Can you say lawsuit time...

[Sheldon]

Baptist Pastor Beaten and Tazed by DHS!!

Talk about excessive use and abuse of power, sounds like Orleans all over again.


The TV story...

CBS Chanel 5 news story

Further looking brought up this one too, but this makes it look like he just goes out looking for issues to get beat up by....

Past Altercations

So I guess this kind of boils down to "Seek and Ye shall find" trouble that is....

thoughts anyone....

[Mr. Vegas]

to me it doesn't seem like an abuse of power when they act as they do...the problem is that they have the idea implanted in their brain somewhere along the lines of training that they in fact DO have the power and authority to treat Americans with whatever force and disreguard of rights (and the constitution) as they see fit. My point is that this comes down from their superiors, they are taught to be this way...that in its self is the scary part.

The lines of criminals and regular law abiding citizens have been blurred or erased in their mind so in a way we the public are to be considered a threat to their authority. Just another moment to mark the path in which we are traveling towards socialism...turn the police into a private sector military, beat the public into submission, impose your evil will as you wish....this will not last forever.....people will revolt eventually..this may work in other contries but the will of the AMERICAN public is too strong and won't be broken, it's gonna come to the people to save this country, not the government...

[prive005]

Its funny, you watch the first 2 videos and you almost feel bad for the guy, but after watching the last one its as if he drove to this checkpoint looking for a confrontation. I tell you what, it would be interesting to see how the guy acted with the border patrol. While no innocent person deserves the treatment he got, it seems like he got the confrontation he wanted.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by prive005

Its funny, you watch the first 2 videos and you almost feel bad for the guy, but after watching the last one its as if he drove to this checkpoint looking for a confrontation. I tell you what, it would be interesting to see how the guy acted with the border patrol. While no innocent person deserves the treatment he got, it seems like he got the confrontation he wanted.

I felt the same way. After watching the last, I no longer felt as sorry for him. That's the downside to having a confrontation with Law Enforcement - you usually lose, and it usually hurts.

[prive005]

No one deserves that kind of harassment on the job that that guy did, especially to cops who have it rough as is. If that guy came into my occupation with an attitude like that, i woulda def had a few choice words and actions for him.

[festus]

Here is the situation. I would hope and pray that out Police would be smarter than that. You run into abrasive personalities every single day. The Border patrol agents do overstep their bounds and abuse their power on a regular basis. I can remember being grilled for 15 minutes about whether or not my kids were actually mine in NM in the 1990's. They need to be put on a shorter leash. This guy, "the Pastor", obviously gets off on pushing cops buttons. He did not deserve the beating or the tasing or the cuts. He did deserve due process. In this situation he pretty much stood on his 4th amendment right. This seemed to piss off the Border patrol guys and they called in the State Patrol to handle jurisdiction they did not have. I promise you that Border patrol briefed the Troopers with exactly what they needed to hear to piss them off too. Rather than coming into this with a clear head they played right into the desires of the Border patrol to beat the crap out of this guy because he pissed them off. Cops have other cops backs. This is not a good situation for Border Patrol, The State Troopers or the guy who was beaten. It erodes the credibility of the officers in future cases, It Makes the State Troopers look like gorillas, and it gives a huge black eye to pastors.

This is a lose lose lose situation. Yes, He may get a huge settlement...but he also sort of had it coming. It is uncalled for for the officers to beat and taser him and drop him on his face in the broken glass. That is a serious LACK OF JUDGEMENT on the part of all LEOs involved. He did have a 4th amendment right to say no to a search without a warrant no matter how big of a pain in the neck he is being to the LEOs involved. As professionals, I would hope that the standards run just a tad higher than that. They should never have let this guy get under their skin.

[Sheldon]

Originally Posted by festus

This is a lose lose lose situation. Yes, He may get a huge settlement...but he also sort of had it coming. It is uncalled for for the officers to beat and taser him and drop him on his face in the broken glass. That is a serious LACK OF JUDGEMENT on the part of all LEOs involved. He did have a 4th amendment right to say no to a search without a warrant no matter how big of a pain in the neck he is being to the LEOs involved. As professionals, I would hope that the standards run just a tad higher than that. They should never have let this guy get under their skin.

But did he.. he offered no resistance, he complied with every order given him by a legal authority, this is kind of reminiscent of Janet Reno and Waco Texas on a much smaller scale....

If this is allowed to happen regardless of how big of a bozo he may have been they did seriously overstep and abuse their power and this needs to be addressed before they start random searches in every state under the guise of boarder Search... which he was over 100 miles from at the time... and wishing to assert your constitutional 4th amendment protection is not grounds for this kind of abuse

Who ever instigated this abuse needs to have their rear kicked in court prosecuted, and fired POST HASTE.....

[Scarecrow]

ok yeah.. after seeing the 3rd video you can really see what a D'bag that guy is.. he is obviously going around looking for trouble. he is not respectful at all in his dealings with these people who are trying to protect and serve. I'd be getting him for harrassment.

[utimmer43]

Nah, the 3rd video doesn't change anything for me. He was well within his rights and not out of line in any of the encounters on the 3rd video.

This is purely my speculation, but it seems to me like this is a checkpoint that he frequently passes through. The first few times he probably just answered their questions. But at some point he got tired of hearing "your papers, please?" So now he doesn't do anything that he is not legally obligated to do.

I say good for him to stand his ground and not submit to unreasonable search or questioning. Sometimes we need to take a face beating here and there to bring attention to infringements to our God given rights.

[Austin]

As a LEO I must say that we dont have to go hand-to-hand with you (think walker texas ranger) we are allowed by law to go one "force level" higher than the other person to "control and defend"

That said, I am not the gestapo! I do not like to hurt people. But nor do I like to be hurt when I am trying to do my job.

Before I get flamed on let me say this. I did not watch the video and am defending nobodies actions. But I do get a little upset when people automatically get on their kick about how cops are evil stormtrooper nazis whenever they get a chance. To those of you that feel this way do us all a favor, next time you need help call a crackhead not the cops.

Again, I did not watch the video and am defending nobodies actions. Nor am I going to come back to this post to get into a juvenile internet argument. Afterall arguing on the internet is like running in the special olympics, even if you win you are still retarded.

Ok, Flame on i guess.