Officers Sued For Searching Vehicle During Traffic Stop

[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 k-9 units and terry frisks and was brought to us once again by the bateau size channel please take time out of your day to check out the bateau size channel not only is he responsible for major legislation in regards to recording the police but he delivers great content on a daily basis let's dive right in and audit the interaction on August 9th 2018 18 year old Tian Lee borrowed his mother's car and was on his way to a local convenience store where he was stopped by Detective Kevin Crawford of the Louisville Metro Police Department in Louisville Kentucky for making a wide turn you it is important to note that mr. Lee did in fact make a wide turn and the original reason for detective Crawford stop is valid [Music] I got him what's going on there yeah I'm stopping before meant when you turn down here on the date to 18th Street returning the Bartlett flames was turned in the right thing says two lanes this one with any weapons in car give your ID no you ain't got any guns right I'm sorry [Music] yes we got all this save some that work I'm glad checking it okay help me awesome so do you still have on Lewis more job Lamarr Townsend let's work till all I got you know awesome you have your engines dude the crazy ringtones yes let's go man let me put your hands off family grab your phone and walk stick at home what because I'm telling you or it's gonna fall out when you get out of the vehicle mama they taking me out the vehicle don't hop out they telling me to get out the car now that's reason why didn't anything honey I don't want to break your phone bill you don't have any weapons on your bed huh no drugs 20 feet although detective Crawford's reason for the stop is valid it is not the only reason he stopped mr. Lee the detective is conducting what is known as a pretextual stop in the 1996 Supreme Court case of Ren V United States the court held that as long as officers have a reasonable cause to believe that a traffic violation occurred they may stop any vehicle this ruling paved the foundation for modern police tactics and essentially encouraged officers to stop cars for any petty violation if they believe the stop may lead to greater charges the Ren ruling created a policing environment which tolerates pretextual stops and inadvertently fosters racial profiling detective Crawford as part of the lmpd's ninth mobile division which is tasked with reducing violence and getting drugs off the streets not traffic patrol Louisville councilman and former police officer David James said in a USA Today article quote stops like these are a bad idea it is morally wrong it is like going fishing with a big net there are better ways to fight violence the 1968 Supreme Court ruling of Terry V Ohio established the doctrine of the Terry frisk which grants officers the authority to conduct a pat-down search of an individual if they have reasonable suspicion that the individual may be armed and dangerous officers often ignore the reasonable suspicion aspect of a terry frisk but the federal law enforcement training centers guide on the terry frisk explicitly notes that reasonable suspicion is required as legal justification to conduct a pat-down search the guide also notes that reasonable suspicion must be supported by articulable facts not just a hunch many officers operate under the misconception that a terry frisk is a safety precaution afforded to all officers during any stop and ignore the legal precedent for the pat-down search at this point the officers have no reason to suspect that mr. Lee has any weapons on his person and there is no legal justification for the frisk so okay I can search a search card quit doing the clutching no why I can't leave you to go close the door quit with the attitude he's not giving you an attitude and I'm not giving you an attitude we deal with violent crime all day every day we're gonna stop 30 more people after you as soon as we get down here you'll go home okay if you're wasting our time we're wasting your time I'm sorry for the small inconvenience we're allowed to get people out of the car your heart is beating through your chest when you're on the phone with your momma and your narrate to your mom mom I stopped out please this is where I'm at there too getting me out of the car oh my gosh we do all that it's the same thing that people do when they're trying to hide something from the police and they're trying to take the situation off of it just like you're looking back at my partner over and over and over again like you're wait for him to see something or for him to do something wrong it's 20 18 young man we all wear body cameras it's recording all of it record your audio of my audio it records all that so guess what happens when if if and when if there was something in that vehicle and we go to trial over it guess what the jury your attitude okay so bring it down there's no point in we're here for you man the condescending speech of the officer could it be more ironic or oxymoronic according to an article published by the Louisville courier-journal in an analysis of over a hundred and thirty thousand Louisville traffic stops from 2016 to 2018 african-americans were stopped more often and three times as likely to be searched as white drivers although african-americans make up only 20% of Louisville's driving age population they accounted for 33 percent of the stops and 57 percent of the searches African American motorists were searched twelve percent of the time they were stopped compared with four percent of the time white drivers were stopped but police found contraband and 72 percent of the searches of whites versus only 41 percent for African Americans this data suggests that the Louisville Police Department actually isn't there for young african-american men like mr. Lee there's a shooting every day it's crazy sad it's ridiculous ain't nobody been nasty to you at all how'd you uh were you able to coordinate Helmer anything great gimmick there we're standing right over here away from the dog the 2012 Supreme Court case of Florida v Harris affirmed that a drug detection dogs alert to the exterior of a vehicle can provide an officer with probable cause to conduct a warrantless search of the vehicles interior while it has been proven that drug sniffing dogs are sometimes less accurate than a coin flip a 2011 Chicago Tribune report showed a success rate for their local k-9 units of just 27% among drivers who were Latino although there have been many clinical studies which proved the efficacy of drug dogs the data for the practical application of k9 units in the field doesn't always correlate the tribunes report suggests that officers often mishandled canine units intend to establish an improper reward system based on positive alerts rather than actual detection the practical application of drug sniffing dogs is questionable at best and much of the data surrounding their use suggests that they are unreliable and less handled by an expert trainer which