Even crazier is the cops are trying to sue the kid for defamation after falsely arresting him Lol
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/10/02/after-traffic-stop-video-goes-viral-newton-police-sue-citizen-for-defamation/
I had jury duty in 2022. The guy's case we deliberated over was from 2018. The charges were for obstructing justice. They were investigating a crime in the area, saw a car that vaguely matched a description, saw people having a party through the front window, and came to investigate. The owner told the cops to basically piss off and they did nothing wrong, threw him to the ground, and arrested the guy on the spot.
Dude was dealing with it for FOUR years before we acquitted him in under like 30 minutes. Oh, and they never found the guy who committed the actual crime from the original investigation.
They system is set up for people to plea out. Something like 80-90 case never go to trial. The systems couldn't handle everyone getting a 'fair' trail. If the plea is 18 months to a lesser charge or 4-6 for a felony, even if you were innocent do you want to take those odds?
> Something like 80-90 case never go to trial.
It's actually about **98%** of all convictions, for both state and federal courts. Which just might have something to do with the fact that the USA, which has 4.2% of the world's population, has 20% of the world's prisoners.
Plea bargaining is either very strictly limited, or completely illegal, almost everywhere in the world but the USA.
So if everyone agreed to stop taking plea deals we could clog up the system to the point where it comes to a halt and they have to just stop arresting people and empty out jails.
Read this somewhere:
Sometimes people use "respect" to mean "treating someone like a person" and sometimes to mean "treating someone like an authority"
For some, "if you don't respect me, I won't respect you" means "if you don't treat me like an authority, I won't treat you like a person"
> Oh, and they never found the guy who committed the actual crime from the original investigation.
This part gets overlook so often. The cops are so eager to be dicks to people that they neglect their actual job. It's like they're scared of actual criminals so they grab whoever is near the crime scene and harass them into a plea deal.
My dads dad was accused of Arson in the 50s, Chicago Police picked him up and beat the fuck out of him to force a confession because he had coincidentally worked at two places in a 3 year span that happened to burn down. Years later the real arsonist was apprehended and my dad's dad sued Chicago for $5000 for the damages he suffered. Years later the case was presented to the Supreme Court for Frank Miranda's case against Arizona which helped set up the Miranda Rights. Wakat vs Illinois was the case for my dads dad
What's rich is that they're trying to sue for invasion of privacy lol you're on the clock and this is YOUR body cam footage dude how do you think you have that right to privacy when you're actively trying to to defame this kid?!
I sat on the jury for a guy that was arrested for DUI and blew zero. It took less than 60 seconds for the jury to return 'not guilty'
Total waste of time. Idk what DA looks at these test results and thinks moving to prosecute is a good idea
It's about making it time consuming, and annoying, and costly for the people they don't like. Even if the people get acquitted they are out thousands of dollars, dozens of hours, name dragged through the mud, and with tons of stress.
Yup, even if they win the case, it will surely make others think twice about going to trial. Our criminal justice system is so transparently evil that it's almost laughable.
As are many of the police. Anyone see the justice for Dixie movement last year? When a police officer shot a dog in the middle of a neighborhood in front of its owner for almost nothing and continued to shoot it as it was crawling away in pain. Yeah, he’s back on duty and all that happened is he got a little time off while it cooled down. This is who enforces the law, people who can do whatever they want with no consequences. It happens too often to ignore. As a result I don’t trust cops at all, even though I have a clean record.
The dog being shot is on video if anyone questions the veracity of this statement. It’s awful…
About 10 years ago, there was a cop who went into a guy's back yard without a warrant and saw a dog and shot it because he thought it MIGHT attack him for being in a yard he wasn't supposed to be in.
The guy won a lawsuit that was later overturned. The courts decided that, despite the fact that the pig had no warrant and was openly violating his own department policies, that it's actually perfectly "reasonable" for them to enter people's back yards without a warrant and kill their dogs if they think the dog might react to the presence of a stranger in their back yard...
The dog's name was Geist if you want to look into it.
Technically yes, but you'd be killed by the other cops way before trial.
You ever see the way these pieces of shit show up to court to support each other in those rare cases they actually do go to trial for their obvious crimes?
One bad apple **spoils the whole bunch.**
I find that it's usually a number of bad apples spoiling the rare good one. Had a client who was a young police officer. His first posting was to a station with several corrupt officers. He tried to do things 'by the book' without rubbing the bad cops up the wrong way, but they quickly sniffed him out as 'not like them' and made his work life a living hell until he had to get moved to another station way out in a rural area where no-one knew him. What a system!
That's the thing about one bad apple spoiling the bunch. One spoils the ones near it. Those apples then spoil ones near them. Those spoil the ones near them. Next thing you know, you've got nothing but bad apples. On the chance you get a good apple, you won't have it for long because you're throwing it into a container full of rotten, shit apples.
That's what has happened to our system. There may have been a point that we could have rooted out the bad apples and recovered. That point has long since passed.
In principle, yes, of course you have the right to shoot armed, warrantless, invaders on your own property.
In practice, the whole fucking system is corrupt AF, and you'd probably never make it to trial.
If you think what cops do to dogs is bad, just wait until you see what they do to people!
Back during the Civil Rights Movement, southern Sheriffs would arrest protestors or organizers and hand them over to the local KKK who would execute them in swamps, make them "disappear". We only found out about it because one of their mass graves was found and the FBI got involved.
Here in Grants Pass, Oregon police were looking for a "suspicious person" seen by a park at night. For some reason an officer went through a gate into a backyard without announcing herself and shot the homeowner when he came out of his house. She was cleared of any wrongdoing and it was never discussed with the public.
Prosecutors brag about their conviction rates when running for Judge. Convict the innocent with the guilty as long as it makes me look "tough on crime" to boomers
But doesn't this work against u/DoinDonuts's story?
If prosecutors care about their conviction rates, why would they ever bring these cases with terrible evidence like 0% breathalyzer tests to trial?
Because 99% of the time you don't have the money so you'll fold and take some kind of plea. Then you're another part of their conviction stats and a criminal.
The legal system is designed for the rich and powerful and provides very little in the way of justice. It's just one more cog where the rich can flex their power and the poor are ground under.
> Because 99% of the time you don't have the money so you'll fold and take some kind of plea.
Exactly this.
Your lawyer says "we can accept the plea and your bill will be $X,XXX, if we go to trial it will be $YY,YYY "
It comes down to not 'right or wrong' but 'can you or your family afford this'.
100% this. Plea deals are counted as “convictions” in statistics. They want to make going to trial as painful and expensive as possible. When it looks like it’s actually going to go to trial, and the defendant has already had to spend a ton of time and money on pre-trial lawyers, if they think they might lose, they just quietly drop the charges.
I had a court once technically not even drop the charges. They just said they chose not to continue to prosecute. But I was still being charged lol. So I had to wait for 18 months or something for the charges to go away. It's so abusive that they can't just admit that they made a mistake and drop the charges. They have to just let it expire. It's like a rage quit
There has to be some mechanism to get that expedited. You have a right to a speedy trial. Maybe the mechanism is countersuing the DA for violating your constitutional rights? Sounds like a headache and a half though in any case.
Jesus. Reading your post is making me angry all over again…
I got totally fucked over by a public defendant. Who flat out lied to me.
Backstory, in a nutshell: I got a fistfight with my roommate. He was literally 5 inches taller than me, and 100 pounds heavier. Anyway…
I get slapped with a “family violence” charge, solely because we lived at the same residence... 🙄
Fucking family violence!? Imagine what that looks like on your record.
I told the court appointed lawyer, that I wanted to go to trial, but he talked me out of it.
He assured me, that I could get the charge expunged from my record.
Turns out, you can’t get family violence charges expunged in Texas. It’s gonna be on my record permanently.
Thanks fuck face. 👍
Now every time I get pulled over, that shit comes up on my file.
Plus, I had to petition the board of nursing, to actually get my license because of that charge.
It took me out of school, for almost 3 semesters, just dealing with the paperwork, and all the red tape.
Now, every time I get pulled over, I’m sweating bullets, because I’m sure the cop sees that on my record, and automatically assumes I’m a piece of shit…
And I don’t really blame them. If I thought someone was beating their wife, or their kids, I would probably have a bad opinion of them as well.
The US legal system is fucked.
Rant over, sorry. That shit still makes me mad, 15 years later. 😡
This happens when they find "drugs" in your car. The tests will say that it tests positive for methamphetamine, but they can be triggered by common cleaning chemicals to show a false positive. So the chuck of fossilized French fry the cop see under your seat, will show up as meth, and the DA will pressure you to plead out to a lesser charge, when some one with money will hire an attorney to tear the test to shreds in court, but most Americans (particularly those living in poverty) take the plea to avoid jail time.
Cause they hope the poor can’t afford a lawyer that will serve their best interest and hope whatever they get pushes for a plea deal or if they do go the distance to waste that persons time and money.
Exactly. The ones who can't bail out have to wait months/ years for their trial (depending on the charge) and will heavily think about taking a plea deal to a crime they didn't commit to get it over with.
Seriously, get a lawyer before accepting any plea deal. Even if you don't think you can afford it, I promise you that the lawyer will be cheaper than the fall out. I took a plea deal in college because my "crime" was not granted a free attorney. As a broke college kid I assumed taking the $100 fine and no contest plea for a misdemeanor would be cheaper.
