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00:00This incident begins with three NYPD officers coming up to a man laying on the ground.
00:29They start talking to him on the sidewalk. After approximately four minutes,
00:33Reuben Ann shows up to the sidewalk from the left side and starts recording the officers.
00:38Soon after he started recording, he was told to step away from the proximity of
00:42this police investigation. Reuben complied with that request.
00:59Officer Bikambikai tells Reuben that he's blocking the sidewalk even though the CCTV
01:06shows that Reuben is standing on just a portion of the sidewalk and not blocking the entire
01:11sidewalk. Instead of just letting Reuben continue to exercise his rights to record,
01:15the officer threatens Reuben with a summons if someone has to walk around him.
01:29Reuben tells the officer that he's not blocking the sidewalk. The officer then
01:40challenges Reuben by responding with, stand there if you're so confident.
01:44Reuben takes him on that challenge by continuing to exercise his rights.
01:59Officer Bikambikai claims three people walked around Reuben,
02:07implying that Reuben was impeding or blocking their path. However,
02:10the camera clearly shows the three people had free, unobstructed pathway.
02:14Reuben refuses to provide his ID and then officer Bikambikai goes hands-on.
02:30Reuben was arrested and charged with obstruction of governmental administration,
02:59disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. Prosecutors dropped two of the charges against
03:03Reuben but continued prosecuting with the rest of the charges. A jury of Reuben's peers heard
03:08the case, deliberated, and came back with a verdict of not guilty. Reuben filed a lawsuit
03:12against NYPD over this arrest but Reuben didn't want any monetary damages, just a judge's ruling
03:18that his rights were violated, and a permanent injunction barring city employees from acting
03:23against anyone who records or attempts to record police officers. Two years after the arrest,
03:28a settlement was reached. Although NYPD admitted no wrongdoing, the department did agree to several
03:33measures recognizing the rights of pedestrians to record police officers, including training for
03:39each precinct sergeant and training at the police academy. Michael Picard was protesting at a DUI
03:44checkpoint. The trooper came over to Michael and the trooper slaps the camera out of his hand. They
03:48thought the camera was broken and then he tells Michael, I'm just allowed to do that and I don't
03:53even have to tell you why I just broke your camera. Michael then picks the camera up and
03:57records the trooper's conspire to cover up the incident. It's illegal to take my picture. No it
04:04is. It's a public property. It's illegal to take my picture personally. Did you get any documentation
04:10I'm allowed to take my picture? No but you're on public property. Therefore you have no reason
04:17you have no reason not yet. I got the camera. Unbeknownst to the troopers who had confiscated
04:26Picard's camera, it was rolling while they appeared to fabricate criminal infractions.
04:31You want to get a bunch of mail runners and do that? I've got a couple of IRS.
04:35He was on a highway post? Yeah.
04:38Here in the reconstruction of the highway by a pedestrian.
04:43What do you think of some tickets? Yeah that's a ticket.
04:46It's 53-181 something like that. Don't hit him with that.
04:53I mean you can hit him with your public insurance.
04:56What's that? The reconstruction of the highway?
05:20I ended up with a camera on my roof.
05:25After the troopers realized the camera was on, they controlled what they were saying,
05:29but that didn't help them because Michael later sued and settled the case for approximately $1,800
05:35for every minute that he was detained, totaling to $50,000. However, $50,000 was not enough for
05:42Adrian Burrell. Adrian is a U.S. Marine veteran who was recording Officer McLaughlin holding a
05:46motorcycle rider at gunpoint in Burrell's driveway. That's when things escalated.
05:50Why are you taking off like that man? Huh? Why are you taking off like that? Get back.
05:55No. Get back. Nope. Keep your hands where you can see them. Keep your hands right up.
06:00You're interfering with me my man. You're interfering so you're gonna go from the back
06:04of the car. That's fine. Okay. Stop resisting. I'm not resisting you. I'm not resisting.
06:12Put me on the ground. If you keep fighting me I will. I'm not fighting you.
06:18Stop fighting you're gonna go on the ground.
