Missouri: Police Roadblock Harassment Caught on Tape.

TheNewspaper.com ^ | 12/30/2006 | Brett Darrow

[The KG9 Kid]

Missouri: Police Roadblock Harassment Caught on Tape
St. Louis County, Missouri threaten to arrest a teenager for refusing to discuss his personal travel plans.

A teenager harassed by police in St. Louis, Missouri caught the incident on tape. Brett Darrow, 19, had his video camera rolling last month as he drove his 1997 Maxima, minding his own business. He approached a drunk driving roadblock where he was stopped, detained and threatened with arrest when he declined to enter a conversation with a police officer about his personal travel habits. Now Darrow is considering filing suit against St. Louis County Police.

"I'm scared to drive for fear of being stopped at another checkpoint and arrested while doing nothing illegal," Darrow told TheNewspaper. "We're now guilty until we prove ourselves innocent to these checkpoint officers."

On that late November night, videotape confirms that Darrow had been ordered out of his vehicle after telling a policeman, "I don't wish to discuss my personal life with you, officer." Another officer attempted to move Darrow's car until he realized, "I can't drive stick!" The officer took the opportunity to undertake a thorough search of the interior without probable cause. He found nothing.

When Darrow asked why he was being detained, an officer explained, "If you don't stop running your mouth, we're going to find a reason to lock you up tonight."

The threats ended when Darrow informed officers that they were being recorded. After speaking to a supervisor Darrow was finally released.

"These roadblocks have gotten out of hand," Darrow told TheNewspaper. "If we don't do something about them now, it'll be too late."

A full video of the incident is available here. A transcript is provided below as the audio is at times very faint.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Welcome, Brett! this is gonna get real interesting now!

[zeugma]

I actually find myself wondering whether or not you live in America. You honestly seem like someone who knows English as a second language and isn't aware of the idioms and turns of phrase that come from having English (or any language) as a native tongue.

 I think the poster is using a classic bit of misdirection. When I first saw his post about equating a greeting "hi" with a claim of being "high", I thought it was a joke. Reading along the thread, it seems more like a tactic designed to drag the conversation off topic into a discussion about semantics rather than the original topic of who, in the situation, was out of line. This is classic stuff and is taught in seminars for how to control discussion to drive the content of same away from directions you want to avoid.
 

[DocRock]

Glad to hear a response from you, but just a friendly warning. Watch the language... even misspelled cursing or bad language... as this is a private sight and your rights end when you enter.

[DocRock]

BTW, did you have to replace the clutch? Was it damaged? Did you file a claim as directed with the police department's insurance as instructed? Inquiring minds want to know!

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Brett, I have no clue about your political bent. If you're conservative, you'll have a blast here. If you're a lib, it won't be so easy, but, then again, you might learn something. I just hope this thread continues, cuz you jumped in pretty late.

[zeugma]

Thanks for posting, and thanks for making your film public. This thread has been extraordinarily useful in smoking out the authoritarian types.

[Centurion2000]

the simple and easy way for cops to do a quick evaluation for drunkenness is to engage them in conversation.....this punk went out there to set them up, and it shows.....a jury will see it for what it is......

This punk merely exercised the rights that you swore to protect when you joined the military. So where's your problem ?

[TexasTransplant]

>>>>"Make no mistake about it. My rights are more important than those being poisoned by drugs. They are making a choice to destroy themselves, while I am making a choice to preserve freedom by not laying my head on the chopping block of "feeling good" about letting my rights disappear. Those are rights many have fought and died for and it is an insult to them to let them disappear"<<<<<

Must be posted again!

TT

[supercat]

I'd also like to know how I could have said I didn't want to tell the officer where I was going in a nicer way. I didn't even expect him to ask such a question.

Though your response should have been just fine, perhaps, "I'd prefer not to discuss my travels. I hope you don't mind" would up the courtesy notch a bit. It avoids any implication that the officer's question was inappropriate, and is neither confrontational nor defiant. To be sure, if the officer badgers you about where you were going without offering any legitimate reason why, standing your ground without being somewhat defiant may be impossible. By then, however, it will be abundantly clear who started the confrontation.

