Officer Wants To Arrest Good Samaritan

[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 panhandling identification laws and reasonable suspicion and is brought to us by honor your oath civil rights investigations channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve sometime around december 1st 2020 youtuber and first amendment auditor jeff gray was standing on a public sidewalk outside of the citizens first bank on main street in lady lake florida mr gray was holding a sign that read god bless the homeless and was spreading this message to other citizens as they passed by eventually multiple citizens called the lady lake police department and reported mr grey's conduct as suspicious and accused him of panhandling yeah it's highly see this is citizens first bank here at 1129 main street okay we have the bus terminal across from our drive-through here and we have a gentleman out here with a hoodie on shades holding up a sign the girls say something about homeless um the girls are feeling very eerie the girls are just very worried we only have one in there now and the sign was he a black male you said no he's white and it said something about being homeless i think so that's what the girl said i can't see it on the camera okay i have the calling for you so it's going to be out there really county sheriff's office on yes at the intersection of um carabella and paige place there's a white male begging for money carrying a sign okay see white like a hispanic male a white white male okay he has a nap sack on his back dark clothing okay i'll let the officers know a short time later officer clark of the lady lake pd arrived on the scene and confronted mr gray bear in mind that the text you will see on the screen is from the original video god bless the homeless people are calling and saying that you're screaming at people or something like that god are you bless people god bless the homeless you have a license with you great for the homeless this christmas you have a license with you okay here you can speak up do you have a license with you god bless you god officer clark tells mr gray that his actions could constitute panhandling section 316.2045 of florida's criminal code provides that citizens can be cited for a non-criminal pedestrian violation if they obstruct the free convenient and normal use of any public street highway or road if a citizen causes the obstruction with the intention to solicit they can be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor the sidewalk where mr gray is standing is considered to be part of the street under florida law for an individual to violate this statute they must create an obstruction by impeding hindering stifling retarding or restraining traffic or passage thereon by standing or approaching motor vehicles thereon or by endangering the safe movement of vehicles or pedestrians traveling thereon although mr gray was standing on a public sidewalk he did not appear to be obstructing vehicles or pedestrians in any way he even moves further off to the side when he sees a pedestrian coming down the sidewalk while officer clark remains in the middle of the sidewalk mr gray also was not requesting money as his signs simply said god bless the homeless and his verbal statements were limited to sentiment such as god bless the homeless and pray for the homeless even if these statements could be construed to be solicitation by passersby there is no evidence to suggest that mr gray's actions caused an obstruction god bless the homeless god bless the homeless god bless the homeless so you gonna get out of here god bless the homeless are you asking me to get out of you got an here card with you god bless the homeless that's not what i'm asking god bless you guys if you have an idea with you pray for the homeless what's your name god bless the host what's your name god bless the homies if i run that name and doesn't come back to you do you realize it's false in the leo right god bless the homeless officer clark repeatedly asked mr gray to provide his name and identification according to section 901.151 of florida's criminal code also known as the florida stop and frisk law law enforcement officers have the authority to temporarily detain someone to ascertain their identity under circumstances which reasonably indicate that such person has committed is committing or is about to commit a violation of the criminal laws of this state or the criminal ordinances of any municipality or county this statute is a codification of the infamous supreme court case of terry versus ohio some states have created stop and identified laws requiring individuals to provide their name or identification when detained in circumstances similar to a terry stop however florida's stop and frisk law does not require citizens to provide their name or identification during a terry stop even if it did there was insufficient evidence for officer clark to have a reasonable suspicion that mr gray was committing a criminal offense as there was no evidence of obstruction or solicitation officer clark also suggests that mr grey could be arrested for providing a false name to a police officer since he responded god blessed the homeless when officer clark asked his name section 901.36 makes it a first degree misdemeanor for a person who has been arrested or lawfully detained by a law enforcement officer to give a false name or otherwise falsely identify himself or herself in any way to the law enforcement officer or any county jail personnel therefore if mr gray had been lawfully detained on a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity there may be an argument that he provided a false name although a reasonable person would likely conclude he was refusing to give his name instead of providing a false one and a court would likely agree however since officer clark did not have