"Do You Want Me To Throw It on the Ground?"

This was first posted to YouTube last summer, but has gone viral in the last 24 hours after someone posted it to Reddit. The Reddit post says it's set in Wildwood, New Jersey, and begins as police are writing a guy a ticket for wearing a t-shirt with profanity. I can't find a news account of the incident to verify that.

What is clear is that the officers are harassing a man who is legally recording the incident from a distance that in no way physically interferes with what the police are doing. One officer threatens to destroy his camera if he doesn't put it away. Toward the end, several more officers confront the man again. One of them then tells him he'll be "locked up" for disobeying an order unless he stops recording.

I've sent an email to the user who posted the video and left a message with the Wildwood police department to see what has happened since.

Comments

[alan]

Balko, don't you know there is a War On Cops out there and anything they do at this point is in self defense?

Oh, wait a minute . . .

[Episiarch]

Don't joke; didn't someone recently link to an article about how the cops think there is, in fact, a war against them because of a rash of attacks on LEOs? It's already that way in Seattle because of several cops being shot (all the alleged perpetrators were of course shot and killed--sometimes in the back--by the SPD).

Also, I'd just like to note that Charlie Sheen was busted with a briefcase of cocaine after partying with some porn stars. Charlie really knows how to do things right, dudez.

[Episiarch]

I was remiss in not linking to this regarding Charlie. And myself.

[alan]

That bear is righteous. That bear is a god.

[alan]

Just pointing out the purpose of the War on Cops rhetoric is to make them even less accountable while the expansion of the police state goes unabated.

My favorite celeb blogger (WWTDD.com) hates Charlie Sheen for some reason, but some one who has gotten away with shooting a girlfriend, roughed up and threatened to kill two wives, with the mysterious death of another girlfriend hanging around his neck, and more coke, porn stars and whores in the span of a few years than I'll see in a lifetime can't be all bad.

[alan]

Another thing, I watched Jon Cryer on Conan that Wednesday night before the hospitalization of Charlie. He said that most people go to TMZ first thing in the morning to catch up on celebrity gossip, he goes to see if he has a job to report in to work to in a few hours.

Something about that show doesn't click quite right with me, but Cryer, the kid Angus, and even Sheen in that show he did before (replacing Mickey Fox) are funny people with the right material.

[Episiarch]

Did you know Charlie is a Truther? No shit; he really is. Is there anything Charlie can't do?

[alan]

I forgot about that, but, yeap, he did make his own Truther video clip.

That kind of shit would kill the career of an ordinary man, but he must have a constitution of 19 or something.

[Sovereign Immunity]

So, Rosie O'Donnell is an ordinary man. This confirms it!

[Fatty Bolger]

I'm warmed by this knowledge. Any time I find myself agreeing with TV and movie stars, I start to worry that maybe I have things backwards.

[Episiarch]

Charlie knows how to live, dude. Plus, WOLVERINES!!!

[Sovereign Immunity]

Ironic, Patrick Swayze, by all accounts lived a clean life and practiced marital fidelity, yet succumbed to teh cancer.

Charlie Sheen has done exactly the opposite and appears to have nine lives, both legally and professionally. I wonder how fulfilling his life actually is.

Gotta be more to life than snorting blow off hookers' asses and coughing up a hiatal hernia. Meh, I am probably just a wet blanket.

[Sy]

Gotta be more to life than snorting blow off hookers' asses and coughing up a hiatal hernia

No, my friend.. That really is the top of the mountain.. It must be righteous.

[Diggs]

It really depends upon the hooker's ass.

[James Felix]

Unless, of course, you're one of the wives or girlfriends.

[BakedPenguin]

Too bad about the bust, though. At least he's got plenty of cash to pay for lawyers.

Given what he was doing with the money, I can almost forgive him for Two and a Half Men. Almost.

[Episiarch]

I hope they don't throw the book at him.

