San Antonio cops investigating PINAC correspondent Phillip Turner during one of his routine First Amendment audits in Texas got the silent treatment last week for the second time as he recorded outside the Randolph Air Force Base.
“I’ve actually filmed the base twice,” Turner explained.
“I think it’s important for cop watchers to utilize their Fifth Amendment right. A lot of times we (cop watchers) jump to our First Amendment or the Fourth Amendment, but we really don’t exercise that Fifth Amendment,” he said.
“A lot of times cops will try to bait us. When we get to talking, we talk more and more and more. So the cop might think you know maybe we can get more information out of him. Or maybe he’ll accidentally say something wrong. So it’s very important to exercise that Fifth Amendment right.”
In August of 2015, Turner gave San Antonio a detective the silent treatment as he recorded the FBI headquarters building.
google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8719239441051793";
google_ad_slot = "3606839893";
google_ad_width = 300;
google_ad_height = 600;
“The folks in this building are concerned and they’ve notified police. If you’re going to stand out here, that’s OK. You’re on a public sidewalk. It’s my job to notify you that your activities have caused concern inside to the point where they’ve notified the local police department to come out and talk to you,” said the detective.
“Is there any reason why you don’t talk?” asked the detective.
Turner remained silent throughout the video, which was uploaded last year and has around 100,000 views.
“There’s actually a few places I’ve done the silent treatment. I do it to prove a point. One, you really don’t have to do anything,” Turner explained. “Just let them investigate. You don’t have to say anything to incriminate yourself.”
Turner explained he wanted to do the silent treatment in San Antonio near the Air Force base because he’s seen footage from folks posting from inside the base, and wanted to see how authorities would handle someone lawfully filming outside of the base.
“The first time I did it I was at the FBI in San Antonio, Texas. The most recent one (seen below) was outside of Randolph Air Force Base. They’re worried about people filming outside of that base, where there are are people filming inside of the base every day. So it really defeats the purpose,” he said.
The video begins on public property at an intersection outside of the base when an officer approaches, “sir, you’re on our property. If you want to film, you’re going to have to step across the street.”
Turner replies with nothing but silence and the officer walks away to consult with several other cops who don’t seem to know how to respond to someone remaining silent.
Another cop approaches and almost redeems the first cop who was confused about someone remaining silent.
“I don’t know if you were wanting to talk to that officer or what not. I can give you my information if you want to speak with me. If there’s anything we can do to help or assist, uh… I guess his concerns were you recording police and what not,” explained the cop.
“As long as you’re out of traffic and you’re being safe, that’s cool with us. If you need anything, here’s my information. Please give us a call. Thank You, Sir.”
The video ends with Turner, you guessed it, remaining silent and filming from the intersection and capturing an officer hiding in the bushes for some reason, taking his picture, as if Turner has something to hide, standing out in the open recording his surroundings.
A lady stops, while holding up traffic, to give him a piece of her mind, saying she didn’t appreciate Turner recording at the intersection because her eleven-year old son was riding as a passenger.
“If you didn’t want to be on camera, why’d you stop here?”
She then threatens to call authorities on him and a friend.
“We were just talking to them, lady.”
Rather, not talking to them.
More videos from Turner can be found at his youtube channel The Battousai.
The post Texas Cops Fail to Intimidate Man with Camera into Talking appeared first on PINAC News.