06:20Officer McLaughlin smashed his face and swung him into a pole. Burrell was handcuffed and later
06:24released without being arrested. Adrian said he suffered a concussion. He filed a lawsuit
06:29and the city of Vallejo settled the case for a whopping $300,000. At least Adrian was up against
06:35one officer and not the whole damn military like it happened to Nicholas Pettit. Nicholas was on
06:39the front porch of his home watching Columbus Police SWAT team were serving a search warrant
06:44across the street. That's when he caught one officer in the middle of the street. He was
06:48That's when he caught one officer slap a complying individual for no apparent reason.
06:53They coming out here searching this place because apparently somebody came at them
06:58on some bullsh** at a park not too long ago. From what I heard or overheard the cop saying.
07:05Now they're sitting here raiding the motherf***** house. Hey! They're raiding the motherf***** house.
07:11Hey! You ain't supposed to smack him like that the f**k is wrong with you?
07:15Hey! I got all that sh** on camera. What's your name bro?
07:19Hey! You wasn't supposed to smack him in the face. The f**k is wrong with you?
07:25Hell no man! I'm on my property. I ain't got to listen to you.
07:29Man! I'm on my property. You can't come over here and do nothing to me.
07:34You can't. Hey! You ain't got a search warrant. You can't come over here man.
07:41Hey! Look! I got you all on camera right now. I'm on my private property.
07:45Hold on man. Hold on. You're under arrest. For what? I ain't even do nothing but record this whole situation. What are you doing?
08:03Nicholas said he was roughed up during the struggle. Nicholas was arrested and charged.
08:07However, the city attorney's office dropped the charge citing insufficient evidence.
08:11Nicholas sued and the city of Columbus agreed to $20,000 settlement.
08:15We've seen three incidents of cops violating three people's rights to film the police.
08:19Now let's watch these DC cops try to intimidate a pedestrian to stop filming.
08:27You a part of this sir?
08:34How you doing? Hi. You with him? Not at all? Okay.
08:40Got an investigation going over here. You want to be a part of it? No sir.
08:43I'll suggest you pack up and go. Right? I'm staying on the sidewalk sir. This is not public.
08:49Right? Officer Reynolds, I think it is a public sidewalk. I'm not interfering at all. We have
08:53something going on here. You're videotaping an investigation. I believe I'm allowed to
08:58stand on the sidewalk sir. Come over here with me. Please don't touch my bicycle sir. Come over here.
09:04I'm right here. I don't care to get any closer. Thank you. This can be evidence
09:08in this case. You understand that right? All I did was see some police on a guy and I thought
09:12I would pull out my phone. If you're not comfortable with that, it's a public sidewalk.
09:17You know what? I got to interview you. Do you have an ID on you? Because we had a call
09:20for a bunch of people fighting with sticks. If you're going to sit here and videotape,
09:24that makes you part of the investigation sir. Do you have an ID on you? No, I don't. Okay.
09:29What are you doing down here? Bicycling. Okay. So what is your involvement in this? I was just
09:33concerned sir. Concerned for who? Concerned for everyone. Are you part of this for the people
09:37fighting? No, why would you have a reason to think that? That's what the radio call was for.
09:42We have a lot of people. We got a call for a lot of people fighting with sticks. Do you have an
09:47ID on you? No sir, I don't. Yes sir, I am. Do you have an ID on you? Would you like to know my name?
09:51Because I'll tell it to you. Do you have an ID? No sir, I don't. Since you're on the sidewalk,
09:57can you go by, you know where the bicycles are at? You want me to go over there? On the side.
10:0110 yards that way? Yeah. What you need to do is not block the passage. Okay. Go over there.
10:07It doesn't appear that I'm blocking the passage right now sir. I'll get over here if you like.
10:12I mean I'll back it up, but I don't believe I'm blocking anything. Sir, we got a call for a bunch
10:16of people fighting with sticks and weapons. Do you have a description? Stop talking please. You are
10:22videotaping this crime scene, right? This is a crime scene. You're videotaping it right now.
10:28That makes you part of it. And your little camera phone,
10:31that could be part of you as evidence. Do you understand?