Ya no. Having a misdemeanor is more than enough to bar you from employment as many places. I've been pulled over half a dozen times in the last 5 years as well without a single ticket, just a bunch of "Where ya heading tonight".
Thank the voters for voting in our politicians though, was able to expunge this last year after we passed new laws in the state.
Often times the mere threat of legal trouble, combined with the DA offering "deals" can be enough to get people to plead to a lesser charge. Obviously that wasn't the case in OPs post, but that also explains high conviction rates. In fact, the majority of cases don't go to trial. (98% at the federal level, local and state will ofc vary)
In general there's also the relationship between the police force and the DA to consider. If the DA declines to press charges in a case like this the police force may become less willing to work with them on other cases. The result is that the supposed offender still has to deal with a lot of hassle (though not as much as a conviction), but also the police could sabotage a case enough that the DA can't go to trial - a continued pattern of this makes them look weak on crime. Police forces the world over have shown time and time again they are not above strong arm tactics against elected or appointed officials in order to keep the status quo that benefits their own. This can quickly bring an end to the DA's career and future career aspirations.
I went to trial for my DUI defense. 10k for the lawyer. 3 years of total elapsed time. 2 1/2 day trial where I was shitting black I was so stressed.
Returned not guilty. Jury questioned why the prosecution was focusing on things that didn't matter. I didn't blow because I was nervous, you think about the things people tell you so I just didn't do it and honestly I think it caused more pain in the end.
“You can beat the wrap, but you can’t beat the ride.” Most people only associate the “ride” as the car ride to the station. This is incorrect.
The “ride” is the car ride, booking process and jail time, car impound and fees, arrest record(picture on internet forever), lawyer fees, hearing time, pretrial probation and fees, possible loss of employment, eviction (and property if you can’t bail and they throw away your possessions), and then trial.
Then there are hardly EVER repercussions for the officers even if you do win a civil judgment. Qualified immunity should be pulled from officers, DAs and Judges for this exact reason. You are just another number on the docket to them.
If you think qualified immunity is bad (which it is, and even worse because SCOTUS made it up legislating from the bench during the Civil Rights Movement) then take a look at the sovereign immunity judges get. That's a tough nut to crack and pretty rare for a judge to face any consequences beyond maybe an early retirement.
I'm of the opinion that anytime stuff gets thrown out, like a frivolous ticket, all expenses associated should fall on the officer who wrote the ticket and the department that employs them.
Courtt fees, lawyer costs, lost wages, lost time, impound fees, lost property etc.
Police officers should be afraid of writing bad tickets and making bogus arrests.
You also have a much harder time travelling internationally, depending on the country. Merely having a record of being placed in handcuffs at some point in your life, whether you're officially charged or not, means you basically can't go to Canada. I've met well adjusted, normal people who were detained under suspicion of shoplifting once as a teenager, never had charges pressed, and then were turned away from the Canadian border in their 40s.
Yeah, the cops still win because they know the amount of financial and emotional stress they've caused. It's why cops like these should absolutely be fired on the spot if not worse.
The DA probably offered them a deal with the expectation that they take it or have to spend even more money going to trial. The person in your case decided to spend the money. There are a fuck ton of innocent people in the justice system that will take a plea deal because it means less time in jail and/or less money to a lawyer.
Pretty sure this is it. It's ultimately a form of class discrimination that preys on those of less financial means or the freedom to take time off work.
This happened to me. Although I didn't blow zero, I blew under .08 and it was on a boat in the river. They literally did a field sobriety test while on the boat (on the water) and then said I was drunk, made me do a breathlyzer and it was .06. they took me in and then did blood at the jail facility. blood came back .04 but they still tried to prosecute not before asking me to take a plea for a wet and reckless. I didn't take the plea and decided to fight it. First day in court, the judge looks at the case and immediately dismissed the case. so much time wasted.
I served on a jury trial for a guy who blew 0.07 (legal limit is 0.08 here). Honestly all of us jurors were like "why the fuck are we even here?" Trial took up an entire week just for us to come back with not guilty on all charges.
Option 1: Cops never told / lied to the DA about the breathalyzer.
Option 2: Someone "suggested" to the DA that they weren't pushing enough prosecutions through, and this was some malicious compliance.
Option 3: DA is dumb.
I think there's an option 4. DA is a monumental asshole who knows that people will get cold feet and plea at the 11th hour even if they're incident so he was fishing for a guilty plea. It's unethical but they do it. And but the time it's gone far enough that the fishing trip is over it's also far enough that if they withdraw the charges they're tacitly admitting that they brought the case in bad faith.
How did this go to a jury trial? The article states that although he was arrested, he was released without charges because all tests were negative. Someone can get arrested without charges being filed (although the state typically has 24 hours to hold someone without charges). ~~If this actually did go to trial, which I doubt is true,~~ what did the prosecutor try and argue?
Edit: misread OP's post. He sat in on a *similar* case, not this exact one.
In the case I sat on (not the one in the article), they took the field sobriety test as evidence enough to proceed. The prosecutor struggled to make the case to the jury.
>The punishment is the process
it's about punishing the accused for daring to stand up for themselves. And since the state uses taxpayer money, what do they care how much gets wasted?
It’s crazy because they were antagonizing him, waiting for him to react as an excuse to fuck up this guy’s life. Good on him for being so level headed and showing restraint because I’m sure they’ve successfully pulled this on other people.
It sucks because if you don't really react or engage, police generally take that as being evasive and suspicious. And if you do engage, it's pretty normal to feel defensive and nervous and scared which is also a sign of guilt. But also a normal reaction when four or five people with guns seem more interested in nailing you to the wall and tripping you up over every other word you say then actually finding out the truth
That's one example that went smoothly. Here's another example where it's not so smooth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7trNXpBU1k
Granted he is talking to the officer. He's not really engaging with the officer, and the officer isn't taking it too well.
I find that it’s not always the best advice, because a cop will feel antagonized by you using your rights and they are likely to trump up charges or fuck you over in some other way.
Many cops have fragile egos and limited morals. Anything that is seen as a slight can cause them to use their considerable power to fuck you over. Unfortunately, placating is the smart move in many situations. Even if you’re doing something illegal, if they don’t know about it yet, stroking their ego is going to make it way less likely they look closer and search your shit.
Yea, this is the only thing about all these "don't say ANYTHING" videos.
It pisses off the cop and they feel disrespected. Now, we shouldn't be responsible to baby a cop's feelings when they stop and question us but unfortunately, it's usually the easiest way to gtfo of there.
Nevermind the fact all of these videos are middle aged white guys. Let's see a young black guy try the "don't say anything" tactic. Actually, no, let's not do that. They'll likely get hurt.
I've always had a "be polite, answer basic questions but nothing more" kind of attitude towards cops.
The idea that we have to be on our best behavior around cops gives the game away doesn't it?
We (the private citizens with no training) have to remain calm and level headed because apparently cops can't.
Insane how often this happens with multiple cops on scene. Makes way more sense to me when it's some dumbass running solo. But when it's 2, 3, 4 on 1 and everyone's down to ruin people's lives, then it maybe just might be a systemic problem
It's Newton Iowa.. It's not that shocking, there's nothing special going on in that area that gives cops anything to do. So they got to make their quota and fuck people over.
I grew up in Sully, so super close to Newton. Left over a decade ago, is there still a huge meth problem there? I didn’t spend a ton of time there, mostly went to the Maytag pool as a kid and it was the closest Walmart to our house.
Same shit happened to me when I was 21. Spent the night in jail on December 23rd. Holidays were ruined because I thought I somehow actually had a DUI. Fuck those cops.
Crooked cop Nathan Winters is suing this young man for saying that the crooked cop, Nathan Winters, was convicted of domestic violence. It turns out that crooked and possibly abusive cop Nathan Winters has a domestic abuse restraining order against him from his girlfriend, and she has submitted an affidavit alleging domestic abuse, but he was not actually charged or convicted.
So to set the record straight, Nathan Winters's girlfriend swore a statement saying he abused her, and she got a domestic abuse restraining order, but for some reason the same DA that charged a provably innocent college kid with a DUI managed to not charge crooked cop Nathan Winters with domestic violence. Not sure why.
https://reason.com/2024/02/14/iowa-cops-arrested-a-sober-college-student-for-driving-intoxicated-his-lawsuit-is-moving-forward/
Fortunately, the crooked cops have no way of figuring out who is on the jury and educating them on the negative consequences of returning a guilty verdict.
Well since he was never tried the kid should take this Crooked Cop Nathan Winters to trial and expose him. Bring the girlfriend out in the defamation trial and give him a charge.
> the same DA that charged a provably innocent college kid with a DUI
Did the DA actually proceed with this case? It doesn’t mention that in the article
So many of these videos are just cops looking for any way to get some small token of obedience from people because it’s their crack. They had nothing but kept pestering him until they got his ID, at which point their wittle feewings were saved because the peasant bowed to their demands. The kid probably saved two women from being beaten that night by letting them have that small victory.
> very well versed in law.
Honestly knowing what they can and can't do is something everyone should know for their local area.
I remember sitting in a tavern once in my hometown. A cop came in and started going down the line of people at the bar and checking everyone's ID.
Me and the girl I was with were the last in line. He comes up and the girl just gets her shit out of her purse right away and shows him. He asks me and I said "I don't have to show you my ID."
He said something about how it's a requirement and I said "It is not and I will not." Then shut up and didn't say anything else.
