Viral Videos

In another example of abuse of power and sheer arrogance, an NYPD officer arrested a man for recording officers from a public sidewalk, accusing him of blocking pedestrian traffic.
It was a lame excuse for an arrest in the nation’s most populated city where congested sidewalks are just a way of life.
The incident took place in 2014 when three NYPD cops were surrounding a man who had passed out on the sidewalk. The man was awake and talking to police when An walked by and began recording.

Louisiana cops were caught on video shooting a man to death while holding him down on the ground early Tuesday morning.
Alton Sterling, 37, who had been selling CDs in front of a store, died from multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and back.
Baton Rouge police responded to the store after an anonymous caller said Sterling had pointed a gun at other people, ordering them to leave the area.

California police were not satisfied that a man driving through a DUI checkpoint had rolled his window three-quarters of the way down and handed them his drivers license.
No, they wanted the window rolled all the way down, so when he refused, they ordered a tow truck driver to latch on to the car and drive it away from the video of the men recording the stop – while the occupants remained inside – then had the driver use a slim jim to open the driver’s door.
The driver was then arrested on unknown charges, even though he showed no signs of impairment.

After a long battle by the Miami-Dade police union to keep officers from wearing body cameras beginning a couple of years ago, the attempt failed and officers began wearing the cameras last April, much to the dismay of the department’s union president, who said the cameras would place officers’ lives at risk.
But last month, one officer said he was grateful for the cameras after it recorded a woman trying to bribe him during a traffic stop.

A Muslim man trying to find a hotel room in Ohio was handcuffed and detained at gunpoint by police who suspected him of pledging allegiance to ISIS last week.
It turns out, Ahmed al-Menhali was only in Cleveland for a medical check following a stroke, not for any terrorist activity.
The 41-year-old businessman from the United Arab Emirates ended up fainting – possibly from another stroke – after being accosted by Avon police on Wednesday.

He recorded the police and they gave him a “rough ride” that he was lucky to survive.
California cops turned the Los Angeles County Fair into a bloody mess last September, beating up and arresting two people for recording the police, including Robert Hanson.

A Pennsylvania cop arrested for ripping a phone out of a woman’s hand because she was recording, then slamming it on a sidewalk and punching her in the face was acquitted of all charges Wednesday.
This despite video evidence proving Reading police officer Jesus Santiago-DeJesus violating the woman’s First Amendment right to record as well as proving he lied about why he had pulled her over in the first place.

Three California cops were caught on camera in a one-minute video (seen below) giving a 16-year old a devastating beating, cracking his legs with a baton and threatening the young man with a taser.
Three Pomona Police officers beat teenager Christian Aguilar into submission at the Los Angeles County Fair when he recorded them arresting his family.

“Then a police officer on the righthand side—he starts bashing my window with a baton, trying to break in. That’s when I noticed they might kill me.”
“You’re going to see people drawing their guns, all pointing their guns into my car,” – Steven Cepeda’s description of his terrifying encounter with Massachusetts police after he was stopped in the lot of a pizza shop last april.

The head of a Texas police union was caught on camera punching a restrained suspect in the back of the head.
But Austin’s Police Union President Ken Cassaday won’t be investigated.
The man’s crime?
Petting a horse.
The video was shot on June 18th by independent activist and photographer Julian Reyes, who sometimes joins forces with the Peaceful Streets Project to document activities of Austin police downtown and near homeless populations.