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Body Camera Once Again Catches an NYPD Officer Planting Drugs in Someone's Car
- yardie 7y agoDon’t consent to a search, ever. Even if they say they have probable cause. Even if you actually did what they accuse you of. A good attorney may be able to get the evidence tossed from an unconstitutional search. But the best attorney can’t get anything done if you consent. And if you allow a search and they plant evidence you’re really pushing a rock up a hill.
- keanzu 7y agoIf anyone reads the parent here and doesn't agree then watch "You Have the Right to Remain Innocent" by James Duane. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FENubmZGj8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FENubmZGj8
- wkimeria 7y agoIf you are black, and you don't consent to a search, you are probably getting arrested for "resisting arrest" (I've had it happen to a friend). It's a lose-lose situation.
- everfree 7y agoThey can decide to arrest you for resisting arrest?
- ebg13 7y agoThey can decide to murder you for allegedly resisting arrest. The list of people killed by police for no reason without anything happening to the cop is not short enough.
- yardie 7y agoI've had friends consent to a search to avoid a $120 speeding ticket. I've also had a friend consent to a search. They found a seed of marijuana in his backseat (probably left behind by another friend). And used that as evidence to hit them for further charges.
- beatgammit 7y agoHonestly, if I was black, I would just lay down with my hands behind my back anytime I was asked to be searched and never consent. It's certainly a rights violation, but I'd rather fight an illegal search/seizure case than a resisting arrest case. If they want to arrest you, they will, and I'd rather make that as easy as possible. However, since I'm white and relatively well off, I'll try my chances with talking my way out of the search.
- heavenlyblue 7y agoThey will simply beat you while shouting "STOP RESISTING ARREST"; do you really think it's that simple?
- 0xdeadb00f 7y ago> I would just lay down with my hands behind my back anytime I was asked to be searched and never consent. You uh... Really think that's gonna work? At all?
- gibybo 7y agoOut of curiosity, how would you prove you didn't give consent? Can't the cop just say you did?
- yardie 7y agoThey can certainly say you consented. But most likely it's going to get recorded. If it's not recorded and the LEO had a body cam the DA, judge, and potential jury are going to start questioning the LEO why. That takes the heat off the defendant and puts the entire case into question.
- jMyles 7y ago> The video the NYPD kept hidden from the public shows officers removing Jason Serrano from the car, ignoring his warnings that he had just been stitched up after being stabbed in the stomach. The cops decided Serrano's reluctance was an invitation to throw him on the ground and reopen his wound. Once they were done brutalizing Serrano, they decided this might pose less of a problem for them if they came up with something they could bust him for. > As Serrano curls up on the sidewalk, bleeding from his wound, and as more officers and bystanders gather on the scene waiting for an ambulance, Pastran searches Serrano’s jacket. “We gotta find something,” Erickson tells him. [...] Erickson again returns to the car and continues to meticulously search it, while Pastran briefs a supervisor who has arrived on the scene. Erickson then appears to place something in the car’s drink holder, before opening the front seat’s console and a small toiletry box. Erickson then says “I smell a little weed” just as he appears to pick up and move the little bud he seemed to have dropped in the drink holder moments earlier. Erickson then searches the back of the car, and when Pastran approaches, the two exchange a charged look as Erickson tells Pastran “I see nothing. … You know what I mean?” He then returns to search the front seat area for a third time, this time dropping a larger bud in the drink holder and saying, “There’s a little bit of weed.” > That's the end result of the NYPD's internal investigation deciding two years ago that planting evidence was no big deal. The cop went back out on the street with a partner who enabled evidence-planting. Serrano didn't spend two weeks in jail but he did spend five days handcuffed to a hospital bed. He pled guilty to the resisting arrest charge, even though it was a blatantly bogus arrest. As I usually ask in these sorts of threads: what are we going to do about this? Many police officers seem to have just the right combination of poor incentives, mental illness, and power-drunkenness sufficient to result in wanton lying, lawlessness, and victimization. This is not a situation compatible with a society in which thoughtful, calm, mature innovation unto a pursuit of happiness can occur. So what's the plan? How can we approach this with an adult disposition and put an end to this bizarre experiment of giving the state unchecked power?
- viburnum 7y agoThe police almost only abuse very poor people. Eliminating poverty with redistribution and active labor market policies would mean fewer targets. Better housing and land use policies would help by allowing people to live in mixed communities rather than concentrating poor people into ghettos. Making policing an easier job would attract less problematic people. Hiring a lot more cops and banning guns would greatly reduce the stress cops are under. The cops in prosperous, egalitarian places are generally pretty chill, so the idea is to recreate those conditions.
- alloutblitz85 7y agoThe cops are still in patrol. Wow.
- aaomidi 7y agoDuring an outbreak why the fuck are we still dealing with drug crimes?
- squarefoot 7y agoCreating criminals is necessary to keep prisons crowded and the associated businesses going. Just like hotels.