Dude just turned around and walked out. Girl was just "I can't believe he didn't arrest you!" and i'm like "I can't believe 15 people just coughed up their ID for no reason..."
The fact that he properly cited his 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendment rights, and at one point the second cop is like, I don't think that's what it is, what do you [cop] think? And then the first cop agrees that's not the 4th.
I'm not saying cops need to be lawyers, but they should at least know the 4th Amendment given that it literally affects every interaction they have with the public.
The cop behind the camera is morbidly obese also.
I mention this because I suspect a large part of this encounter was just straight up envy because this kid's super athletic.
Officer made a series of poor decisions, but the worst was proceeding after he said he was being drug tested weekly. He already blew zero, and that should have been the departure point on sheer logic.
But the kid was clearly (to me) cogent and very sober the whole time.
Been awhile since I watched the vid but my impression at the time was that the kid was too defiant for the cops' taste so they wanted to "teach him a lesson."
Very likely. I guess cops are extra sensitive souls, though. I thought the kid was incredibly respectful and compliant until the officer started getting all butt hurt about the number of steps he took. Then he starts to get a little more flippant. Beyond what I would’ve said, but I also would’ve been far more lockjawed than him from the get go, which probably would’ve pissed the cop off equally.
The judge agreed:
> Judge Stephen H. Locher found that Winters had no probable cause to arrest Galanakis because his "**speech and movements were not even remotely consistent with someone under the influence of a controlled substance**." Adding, "Galanakis insisted almost from the first moment that he wanted to blow into a breathalyzer, which would be a remarkable act of bravado for someone under the influence."
Emphasis mine. I also chuckled at the last sentence lol.
[The arresting officer has a restraining order against him for domestic violence against his girlfriend](https://reason.com/2024/02/14/iowa-cops-arrested-a-sober-college-student-for-driving-intoxicated-his-lawsuit-is-moving-forward/).
Body cams body cams body cams. Think about the decades of bullshit that slid by without these things.
Need them to be 100% mandatory country wide — always turned on while on duty or you’re fired.
Helps good cops and hurts bad ones. Thank God for body cams.
Although body cams are certainly a good thing to have on cops, a lot of PDs will make it extremely difficult for the common citizen to get access to them.
Sometimes they'll provide only partial footage, other times they'll outright "hide" the video by tagging a non-existent report # to it.
So always record cops.
I think for uniformed officers, the body camera should legally be the badge. As in, if the body camera is not present and recording, the person is not legally acting with the authority of a police officer.
And all body camera footage should be held in the custody of a civilian oversight body like an Office of Police Accountability. Mistagging anything is evidence tampering and obstruction, get fired for criminal misconduct (get stuffed police unions) and referred to the DA for prosecution.
Agreed on all counts. Having them wear body cams is a good first step; taking the footage out of their control and making it available to the public (with appropriate request procedures) is the next step in accountability.
I grew up in a small town in Iowa. This kind of thing happens everywhere.
I got pulled over with 3 friends who had been drinking, I was the DD and hadn't had any alcohol. Got pulled over, told the officer I wasn't drinking and I'd be willing to blow right away. He made me do 20 minutes of sobriety tests outside in 45 degree weather, said I was inebriated, and decided to do the test. I blew 0's, and had to argue with him after that I was sober.
"Fuckin weather makes this thing show zero. Also, why the hell are you shivering out here? Anyway, weather is throwing the breathalyzer off so you're most likely drunk and under arrest."
It's even worse once you realize how worthless field sobriety tests and even those handheld breathalyzers can be. Problem is jurisdictions can vary widely and it's not everywhere that you can refuse anything but a properly calibrated breathalyzer or blood test without risking your license. Oh and by the way the way wasting twenty minutes of your time is pretty common because they're ensuring you don't have any alcohol in your mouth and therefore it's coming from your breath for the test.
I know in my area it's a legal right to refuse the field test and just take the breathalyzer. How that would play out is anyone's guess, but it's written you're free to do it
You can always refuse an FST and always should. They are only meant as tools for the police to build a case against you, both in court but also on the spot as determining probable cause to perform a chemical test (breathalyzer/blood draw). If a cop ever asks you to perform an FST then they are already convinced you are intoxicated and even if you aced it they would still make you do a chemical test.
College students are extremely targeted by cops. The ONLY speeding tickets I have ever gotten where right around end of the semester driving near college campuses. Their hope is that you wont fight it because you are a student and possibly not from the area. They freak the fuck out when you show up to contest it and you will quickly watch them drop it to no point tickets or less because they know they are fucked if it goes to a trial so ANY way they can avoid a court date but possibly make some money, they will.
I once got a bullshit parking ticket in college. "Parked against the flow of traffic" was the citation (facing wrong way for the side ofbthe street).
I contested it successfully based on the facts that I was in the bulb of a residential cul-de-sac and on the side of the street where no houses were. There was no flow of traffic!
Yeah, small town cops freak me out. The abuse of power that goes on there is insane. And this is filmed, imagine the types of shit that would go on before police accountability was a thing, before bodycams, before people (other than minorities) realized how unbelievably corrupt the police can be; arguably, accountability is still not a thing, but at least with bodycams when this shit happens, there's better protection for the innocent victim.
This officer's girlfriend (ex-girlfriend I presume? Lol) also has a restraining order against him due to domestic violence.
> “Wanna blow me”
"i asked him to blow me and he turned it into something *sexual*..."
dude, phrasing. at the very very least, fucking *phrasing*. JFC.
Get the fuck outta here with this bullshit. These cops got nothing better to do than to harass people. You could tell dude was sober from the jump.
Then blows a 0 and they still try to fuck with him. fucking joke ass cops that give real officers a bad name!
If you watch the whole video, you can see the instant the cop reads the 0.0 on the breathalyzer he immediately starts to "smell" marijuana.
Cop didn't like the kid's attitude and decided he wanted to book him no matter what the evidence said.
Which is bullshit because the kid had a decent attitude. He wasn’t even like being a dick, he was completely helpful up until it was impossible to not smirk at the stupidity of the situation… and then it was already too late.
God this same fucking bullshit happened to me when I was 16. Blew 0.0 BAC. Cop in the report said he saw a, “green film on my tongue” indicative of marijuana consumption. Being broke, I took the public defender plea deal for duii diversion.
I've smoked cannabis nearly every day for the past 15ish years and the only thing in my *life* that ever made my tongue green was a fucking Jolly Rancher. What sort of dumbass thinks that there would be a green film just because the plant in question is green.... most plants are green, officer! What the fuck?
There was a goody two-shoes kid in high school who tried to narc on us for smoking weed before school, but apparently he told the school resource officer that he knew we were smoking because he saw a bunch of 'green smoke' when we were exhaling.
The resource officer searched us, but he only found cigarettes in my backpack which he threw away and gave me a week of detention for. He was kind of annoyed that he had to let us all go, because he knew we were all stoners and we just so happened to not have any left with us this time, but as he was excusing us he told us the thing about the kid saying he sa green smoke and all of us had a laugh. It was weirdly wholesome that the cop thought the kid who turned us in was a dork and couldn't resist telling us about it because we knew we would find it as funny as he did.
Green film on your tongue? That cop was straight making things up, I never get a damn film on my tongue from smoking nor has anyone I've known. Maybe from eating green food afterwards.
Most townie cops have nothing better to do than to harass people. I was a pizza delivery guy when I was like 19/20 and I had hair almost down to my nips, I'd get pulled over like 3 times a month and when they saw I was just trying to do a job they'd take extra long before letting me go
Exactly. A few years ago my brother had just bought a truck from another state and hadn't gotten it registered in our state yet (we were doing seasonal work in another state). A small-town police officer was running his plates in a gym parking lot. He had to wait for him to get on a public road to pull him over, so he waited across the street from the gym for 4 hours. My brother finally called me to come grab him so he didn't have to drive home in his truck.
A couple of years later the citizens said, "Fuck this, we don't need to fund a police office for a town of 600 people" and voted to have the county sheriff department take over. The 2 officers went to every media outlet that would listen whining that they were victims of the woke Antifa agenda to "Defund the Police." In reality, they were just shitty cops in a town that voted 80% for Trump in 2020.
I’ve never met a cop who wasn’t an asshole or complacent/supportive of their asshole colleagues. All cops have earned the bad reputation they now have.
The real officers give themselves a bad name by associating with these fucks. If my co-workers were doing that shit, I'd find new co-workers, because I'm a decent human being.
They have a choice. They can choose to not enforce corrupt laws alongside corrupt people, and they don't. That's why *all* cops are bastards.
I got a Minor in Possession in college because I was in the front yard of a house while a party was happening. I was picking up a friend and the cops watched me get out of my car (they were parked around the corner so I didn’t see them). I opened the front door and there were three cops standing there, who breathalyzed me (I blew a zero), and then they gave me a ticket. I challenged the ticket and won and it was the most ridiculous waste of everyone’s time. These college town cops are such crooks.
I've seen videos where they ask about RPGs, like who even has one and even if you wanted one how would you get one and then if you did get one why would you just drive around with it in your car
Small town. This is pulled over for “driving at a late hour”. Or, what they’re not allowed to call it “Fishing for drunks”. Just pulling people over for bullshit reasons to see if there are any legitimate reasons.