sufficient evidence to reasonably suspect that mr gray was committing a crime this statute does not apply what's wrong with you man why are you doing this god bless the hell listen this could be really easy or really difficult and you're making it really difficult right now god bless the homeless why pray for the homeless christmas i understand but you do realize that you know you're standing here with a sign like that and yelling at people or something like that they think you're panhandling god bless the homeless shortly thereafter a second officer corporal higgins arrives on the scene and officer clark walks away presumably into the bank mr gray engages in conversation with corporal higgins who shakes his hand and does not question mr gray further how you doing officer man how are you doing i'm great god bless the homeless now you're spreading the word yes sir god bless the hope thank you pray for the homeless god did you guys get a call or something yeah what was it called she said someone was out here with some kind of sign so you just come check it out let's see what you're up to that's it you're saying god bless the homeless and pray for the homeless that's all i'm doing thank you spreading your word to do so we just check out what some people ask for money and stuff and if they're going to do that at that moment so that's that's the reason i came over here just to see what it was all about i'm just god blessing the homeless hey everybody bless you them a lot for them you like spread word or something in the holidays yeah the holidays yeah you like charities or something too or you just kind of just spread the word just read the word just hopefully people think about it pray for them and do whatever they can to help you that's cool man i think the bank's the one that called some steve just he went and talked to him oh okay but if you're in a public hearing like jumping in traffic and have at it but if they if you want private property just somebody from that representative comes and says something but other than that like it's not owned by the bank so if you're just going to be god bless and homeless how about it all right thank you take care have a good day merry christmas happy holidays yeah the lady lake officers left the scene and mr gray was allowed to continue standing on the sidewalk without further incident overall officer clark gets a c-minus for neglecting to conduct a legitimate investigation before assuming mr gray had committed a crime threatening to arrest mr gray for not providing his name and for maintaining a relatively hostile and confrontational attitude throughout the encounter officer clark insinuated that he could arrest mr gray because other citizens were assuming that he was panhandling and instead of conducting an investigation to determine whether or not that was true the officer decided to threaten mr gray with arrest if he did not comply although officer clark did not actually carry out any of his threats this is yet another example of an officer restoring peace at the expense of upholding the law and this interaction may have had a different ending if corporal higgins had not arrived on the scene all that said officer clark ultimately did not arrest her site mr gray and it is impossible to know what he said to the 911 caller there is a possibility that he informed the bank employee that mr grey's conduct was in fact legal once he had more details to work with but most of officer clark's conduct in this interaction was unnecessary and unprofessional corporal higgins gets an a plus for approaching the interaction with a respectable degree of objectivity treating mr gray with courtesy and respect and for engaging in a productive dialogue with mr gray instead of immediately assuming that he was engaged in criminal activity the corporal's response to the situation was calculated and straightforward and he never made any accusations about the legality of mr gray's conduct it was plainly obvious that nothing mr gray was doing violated any statutes and it appeared as though the corporal was able to see that from the moment he arrived on the scene corporal higgins handled this situation exactly how an officer should and i commend him for setting aside his ego and respecting mr gray's rights corporal higgins should be recognized for his professionalism and fair policing tactics and his conduct should set an example for all members of law enforcement mr gray also gets an a-plus for remaining calm and collected throughout the encounter politely refusing to comply with officer clark's unlawful orders and for engaging in a positive and productive dialogue with corporal higgins at no point did mr gray commit any crimes and nothing he did warranted police contact the lady lake officers could have achieved the very same end result by simply observing mr gray's conduct and informing the 911 caller that he was not doing anything illegal mr gray handled the situation with poise and did not back down from officer clark's empty threats and i commend him for his respectful but stern demeanor mr gray is one of the few auditors that i have covered more than once on this channel and not only does he do a fantastic job of peacefully asserting his rights but he also has a very creative auditing style i highly recommend giving his channel your support and i also recommend taking a look at his videos where he was actually arrested for the very same conduct as in this interaction you can find a link to his channel in the description below 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 like and subscribe for more police interaction [Music] content you

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 586,905

Rating: 4.9225669 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: eYmUzbjfRwQ

Length: 12min 17sec (737 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 21 2020