- aaomidi 7y agoMaybe its time to kill these businesses?
- legitster 7y agoThe actual arrest was from 2 years ago.
- didgeoridoo 7y agoHow on earth is the on/off switch for the body camera under the officer’s control?
- grugagag 7y agoThey have their own privacy i guess. Camera can’t record all the time, what if they’re on the toilet? But camera works both for and against cops
- Teever 7y agoThe privacy button should turn the recording off for 10-15 minutes and automatically send an alert that this has happened. The alert should trigger the footage from before and after the button press to be sent to 3rd party who evaluates it for potential abuse. Any evidence produced during a button press is default inadmissible and the law enforcement officer is assumed to be unreliable in this situation by default.
- drhodes 7y agoor the privacy button could encrypt the video stream instead of shutting it off.
- cameldrv 7y agoThis. Store the private key in a sealed envelope somewhere where only a judge can get it. If they push the privacy button and the timeframe is shown to be relevant to a case, it gets decrypted.
- RHSeeger 7y agoThis is the same type of argument made by people that say the government should have the keys to all encryption. The standard response is that, if there is a key and the government has it, it will get out and then all those things that were recorded are now open to the public. Not wanting to be filmed whiled going to the restroom seems reasonable.
- stingrae 7y agoWhy isn't it standard for all body cam footage of an arrest to automatically be entered as evidence? It seems like even for a judge to accept a plea deal, they should be forced to see the footage. Someone should be catching things as clear as this.
- SN76477 7y agoThey refuse to speak bad about one another. That includes whistleblowing.
- Natsu 7y agoI agree with this. I really feel like we have to start taking measures to force accountability at all levels on those who hold the public trust. In related news, "losing" the camera footage should cause everyone in charge of the system to be put on leave while outside people investigate why it was "lost."
- lez 7y agoCitizens of US are in the exceptional position that they can actually force things - as gun is legally owned. Other countries are not so lucky if such things occur - they just wait for the next election and hope for the best...
- krapp 7y ago>Citizens of US are in the exceptional position that they can actually force things - as gun is legally owned. >Other countries are not so lucky if such things occur - they just wait for the next election and hope for the best... Are you implying that armed revolutions don't occur in other countries, or that such a revolution would actually be legal in the US because the guns are legally owned? If so, you would be wrong on both counts. The only thing the Second Amendment buys Americans who want to "force change" is the convenience of not needing to procure arms through a black market, as other countries do. The "politics by other means" part, though, is illegal everywhere. In that sense, American citizens aren't in that exceptional a position as anywhere else.
- geofft 7y agoIsn't it strange how we never had this many problems with bad cops before the invention of body cameras? It's a pity that the upright and moral institution of policing in the US, from its noble origins in runaway slave patrols, has been suddenly and inexplicably corrupted of late.
- gchamonlive 7y agoYou assume there wasn't problems before, because none was being brought to public attention. You also assume there has been an increase in corruption because there is an increase in problems, as you say it. You are linking two separate issues through correlation and implying causation, which is a fallacy.
- yutyut 7y agoI believe they were being facetious.
- yellowapple 7y agoI'm reasonably sure that comment was dripping with sarcasm.
- _bxg1 7y agoThat's the joke, bud
- TrumpMyGuns 7y agoHahahahaha
- wkimeria 7y agoThis made me lol! I'm black, I've had my share of "random" unfair and plain scary interactions with police, but until people actually begun seeing the proof I would always get variations of "A cop would not behave that way, you must have been doing something" from acquaintances (almost always white).
- throwaway17_17 7y ago
- forkexec 7y agoConsider: - how many people don't vote because it's a rigged sham that's setup to benefit the Property party, not the people - how poor and how close to homelessness most average people are - how corrupt and unaccountable the police are - the nation with the highest incarceration rate except Seychelles, for-profit prisons, and the legal slavery loophole exploited by corporations - a nation without a viable healthcare or mental healthcare system - a nation that gives public commons and public services over to for-profit corporations The revolution is that much closer because the US has been gradually becoming a banana republic failed state for at least 50 years, if not 70.
- mirimir 7y agoYes, I've been saying all that, for decades. Not that it's ever accomplished anything. So now I basically focus on passive resistance.
- webninja 7y ago“How many people don't vote because it's a rigged sham that's setup to benefit the Property party, not the people” If you don’t vote, you don’t have a say.
- djaque 7y agoThis reads like some sort of dark comedy. These police officers plant drugs on the poor guy's car, they then take him out. He wasn't even the driver BTW. Because he asks them to be careful of his recently stitched up stab wound the officers decide to toss him on the ground breaking open his stitches and causing him medical problems. Then, they hold him for two weeks because of course he can't pay bail. When it comes to light that the officers planted the evidence... mind you, not because the department handed over the footage, but because a non-profit got their hands on it... the case gets dropped. The officers walk away with no punishment and the man got nothing for the two weeks he had to spend with ouy of a job and for his new medical expenses. Is there a way to just start over when it comes to policing in America? Stories like these make me think that our problems are so deeply rooted that this is the only way to resolve them.