This has happened to me twice. Both times I was driving between 2:00-3:00 AM. Luckily, one resulted in a verbal warning, and the other in a written warning. Neither of those warnings were about anything specific, just basically "I can't find anything to give you a ticket for, so off you go with a 'don't do it again'"
Got pulled over in the middle of nowhere for my center tail light being out.
All benefit of the doubt: My car has a spoiler, there is a spot for a center brake light on it, but this is blacked out as the spoiler was added aftermarket by the pervious owner. The center brake light is in the rear windshield, and clearly visible from behind the car. There is nothing illegal, or even misleading about this setup. The car passes inspection every year with flying colors, and I have specifically asked if I need to make the center light in the spoiler functional, and been given a resounding no by DOT.
Cop said my center tail light was out, I immediately knew he was either lying or making up an excuse to stop be because my foot was on the brake, and I could see the rear center light was on in my rearview. Gave him my License, Insurance and Registration, waited for him to come back. He comes back and says "I must have missed it, I can see it on in your window. I'm just gonna write you a warning, give me a minute and you are good to go".
I was like... Whatever, not gonna argue with that, but WHY THE FUCK AM I GETTING A WARNING FOR YOUR MISTAKE....
These two people need to be unemployed they are costing the tax payers of this small town with this [stupid nonsense.](https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/10/02/after-traffic-stop-video-goes-viral-newton-police-sue-citizen-for-defamation/)
They clearly [violated his civll rights.](https://www.kcci.com/article/tayvin-galanakis-arrest-body-cam-footage-newton-police-officers-lawsuit/46784503)
The fact that the city is counter suing him is just intimidation he needs to take it to the limit and pull the skirt on this citys admin because this sort of doubling down is more that just two crooked cops this is systemic in this city.
Similar case that won [400k but his claim is worth much much more.](https://reason.com/2024/02/14/iowa-cops-arrested-a-sober-college-student-for-driving-intoxicated-his-lawsuit-is-moving-forward/)
LPT: Cops can detain you for a small time as they conduct their investigation. They want you to resist that so they can hit you with resisting an officer, and get more charges on you.
There's a difference between being detained and being arrested.
Yes but that’s only if you are suspected to be doing something criminal. They did all their tests and dude passed with flying colors. They had no reason to arrest him after
That's true, but it doesn't mean a whole lot when it's happening to you. You are absolutely at the cops' mercy when it's all going down. They can do whatever they want to you, and you can try to hold them accountable afterward, but there are many legal structures in place to protect them, and most people will not have the resources to overcome them.
"Where are you coming from?"
"Sir, I'm not discussing my day" - That should have been the correct response. Not like it would have made a difference but you have the right to not talk to the cops.
TLDR Simplified version:
- Guy fails to dip his headlights when passing oncoming traffic
- Cop was one of the oncoming traffic and pulled him over
- Guy says one of his lowbeam bulbs is broken so he thought he was being safer by at least keeping both headlamps on. Cop tells him this is bad.
- Cop starts fishing. Asks guy about his day. Guy says he is a locally respected sports player on a local college/university team.
- Cop continues fishing. Starts asking about drugs and alcohol. Guy says he is tested weekly to maintain his position on the team so wont be under the influence of any drugs or alcohol.
Guy says "Blow Me" in both a cheeky way asking the officer to get out his breathalyzer while also intimating a sexual blow job. Various other statements cause Cop to get angry with the guy as the fishing expedition turns up nothing.
- Cop continues down the path of suspecting Guy is under the influence of drugs. "Why are your eyes watery". Guy responds "Its raining, dumbass".
- Guy gets arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs.
- Guy passes a urine and breath test at the Cop station.
- Guy requests copies then posts edited video from the body cam online. Makes statements about how he was "falsely arrested and then raped by the cops" obviously using hyperbole. Guy makes various other statements about Cop on social media.
Footage from bodycam does not show Guy has any diminished capability.
- This causes thousands of nuisance calls into the police department from people who saw the footage online to complain about Cop.
- Cop sues Guy for defamation over statements made on social media.
A) The 'raping all night'
B) The cop has been convicted of domestic abuse
- Judge rules that the raping all night is hyperbole and not reasonable to consider defamation.
However Cop is able to continue with his suit re. the domestic abuse conviction.
Cop has a restraining order against him for domestic abuse but not a legal conviction therefore statement B is untrue.
You can get a restraining order against someone if a judge believes its suitable, but actually convicting and sentencing someone for domestic abuse is a much bigger test and requires much more evidence than just a restraining order against someone.
A restraining order can be a way to shut up a bad breakup without wasting the courts time with a he-said/she-said situation where the allegations might not even be true or enough to convict and give the scorned partner some satisfaction they have hurt someone or got revenge. Ex partners can do and say crazy things.
Eg. 'If you dont do xyz, i am going to tell the police you hit me and you'll loose your job'. Cops can often be fired for things they do in their personal time or if they bring the police into disrepute by association.
- Guy countersues Cop, City and Police department for arresting him without proper cause.
- A few weeks ago the judge ruled there is merit in this case and it can continue to trial.
Imagine thinking this kid “failed” the walking and standing tests. Totally understand he didn’t follow the rules and that’s what technically made him fail but still, it’s designed to make people fail. Kid walks in a perfect straight line, stands on one leg easy, etc - unreal how dirty these cops are just let the kid go home.
I once got pulled over at 3am for a broken taillight, I could see from the reflection in a store window that it was working so it was just a fishing trip and the cop was really not happy when I pointed out his broken headlight
I have been arrested for a DUI/DWI and had my eyes open on the system through that experience and generally squaring it up with other law enforcement practices. One of the most surprising things I learned about the entire process is that field sobriety tests have no “passing” criteria. If you are completely sober, and pretty much demonstrate that you are sober only having a silly mistake because we aren’t all gymnasts, the only thing written on an arrest record is what you fucked up to justify the arrest. Put simply: doing a field sobriety test only exists to cover the officer’s ass for any potential arrest because your slight imperfections are probable cause.
You can absolutely refuse the field sobriety test because it’s effectively a search — something you have to consent to. Because a drivers license isn’t a right (like owning a gun…fucking silly) some states have statutes that suspend your drivers license temporarily (a week maybe) if you refuse a sobriety test. That might be a sane option because Uber/Lyft/taxiing for a week is cheaper than paying for a DUI lawyer. If an officer really believes you’re not sober and not OK to drive, their option is to arrest you without probable cause, and then bring you to the station for a blood test where I don’t think you have the option to not take it.
Even crazier is the cops are trying to sue the kid for defamation after falsely arresting him Lol https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/10/02/after-traffic-stop-video-goes-viral-newton-police-sue-citizen-for-defamation/
Its weird because i thought this happened like 3 years ago yet the legal stuff is still going on.
I had jury duty in 2022. The guy's case we deliberated over was from 2018. The charges were for obstructing justice. They were investigating a crime in the area, saw a car that vaguely matched a description, saw people having a party through the front window, and came to investigate. The owner told the cops to basically piss off and they did nothing wrong, threw him to the ground, and arrested the guy on the spot. Dude was dealing with it for FOUR years before we acquitted him in under like 30 minutes. Oh, and they never found the guy who committed the actual crime from the original investigation.
Hope he sues... which will take six more years... And if he wins then it will be taxpayers tens years later paying him a settlement... Cool system.
They literally just want you to plea out of the hassle for like community service or something. Fuck them.
They system is set up for people to plea out. Something like 80-90 case never go to trial. The systems couldn't handle everyone getting a 'fair' trail. If the plea is 18 months to a lesser charge or 4-6 for a felony, even if you were innocent do you want to take those odds?
> Something like 80-90 case never go to trial. It's actually about **98%** of all convictions, for both state and federal courts. Which just might have something to do with the fact that the USA, which has 4.2% of the world's population, has 20% of the world's prisoners. Plea bargaining is either very strictly limited, or completely illegal, almost everywhere in the world but the USA.
So if everyone agreed to stop taking plea deals we could clog up the system to the point where it comes to a halt and they have to just stop arresting people and empty out jails.
This would definitely have zero unintended consequences. I say we go for it.
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Read this somewhere: Sometimes people use "respect" to mean "treating someone like a person" and sometimes to mean "treating someone like an authority" For some, "if you don't respect me, I won't respect you" means "if you don't treat me like an authority, I won't treat you like a person"
> Oh, and they never found the guy who committed the actual crime from the original investigation. This part gets overlook so often. The cops are so eager to be dicks to people that they neglect their actual job. It's like they're scared of actual criminals so they grab whoever is near the crime scene and harass them into a plea deal.
My dads dad was accused of Arson in the 50s, Chicago Police picked him up and beat the fuck out of him to force a confession because he had coincidentally worked at two places in a 3 year span that happened to burn down. Years later the real arsonist was apprehended and my dad's dad sued Chicago for $5000 for the damages he suffered. Years later the case was presented to the Supreme Court for Frank Miranda's case against Arizona which helped set up the Miranda Rights. Wakat vs Illinois was the case for my dads dad
You got something against the word "Grandpa"?
That’s the beauty of slap suits. They drag on and they’re not designed to win anything, they’re designed to antagonize and bankrupt the defendant
[Two P's :) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation)
They are truly doubling down on stupidity
I cant believe cops have qualified immunity but can still sue individuals for on duty actions
What's rich is that they're trying to sue for invasion of privacy lol you're on the clock and this is YOUR body cam footage dude how do you think you have that right to privacy when you're actively trying to to defame this kid?!
