Sergeant Demoted After Unlawful Arrest

[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 unlawful orders obedience to authority and officer conduct and is brought to us from the public record of the city of keller texas you can find a link to the original video in the description below before we dive into the interaction i want to give a big thanks to the sponsor of this episode surf shark we all know that vpn services can help to protect your privacy and ensure that all of your identifying information is kept safe but vpns like surfshark offer their users so much more than digital security online businesses know how affluent their customers are what devices they use and what they're willing to pay that's why people from different countries see different prices for digital products and services with surf shark you can avoid price discrimination for flights car rentals hotels and more by hiding your location and identity online a surf shark subscription is totally unlimited which means that you can use it on as many devices as you like and even on all of them at once no other vpn service offers that much accessibility right now surfshark is offering the ata community an 83 discount with an additional three months completely free with 24-hour customer service and a 30-day money-back guarantee you have absolutely nothing to lose so click the link in the description to claim your exclusive offer now thanks again to surfshark for sponsoring this episode on august 15 2020 22 year old dylan puente was driving to his grandmother's house when keller police sergeant blake shamanic stopped him for allegedly making a wide turn shortly after the release of a two-minute edit of the hour-long body cam footage from various mainstream media outlets this interaction went viral and although this episode is longer than the average ata coverage i highly recommend watching to the end so that you can leave this episode fully informed of the legal and psychological nuance surrounding this encounter three twenty one send me a unit when you got available hey roll your window back down listen my name is sergeant shaman the co-police spartan dream is being stopped today you made a wide right turn you turned from 1709 to 377. any reason why you're rolling your window up when i walk up to this car now sir you hadn't been driving it down for the past mile i just scrolled up all right step out of the car for me step out do not shut that window open it now step out right here face that direction face that direction put your hands right here behind your back don't move you understand why you're acting so suspicious well what you're wrong when i'm walking up on scene for a routine traffic stop ain't nothing going on you're your window up what does that look like to me i mean i'm just throwing it up because i it's my for my safety for your safety yeah nothing i rolled up my window take off that's my dad yeah i wrote i rolled out my window 320 give me unit code now and he got mad because i rolled up my window step right here i rolled it up separate feet that's what happened you're about to be arrested for blocking the roadway if you don't park and get out all right park over there i said i can it's my ride you are interfering with my job you need to go park over there i rolled up my window like you said it was my ride throughout my window no it's not sergeant shamanic tells mr puente that he does not have a right to roll up his window during a traffic stop but there are no laws that specifically forbid doing so although citizens are well within their rights to roll up their window during a traffic stop doing so will likely result in being extracted from the vehicle in the 1977 supreme court case of pennsylvania vs mims the court held that officers may order the driver of a stopped vehicle to exit the vehicle if they have been lawfully detained the court reasoned that an officer's order to exit the vehicle constituted a minimal intrusion into the liberty of the detained citizen and the safety offered to an officer by such an order far outweighed the potential inconvenience to the detainee as noted by the court quote what is at most a mere inconvenience cannot prevail when balanced against legitimate concerns for the officer's safety from sergeant shamanic's perspective mr puente's decision to roll up his window may very well have appeared to be suspicious behavior and the sergeant was well within his authority to order mr puente out of his vehicle all that said mr puente obeyed sergeant shamanic's order to roll the window back down and appeared to be peacefully complying with all of his requests once mr puente began to exit the car he attempted to roll his window back up so that he could lock his vehicle without the officer being able to see inside of it and the sergeant orders him to keep the window down mr puente was under no legal obligation to obey the sergeant's order to keep the window down as he exited the vehicle and it was not unreasonable for mr puente to want to secure his vehicle before exiting it to speak with the sergeant 320 who got back up and around do you have any weapons on you no sir all right is your id and your wallet yes sir why on earth are you acting like this i'm just nervous man look it's a routine traffic stop all right i've never met you before yes i know and then the first thing you do is you roll up your window like that okay i thought it was a little loud so we can roll up our window and