This is not directed at Budlight as much as he was one of many that circled the wagons.
I have worked on both sides of the issue and I see both sides, which rarely is done on this site.
It is endemic in American society to assume every situation is bad versus good, and almost never do people think or see there is more often bad vs bad.
Let's clear up a few things.
1. well over 90% of citizen camcorder activists are of the leftist liberal mentality. I am not knocking them it's just a fact.
2. The camcorder guy should have stayed on his side of the street PERIOD!
3. The officer was NOT in any way acting as a Police Officer, he was obviously pissed off that anyone dare challenge his authority by videotaping him. This demagogic mentality is pervasive today in law enforcement. I remember 20 years ago talking to some officers who were still in the academy who were concerned about the mentality of the younger potential officers coming through the academy as being ignorant and unwilling to recognize Constitutional principles and rights. Still today we have discussions on the thug mentality of a larger percentage of officers than anyone here might be comfortable knowing about.
That Officer was a thug, the camcorder guy was a idiot but remember being silly or a idiot doesn't ever rise to the abuse these officers were willing to dish out. The officer should have let it go, after it was obvious the guy was just recording the stop, but the officer out of a false sense of pride and utter arrogance couldn't let it go, not unlike those who after a high speed chase and the bad guy falling prone stomp the bad guy viciously and brutally. This feeding frenzy mentality mob mentality is dangerous in law enforcement and never should be tolerated.
Those who target the camcorder dink show their ignorance of the law, Law Enforcement SOP. and tactics by their statements. It is forgivable to be ignorant but it is inexcusable to be stupid and stand a ground one has not. The officer could have cited him for interference but the Officer knew there were NO GROUNDS for citing him which made the officer even more angry.
If this was my stop I would have informed the guy that next time he should stand across the street and record me, and I would have reminded him that I have NO idea what his intentions are and not being mind reader I must assume the worst. I would never have made a complete a$$ of myself on video like the officer did. Frankly the officers false sense of pride forever damaged his standing in that community, people remember that kind of arrogance.
So in closing it's more often stupid vs stupid in the real world, this isn't television drama. Both acted irresponsible and the officer was determined to out stupid the camcorder guy and did.
Why did I spend more time focusing on the officer? Kinda elementary isn't is? The camcorder guy was untrained and ignorant, the officer is trained and knew better and demonstrated this by not citing the guy for interference, proving his whole stand off with cam man was nothing more than power struggle. The officer demonstrated PURE CONTEMPT for the Constitution, and pure contempt for the RULE OF LAW, and made this a personal vendetta of sorts by using intimidation. The officer is UNFIT to wear a badge and Uniform and carry a gun under the color of law.
I just got called by an officer who watched a video and he echoed the same concerns I stated here. The officer could and should have handled it better and refused to, thus showing arrogance and contempt for the Supreme Law of our land the Constitution.
This is a good example of people sticking there nose into something they know nothing about. If she didn’t feel she deserves the ticket, then she can have her day in court and fight it. Showing up with a video camera and walking over towards the officer would not help her case in anyway regarding the ORIGINAL violation.
What bothers me is that when an officer doesn’t handle a situation correctly, 95% of people on here are quick to point out everything the officer said or did wrong.
But when an OCer doesn’t handle the situation properly, or simply they were looking for some attention, 90% of the people here don’t see anything they did wrong other then:
1. They shouldn’t have talked to the police.
2. They shouldn’t have showed their ID as there was no lawful requirement for them to do so.
NOTE, I agree with both of these, I’m just pointing out that is the ONLY thing the majority ever sees wrong with an OCer.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the way people PRESENT themselves and HOW they talk to others can play a big roll in the out come of things. If we expect an officer to handle things perfectly, then we need to hold ourselves to those same standards.
I also understand that a lot of people on here do present themselves as a good citizen and don’t go out looking for problems or put themselves in a bad situation. I also understand that some have had some very negative encounters with LEOs through no fault of their own.
But in the case of this video, I don’t understand why this OCer felt the need to jump in the car and video tape his girlfriend being pulled over? I don’t have a problem with him video taping, I just wonder what he thought he was going to catch on video. I don’t know anybody who has been driving for a while that hasn’t missed the no turn on red sign, rolled through a stop sign, exceeded the speed limit, etc. When this guy rolled up the video shows his girlfriend in the car. The officer didn’t have her spread eagle on the hood, or tearing her car apart. There was nothing out of the ordinary going on, so if he would have just stayed back on the other side of the road where he came from, the officer probably wouldn’t have paid any attention to him. His camera had a good picture through out the video, so I don’t see any need for him to move in the way he did.
Lastly, his second sentence to the officer, “I’m just holding everybody accountable.” sounds challenging to the officer. The officer didn’t appear to be doing anything wrong but yet he wants to mention accountability. It just sounds like he was looking for trouble.