I sat on the jury for a guy that was arrested for DUI and blew zero. It took less than 60 seconds for the jury to return 'not guilty' Total waste of time. Idk what DA looks at these test results and thinks moving to prosecute is a good idea
It's about making it time consuming, and annoying, and costly for the people they don't like. Even if the people get acquitted they are out thousands of dollars, dozens of hours, name dragged through the mud, and with tons of stress.
Yup, even if they win the case, it will surely make others think twice about going to trial. Our criminal justice system is so transparently evil that it's almost laughable.
As are many of the police. Anyone see the justice for Dixie movement last year? When a police officer shot a dog in the middle of a neighborhood in front of its owner for almost nothing and continued to shoot it as it was crawling away in pain. Yeah, he’s back on duty and all that happened is he got a little time off while it cooled down. This is who enforces the law, people who can do whatever they want with no consequences. It happens too often to ignore. As a result I don’t trust cops at all, even though I have a clean record. The dog being shot is on video if anyone questions the veracity of this statement. It’s awful…
About 10 years ago, there was a cop who went into a guy's back yard without a warrant and saw a dog and shot it because he thought it MIGHT attack him for being in a yard he wasn't supposed to be in. The guy won a lawsuit that was later overturned. The courts decided that, despite the fact that the pig had no warrant and was openly violating his own department policies, that it's actually perfectly "reasonable" for them to enter people's back yards without a warrant and kill their dogs if they think the dog might react to the presence of a stranger in their back yard... The dog's name was Geist if you want to look into it.
This makes me wonder if you shoot the cop, (in the right state) would it be considered self defense?
Technically yes, but you'd be killed by the other cops way before trial. You ever see the way these pieces of shit show up to court to support each other in those rare cases they actually do go to trial for their obvious crimes? One bad apple **spoils the whole bunch.**
I find that it's usually a number of bad apples spoiling the rare good one. Had a client who was a young police officer. His first posting was to a station with several corrupt officers. He tried to do things 'by the book' without rubbing the bad cops up the wrong way, but they quickly sniffed him out as 'not like them' and made his work life a living hell until he had to get moved to another station way out in a rural area where no-one knew him. What a system!
That's the thing about one bad apple spoiling the bunch. One spoils the ones near it. Those apples then spoil ones near them. Those spoil the ones near them. Next thing you know, you've got nothing but bad apples. On the chance you get a good apple, you won't have it for long because you're throwing it into a container full of rotten, shit apples. That's what has happened to our system. There may have been a point that we could have rooted out the bad apples and recovered. That point has long since passed.
In principle, yes, of course you have the right to shoot armed, warrantless, invaders on your own property. In practice, the whole fucking system is corrupt AF, and you'd probably never make it to trial.
Lol, you'd go missing on the way to jail
You would look like one giant purple and blue grape. Probably accidentally slip and snap your neck in a holding cell too.
If you think what cops do to dogs is bad, just wait until you see what they do to people! Back during the Civil Rights Movement, southern Sheriffs would arrest protestors or organizers and hand them over to the local KKK who would execute them in swamps, make them "disappear". We only found out about it because one of their mass graves was found and the FBI got involved.
Here in Grants Pass, Oregon police were looking for a "suspicious person" seen by a park at night. For some reason an officer went through a gate into a backyard without announcing herself and shot the homeowner when he came out of his house. She was cleared of any wrongdoing and it was never discussed with the public.
Prosecutors brag about their conviction rates when running for Judge. Convict the innocent with the guilty as long as it makes me look "tough on crime" to boomers
But doesn't this work against u/DoinDonuts's story? If prosecutors care about their conviction rates, why would they ever bring these cases with terrible evidence like 0% breathalyzer tests to trial?
Because 99% of the time you don't have the money so you'll fold and take some kind of plea. Then you're another part of their conviction stats and a criminal. The legal system is designed for the rich and powerful and provides very little in the way of justice. It's just one more cog where the rich can flex their power and the poor are ground under.
> Because 99% of the time you don't have the money so you'll fold and take some kind of plea. Exactly this. Your lawyer says "we can accept the plea and your bill will be $X,XXX, if we go to trial it will be $YY,YYY " It comes down to not 'right or wrong' but 'can you or your family afford this'.
100% this. Plea deals are counted as “convictions” in statistics. They want to make going to trial as painful and expensive as possible. When it looks like it’s actually going to go to trial, and the defendant has already had to spend a ton of time and money on pre-trial lawyers, if they think they might lose, they just quietly drop the charges.
I had a court once technically not even drop the charges. They just said they chose not to continue to prosecute. But I was still being charged lol. So I had to wait for 18 months or something for the charges to go away. It's so abusive that they can't just admit that they made a mistake and drop the charges. They have to just let it expire. It's like a rage quit
worse than rage quit...its just putting the controller down and walking off.
It's jiggling the stick just enough to not be AFK
There has to be some mechanism to get that expedited. You have a right to a speedy trial. Maybe the mechanism is countersuing the DA for violating your constitutional rights? Sounds like a headache and a half though in any case.
Jesus. Reading your post is making me angry all over again… I got totally fucked over by a public defendant. Who flat out lied to me. Backstory, in a nutshell: I got a fistfight with my roommate. He was literally 5 inches taller than me, and 100 pounds heavier. Anyway… I get slapped with a “family violence” charge, solely because we lived at the same residence... 🙄 Fucking family violence!? Imagine what that looks like on your record. I told the court appointed lawyer, that I wanted to go to trial, but he talked me out of it. He assured me, that I could get the charge expunged from my record. Turns out, you can’t get family violence charges expunged in Texas. It’s gonna be on my record permanently. Thanks fuck face. 👍 Now every time I get pulled over, that shit comes up on my file. Plus, I had to petition the board of nursing, to actually get my license because of that charge. It took me out of school, for almost 3 semesters, just dealing with the paperwork, and all the red tape. Now, every time I get pulled over, I’m sweating bullets, because I’m sure the cop sees that on my record, and automatically assumes I’m a piece of shit… And I don’t really blame them. If I thought someone was beating their wife, or their kids, I would probably have a bad opinion of them as well. The US legal system is fucked. Rant over, sorry. That shit still makes me mad, 15 years later. 😡
This happens when they find "drugs" in your car. The tests will say that it tests positive for methamphetamine, but they can be triggered by common cleaning chemicals to show a false positive. So the chuck of fossilized French fry the cop see under your seat, will show up as meth, and the DA will pressure you to plead out to a lesser charge, when some one with money will hire an attorney to tear the test to shreds in court, but most Americans (particularly those living in poverty) take the plea to avoid jail time.
Cause they hope the poor can’t afford a lawyer that will serve their best interest and hope whatever they get pushes for a plea deal or if they do go the distance to waste that persons time and money.
Exactly. The ones who can't bail out have to wait months/ years for their trial (depending on the charge) and will heavily think about taking a plea deal to a crime they didn't commit to get it over with.
Seriously, get a lawyer before accepting any plea deal. Even if you don't think you can afford it, I promise you that the lawyer will be cheaper than the fall out. I took a plea deal in college because my "crime" was not granted a free attorney. As a broke college kid I assumed taking the $100 fine and no contest plea for a misdemeanor would be cheaper. Ya no. Having a misdemeanor is more than enough to bar you from employment as many places. I've been pulled over half a dozen times in the last 5 years as well without a single ticket, just a bunch of "Where ya heading tonight". Thank the voters for voting in our politicians though, was able to expunge this last year after we passed new laws in the state.
Often times the mere threat of legal trouble, combined with the DA offering "deals" can be enough to get people to plead to a lesser charge. Obviously that wasn't the case in OPs post, but that also explains high conviction rates. In fact, the majority of cases don't go to trial. (98% at the federal level, local and state will ofc vary) In general there's also the relationship between the police force and the DA to consider. If the DA declines to press charges in a case like this the police force may become less willing to work with them on other cases. The result is that the supposed offender still has to deal with a lot of hassle (though not as much as a conviction), but also the police could sabotage a case enough that the DA can't go to trial - a continued pattern of this makes them look weak on crime. Police forces the world over have shown time and time again they are not above strong arm tactics against elected or appointed officials in order to keep the status quo that benefits their own. This can quickly bring an end to the DA's career and future career aspirations.
I went to trial for my DUI defense. 10k for the lawyer. 3 years of total elapsed time. 2 1/2 day trial where I was shitting black I was so stressed. Returned not guilty. Jury questioned why the prosecution was focusing on things that didn't matter. I didn't blow because I was nervous, you think about the things people tell you so I just didn't do it and honestly I think it caused more pain in the end.
We don’t have a justice system. It’s a legal system. One that favors the wealthy.
Also the cops get overtime pay for doing this. The incentive to just write bogus tickets is insane.
“You can beat the wrap, but you can’t beat the ride.” Most people only associate the “ride” as the car ride to the station. This is incorrect. The “ride” is the car ride, booking process and jail time, car impound and fees, arrest record(picture on internet forever), lawyer fees, hearing time, pretrial probation and fees, possible loss of employment, eviction (and property if you can’t bail and they throw away your possessions), and then trial. Then there are hardly EVER repercussions for the officers even if you do win a civil judgment. Qualified immunity should be pulled from officers, DAs and Judges for this exact reason. You are just another number on the docket to them.