- random314 7y agoYou forgot the major hit. The defendant pled guilty to possessing drugs and wont be able to find employment because of a criminal record.
- mirimir 7y agoHuh. So doesn't that get reversed, once it's clear that the cops planted drugs on him? Or what, does he get charged with perjury over his plea bargain?
- ianferrel 7y agoHe pled guilty to resisting arrest. I agree with the general point, though.
- abhorrence 7y agoI wonder if there’s any recourse on the count of resisting arrest. It seems reasonable that someone being framed by the cops might resist arrest.
- 7y ago
- gryzzly 7y agoRussia and the US are so similar actually.
- mirimir 7y agoI've always thought so. But the US does a far better job re appearances, and has far better propaganda.
- dntbnmpls 7y agoMakes you wonder how many people are in jail or have criminal records because of corrupt cops. If a cop plants drugs/evidence on you, how do you fight the charge without video proof? Especially if another cop or the cop's partner backs up the "planter"? People programmed to trust cops, so your word vs 2+ cops would mean nothing. You are entirely at the mercy of corrupt cops, corrupt prosecutors, corrupt system. Lets be honest here, most of us here would take the cops' side without the video proof. Essentially, your best bet is to plead guilty to lesser charges. But your criminal record will be an albatross around your neck and ruin your life.
- omegaworks 7y agoYes, and jails are about to become (if they haven't already) massively burdened by the COVID outbreak. Over-policing and mass-incarceration in America are about to produce a massive, preventable loss of life.
- mirimir 7y agoWow. Didn't think of that. Jails will be like nursing homes, albeit with generally younger populations.
- dragonwriter 7y agoSome (probably inadequate) steps are being taken to mitigate the magnitude of that problem. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51947802 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51947802
- mirimir 7y agoLots of people are/do, I bet. > But your criminal record will be an albatross around your neck and ruin your life. It rather limits one to criminal careers.
- maest 7y agoThe post on r/protectandserve got immediately locked: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtectAndServe/comments/fl57x6/nypd_officer_caught_apparently_planting_marijuana/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtectAndServe/comments/fl57x6/nyp...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- yellowapple 7y agoNot only locked, but locked for a rule that the poster didn't actually violate, as anyone could verify by scrolling down by two comments.
- notRobot 7y agoTry r/bad_cop_no_donut
- maest 7y agoThe responses there are predictable and uninteresting. I'm much more interested to see how a cop subreddit responds to this.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- caseysoftware 7y agoI hope every case this officer has ever been involved in gets re-examined. Any defense attorney worth anything should raise hell over it.
- l0b0 7y agoThis is the sort of poisonous waters where basically anything this officer has ever said as part of their job should be instantly discounted. Anyone convicted based solely on the testimony of this officer should be released, their record stricken, and they should be well compensated for what must be assumed to be false evidence.
- rolltiide 7y agoso of all those minorities you see pulled over on the curb, 90% of them were just being arbitrarily frisked and had nothing on them and were not arrested, but you wouldn't know the difference, some of the other 10% had drugs planted on them, and many of those weren't their first random stop the other validation of all those arrests and prison population records, many of them simply took the plea deal or violated parole where anything from any minor infraction to exercising a freedom you already have such as staying out after a certain hour imprisons them for the original length of the sentence the other validation is all the violent crime stats, which comes from communities demanding certain areas are policed, based on the images of 90% non-arrests already burned into their mind all while all the minorities have been trying to say this is exactly what has been happening while the majority power remains in actual and intentional denial, now relying solely on an unquantifiable comfort that this is statistically rare, because it has to be, .... right?
- whoisjuan 7y agoSo the article is just going to dismiss the fact that he was targeting specifically Afro-Americans? Not only he was setting people up, but he was specifically setting up black people. So fucked up.
- ken 7y agoIn all the TV shows I've ever seen featuring police as protagonists, I believe 100% of them show police corruption as part of standard procedure. And it's gotten far, far worse over the years. Dick Wolf's "Law & Order" (1990) sometimes had rather subtle corruption, while his "Chicago P.D." (2014) makes torture a primary investigative method in every episode. Even in the rare case where a corrupt cop is taken down on TV, it's done by a slightly less corrupt cop. Is it any surprise that we see issues with police in real life, when our entertainment has normalized much more brutal behavior? There's a huge discrepancy here. In the fictional world, torture works, and corruption always ends up being justified. I love a good crime story, but all I see today is producers competing for who can be the most outrageous.
- loeg 7y agoEven if they don't show corruption, they do show 100% correct identification of suspect and 100% conviction rates.
- oriettaxx 7y agothe more policemen, the more trouble.