BTW, I'd suggest that you might want to start using two recorders--one visible and one not. Arranging a long-recording voice mailbox somewhere so you can use a cell phone as an open mic might also be a good idea.

[DocRock]

"Must be posted again!"

Thanks TT,
I wanted to add more to dennisw's post in 631 when he stated,

"It's of no concern to you that in 1988 police were busting heroin and coke shipments on I-95. And using profiling to do it."

However, just a few years later... in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew devastated south Florida, there were many law abiding citizens that were driving south on I-95 to help relatives. Many of these people had large sums of cash as the electricity was out for many weeks and banks were of no use. These same "war of drug" profiling tactics were used to pull over out of state cars and confiscate legally owned cash as part of the "war on drugs". It took months and costly legal bills to recover their cash. Yeah, I think Constitutional rights are more important than the "war on drugs".

[Diplomat]

There is no doubt this kid was stinging the police. Seems indesputible. But so what? This is what journalism was BEFORE I was born over 40 years ago. A search for the truth.

But looking at how this started
Officer #1: Where you headed tonight?
Brett: I don't wish to discuss my personal life with you officer.

This is all it took to start the ball rolling for the cop to mess with and threaten to jail this kid. I'm sorry, but refusal to answer this question is NOT probable cause. Yet this got his car searched.

This kid was NOT pulled over for a violation before he was stopped, this is a PUBLIC road block. He has every right to CHOOSE to enter this roadblock with a camera rolling. He did his town a service.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

What is the right thing to do? When in doubt, support the IV Amendment is my answer.

Those who posted support for the officer are far outnumbered by those who felt the officer was in the wrong. Many, of whom, can offer personal tales of abuse by varying L.E. agencies. I'm as right wing as they come, yet when I here a candidate say "We need more police", it's a campaign killer for me. We certainly do NOT need more police in my area. I've had more contact with police than I'm sure most white men have had in their lives. Multiple tickets, accidents, an arrest, and a 7 year long visitation problem. I do not begrudge the police for refusing to honor court orders I presented them with because who the heck wants to deal with personal problem crap? I doubt many of them realized 80% of police work is dealing with civil strife when they entered the force.

But when they make assinine statements to yur face like "The lae doesn't require me to follow your court order." And I say to them "which law exactly would this be?" and after stutturing a bit he responses with "I didn't say that." and I respond by asking the other two cops standing beside him "did he tell me the law doesn't require him to follow my court order?" And neither have the courage to SPEAK the truth and one goes so far as to say "I didn't hear him say that." To which I respond with "I'll bet you that camera up there, thats been filming me the past 5 minutes, can tell us what you said." This of course now forces the original officer to do a complete U-turn and say "I may have mis-spoke..." and their superviser to come running out the back to deal with me.

My opinion is that good cops are about as common as Republicans in America and bad cops as common as Democrats. And therein lies the problem, it's not possible to fix the problem where you have a union environment, employed by govwernments, in which 45% of your work force needs to go and another 15% will always be stupid to ever realize it.

[DocRock]

The kid posted in Post # 640. Hopefully, he will stick around and answer some questions.

[Lower55]

"The kid posted in Post # 640. Hopefully, he will stick around and answer some questions."

That wasn't a kid...That was a MAN, BABY! Austin Powers

[Diplomat]

And using profiling to do it. Your "rights" are more important than people being poisoned by drug.

ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, HIS RIGHTS ARE MORE IMPORTANT.

[Lower55]

I'm definitely installing a camera in my truck.
I will also ride around hoping for a big paycheck on my time off...lol

My lawyer is all for it, too.

[DocRock]

The term "kid" was used originally in post 651 by Diplomat... in the first sentence. I was simply using his term in my reply. Don't read more into it than that. It was a courtesy post to Diplomat to let him know the subject of his post was here.

[Diplomat]

"The lae doesn't require me to follow your court order." should have read "The laW doesn't require me to follow your court order." doh.

[antceecee]

Last time I checked...
A FREE COUNTRY!!!!!

[antceecee]

Something tells me this kid and others like him are going to preserve the rights we treasure in the good ole' USA!!!

[ellery]

Thank you for exercising your rights -- we all need to do more of that (and document it!) in a calm and reasoned way.