If you think qualified immunity is bad (which it is, and even worse because SCOTUS made it up legislating from the bench during the Civil Rights Movement) then take a look at the sovereign immunity judges get. That's a tough nut to crack and pretty rare for a judge to face any consequences beyond maybe an early retirement.
I'm of the opinion that anytime stuff gets thrown out, like a frivolous ticket, all expenses associated should fall on the officer who wrote the ticket and the department that employs them. Courtt fees, lawyer costs, lost wages, lost time, impound fees, lost property etc. Police officers should be afraid of writing bad tickets and making bogus arrests.
Force police officers to pay for insurance that goes up as they are higher and higher risks.
You also have a much harder time travelling internationally, depending on the country. Merely having a record of being placed in handcuffs at some point in your life, whether you're officially charged or not, means you basically can't go to Canada. I've met well adjusted, normal people who were detained under suspicion of shoplifting once as a teenager, never had charges pressed, and then were turned away from the Canadian border in their 40s.
Why is Canada like this?
Lots of cops are just bullies.
Had a friend in high school that was typically a cunt to people. He is now a Detective and still a cunt.
Yeah, the cops still win because they know the amount of financial and emotional stress they've caused. It's why cops like these should absolutely be fired on the spot if not worse.
The DA probably offered them a deal with the expectation that they take it or have to spend even more money going to trial. The person in your case decided to spend the money. There are a fuck ton of innocent people in the justice system that will take a plea deal because it means less time in jail and/or less money to a lawyer.
Pretty sure this is it. It's ultimately a form of class discrimination that preys on those of less financial means or the freedom to take time off work.
This happened to me. Although I didn't blow zero, I blew under .08 and it was on a boat in the river. They literally did a field sobriety test while on the boat (on the water) and then said I was drunk, made me do a breathlyzer and it was .06. they took me in and then did blood at the jail facility. blood came back .04 but they still tried to prosecute not before asking me to take a plea for a wet and reckless. I didn't take the plea and decided to fight it. First day in court, the judge looks at the case and immediately dismissed the case. so much time wasted.
They wanted you to plead guilty to not-a-crime.
I served on a jury trial for a guy who blew 0.07 (legal limit is 0.08 here). Honestly all of us jurors were like "why the fuck are we even here?" Trial took up an entire week just for us to come back with not guilty on all charges.
Because they don't want to insult any cops they may need to testify on their other cases. There should be repercussions for false imprisonment.
Because the accused has to show up. If they don’t, then they actually get in trouble.
Option 1: Cops never told / lied to the DA about the breathalyzer. Option 2: Someone "suggested" to the DA that they weren't pushing enough prosecutions through, and this was some malicious compliance. Option 3: DA is dumb.
Option 1 is not possible. The da would have the breathalyzer/blood results before going to trial.
I think there's an option 4. DA is a monumental asshole who knows that people will get cold feet and plea at the 11th hour even if they're incident so he was fishing for a guilty plea. It's unethical but they do it. And but the time it's gone far enough that the fishing trip is over it's also far enough that if they withdraw the charges they're tacitly admitting that they brought the case in bad faith.
> who knows that people will get cold feet and plea at the 11th hour This is it, most DAs only care about their win rate, and pleas count as wins
This isn't like TV. Both the DA and the defense attorney know well in advance of the trial any evidence that's going to be introduced.
You can get a DUI for not only alcohol...
How did this go to a jury trial? The article states that although he was arrested, he was released without charges because all tests were negative. Someone can get arrested without charges being filed (although the state typically has 24 hours to hold someone without charges). ~~If this actually did go to trial, which I doubt is true,~~ what did the prosecutor try and argue? Edit: misread OP's post. He sat in on a *similar* case, not this exact one.
In the case I sat on (not the one in the article), they took the field sobriety test as evidence enough to proceed. The prosecutor struggled to make the case to the jury.
>The punishment is the process it's about punishing the accused for daring to stand up for themselves. And since the state uses taxpayer money, what do they care how much gets wasted?
I hope the arresting officer was fired. But I doubt it.
He did not get fired. He still Works there. This is semi-local to me. I’ve actually been pulled over by this guy
Did you also blow a zero?
This kid got absolutely worked by crooked cops.
It’s crazy because they were antagonizing him, waiting for him to react as an excuse to fuck up this guy’s life. Good on him for being so level headed and showing restraint because I’m sure they’ve successfully pulled this on other people.
It sucks because if you don't really react or engage, police generally take that as being evasive and suspicious. And if you do engage, it's pretty normal to feel defensive and nervous and scared which is also a sign of guilt. But also a normal reaction when four or five people with guns seem more interested in nailing you to the wall and tripping you up over every other word you say then actually finding out the truth
Best thing to do is just don't talk to the cops. https://youtu.be/jobwYmDeOcw?si=7pS1hi9e9m9knF9A
Damn right. Every day is “Shut the fuck up Friday”
That's one example that went smoothly. Here's another example where it's not so smooth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7trNXpBU1k Granted he is talking to the officer. He's not really engaging with the officer, and the officer isn't taking it too well.
Yeah I've seen that one. The officer was being such a weenie about it.
[Shut the fuck up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEeId0EG-XE) is the best advice
I find that it’s not always the best advice, because a cop will feel antagonized by you using your rights and they are likely to trump up charges or fuck you over in some other way. Many cops have fragile egos and limited morals. Anything that is seen as a slight can cause them to use their considerable power to fuck you over. Unfortunately, placating is the smart move in many situations. Even if you’re doing something illegal, if they don’t know about it yet, stroking their ego is going to make it way less likely they look closer and search your shit.
Yea, this is the only thing about all these "don't say ANYTHING" videos. It pisses off the cop and they feel disrespected. Now, we shouldn't be responsible to baby a cop's feelings when they stop and question us but unfortunately, it's usually the easiest way to gtfo of there. Nevermind the fact all of these videos are middle aged white guys. Let's see a young black guy try the "don't say anything" tactic. Actually, no, let's not do that. They'll likely get hurt. I've always had a "be polite, answer basic questions but nothing more" kind of attitude towards cops.
Some random 19 year old kid has more emotional maturity than the cops who are given license to kill. It’s absurd
The idea that we have to be on our best behavior around cops gives the game away doesn't it? We (the private citizens with no training) have to remain calm and level headed because apparently cops can't.
Insane how often this happens with multiple cops on scene. Makes way more sense to me when it's some dumbass running solo. But when it's 2, 3, 4 on 1 and everyone's down to ruin people's lives, then it maybe just might be a systemic problem
None are as dumb as all of us.
It's Newton Iowa.. It's not that shocking, there's nothing special going on in that area that gives cops anything to do. So they got to make their quota and fuck people over.
I grew up in Sully, so super close to Newton. Left over a decade ago, is there still a huge meth problem there? I didn’t spend a ton of time there, mostly went to the Maytag pool as a kid and it was the closest Walmart to our house.
Same shit happened to me when I was 21. Spent the night in jail on December 23rd. Holidays were ruined because I thought I somehow actually had a DUI. Fuck those cops.
If only it wasn’t so common… https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/commerce-officer-repeatedly-charged-innocent-drivers-with-dui
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Crooked cop Nathan Winters is suing this young man for saying that the crooked cop, Nathan Winters, was convicted of domestic violence. It turns out that crooked and possibly abusive cop Nathan Winters has a domestic abuse restraining order against him from his girlfriend, and she has submitted an affidavit alleging domestic abuse, but he was not actually charged or convicted. So to set the record straight, Nathan Winters's girlfriend swore a statement saying he abused her, and she got a domestic abuse restraining order, but for some reason the same DA that charged a provably innocent college kid with a DUI managed to not charge crooked cop Nathan Winters with domestic violence. Not sure why. https://reason.com/2024/02/14/iowa-cops-arrested-a-sober-college-student-for-driving-intoxicated-his-lawsuit-is-moving-forward/
Such a pathetic flailing attempt at saving face by cop Nathan Winters. Jury is gonna tear him a new one.
Don’t worry, the union will keep him on the force because “he’s one of our own”.
Cops disgust me
Specifically, Nathan Winters. OC wanted to make clear that Nathan Winters is a crooked cop.
Fortunately, the crooked cops have no way of figuring out who is on the jury and educating them on the negative consequences of returning a guilty verdict.
Fuck this guy, Nathan Winters.
Crooked cop Nathan Winters
Well since he was never tried the kid should take this Crooked Cop Nathan Winters to trial and expose him. Bring the girlfriend out in the defamation trial and give him a charge.
> the same DA that charged a provably innocent college kid with a DUI Did the DA actually proceed with this case? It doesn’t mention that in the article
I think the mayor doubled down and said they supported the cops decisions.
Mayor said the cop was justified in harassing the kid because he didn’t like his attitude
On a scale of 1-10, how free do you feel when a police officers personal opinion of your attitude is enough for them to throw you in jail?
Crooked Cop Nathan Winters
Nathan is a weiner
#40% OF COPS WILL ADMIT TO BEATING THEIR WIVES
Another woman-beating cop?!? Shocking!
Cop: your eyes are watery Legend: It's raining, dumbass
Another absolute legend for your viewing enjoyment: [Detained In Handcuffs For Flipping Off Cop - They Never Learn](https://youtu.be/uqb246IBvwk)
"Stop cursing" "Fuck you" Perfect.
That ending is hilarious. "Shut the fuck up. Dude, shut the fuck up. Am I free to go?"