hang out my license how do you think it would look to me if you're rolling up your window when you walk up i guess suspicious a little bit suspicious here mr puente admits that his actions may have appeared suspicious after being questioned by sergeant shamanic and perfectly demonstrates why the right to remain silent is such an important aspect of police interactions the factors associated with mr puente's admission extend far beyond the legal system and stem largely from the psychological elements at play whenever an individual interacts with an authority figure one of the most famous studies of obedience in psychology was carried out in 1961 by the renowned yale psychologist stanley milgram mr milgram wanted to investigate whether germans were particularly obedient to authority figures as this was a common explanation for the nazi killings in world war ii in the study each participant was paired with another person and they drew lots to find out who would be the learner and who would be the teacher however the drawing process was fixed so that the participant would always assume the role of the teacher and the learners were actually aware of the study and merely pretending to be a participant the teacher and the learner were then taken into separate rooms that were directly across from one another and the teacher was informed that the learner was outfitted with electrodes that would deliver a shock whenever activated by the generator being controlled by the teacher the learner was tasked with learning a list of paired words and whenever the learner gave a wrong answer the teacher was instructed by the experimenter to deliver a shock with each wrong answer the intensity of the shock increased with the scale of the shock eventually reaching a fatal level in reality the learner was merely pretending to be shocked from the other room and was instructed to give mostly wrong answers eventually the learner would stop responding altogether but the experimenter pressed the teacher to continue shocking the learner in the absence of an answer when the study was concluded two thirds of the teachers had continued to shock the learner to the highest level of 450 volts and all the participants continued to 300 volts the results of this study demonstrated that ordinary people are extremely likely to follow the orders of authority figures even to the extent of killing an innocent human being obedience to authority plays a role in every police interaction mr puente likely felt that answering sergeant shamanic's questions was required of him it is safe to assume that mr puente only agreed with the sergeant to avoid the consequences of not agreeing and this is a classic example of how obedience is taken advantage of by members of law enforcement although i highly doubt that the sergeant was aware of the psychological aspects of play and maliciously took advantage of them this part of the encounter demonstrates both a dire need to educate officers on the psychology of detainees and the need to educate citizens on their right to remain silent as sergeant shamanic was questioning mr puente mr puente's father marco puente walks to the sidewalk opposite of the interaction and continues filming his son's interaction so it's even more suspicious right you've been cruising it's a hot day you've been cruising right through under down yes sir and the first thing i do when i walk up is you roll your window up then i say step out of the car and then you proceed to where you want all the way and i can i can no longer see you i can roll my window and then shut the door and lock it that's what i was told by my dad by the law of the government okay when you're doing that you're taking away i can't see anything apart from the fact it's it's it it's rude it's rude is it not i'm trying to have a conversation with you you're up the window and i'm trying to do my job and now you're taking away just watch him stand here yep better yet arrest we're him the roadway walking the road yep sergeant shamanic orders officer unkit domer to arrest mr marco for obstructing the roadway and officer tomer unquestioningly complies texas penal code 42.03 criminalizes the act of intentionally knowingly or recklessly obstructing a public street or disobeying a reasonable request or order to move issued by a member of law enforcement unlike many states texas officers have been afforded the authority to arrest citizens for petty crimes that carry no jail time such as traffic infractions in the 2001 supreme court case of atwater vs city of lago vista the court held that a citizen's fourth amendment rights are not violated when the subject is arrested for driving without a seat belt and that such an arrest for a misdemeanor that is punishable only by a fine does not constitute an unreasonable seizure under the fourth amendment this ruling authorized officers to make a custodial arrest of a citizen without balancing costs and benefits or determining whether the arrest was necessary there are only three motor vehicle offenses that texas officers cannot effectuate an arrest under speeding open container violations and texting while driving which ironically enough are also the top three causes of car accidents in the u.s the atwater ruling opened the floodgates for malicious and unnecessary arrests and according to a 2019 study conducted by order of the sandra bland act of 2017 more than 45 000 texas drivers were arrested at traffic stops for class