I don't really consider Charlie as being part of Two and a Half Men; I think of it more as a way for him to pay for coke and hookers. Not a good way, but you need to pay for these things some way, right?

[BakedPenguin]

He probably makes more money that way than if he were to literally whore himself out.

Also, it's not like he's wasting Anthony Hopkins' or Robert Downey's talent. I mean, he's an okay actor, but...

[Episiarch]

Are you implying that the star of Navy SEALs isn't Lawrence Olivier? How dare you!

The Djokovic/Federer match is fucking awesome, by the way. Thank you Tennis Channel and your delayed broadcast.

[Arantxa Sanchez]

Fags watch tennis. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

[heller]

If you don't watch tennis you're probably a trog.

[BenDU99]

Dude, Navy Seals is a good action movie.

[Fatty Bolger]

He's good in his role on the show, and you know why? Because that's him. He plays himself. What an awesome gig.

[Sovereign Immunity]

The Cops: A Nation of a Million of Cams Ain't Gonna Hold Us Back!

(Or accountable)

[JoshINHB]

"Disobeying an order" from a cop is now a criminal offense?

How is this not a police state?

[A Police Officer]

Spin around while hopping on one foot and quack like a duck!

[omg]

I think there is an actual crime that involves "disobeying a lawful order". The problem being cops interpret "lawful order" to be "any order given". Then they can slap a bunch of additional charges like "resisting arrest" and "disturbing the peace" and all the other nonsense, even if the original reason for the arrest isn't lawful.

[Assault]

I'd have more respect for the camera man if he'd have pressed charges against the two cops who touched him and/or his camera. Assault and threat to property come to mind.

[Rather]

Did the first police office remind anyone else of Porky Pig?

[Sovereign Immunity]

Elmer Fudd.

[Joe Lieberman]

I'm weally, weally sowry for awl the twubawl Iwv'e cawsed thwough owt mahw yeaws in thwe Sewnate.

[Sovereign Immunity]

Sounds more like Bawney Fwank.

[Joe Lieberman]

Nowt when I'wm cwying becawse the peopwle dow'nt lowve me.

[Jeffersonian]

I just found out that Barney Frank is related to Shemp Howard. Finally, a reason to respect him.

[sage]

If you played duke nukem back in the day, it would remind you of all the pig cops.

"I'm gonna kick your ass, bitch!"

[Sovereign Immunity]

HA! I had forgotten about those porcine perveyors of justice...I replaced the .voc files with ones of Foghorn Leghorn.

[Anonymous Coward]

Groovy! Let's Rock!

[sloopyinca]

Meanwhile, in the ATL, the Police Chief is debating whether to allow a unit that strip searches drivers on the roadside with no PC to keep operating.

Never fear, though. The officers may face disciplinary action up to and including -gasp- possible termination.

As if people in the real world can subjugate someone to this without being sent to jail for sexual assault, forcible sodomy and false imprisonment.

Good times.

[omg]

Wow! Look up that "Atlanta Eagle Raid" that was mentioned in that article. According to the cops, if one person in a bar or any property is seen committing a crime, the police are allowed to detain, strip search, arrest, and interrogate everyone who happened to be on the same property.

[sloopyinca]

Dig a bit deeper. There's been a massive cover-up by the cops on that case. Deleting all communications, video and photos of the said...some internally and some seized during the raid itself. The mayor has apologized and there's been a settlement, but the cops are stil on duty and the Dept has been unapologetic regarding warrantless raids, illegal detentions and infringements on civil rights.

From atlantaeagleraid.com, here's what the cops had to say...after the incident was settled in federal court:
According to senior commanders of the Atlanta Police Department the raid was conducted according to the standard APD practice. Major Debra Williams, commander of the units that conducted the raid, stated: "Once we're inside a location based on any illegal activity, for the safety of not only the citizens of the city of Atlanta but for the safety of the patrons and the officers, we conduct warrant checks on all the patrons, on everyone." Deputy Police Chief Carlos Banda stated that it was APD policy to "do criminal history checks on everybody when we hit an establishment, no matter what it is." According to Banda's [incorrect] interpretation of the law, if an officer sees a crime being committed in a location, he has probable cause to search "the whole body [i.e, everyone present], not just one individual."