a majority of police officers are not was it positive which hands on your back real quick I'm not gonna have you silly like that there's a the dog indicated on your vehicle I don't know what's in your car but like I said I don't want you to run so you're still just being detained you're not free to go but you're not under arrest at this time I just don't want you to go anywhere okay but I'm not gonna fight you and I'm certainly not going to chase you had to chase some guy last night and I haven't recovered from it so I'm not chasing you today okay it's all it is I come talk to you just do me a favor hang out so phones off I'll come talk to you okay let's come over here for me nothing in there okay come back over here I'm just giving you a reference play this way you can stay right okay all right I'm not I'm the second to pull him over okay so basically you committed a traffic violation right yeah he conducted an improper turn on the 18th Street following him away there was no only a proper time okay well anything I clean up for you ma'am walk the lean up for you everything was captured on body camera okay no luckily enough for you oh really okay we don't need his permission we had a positive indication about it came out okay oh so ma'am you guys are more than welcome to watch video tape whatever just do me a favor give us some room and stay over here please ma'am please stay over here you're trespassing on private property right now ma'am stay over there please if you approach much heavy stuff I will take you if you approach my track I will take the exact distance that should be maintained from a traffic stop while recording has not been clearly established by higher courts but according to the officer safety guide on the public recording of police activities issued by the International Association of Chiefs of Police recording parties must maintain a reasonable distance from the officers engaged in enforcement or related police duties and may not physically position themselves in a manner that obstructs officers from performing their duties I have made a video that discusses recording traffic stops in more detail which I will link in the info card above mr. Lee's mother is well within her rights to record this encounter so long as she does not physically interfere with the Proceedings of the stop either you know what okay great ma'am sir can you do me a favor and talk she's standing back with Santa bet you got I'm giving you a reference point to stand out okay it's right everybody's ill you see one point yes yes that would be amazing please so we just step back you're not going nowhere like a little change pocket right there in the front [Applause] I'm back in school why do you if you don't mind me asking why do you have like this negative view towards to please what's the dill whatever what's ever happened in your life personally were you like you can give me a good explanation really graduate got it right yeah graduated so what's what's the problem I was far away in this situation they are in that situation because of the reputation that the police have made for themselves and these officers are reinforcing through this interaction a negative personal experience with the police is not required to understand the national epidemic of bad policing that is prevalent in America it is estimated that police kill an American citizen every 7 hours with African Americans being twice as likely to be shot mr. Lee is a young african-american male in a country where both the police officers and the justice system are known to discriminate and he has every right to be both frustrated and nervous we made a traffic stop violation that you did and then you went up here with it huh you did the entire time we don't know who you are I don't know that you graduated and you got several scholarships and that you have a good job I mean I don't know it's not like I have a x-ray vision this is all this just using this card he's good to go but if you don't want here that's fine we can continue with your negative view towards me I guess [Applause] I just figured I try to understand it but it's wrong huh I'll never understand answer he's ready back you've got court October 2nd for improper turning some p.m. since I know much that the understand reason shop alright [Music] after finding no weapons or drugs detective Crawford issues mr. Lee a citation for the traffic infraction and allows him to leave the scene without further incident following this interaction the citation issued by detective Crawford was dropped and an internal investigation into the actions of the officers was launched on June 10th 2019 mr. Lee filed a lawsuit against Chief Steve Conrad the commander of the 9th mobile division and five officers as well as the divisions commander William Hibbs the lawsuit noted that both chief Conrad and commander Hibbs knew or should have known that their orders to use quote aggressive policing for minor violations in black neighborhoods as a way to reduce violent crime would result in biased policing and unconstitutional stops and searches of citizens the majority of whom are black males in persons living in poverty-stricken neighborhoods both the internal investigation and mr. Lee's lawsuit are still ongoing overall detective Crawford in the Louisville Metro Police Department get an F for conducting what appear to be racially motivated pretextual stops abusing the power of k-9 units to bypass consent to search and escalating a minor traffic stop into a 30-minute search and seizure without reasonable suspicion the ninth mobile division operated under the umbrella of the people places and narcotics strategy developed by chief Conrad which ultimately encouraged officers to target young african-american males for minor traffic violations in an effort to locate weapons and narcotics the initiative of this strategy is disguised as targeting high crime areas but it is clear that the ninth mobile division practice biased policing procedures and were encouraged by the strategies language the racial element of interaction cannot be overlooked and the relationship between the citizens of Louisville and the Louisville PD is heavily influenced by interactions like this one I sincerely hope that the ninth mobile division is dissolved in the pending lawsuit results in both compensation for mr. Lee and accountability for the officers involved mr. Lee gets an A for remaining calm refusing to allow the officers to search and following up this encounter with legal action it is clear that mr. Lee is a victim of driving while black and that the ninth mobile division targeted him based on his race age and gender demographics I commend mr. Lee for his calm and collected demeanor and his ability to express his frustration with the stop without becoming irate or unhinged I also commend mr. Lee for taking legal action against the officers and raising awareness to the plight of specialized policing divisions within local departments let us know if there's 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 content [Music]

