19-year-old Brett Darrow has a history of run-ins with the police. He was once assaulted by a drunk off-duty police officer, arrested, cleared and subsequently paid a settlement by St. Louis County. Darrow keeps a police scanner and video camera with a relay to a secure source in his car. He has captured some interesting encounters with police on his mobile system.
In the first video below, Darrow is stopped at a Saint George, MO police drunk-driving road block. He lawfully asserts his Fourth Amendment right not to discuss his personal travel business with a police officer. His car is searched illegally and he is detained until he informs the police that he has videotaped the stop. There are long audio blanks in this video (a time marked transcript is here). Darrow is cool under pressure and does nothing other than assert his legal right to refuse to disclose to the state his personal plans for the evening. Nonetheless, I suspect that some right wing Daddy staters who deplore the left wing nanny state will blame Darrow for the illegal search conducted by police officers in this video. But all Darrow did was refuse to provide the police with information to which the state has absolutely no right.
In the next video below (the audio on this one is much better -- transcript here), Darrow pulls into a commuter parking lot which is empty except for a Saint George, MO police car. Saint George P.D. Sgt. James Kuehnlein asserts that he is investigating Darrow as a suspicious person who might be planning to break into cars even though Darrow drove right by the police officer into an empty lot where he remained in view of the officer. Kuehnlein also accuses Darrow of driving erratically and failing to use his turn signal. The video plainly shows that Darrow used his turn signal.
It is clear that Darrow doesn't like being interrogated by police when he hasn't committed a crime. Kuehnlein repeatedly threatens to bring false charges against Darrow because of Darrow's attitude. Once again, Darrow is probably spared an arrest after revealing his secure source video system.
Many people on the political right complain loudly about hate crime laws that "criminalize bad thoughts" about minorities, even though they are conspicuously quiet (or apologists) when it comes to arrests on false charges stemming from presumed bad thoughts about government goons with badges. The underlying consistency behind such apparent hypocrisy is defensive identification with the aggressor -- the sine qua non of the authoritarian character. I hasten to add that authoritarian leftists are probably just as plentiful as right wing authoritarians. Human beings just aren't very good with power.
Brett Darrow should hook up with QVC or HSN and start hawking a Cop Buster Vehicle Kit. The bumper sticker might prevent some manic lawman from getting too frisky during a traffic stop.
Professional courtesy is the technique lawmen use for immunity from traffic citations which they announce with decals and license plate frame emblems, and when all else fails they only have to flash the badge, so citizens can achieve some peace of mind with a "DARROW EQUIPPED VEHICLE" sticker.
Until such time all motorists should take the precaution of handheld video cams or audio recording gadgets which are easily concealed. A citizen can never be too safe when you consider the following comment from those wise men in black.
"This year saw, for the first time ever, a United States Supreme Court opinion in which four justices of the Court opined that some citizens might well be justified in their belief that fleeing from an approaching police officer may be the best thing to do, whether innocent or guilty".
Posted by: Cop Watcher | October 12, 2007 at 03:19 PM
It would be easy to get the impression the OFFICERS OF THE LAW at the DUI checkpoint are exhibiting a lawless mob mentality. You only have to listen to the first few minutes of the audio, until the point when the laughing goon commandeers the vehicle (K-9s roaring in the background) and chuckles over the fact he can't drive a stick.
(free association time)
STICK!
ABNER LOUIMA !
"The arresting officers beat Louima with their fists, nightsticks, and hand-held police radios on the ride to the station. On arriving at the station house, he was strip-searched and put in a holding cell. The beating continued later, culminating with Louima being raped in a bathroom at the 70th Precinct station house in Brooklyn. Officer Justin Volpe kicked Louima in the groin, then, while Louima's hands were cuffed behind his back, sodomized him with a plunger, causing severe internal damage to his colon and bladder that required several operations to repair. Volpe then walked through the precinct holding the bloody, excrement-stained instrument in his hand, indicating that he had "broke a man down."
Brett Darrow obviously doesn't realize how fortunate he really was.
Posted by: Cop Watcher | October 12, 2007 at 03:49 PM