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Title: ‘Open the Door or I’ll Shoot’ — Innocent Teens Terrorized by Cops in Carjacking-like Traffic Stop
Source:
Free Thought Project
URL Source: https://thefreethoughtproject.com/o ... -carjacking-like-traffic-stop/
Published: Apr 11, 2020
Author: Jack Burns
Post Date: 2020-04-12 21:27:01 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 121
Rockford, IL — A group of teens were pulled over by a gang of police officers reportedly from the Rockford Illinois Police Department this week and the infuriating incident was captured on video. We use the term “gang” because the cops were dressed in plains clothes with some even wearing identity disguising gang-style bandannas. We are working on identifying the officers involved but at the moment the video is so shocking, so apparently rights-violating, we could not wait any longer to bring the story to you. From video the teens recorded, it is clear the driver pulled over and was patiently waiting for the cops to approach the driver’s side window. However, instead of approaching the driver and explaining why he was being pulled over, the officer who took the lead demanded the rear door be opened. It appears he told the passenger, “Open the door or I’ll shoot…” although the word shoot was muffled. From what we are able to ascertain at this point, the officers violated the rights of the passengers not to be illegally stopped. Then they knocked the phones out of the hands of each of the occupants in the vehicle keeping them from recording the police contact, a clear violation of their First Amendment rights to record police interaction. Erik Rivera, one of the passengers, uploaded the surviving video to Facebook and he says the officers searched the entire vehicle, even looking behind car’s brake lights. Rivera says he and the lead officer have a history. The young man says the cop once knocked him off his 4-wheeler breaking his nose while giving him a gangland style beating. In a Facebook post, Rivera describes the history he has with the lead officer seen in the video (below). This is the same cop that arrested me a year and a half ago, the same cop that hit me off my four wheeler and proceeded to beat me and break my nose. Rivera reported the abuse of rights to the Rockford Scanner, a local newspaper. From the Facebook post, a description of what happened on April 10th is given. Apparently this is the protocol the Rockford Illinois Police Department enforces to pull people over? I feel like we’re being harassed and threatened…I feel as if we have no rights. Rivera says he and his friends weren’t doing anything wrong when they were pulled over. They had no reason to pull us over. They didn’t ask for anything at all. The young man also claims the cops engaged in a sort of stop and search without a warrant and with no probable cause. They never told us the reason we were pulled over, and to top it off they did not ask for consent to search the car. He says the cops searched the car without a warrant and he questioned the behavior of all the cops involved. If it’s true the cop has already broken his bones, calling the cop out on social media was a brave, even though some might say foolish, thing to do. Without any semblance of fear, the young man openly questions their code of conduct and demanded to be treated as a law-abiding, taxpayer, and not a common criminal. Is this behavior portrayed by RPD acceptable or correct? Should I, a law-obeying, tax-paying citizen be treated in such a manner? Rivera says none of the individuals in the car with him were charged with any crimes. He says they were never given any reason for the stop, and he’s demanding local news media begin to cover the questionable behavior of the thuggery demonstrated by Rockford law enforcement. We at TFTP will be sure to report any follow-up cases of retaliation by the Rockford Police Department for Rivera’s bravery in speaking out. TFTP is in the process of sending this video to an expert who has software which can remove the music and ambient noise so we can hear what the cops were saying to the young men. We do know one of the cops told the teen, “I didn’t f**king ask you to run your f**king mouth…yes or no…yes or no…then shut the f**k up!” As you watch the video below, it is no wonder people get scared when they see the red and blue lights in their rear view mirror. 
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