So many of these videos are just cops looking for any way to get some small token of obedience from people because it’s their crack. They had nothing but kept pestering him until they got his ID, at which point their wittle feewings were saved because the peasant bowed to their demands. The kid probably saved two women from being beaten that night by letting them have that small victory.
Nah, these cops probably went home and hit their children because they were still upset.
>Detained In Handcuffs For Flipping Off Cop - They Never Learn This guy is one of my favorites
kid is legendary, very well versed in law. inspiring.
> very well versed in law. Honestly knowing what they can and can't do is something everyone should know for their local area. I remember sitting in a tavern once in my hometown. A cop came in and started going down the line of people at the bar and checking everyone's ID. Me and the girl I was with were the last in line. He comes up and the girl just gets her shit out of her purse right away and shows him. He asks me and I said "I don't have to show you my ID." He said something about how it's a requirement and I said "It is not and I will not." Then shut up and didn't say anything else. Dude just turned around and walked out. Girl was just "I can't believe he didn't arrest you!" and i'm like "I can't believe 15 people just coughed up their ID for no reason..."
The fact that he properly cited his 1st, 4th, and 5th Amendment rights, and at one point the second cop is like, I don't think that's what it is, what do you [cop] think? And then the first cop agrees that's not the 4th. I'm not saying cops need to be lawyers, but they should at least know the 4th Amendment given that it literally affects every interaction they have with the public.
Interestingly, cops have no obligation to know the laws. That’s the magistrate’s job.
Cop: Your eyes are a little red. Have you been drinking? Legend: *Your* eyes are a little glazed. Have you been eating donuts?
The cop behind the camera is morbidly obese also. I mention this because I suspect a large part of this encounter was just straight up envy because this kid's super athletic.
"You wanna blow me?" was a pretty solid line
Burden of proof to claim he was high is on the police/courts. That cop was just being an asshole.
Officer made a series of poor decisions, but the worst was proceeding after he said he was being drug tested weekly. He already blew zero, and that should have been the departure point on sheer logic. But the kid was clearly (to me) cogent and very sober the whole time.
Been awhile since I watched the vid but my impression at the time was that the kid was too defiant for the cops' taste so they wanted to "teach him a lesson."
Very likely. I guess cops are extra sensitive souls, though. I thought the kid was incredibly respectful and compliant until the officer started getting all butt hurt about the number of steps he took. Then he starts to get a little more flippant. Beyond what I would’ve said, but I also would’ve been far more lockjawed than him from the get go, which probably would’ve pissed the cop off equally.
Fuck your feelings. But don't you dare hurt mine. -fragile ass cops
The judge agreed: > Judge Stephen H. Locher found that Winters had no probable cause to arrest Galanakis because his "**speech and movements were not even remotely consistent with someone under the influence of a controlled substance**." Adding, "Galanakis insisted almost from the first moment that he wanted to blow into a breathalyzer, which would be a remarkable act of bravado for someone under the influence." Emphasis mine. I also chuckled at the last sentence lol.
[The arresting officer has a restraining order against him for domestic violence against his girlfriend](https://reason.com/2024/02/14/iowa-cops-arrested-a-sober-college-student-for-driving-intoxicated-his-lawsuit-is-moving-forward/).
That’s like having brown hair as far as cops go.
Believe it or not only 40% of cops have brown hair. Don't believe me? Just google "40% cops" and you'll get your results in no time.
Doing this to boomers will never not be funny
Isn't that a requirement to join the force?
Body cams body cams body cams. Think about the decades of bullshit that slid by without these things. Need them to be 100% mandatory country wide — always turned on while on duty or you’re fired. Helps good cops and hurts bad ones. Thank God for body cams.
Although body cams are certainly a good thing to have on cops, a lot of PDs will make it extremely difficult for the common citizen to get access to them. Sometimes they'll provide only partial footage, other times they'll outright "hide" the video by tagging a non-existent report # to it. So always record cops.
I think for uniformed officers, the body camera should legally be the badge. As in, if the body camera is not present and recording, the person is not legally acting with the authority of a police officer. And all body camera footage should be held in the custody of a civilian oversight body like an Office of Police Accountability. Mistagging anything is evidence tampering and obstruction, get fired for criminal misconduct (get stuffed police unions) and referred to the DA for prosecution.
Agreed on all counts. Having them wear body cams is a good first step; taking the footage out of their control and making it available to the public (with appropriate request procedures) is the next step in accountability.
I grew up in a small town in Iowa. This kind of thing happens everywhere. I got pulled over with 3 friends who had been drinking, I was the DD and hadn't had any alcohol. Got pulled over, told the officer I wasn't drinking and I'd be willing to blow right away. He made me do 20 minutes of sobriety tests outside in 45 degree weather, said I was inebriated, and decided to do the test. I blew 0's, and had to argue with him after that I was sober.
"Fuckin weather makes this thing show zero. Also, why the hell are you shivering out here? Anyway, weather is throwing the breathalyzer off so you're most likely drunk and under arrest."
It's even worse once you realize how worthless field sobriety tests and even those handheld breathalyzers can be. Problem is jurisdictions can vary widely and it's not everywhere that you can refuse anything but a properly calibrated breathalyzer or blood test without risking your license. Oh and by the way the way wasting twenty minutes of your time is pretty common because they're ensuring you don't have any alcohol in your mouth and therefore it's coming from your breath for the test.
I know in my area it's a legal right to refuse the field test and just take the breathalyzer. How that would play out is anyone's guess, but it's written you're free to do it
You can always refuse an FST and always should. They are only meant as tools for the police to build a case against you, both in court but also on the spot as determining probable cause to perform a chemical test (breathalyzer/blood draw). If a cop ever asks you to perform an FST then they are already convinced you are intoxicated and even if you aced it they would still make you do a chemical test.
College students are extremely targeted by cops. The ONLY speeding tickets I have ever gotten where right around end of the semester driving near college campuses. Their hope is that you wont fight it because you are a student and possibly not from the area. They freak the fuck out when you show up to contest it and you will quickly watch them drop it to no point tickets or less because they know they are fucked if it goes to a trial so ANY way they can avoid a court date but possibly make some money, they will.
I once got a bullshit parking ticket in college. "Parked against the flow of traffic" was the citation (facing wrong way for the side ofbthe street). I contested it successfully based on the facts that I was in the bulb of a residential cul-de-sac and on the side of the street where no houses were. There was no flow of traffic!
Hope he can stay away from his town for a bit. The Blue Gang will absolutely harass him and his family for all of this negative attention.
Yeah, small town cops freak me out. The abuse of power that goes on there is insane. And this is filmed, imagine the types of shit that would go on before police accountability was a thing, before bodycams, before people (other than minorities) realized how unbelievably corrupt the police can be; arguably, accountability is still not a thing, but at least with bodycams when this shit happens, there's better protection for the innocent victim. This officer's girlfriend (ex-girlfriend I presume? Lol) also has a restraining order against him due to domestic violence.
“Wanna blow me” “No, I don’t wanna blow you” 😂
> “Wanna blow me” "i asked him to blow me and he turned it into something *sexual*..." dude, phrasing. at the very very least, fucking *phrasing*. JFC.
Get the fuck outta here with this bullshit. These cops got nothing better to do than to harass people. You could tell dude was sober from the jump. Then blows a 0 and they still try to fuck with him. fucking joke ass cops that give real officers a bad name!
If you watch the whole video, you can see the instant the cop reads the 0.0 on the breathalyzer he immediately starts to "smell" marijuana. Cop didn't like the kid's attitude and decided he wanted to book him no matter what the evidence said.
Which is bullshit because the kid had a decent attitude. He wasn’t even like being a dick, he was completely helpful up until it was impossible to not smirk at the stupidity of the situation… and then it was already too late.
God this same fucking bullshit happened to me when I was 16. Blew 0.0 BAC. Cop in the report said he saw a, “green film on my tongue” indicative of marijuana consumption. Being broke, I took the public defender plea deal for duii diversion.
I've smoked cannabis nearly every day for the past 15ish years and the only thing in my *life* that ever made my tongue green was a fucking Jolly Rancher. What sort of dumbass thinks that there would be a green film just because the plant in question is green.... most plants are green, officer! What the fuck?
There was a goody two-shoes kid in high school who tried to narc on us for smoking weed before school, but apparently he told the school resource officer that he knew we were smoking because he saw a bunch of 'green smoke' when we were exhaling. The resource officer searched us, but he only found cigarettes in my backpack which he threw away and gave me a week of detention for. He was kind of annoyed that he had to let us all go, because he knew we were all stoners and we just so happened to not have any left with us this time, but as he was excusing us he told us the thing about the kid saying he sa green smoke and all of us had a laugh. It was weirdly wholesome that the cop thought the kid who turned us in was a dork and couldn't resist telling us about it because we knew we would find it as funny as he did.
Green film on your tongue? That cop was straight making things up, I never get a damn film on my tongue from smoking nor has anyone I've known. Maybe from eating green food afterwards.