So, we agree to a settlement that we will stop these practices...but we're not going to stop these practices. These motherfuckers should be in prison.

[BakedPenguin]

...the raid was conducted according to the standard APD practice.

That's one part of the statement I don't doubt. Here's another APD raid from a few years back, for those who've forgotten.

[Sy]

"As a result, Chief Turner intends to move swiftly to discipline some of the officers with actions - up to, and including, dismissal."

*GASP*

[Police Union]

Don't worry. We won't let that happen.

[Barack Obama]

These people shouldn't even be in the streets.

I propose high speed rail connecting everyone's residence to every other place on earth.

[TallDave]

Powered by unicorn droppings!

[Name Nomad]

But only union unicorns. Not those scabs pooping for less.

[Fatty Bolger]

"In today's news, the price of crude unicorn droppings rose to $183 a barrel amid rumors that unicorns don't actually exist..."

[Christ opher]

Last weekend one of the police departments in Detroit was attacked, literally. Yes the shooter was killed. The amazing part of the story was that the next day the shooters home burned down. Not a one of the TV stations or newspapers questioned the linkage. Hopefully I don't have a SWAT team kick in my door for this. But who would have wanted to burn his house down, except the police?

[sage]

Do you have a link?

[J sub D]

http://www.freep.com/article/2.....fore-burns

[Homeland Security Agent]

We are tracking you now, Chris.

[Look]

It's questionable, I'll give you that, but who would have wanted it burned down? The shooter himself if he had something incriminating there.

[Bingo]

The zombie shooter, rising from the grave and destroying evidence that could result in a conviction in the afterlife. Sounds plausible.

[Look]

Yeah, it's more plausible that the cops torched his place after he was dead to teach him a lesson than it is for him to have used a kill switch or for someone who knows him to want the place torched.

[Bingo]

I know you're being sarcastic, but is it really that far fetched given the alternatives? Both events are way outside of normality, but it seems even less likely that the house just burst into flames on its own. Suicidal people attacking government institutions tend to leave a trail of manifestos everywhere, so the killswitch idea seems odd to me.

[Fatty Bolger]

I don't know, man. The guy was dead. What kind of vengeance is it to burn down a dead man's house? Doesn't make any sense.

[Tex Lovera]

Not if you wanna send a message to the "next guy". Think of it like the Chicoms executing a dissident, then sending a bill for the firing squad bullets to the guy's surviviors...

[Scooby]

Neighbors disgusted at actions of shooter (the kidnapping & assault of a 13 year old girl, not necessarily the attack on the cops)?

[sloopyinca]

More likely, it was caused by the violent rhetoric in the right-wing media.

Sarah Fucking Palin strikes again.

[CBDenver]

"But who would have wanted to burn his house down, except the police?"

Maybe his confederates in crime who wanted to destroy evidence?

[Ragnar]

Why would the police burn his house down? The guy was already dead. Its not like he's gonna be inconvenienced with no house.

[The Winter Soldier]

Slavic immigrant/tourist knows your Constitution better than your cops . . . it would be funny if it weren't so infuriating.

[Nick]

Everyone knows our Constitution better than our cops. But thanks for reminding me. Fuck.

[TMLutas]

Actually they were romanians and probably immigrants. Around the 1:42 mark is a bit of hilarious, and true, commentary. "Niste sclavii aste" which roughly translates out to these guys are a bunch of slaves, no free will, no independent judgment, a bunch of myrmidons.

[Hysteria Aside]

The Reddit post says it's set in Wildwood, New Jersey...I can't find a news account of the incident to verify that...I've sent an email...to see what has happened since.

