Fresno Cop Blocker – Brian David Sumner – Educates Fresno Police Officer
**The following post was submitted by Nasty Nathaniel via the CopBlock.org Submission tab**
Howdy folks.
How are all of you lovely people doing?
Well, maybe some of you are not so lovely. Some of you reading this might be quite miserable at the moment. Kind of like Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer. Poor guy is facing so many questions from those who want answers. Don’t you feel sorry for ol’ Liar Dyer?
In this edition of Life On The Beat With Nasty Nathanial we are back in good ol’ Fresno, California. I really enjoy going out to Fresno. One of the reasons I enjoy spending time in that city is it gives me the opportunity to Cop Block with one of my best friends, the legendary Brian Sumner. “Legendary” is not a word that I throw out there lightly but Brian is exactly that.
He is the reason why I Cop Block and am so passionate about it.
Anyways, one night me and fellow Cop Blockers Brian Sumner, Dylan Donnelly, and James Job are cruising around Fresno in my little Fiat, which has come to be known as The Cop Block Mobile, when we come across a couple of police cruisers parked in front of a private residence. Being that they had their overhead lights flashing we figured that something must of been up. Then moments later we noticed another police cruiser speed past us with it’s overhead lights flashing. With the high rate of speed it was travelling at we knew something serious had to of been going on. It was at this point that we ended up following it into a nearby neighborhood where we would soon learn that a shooting had just occurred. You can see what went on in the video I made titled “Fresno Police Apologize To Cop Blockers“.
We would eventually find ourselves back at the same location we had just come from. As soon as the officers noticed us they immediately begin shining their flashlights in our direction. As I am sure most of you might guess this makes it difficult for us to film. In addition to that it violates our right to film in public which is protected by the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution.
One of the officers tells us we need to stand back despite the fact that we had already positioned ourselves at a reasonable distance. It was at this point that Brian began respectfully explaining that we were not there to interfere with their duties but instead just there to check out what was going on. That is one of the key things to remember when Cop Blocking. You always want to stand at a reasonable distance. Most police officers don’t like the fact that we have a constitutional right to film them and if given the opportunity to they will cite or even arrest you by claiming that you were somehow interfering with their duties.
Brian has fallen victim to this. Check out his “Arrested In Clovis While Filming Police Harassment” video.
One of the officers then begins to question Brian about why we felt that we needed to film the police. Brian respectfully explains to the officer the importance of filming the police. That the camera is an objective record and it captures what it sees without discrimination. Of course the officer did not want to hear this and instead tried to counter what Brian was explaining. But what this officer failed to realize was that he was dealing with a highly intelligent individual who is not about to coward down to anybody, official or unofficial.
This is something that I’d like to highlight at this point. I really believe that many police officers view “Cop Blockers” as a group of people who have nothing better to do but go out and film the police. That is why many of them treat us as if we are second class citizens. I have read the comments that people post saying things like “get a life” and calling us names like “losers” and “low lifes”. I have a pretty good idea of who it is writing these comments.
That is all fine and dandy. I find them more entertaining than anything else but the point I’d like to make is that we are not just a bunch of losers with nothing better to do. We are law abiding tax paying citizens who are exercising our constitutional right to film in public. In addition to that, we help to expose those officers out there that do abuse their authority and victimize people. If it hadn’t of been for somebody Cop Blocking then maybe the truth about what really happened to Dylan Noble may of never been known. Right Chief Dyer? I’m sure the Fresno police chief would love to answer that question.
On a final note I’d like to say that we need people like Brian and other Cop Blockers across the country to film the police. It keeps them in check and might very well save someone from being abused or even killed at the hands of corrupt police officers. I believe this to be true and if I’m wrong, well, I’m sure you’ll correct me.
Thanks for reading.
– Nasty Nathaniel