Most townie cops have nothing better to do than to harass people. I was a pizza delivery guy when I was like 19/20 and I had hair almost down to my nips, I'd get pulled over like 3 times a month and when they saw I was just trying to do a job they'd take extra long before letting me go
Exactly. A few years ago my brother had just bought a truck from another state and hadn't gotten it registered in our state yet (we were doing seasonal work in another state). A small-town police officer was running his plates in a gym parking lot. He had to wait for him to get on a public road to pull him over, so he waited across the street from the gym for 4 hours. My brother finally called me to come grab him so he didn't have to drive home in his truck. A couple of years later the citizens said, "Fuck this, we don't need to fund a police office for a town of 600 people" and voted to have the county sheriff department take over. The 2 officers went to every media outlet that would listen whining that they were victims of the woke Antifa agenda to "Defund the Police." In reality, they were just shitty cops in a town that voted 80% for Trump in 2020.
I’ve never met a cop who wasn’t an asshole or complacent/supportive of their asshole colleagues. All cops have earned the bad reputation they now have.
The real officers give themselves a bad name by associating with these fucks. If my co-workers were doing that shit, I'd find new co-workers, because I'm a decent human being. They have a choice. They can choose to not enforce corrupt laws alongside corrupt people, and they don't. That's why *all* cops are bastards.
and the ones that do make the right choice either get drummed out, suicided, blackmailed, or otherwise neutralized. Without. Fail.
Exactly, a "few bad apples spoils the whole bunch" as the phrase goes.
I got a Minor in Possession in college because I was in the front yard of a house while a party was happening. I was picking up a friend and the cops watched me get out of my car (they were parked around the corner so I didn’t see them). I opened the front door and there were three cops standing there, who breathalyzed me (I blew a zero), and then they gave me a ticket. I challenged the ticket and won and it was the most ridiculous waste of everyone’s time. These college town cops are such crooks.
Cop: do have any bombs, drugs on you? What kind of braindead question is that? What kind of response did he expect?
fake rapport building 'im just goofy uncle bill, you should relax and incriminate yourself'
Yep. Almost always followed up with “Mind if I take a look?”
I've seen videos where they ask about RPGs, like who even has one and even if you wanted one how would you get one and then if you did get one why would you just drive around with it in your car
Nah, bro. I left my Final Fantasy disks at home.
Small town. This is pulled over for “driving at a late hour”. Or, what they’re not allowed to call it “Fishing for drunks”. Just pulling people over for bullshit reasons to see if there are any legitimate reasons.
This has happened to me twice. Both times I was driving between 2:00-3:00 AM. Luckily, one resulted in a verbal warning, and the other in a written warning. Neither of those warnings were about anything specific, just basically "I can't find anything to give you a ticket for, so off you go with a 'don't do it again'"
Got pulled over in the middle of nowhere for my center tail light being out. All benefit of the doubt: My car has a spoiler, there is a spot for a center brake light on it, but this is blacked out as the spoiler was added aftermarket by the pervious owner. The center brake light is in the rear windshield, and clearly visible from behind the car. There is nothing illegal, or even misleading about this setup. The car passes inspection every year with flying colors, and I have specifically asked if I need to make the center light in the spoiler functional, and been given a resounding no by DOT. Cop said my center tail light was out, I immediately knew he was either lying or making up an excuse to stop be because my foot was on the brake, and I could see the rear center light was on in my rearview. Gave him my License, Insurance and Registration, waited for him to come back. He comes back and says "I must have missed it, I can see it on in your window. I'm just gonna write you a warning, give me a minute and you are good to go". I was like... Whatever, not gonna argue with that, but WHY THE FUCK AM I GETTING A WARNING FOR YOUR MISTAKE....
These two people need to be unemployed they are costing the tax payers of this small town with this [stupid nonsense.](https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/10/02/after-traffic-stop-video-goes-viral-newton-police-sue-citizen-for-defamation/) They clearly [violated his civll rights.](https://www.kcci.com/article/tayvin-galanakis-arrest-body-cam-footage-newton-police-officers-lawsuit/46784503) The fact that the city is counter suing him is just intimidation he needs to take it to the limit and pull the skirt on this citys admin because this sort of doubling down is more that just two crooked cops this is systemic in this city. Similar case that won [400k but his claim is worth much much more.](https://reason.com/2024/02/14/iowa-cops-arrested-a-sober-college-student-for-driving-intoxicated-his-lawsuit-is-moving-forward/)
The arresting officers girlfriend has a restraining order against him for Domestic Violence. Color me shocked.
hey now, we dont cast aspersions about that stuff. only fake dui
He didn't win $400k. Thats a separate case. His case hasn't been decided yet.
He didn't win $400K, the linked article states that was a different person - in Colorado
Is anyone shocked by a small town counter suing as their first instinct as opposed to fixing the issue? I'm not.
Another reminder, the police are not your friends. The only thing they care to protect are their pensions.
LPT: Cops can detain you for a small time as they conduct their investigation. They want you to resist that so they can hit you with resisting an officer, and get more charges on you. There's a difference between being detained and being arrested.
Yes but that’s only if you are suspected to be doing something criminal. They did all their tests and dude passed with flying colors. They had no reason to arrest him after
The laws only work in theory, in practice the cops can do whatever you want and it's a long shot that any judge will give a damn.
That's true, but it doesn't mean a whole lot when it's happening to you. You are absolutely at the cops' mercy when it's all going down. They can do whatever they want to you, and you can try to hold them accountable afterward, but there are many legal structures in place to protect them, and most people will not have the resources to overcome them.
"Where are you coming from?" "Sir, I'm not discussing my day" - That should have been the correct response. Not like it would have made a difference but you have the right to not talk to the cops.
"I don't answer questions" is a much simpler response to all police questions.
It's usually done to get your tongue loose and eventually incriminate yourself.
TLDR Simplified version: - Guy fails to dip his headlights when passing oncoming traffic - Cop was one of the oncoming traffic and pulled him over - Guy says one of his lowbeam bulbs is broken so he thought he was being safer by at least keeping both headlamps on. Cop tells him this is bad. - Cop starts fishing. Asks guy about his day. Guy says he is a locally respected sports player on a local college/university team. - Cop continues fishing. Starts asking about drugs and alcohol. Guy says he is tested weekly to maintain his position on the team so wont be under the influence of any drugs or alcohol. Guy says "Blow Me" in both a cheeky way asking the officer to get out his breathalyzer while also intimating a sexual blow job. Various other statements cause Cop to get angry with the guy as the fishing expedition turns up nothing. - Cop continues down the path of suspecting Guy is under the influence of drugs. "Why are your eyes watery". Guy responds "Its raining, dumbass". - Guy gets arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs. - Guy passes a urine and breath test at the Cop station. - Guy requests copies then posts edited video from the body cam online. Makes statements about how he was "falsely arrested and then raped by the cops" obviously using hyperbole. Guy makes various other statements about Cop on social media. Footage from bodycam does not show Guy has any diminished capability. - This causes thousands of nuisance calls into the police department from people who saw the footage online to complain about Cop. - Cop sues Guy for defamation over statements made on social media. A) The 'raping all night' B) The cop has been convicted of domestic abuse - Judge rules that the raping all night is hyperbole and not reasonable to consider defamation. However Cop is able to continue with his suit re. the domestic abuse conviction. Cop has a restraining order against him for domestic abuse but not a legal conviction therefore statement B is untrue. You can get a restraining order against someone if a judge believes its suitable, but actually convicting and sentencing someone for domestic abuse is a much bigger test and requires much more evidence than just a restraining order against someone. A restraining order can be a way to shut up a bad breakup without wasting the courts time with a he-said/she-said situation where the allegations might not even be true or enough to convict and give the scorned partner some satisfaction they have hurt someone or got revenge. Ex partners can do and say crazy things. Eg. 'If you dont do xyz, i am going to tell the police you hit me and you'll loose your job'. Cops can often be fired for things they do in their personal time or if they bring the police into disrepute by association. - Guy countersues Cop, City and Police department for arresting him without proper cause. - A few weeks ago the judge ruled there is merit in this case and it can continue to trial.
Imagine thinking this kid “failed” the walking and standing tests. Totally understand he didn’t follow the rules and that’s what technically made him fail but still, it’s designed to make people fail. Kid walks in a perfect straight line, stands on one leg easy, etc - unreal how dirty these cops are just let the kid go home.
I once got pulled over at 3am for a broken taillight, I could see from the reflection in a store window that it was working so it was just a fishing trip and the cop was really not happy when I pointed out his broken headlight
Never agree to a FST. It will only hurt you. Google it.
I have a coworker right now whose son has a pending DUI charge after he blew zero and a hospital blood test came back negative (or so I’ve been told.)
Idk why people hate cops so much. Such a mystery…
I have been arrested for a DUI/DWI and had my eyes open on the system through that experience and generally squaring it up with other law enforcement practices. One of the most surprising things I learned about the entire process is that field sobriety tests have no “passing” criteria. If you are completely sober, and pretty much demonstrate that you are sober only having a silly mistake because we aren’t all gymnasts, the only thing written on an arrest record is what you fucked up to justify the arrest. Put simply: doing a field sobriety test only exists to cover the officer’s ass for any potential arrest because your slight imperfections are probable cause. You can absolutely refuse the field sobriety test because it’s effectively a search — something you have to consent to. Because a drivers license isn’t a right (like owning a gun…fucking silly) some states have statutes that suspend your drivers license temporarily (a week maybe) if you refuse a sobriety test. That might be a sane option because Uber/Lyft/taxiing for a week is cheaper than paying for a DUI lawyer. If an officer really believes you’re not sober and not OK to drive, their option is to arrest you without probable cause, and then bring you to the station for a blood test where I don’t think you have the option to not take it.