Let's freak out anyway!

[sage]

The video is enough for that, douchenugget.

[Episiarch]

Anonypussy needs to whine and bitch about something, sage. Can't you be understanding for once? You're so mean.

[sage]

fuck him in the ass with a giant rubber Dick. then break it off and beat him to death with the rest of it.

is. that better?

[Episiarch]

It is, but I'm more concerned with your lack of capitalization and strange use of periods. Are you high on goofballs again, or just posting from your Droid? Probably both. You sicken me.

[o henry]

cut. him Some slack epi

[e e cummings]

that Was supposed to be; from me

[sage]

Droid. And I'm glad you're sick. hopefully the lower g.i. variety. have a pleasant weekend.

[BakedPenguin]

Hey Hysteria - If they're not doing anything wrong, what are they afraid of?

[jacob]

Where is the freaking out? Are you referring to the pigs?

[Mr Obama]

Doesn't anybody find it strange that all this is happening on my watch and my Justice Department is doing absolutely nothing about it.

[alan]

Not really. If it isn't racial Eric Holden couldn't give a flip.

[sloopyinca]

OT, but I want to see if we can get a groundswell of support like the Newclear Titties proposal thrown around last year.

I've sent an e-mail to the WH requesting they add Overcome Modern Goals to Obama's "Win The Future" tagline. That would change it to OMG/WTF, which would certainly be even more accurate.
I've received nods from both my kids that it would be both appropriate and understandable to those who will lead us deep into the 21st century, namely the youth.

What say, fellow reasonoids? Is this a government slogan we can get behind?

[sloopyinca]

Newclear Titties*

* Copyright to capitol l, 9/22/2010.

[BakedPenguin]

I think it was Pro Libertate who coined that phrase.

[P Brooks]

That guy is lucky those cops had not yet received the DHS memo about phoneguns.

[fresno dan]

Ask yourself this: In which country are the police MORE accountable - the US or Egypt???

Ruling after ruling is that people on the street have no expectation of privacy, no laws explicitly outlawing the photography of police, etcetera.
But this happens, and what happens next...nothing.
De facto police non compliance with the rule of law.

[Britt]

I hear this a lot from the cop lovers: "What, are you saying America isn't the freest country in the world?"

It is actually, on the whole. But since when did "America: Freer then Egypt" become the standard to which we hold ourselves? Since when was "Not North Korea" an acceptable level of freedom for Americans?

Shining city on the hill, free ports bustling with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be walls, then the doors should be wide and open ones. A place where a knock on your door in the middle of the night is the milkman, not armed agents of the state.

I get morose when I drink.

[The Mossy Spaniard]

^This^

I tell people that I'm not interested in our freedom shining by comparison, but shining with its own merits. It's not very shiny right now.

[CaptainSmartass]

America is not nearly the freest country in the world. Just look at the rankings from Heritage and other groups; we're not even in the top 10 on all reports anymore.

"Land of the free" my ass.

[Edwin]

Just shut the fuck up and do what you're told. It's that simple.

[P Brooks]

Just shut the fuck up and do what you're told. It's that simple.

It certainly streamlines the process.

[Barack Obama]

My loyalest fans believe what Edwin espoused above. And it would be much simpler if we heeded his keen insightful take on governance.

[Nooge]

I didn't watch the video, but the guy in the screencap that is showing looks like Donkey Lips from Salute Your Shorts.

[Adonisus]

...OMG, nostalgia!

I watched that on Nickelodean every Saturday.

[Nooge]

Ditto.

[Nipplemancer]

i had the same thought. i was hoping the cop had a lisp.

[IceTrey]

How come no one has asked the why the cops are giving someone a ticket for a t-shirt?

[MWG]

One thing at a time IceTrey.