c misdemeanors in 2018 alone if mr marco had been legitimately violating code 42.03 then sergeant shamanic would have been within his authority to arrest him we will discuss whether or not mr marco actually violated the code in a moment but the point of this section is to highlight the fact that texas officers have nearly unfettered authority to arrest citizens for any violation no matter how trivial or victimless that violation may be after ordering officer tomer to arrest mr marco sergeant shamanic orders mr puente to sit on the curb while he assists officer tomer when the sergeant approaches mr marco and grabs his arm a small scuffle breaks out which results in mr marco being thrown to the ground maced and arrested once the officers placed mr marco into the back of a patrol car sergeant shamanic relays his version of events to a fellow officer let's compare the sergeant story to what actually took place so kid's actually nervous as can be i said buddy step out of the car he received a roll of the car and i thought he's going to drive off of me hold it here open step he steps out no issue i'd go to detain him dad is cruising the road stop the middle of the road i said you leave you're leaving leave he's feeding son no this is neighbor he lives over here he's feeding uh son telling him what to do step right here i rolled it up separate feet well that's what happened and i said and i said no no so you need to leave so if you don't you don't leave i said you're gonna be detained before uh for blocking the roadway here yeah you're about to be arrested for blocking the roadway if you don't park and get out and so then he proceeds back up all the way parks over there and he walks up into my scene multiple times i said you're down you're under arrest i want to take him to custody for the track violation interference and uh he resisted so he got sprayed taking the ground he came out down the down that he's videoing us and now i guess we got family members here as you can see the sergeant's version of events are a far stretch from what actually happened and the sergeant's police report was filled with similar inaccuracies in the report sergeant shamanic claimed that mr marco approached him from behind but the video shows that was untrue the sergeant went as far as claiming that he did not notice mr marco's vehicle when it approached and that it wasn't until mr marco yelled at him that he became aware of his presence the sergeant also stated that mr marco refused to move his vehicle after being ordered to do so and that he remained in the roadway for an additional 30 seconds to continue yelling which is a blatant lie the report goes on to state that due to officer safety sergeant shamanic decided to arrest mr marco for obstructing the roadway and obstructing governmental operations texas penal code 38.15 is the state's obstruction law and even if the sergeant's story were true and mr marco was yelling at the officers this code provides an exception for any interruption disruption impediment or interference that consists of speech only which renders this charge invalid sergeant shamanic's malicious behavior does not end there and once his lieutenant arrived on the scene the sergeant recounted his inaccurate story to his superior and informed him that he intended to arrest mr puente for the wide turn violation so that he could search his vehicle without obtaining consent or probable cause kid right now is only detained in the back of my car we've had a very lengthy conversation he's been reasonable i'm quite certain there's narcotics in the car so i think i'm going to arrest him for the wide right turn he's got history narcotics he's telling me give me all sorts of clues so i think i'm arresting for the wide return the lieutenant authorizes sergeant shamanic to arrest mr puente and the sergeant searches the vehicle but does not find any drugs or weapons mr puente was taken to jail and his vehicle was towed following the encounter the keller police department launched a proactive internal investigation into the incident and eventually released the full body and dash cam footage along with all the paperwork from the investigation the investigation resulted in sergeant shamanic being demoted to a patrol officer with the opportunity to reapply for his sergeant position in one year officer tomer did not face any disciplinary action all charges against mr marco were dropped and all the fines and fees associated with his arrest were refunded mr marco has filed a federal lawsuit against officer shamanic and officer tomer which prompted keller police chief brad fortune to personally apologize to mr marco and admit that his officers were wrong according to the new york times mr marco accepted the chief's apology as a nice gesture but also stated that he believed more needed to be done to hold the police accountable the executive director of the texas municipal police association kevin lawrence told the new york times that a lawyer with the association was monitoring the lawsuit against officer shamanic and tomer but the group does not represent the keller police department or have a lawyer involved in the litigation despite the fact that both of the officers were members of the organization he ironically went on to say quote this is one of those cases where i would say you may want to take a step back and not take the pleading at face value at the time of writing this episode the keller city council has