio revised code states the quote any motor vehicle used by a member of the state highway patrol or by any other peace officer while said officer is on duty for the exclusive or main purpose of enforcing the motor vehicle or traffic laws of this state provided the offense is punishable as a misdemeanor shall be marked in some distinctive manner or color and shall be equipped with but need not necessarily have an operation at all times at least one flashing oscillating or rotating colored light mounted outside on top of the vehicle given the fact that new york law does not place limitations on the use of unmarked vehicles a court would likely find that the traffic stop conducted on mr ortiz was lawful and what i told you when i told you when you knew who we were and i told you what the vehicle and traffic law was you were still piping up i was painting i have it on a camera so i don't know i'm telling you whatever you want i'm telling you about what i'm telling you i'm filing your complaint that's fair enough this is a different way and i don't know what the basis of your complaint was because nobody was discourteous to you well i saw the video and i'll let them figure that out that's cool that'll be fine that'll be fine you got any information for your mom he said yeah i'm gonna call her right now all right you get on the phone she's the one who always tells me to write complaints that's that's the person who told me i complaint you're free to do that do you have a card or anything any proof that you're related to her you know normally i don't like to use that card mom what i have two nypd officers pulled me over okay they were blocking the streets i haunt the horn the second they showed their lights i stopped poking the horn right so one cop goes forward i go forward and the other cop waits for me to tell me why i'm honking he knows why i'm home i have him right here he doesn't believe my mother's a cop can you please call me i want me to talk i i at this point now now i am going to file a complaint with the cclv you want me to talk to her would you mom would you like to talk to the police officer yeah how are you i mean so if his license is good he's good no problem i'm gonna put your phone right here if his license is good no problem so here's here's what we got here unless you don't want to know okay so i pulled next to your son and i said sir i understand you're in a hurry he's got it recorded so nothing i got no reason to lie to him i said the vehicle in traffic law under the vehicle of traffic law your horn is used to signal imminent danger not annoyance that's all that's all that was too much for him so here we are that's what it is i'm going to give him all of the information say again i didn't hear you uh he honked the horn in violation of the vtl okay all right you have a good one i'll give him all the information there you go yeah so i honk the horn and he's screaming at me steven after officer allison explains his version of events to mr ortiz's mother the officer hands the phone back to mr ortiz and his mother immediately implores him to remain silent although it is clear that mr ortiz was attempting to justify his use of the horn to the officers his statements could actually serve to incriminate him in the u.s justice system the government has the quote unquote burden of proof in criminal cases including traffic cases this means that in order for an individual who is accused of an offense to be found guilty the prosecuting attorney must prove every element of the offense as established in the statute detailing the offense for the illegal use of horn statute which states that quote no person shall sound the horn of a vehicle except when necessary to warn a person or animal of danger the prosecutor would need to prove that the individual sounded their horn and that they did so for a reason other than warning a person or animal of danger during the course of his interaction with the officers mr ortiz admitted multiple times that he sounded his horn and also asserted that he honked because the officers were blocking traffic if mr ortiz was charged with a violation of this statute these statements could be used as evidence against him making it much easier for the prosecuting attorney to prove the elements of the offense although there is an argument to be made that mr ortiz's use of the horn was intended to warn of some danger created by the officers driving too slowly his ability to make this argument could be hindered by the statements he made explaining his use of the horn this situation is an excellent example of why individuals should resist the natural human inclination to explain their actions during a traffic stop and instead invoke their right to silence when interacting with the police there you go i need they were blocking the street once they showed their lights they'll stop walking the horn no you didn't okay no you didn't and i'm not arguing with you so guys no problem ready yes o-l-o uh-huh s-u-s s-u-n uh-huh shield number seven eight nine shield number seven seven eight nine that's number one i want his right mom tax number no she knows as well as i do nobody gets your tax you got my information now then you come officer allison walked away without providing mr ortiz tax identification number and after taking a moment to collect himself mr ortiz left the scene without further incident mr ortiz told me that after speaking with his mother he decided to file a formal complaint against officer allison as of the writing of this episode mr ortiz's complaint is still under investigation mr ortiz also informed me that he will not be taking legal action against the officers but he hopes that his complaint will result in a reprimand or additional training overall the two officers get a c-minus for maintaining a condescending and unprofessional attitude throughout the encounter failing to de-escalate the interaction and for conducting an unnecessary and frivolous traffic stop on mr ortiz although there are no doubt ethical questions to be raised about this stop it would likely be considered a legal detention by a court and the officers do appear to remain within the bounds of their authority nonetheless it also appears as though the entire purpose for the stop was to obtain mr ortiz's identity issue a second verbal warning and argue about the horn violation the officer's entire perspective of this encounter was based around the notion that mr ortiz maliciously honked his horn at them knowing that they were police officers and the dash cam video shows that was simply not the case both of the officers also failed to effectively communicate with mr ortiz and eventually resorted to verbally distorting the facts of the encounter to support their narrative it is important for officers and citizens alike to understand that communication is a skill that can be developed through repetition and training and communicating with citizens makes up a large majority of an average law enforcement officer's job the way in which an officer communicates with a citizen can have a dramatic effect on the tone and outcome of any interaction and the escalation of this encounter can largely be attributed to officer allison's attitude and unprofessional conduct ultimately the officers did not arrest or cite mr ortiz but many of their tactics were unethical and did not serve the better interest of the public mr ortiz gets an a-minus because although he could have exercised his right to silence more tactfully he maintained a calm and collected demeanor throughout the encounter respectfully challenged the legitimacy of the stop and followed up this encounter with the proper channel of complaints mr ortiz did a great job of staying calm and having a dash cam ensured that the facts of the stop would be accounted for while dash cams can be a powerful tool for interacting with police it is important to bear in mind that they offer accountability to everyone that is recorded and recording yourself engaging in a dialogue with a police officer may not always work out in your favor mr ortiz may have benefited from invoking his right to silence sooner but he carried himself relatively well in every other aspect of this interaction mr ortiz's mother also deserves recognition for telling her son to remain silent and working to de-escalate the encounter over the phone i commend mr ortiz for following up this encounter with a formal complaint and i commend mr ortiz's mother for advising him to remain silent and ask for the officer's badge number let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic you would like us to discuss in the comments below thank you for watching and don't forget to check out my second channel for more police interaction content you

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 1,326,693

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: IgWaSEeh1tY

Length: 16min 33sec (993 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 03 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/jj11909]

Seriously people, shut. the. fuck. up.

You are not helping yourself trying to explain. All you are doing is giving shit to use later.

Mr Ortiz failed for not shutting the hell up.

[u/TWDYrocks]

Fuck everyone in New York is rude as shit.

[u/Suchgoldie]

One of my favorite YouTube channels!