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 2,309,171

Rating: 4.8638344 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: rH3puMC23B4

Length: 19min 17sec (1157 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 30 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/askenn01]

I personally know Tae and can say he is one of my favorite people on this earth. I know of this but it is the first time I’ve seen this video and it makes me sick! This kid has never done a thing wrong in his life! Scholarships, prom king, school band, decided to go to barber college. This is where I was lucky enough to meet Tae, I was one of his instructors. He never missed a day all while selling cars full time after being in school for eight hours a day. Don’t let me forget that he has been salesman of the month since he started the job. He graduated and passed the state board, he continued to sell cars, buying his dream car and recently just purchased his first home. This upstanding and incredibly amazing young man I believe is 19 years old as of now. He was so terrified in that video, and I am so sickened in so many ways. This has got to stop and if you are white and ever been pulled over, you know this is not how it goes down. This is scary and if you can’t understand white privilege after viewing this, your blind. Luckily for Tae his mother taught him everything to do if he ever got pulled over. Keep his hands up. Ask to reach for anything. Keep car info in sunglasses holder so you don’t have to look like your reaching for something. All this and it still didn’t make an ounce of difference for him. He is yelling in fear to his mom on the phone throughout the video. He called his mother that is a private detective, while he was pumping gas because he noticed the officers watching him. He already knew what was going to happen. Tae was supposed to be off work for the first time since he started that job but being the motivated individual he was decided to go into work anyway and this is what happens next. This is disgusting to say the least. I hope he gets paid! If anyone actually deserves it, this is the guy.

[u/502red428]

This was LMPD 9th Mobile Division. They were disbanded shortly after this stop gained national media attention. This was not the only racially motivated warrantless search during traffic stops in the West End of Louisville. This case and two others are still in civil court over civil rights violations. Three criminal cases were dismissed due to the warrantless searches. After they were disbanded LMPD created the Criminal Interdiction Unit. The Criminal Interdiction Unit is compromised of the same officers that were on the 9th Mobile Division (and also the disbanded VIPER Squad) doing the same job. The difference is the name, and the CIU didn't wear body cameras until recently. The CIU started wearing body cameras after public outcry due to the killing of Breonna Taylor.

You've all heard of these assholes before.

[u/jfiesfilels]

Stop was in 2018, video was from 2019. So it is not new but I though it was interesting. A little more insights of what it is like to be young and black while driving in our city.

[u/ianitic]

I’ve actually been playing with this data myself in powerbi out of boredom. I have considered making a map of stop data by with the demographic of the citations for the zip code the citation was given over the racial demographic of the zip code. I could also use where the driver is from. The only issue is warnings can’t be used because there doesn’t seem to be a zip code associated with them other than the drivers home.