509rifas, I applaud you on your work. I have watched your other videos and have a question.
In Nerd vs. cop (very impressive display of legal knowledge), why did you let them run your firearms serial number, etc. ??????
You are VERY capable of standing up for your rights yet you let the "officers" trample them????. "You intrigue me" classic response of a bully who has been backed up by a capable adversary.
Well, I guess a few reasons. For one I couldn't have stopped him, as he already had it. And there was a slight lapse in the video, since I had a very limited disc space left and if it cuts out you lose the whole video so right then I stopped and restarted it, but right when he called the number, the other officer told him "I'm pretty sure it's been ran before, a few times..." That part was not recorded, maybe 15 seconds. I was also interested in the information on the return, as there's always been questions about the "registration" on the gun (it's a gun show gun.)
Generally what I do is establish that I have been detained and that can be determined from the recording. The red and blue lights were flashing, he was controlling my movement, demanding ID, etc, so anything after that is fruit of the poisonous tree. Believe it or not, I don't go out looking to make these videos, it's that when you're in my age group in my town, you will get stopped after dark, period. It doesn't just happen to me, it happens to everyone. Often there is other concerns, such as me having work the next morning, needing to be somewhere for my children, etc, and I have to make decision whether or not to do the full monty or just make my point, which I think I did in Nerd V Cop.
As far as the "no, because you intrigue me right now" comment, it came as a response to what was basically my challenge to cite as at that point we had a disagreement of whether or not municipalities could make laws that conflict with Title 46. He then said "I'm learning something right now, now I'm going to have to do my homework." I give respect where respect is given, and despite the initial unlawful detention, he actually listened to all my statements, read that papers I showed him etc. So at that point we were being civil with each other, I really just didn't feel like saying "don't run that" just for the sake of asserting my right to do so. If you notice in the video right before my arrest, I couldn't get out more than two words before that cop interrupted me. Though after I cut camera, I told him I was going back to my house and I would bring back my copies of the law on recording (State v Flora, etc). Bad idea. But the SWAT sgt didn't listen to what I had to say, and now he's the recipient of derogatory statements from hundreds of people across the internet about his legal knowledge, which are really the least of his concerns at this point. The officer that stopped me may have acknowledged me as a capable adversary but he wasn't a dick about it. I'm ok with that. For what it's worth, as I live in a small town, with about 30 members of the police department, I know who most are, and from I've directly seen about this guy he actually seemed like a decent guy. And it really wouldn't surprise me considering what I know from first or second hand experience with SPD to learn that their training (or lack thereof) gives the officers themselves serious misinformation about the law. I know for sure I'm not the first person to be arrested for filming or taking pictures of police here, not even the first this year.
Maybe it's my megalomania speaking here, but if you ran into me on 9th St late at night, you'd be intrigued by me as well, I assure you.
