With People Like This On Your Side…Houston Cop Claims to be “Three Percenter” While Illegally Detaining Man Open Carrying Rifle

The following video was shared with the CopBlock Network anonymously, via the CopBlock.org Submissions Page. The video consists of a video uploaded to youtube by Open Carry Texas, which as the name implies is a group that advocates for citizens rights to open carry firearms based in Texas. The incident depicted within the video took place in February of 2015, according to the description posted with it on Youtube.

In the video, a man walking down the street is approached by a Houston police officer in a vehicle. After asking and being told that he is not being detained, he continues walking without stopping. That officer then pulls his car back in front of him to block his path and steps out brandishing an AR-15 of his own.

Even while claiming to be a “Three Percenter” (a group that believes strongly in resisting Constitutional abuses by the government), the officer threatens to “escalate this another way” while holding the rifle and, when told by the man that he does not consent to questions, refers to his answer as “Constitutional crap.” He then proceeds to demand ID from the man in order to make sure he isn’t a felon and that he is legally allowed to openly carry a weapon on “his streets.”

Once the man states that he doesn’t have ID on him and is still unwilling to wave his right to remain silent, he is illegally detained,has his weapon taken from him, and is forced to sit handcuffed in the back of the cop’s car while he calls a district attorney to get advise on what he should do. During the 15 -20 minutes that transpires in the car, the officer clearly shows that he has no understanding of the Constitution or the laws he is supposed to be upholding.

Obviously, that begins with the idea that someone has to arbitrarily prove that they aren’t a felon in order to legally carry a weapon by providing their ID to police. (The excuse that he had scared citizens calling him is irrelevant. The fact that other citizens don’t understand the law doesn’t give police the right to illegally detain and harass people acting in a lawful manner.) He even readily admits to the dispatcher that the man has committed no crime. At one point, he even states that he had no reasonable suspicion to even detain, let alone arrest the man.

Eventually, the man is released since he hasn’t actually done anything illegal, but not before he has been illegally detained and harassed for at least 25 minutes while handcuffed in the back of a hot police car. In the process, the cop’s claims to be “on your side” and a “Three Percenter” were exposed as either incredibly lazy lies or equally ridiculous delusions.

If you have a video, personal story involving police misconduct and/or abuse, or commentary about a law enforcement related news story, we would be happy to have you submit it. You can find some advice on how to get your submission published on the CopBlock Network within this post.