[ICGAMBLERS]

Jersey Shore should become a detective agency that searches to the bottom of this strange situation when a dude in a funny uniform gave an individual a ticket for wearing clothes. The team later realizes it was they who sold the dude his t-shirt. Case closed. Does that answer your question?

[Nipplemancer]

as someone mentioned before, cops in shore towns are the fucking worst in NJ. That's one of the many reasons I don't go down there (i also hate guidos, bennys, sand, sun, and the dirty brown water of the atlantic.)

[Number 2]

Bennies! Now there is a term of derision I have not heard for years.

[hmm]

Looked like an assault to me.

[Dan Grossman]

People have a First Amendment right to record police activity in a public place, as long as they don't physically interfere with the officers.

With regard to an arrest for wearing a T-shirt with the "F-word," in 1971 the U.S. Supreme Court held that a state may not criminalize the simple wearing of clothing with the word "fuck":

"...absent a more particularized and compelling reason for its actions, the State may not, consistently with the First and Fourteenth Amendments, make the simple public display ... of this single four-letter? expletive a criminal offense."

Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971) (upholding right of protester to wear a jacked with the words "Fuck the Draft")

[Just for full disclosure, I was the lead attorney on the Atlanta Eagle case mentioned above, and I also represent the two young men unlawfully strip-searched by Atlanta police officers.]

[You]

Props to this guy

[Colin]

As a teenager, I spent a summer working in Wildwood. Once the cops busted us for drinking beer under the boardwalk, but they were pretty cool about it -- they let us all walk even though we were way underage.

[Steve19150]

Cops took yer beer though, didn't they?

[heller]

Yeah NJ represent!

[Jeffersonian]

That cop has more chins than the Shanghai phone directory.

[Sovereign Immunity]

Quoth Homer Simpson: "Donuts, is there anything they can't do?"

[Fatty Bolger]

Hey, that guy's gonna make Chief someday.

[hmm]

You'd be in a shitty mood if you had to put up with snooki and a million other douche bags all day and night!

[the right does it too]

Did anyone else notice how much like a real oinker the cop with the white piece of paper in his hand looks? Bacon isn't always good, you know....

[Fatty Bolger]

Maybe he didn't want to be filmed because he's self conscious about his body image.

[8#====D]

Haha! What a poster boy for police. They should plaster his fat ass all over the city's billboards. I can see it now...

The sign should read ""Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-... That's all, folks."

[Brian]

Another overreaction on the part of Balko. The cops were clear joshing, doing their own version of Monty Python's "throw him to the floor" routine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJMRxbECzow

[geTaylor]

I recently saw a citizen video of a police officer confronting a citizen; the video was posted on the Village Voice web site. http://blogs.villagevoice.com/.....-127821234
The intention was to make the police officer look bad.
The video proved that point of view to be biased.
Officer "Opie" from Wildwood obviously has a guilty conscience and should be investigated along with the rest of his posse.

[Mensan]

I don't know what led up to that confrontation, but if the officer had a valid reason for attmpting to arrest the man, then I can't see where the cop did anything wrong in this case.

[r3VOLtionist777]

Apparantly, the Wildwood cops have a bit of a history of behaving like lawless thugs:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.s.....enten.html

[Doc Rampage]

I don't like to be videotaped by strangers either. It's offensive. If you tell someone to stop taping you and they keep doing it, you should be allowed to kick them in the nuts and break their camera in self defense --unless you are a cop, in which case you should be able to arrest them for assault.

This isn't so much a problem of cops not knowing the law as the law on this issue not being settled or not keeping up with technology. Interfering with other people's peace and privacy should be considered assault whether it's done by physical violence, loud music, or video cameras.

If that camera guy had been minding his own business there wouldn't have been any problem.

[Abraxas]

"I don't like to be videotaped by strangers either. It's offensive."

Well Doc - by all means, let's outlaw everything you either a) don't like, b) find offensive. Or both! And not only outlaw it; make it punishable by harassment by Chief Wiggum and Captain Piehole.