announced a special executive session to take place on december 29th for a full briefing on the incident and although that session is not included in this episode you can find updates regarding the sessions findings in the description below overall officer shamanic officer tomer and the keller police department get an f for arresting mr marco when he committed no crimes arresting mr puente for no other reason than to search his vehicle and for escalating what could have been a routine traffic stop into a physical altercation officer shamanic abused the philosophy of officer safety and exercised poor discretion throughout the entirety of this interaction nothing he did during this encounter advanced the safety of his community and much of his decision making can be linked to his inflated ego and his efforts to justify his actions although officer safety is a legitimate concern during any police encounter it should never be used to justify misconduct and this type of behavior only serves to erode the public's trust in law enforcement and make it more difficult for other officers to legitimately justify their actions in the name of officer safety the most troubling aspect of this encounter is the department's response to the officer's conduct much like the revere police department's response to misconduct that i covered last week the kpd's decision to demote officer shamanic rather than firing him conveys the message that officers who commit blatant acts of misconduct will be allowed to continue serving in their official capacity there's absolutely no justice in this decision the internal affairs investigation resulted in nothing more than a pr stunt and i struggle to see any option for justice other than officer shamanic's termination if departments continue to perpetuate the notion that officers have the highest job security in america the progress toward addressing the issues facing the american policing system will be significantly dampened even more than they already are by nonsensical court rulings like the atwood case there is no excuse for officer shamanic's conduct or the department's lackluster response to that conduct it will be interesting to see how the keller city council handles this situation as for mr puente and mr marco i cannot justify issuing a grade to their conduct because they were both wholly out of control of every aspect of this interaction and nothing they could have done differently would have made an impact on the outcome there is very little to critique on the side of mr marco and his son and that's mostly due to the fact that they did not have an opportunity to contest officer shamanic's conduct while it is true that mr puente could have exercised his right to silence his reluctance to do so stemmed from a well-established psychological ineptitude that was arguably out of his control mr puente was cordial and cooperative throughout the encounter and despite being obviously mistreated by the officer he complied with all of the officer's orders i commend mr puente for remaining calm and collected and refusing to allow his emotions to dictate the outcome of this encounter mr marco also deserves recognition for having the awareness to begin filming this interaction and not allowing officer shamanic to intimidate him or discourage him from recording nothing mr marco did violated the law and the department confirmed that by dropping all of the charges against him mr marco had no time to react to officer shamanic's decision to arrest him and it makes sense that he would be somewhat resistant given that he was not able to process the logic of the officer's orders mr marco went from peacefully exercising his first amendment right to record the police to being maced and arrested in a matter of seconds and instead of making an effort to reason with mr marco both of the officers jumped straight to physically restraining him without any legal justification i have no doubt that mr marco will fare well in the courtroom and i commend him for following up this encounter with the proper legal action john lang here the creator of audit the audit if you've made it to the end of this episode i would like to extend my personal thanks for taking the time to absorb all of the information surrounding this encounter and you should give yourself a pat on the back for being so dedicated to being informed this episode is the final episode for the year 2020 and i sincerely appreciate all of you who have given your support to this channel this has been a tough year for everyone but i am humbled to have been a part of the ata community and i look forward to bringing you more content in 2021 i hope that ata has brought you all a plethora of entertainment and educational value and i wish each and every one of you the absolute best again thank you for taking the time to watch this episode and here's to many more to come cheers [Music] you

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 1,895,395

Rating: 4.9225392 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: c0zXn4N4wXI

Length: 20min 20sec (1220 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 31 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Full-Run4124]

Zero consequences for lying on a police report

[u/shitgiggler]

Really sad. Where does it end? Change is needed now. Black lives matter!

[u/ImOnlyHereForTheCoC]

Thanks for introducing me to an excellent channel, but screw you for depriving me of 3 hours of sleep!