citizen journalism

A 55-year-old Oregon woman who pulled over to the side of the road to observe a police stop was found guilty of interfering with a police officer last week.
Keely Meagan was merely observing, not physically interfering nor verbally interfering, but the judge said she had pulled over in an unsafe area, which is why he handed down his guilty verdict Thursday.
However, Meagan had pulled up behind two cop cars and the car they were pulling over on the side of an interstate near an exit ramp on September 8, 2016.

A Texas cop tasered a man for doing nothing more than shuffling his feet with his hands in his pockets while standing at a bus stop Tuesday.
It appeared the man was dancing, but he may have just had a full bladder.
He may also have been flipping cars off, prompting a woman to call police – which should only be done as a last resort.
Either way, witnesses can be heard saying he was not threatening anybody.
Witnesses can also be heard saying the man did not appear to be on drugs, but likely had a mental imbalance.

A Southern California sheriff’s deputy who threatened to arrest a man for attempting to file a complaint against him was simply having “a bad day,” his supervisors said.
San Bernardino County deputy Michael Bradbury did not have any actual grounds to arrest Duncan Hicks inside the  sheriff’s station in Victorville on January 20.
But he figured he would make that part up.  Or as he described it, “create something.”
That, of course, is nothing new. Cops create stories all the time to justify their arrests. Especially in contempt-of-cop situations as was the case here.

Despite refusing to release the body cam footage showing a Texas cop violently arresting a mom and her daughter after they had called him for help, somebody within the department apparently leaked the video to the family’s lawyer, who then released it to the media.

Nair Rodriguez  recorded five Oklahoma police officers killing her husband in a movie theatre parking lot in 2014 before they confiscated her camera.
Now those same cops are trying to get her charged with “inciting violence” after she called them “pigs” in a Facebook Live video.
The five Moore police officers claim the video made them fear for their lives.

A  Texas sheriff made good on his promise to take action after he was made aware of a video taken by PINAC reporter Phillip Turner showing a complaint audit fail at his department that we reported about on January 8.

Phoenix cops handcuffed and detained a man for 35 minutes for recording on a public sidewalk outside a police station, citing “safety” reasons.
The man’s name is Elijah Wesbrock, according to his YouTube channel.
But the two officers who detained him apparently were unable to pry that information from him during the entire time they harassed, intimidated, handcuffed and frisked him for weapons.
They even turned off his camera, which was when they threatened to confiscate it, telling him he would be unable to retrieve it without providing his name.

New York cops were caught on camera detaining animal rights activists from the animal rights activist group SHARK for more than an hour, threatening them with arrest if they did not identify themselves, after the group legally flew a drone over a farm that raises beagles, ferrets and other animals for research.
The incident took place on November 13, 2016, but was published to YouTube on January 8, 2017. The video of the detainment was edited for time purposes.

Video taken by PINAC correspondent Phillip Turner captures Texas cops refusing to hand over a complaint form upon his request after he arrived at the Bee County Sheriff’s Office and explained he wanted to file a complaint against a deputy.
Instead, Liz, a woman working at the front desk , asked Turner to reveal the name of the deputy he intended on complaining about and insisted that in order to file a complaint, he would be required to write his name and contact information on a blank sheet of paper.

NYPD cops brutally beat 19-year-old Jateik Reed for resisting arrest and carrying drugs in 2012. Drugs were never found and the case was dismissed in court. Reed then filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city.
Now New York City has settled the lawsuit with Reed, who is now 24, for the amount of $614,500, his lawyers announced earlier this month.