"If that camera guy had been minding his own business there wouldn't have been any problem."

You cannot possibly be this stupid. You simply can NOT.

"Interfering with other people's peace and privacy should be considered assault..."

Your post has interfered with my peace and privacy. That'll be $500k and a letter of apology. K thx bai.

[Doc Rampage]

You are greatly oversimplifying things. Just what do you think is the dividing line between assault vs. not-assault? Physical pain? But then it wouldn't be assault if you just shoved someone without causing pain. Physical contact? But then just brushing by someone would be assault and screaming in someone's ear wouldn't be. Threats are considered assault even if nothing else is done and frankly I would far rather be threatened than videotaped.

I think it's fair to say that if you have a right to do something then I can't consider it assault, but what gives you the right to videotape me? I'm not talking about you videotaping an area that I happen to be walking through, I'm talking about following me around with the camera. Should it be assault for a strange man to follow a woman down the street videotaping her as she repeatedly tells him to go away? Why not? And if so, why should the same guy be able to follow me down the street videotaping me when I don't want it? And if he can't follow me down the street, what exactly can he do?

There is a lot of heat on this comment thread with very little evidence that anyone has thought through all of the implications of some supposed right to videotape.

[Mensan]

Just what do you think is the dividing line between assault vs. not-assault? Physical pain?

No, that would be closer to the dividing line between battery and assault.

Threats are considered assault even if nothing else is done...

That's the definition of assault:

"An "assault" is an intentional, unlawful threat by word or act to do violence to the person of another, coupled with an apparent ability to do so, and doing some act which creates a well-founded fear in such other person that such violence is imminent.

So, in summary, you're very stupid.

[Doc Rampage]

It must be nice to live in a world where everyone who disagrees with you is mentally defective in some way. It relieves you of the need for any introspection or questioning of your own assumptions.

[Prime Director]

I don't like it when people voice opinions with which I disagree. Its offensive. If I tell you to stop voicing an opinion with which I disagree and you keep doing it, I should be allowed to kick you in the nuts and break your opinion hole in self defense.

Interfering with other people's peace and privacy should be considered assult whether its done by physical violence, loud music or opinions with which I disagree.

If you don't voice opinions with which I disagree there won't be any problem.

[Steve19150]

Nice!

[meterrepairguy]

I think people who surf the web with broken meters should be arrested for failing to maintain their equipment.

[Abraxas]

Irony & sarcasm are sometimes difficult to detect in written format; the poster in question managed to hide his intent quite well if that was his intention. So, no - neither subsequent poster's "sarcasm meter" went off.

However, my gaydar pinged quite loudly when I read your post. So at least that's working.

[Level3]

As a Ph.D. I find it offensive when people without degrees call themselves "Doc".
And even those with doctorates who call themselves "Doc" I find offensive for being vain jerks.

Please send me your name and address so I can sue you for assault (for offending me) and, if you are not a doctor, for fraud (for calling yourself "Doc"). Thx Bye.

[Doc Rampage]

Well, if I had said that anything offensive ought to be considered assault, then this might be relevant. I would think that someone with a Ph.D. would have enough reading comprehension to know that I didn't say that.

I would also expect someone with a Ph.D. to see the irony in calling someone else a vain jerk for using a humorous blog name like "Doc Rampage" while taking advantage of the opportunity to inform everyone that you have a Ph.D.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

When people ask why I moved out of New Jersey, I'll just link them to this video.

Yeah, a lot of local cops in NJ are exactly like this. High school jocks who never progressed past that high school jock mentality. I fortunately had only a couple of small run-ins with local cops, but in nearly every case, they were totally high on the crack-laced crystal meth of their own AUTHORITAI!! You must submit, defer, and obey or face the wrath of <echo>LOCAL COP!!</echo>

[Richard Head]

My Dad is not a phone

[warlord]

Gestapo wannabe's.

[????? ??????]

Thanks