Houston social worker, Earledreka White, 28, was arrested and charged with resisting arrest after she was pulled over in the 10000 block of South Main Street by Officer G. Luca for allegedly crossing a double white line.
Surveillance video recorded from neighboring businesses show White get out of her car to find out why she was pulled over and to retrieve her drivers license. She said she mistakenly thought she left her purse in her trunk.
Luca is seen approaching white with handcuffs in his hand and ordering her to get back into her vehicle. White said the officer cursed at her and threatened her with a stun gun, so she called 911 out of fear. The audio of that call has also been released.
White is heard explaining to the dispatcher that she did nothing wrong and that Luca had no reason to pull her over before she asks for another officer to respond to the scene because she feels uncomfortable.
“I would like another officer to come out here,” White says. “My heart is racing. I’m really afraid. I have no record, I’m a licensed clinician, and I’m being threatened to be arrested… Can you please get someone out her please?”
White then tells the dispatcher her location and he redirects her to the MTA police department so that she can request another officer. While she is being transferred, Luca can be heard talking and shouting, but his words are indistinguishable.
“Please keep your voice down,” White tells the officer. “I’m not raising my voice at you. I’m being very respectful.”
After White is connected with the MTA police department, she tells the dispatcher she is being “harassed” by Luca, who then responds by grabbing and attempting to twist her arms behind her back. White is seen struggling and heard screaming for him to stop.
“This man is twisting my arm. Please get your hands off of me,” she says. “What is wrong with you?… Why are you doing this? I haven’t done anything. I am a woman. This man is about to tase me. I have never been treated like this in my life.”
White can then be heard sobbing, “You are hurting me! Oh my god, oh my god! Stop! Please, stop! Can you stop doing this!?”
Watch the raw footage:
White was charged with resisting arrest and spent two days in lockup before posting $1,000 bail. The misdemeanor resisting charge carries a sentence of up six months in jail and her attorneys are demanding it be dismissed.
“That’s not good police conduct,” said attorney Zack Fertitta, who plans on taking the case to trial if the charge is not dropped. “You can’t escalate a situation and then claim someone is ‘resisting arrest.’ That’s ridiculous.”
White filed a complaint following the incident and the MTA police department said they launched an investigation, which included viewing the surveillance video and 911 call. They found no wrongdoing by Officer Luca.
“She was uncooperative but he did everything reasonable within the law,” MTA Police ChiefVera Bumpers said. “He explained what was going on, what the violation was and that he was focused on her safety, as well as his… If you don’t feel comfortable or feel that you’ve been mistreated, you can always file a report later.”
New Mandate for Schools to Teach Children How to Submit to Police
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/illinois-traffic-stops-police-state/
State Senator Julie Morrison – “It’s just a part of driving, and if they respond in a responsible, correct way, it should never escalate.”
Well, aside from the several hundred videos of police needlessly escalating the situation, when not simply beating or shooting the driver for no reason…….
Broke ass state can’t find the time to fix any real issues, but this they have time for.
Of course.
It’s the same old song. What do most cops spend most of their time doing? It’s not “keeping us safe.” It’s hassling/fining/caging people over “infractions” of various statutes. No victims, no harms caused to anyone.
Merely a statute affronted.
And the worst part? I suspect most parents will agree with this.
It occurs to me that we show them more respect than they DESERVE by not killing our attackers outright when they make an armed attack on us over trivia.
Not recommending anything, mind you, just making the observation that whiny cops complaining that they don’t get respect need to get some perspective and a firmer grip on reality.
If not for the omnipresent surveillance, I’m willing to bet that resistance would already be a lot more common. And as the evidence mounts, the cop lovers are getting more and more outnumbered.
Hi Ernie,
I certainly wouldn’t put my “safety” at risk for their sake….
Or p*ss on them if they were on fire for that matter.
Guess they are part of what Clint Eastwood calls ‘the pussy generation.’
Clint’s right.
So many indicators, but here’s one that always makes my teeth hurt: An invariably metrosexual reporter or talking head will be discussing immigration (as an example) and will say – with cuck-like inflection – Lah-teen-o when discussing Latinos. They will do the same for any foreign name. Buenos Aries becomes Bewenousayrees…I want to smash things.
I deleted a much longer post where I went into the nature of bullies, the system, etc. But it boils down to this, society doesn’t stick together and those who do try are convinced government and cops are society.
Clint Eastwood grew up in a different era and has had an adult life being Clint Eastwood. He has the protection of society. He can fight back because his fans have his back. He could fight back before he was famous because society would have his back in those days. In the 1930s people supported outright violent criminals because those criminals had the perception of sticking it to banks and government that were abusing them. It just isn’t like that anymore. It’s the opposite.
Nobody has our back today. I learned early on that I have to weigh the aftermath as well as the fight before me in my decisions. I can win the fist fight but lose far more than I would have by fleeing. It’s only gotten worse for those younger than I. Ask that “white hispanic” guy that was in the news awhile back what can happen from winning a fight someone else starts these days. How’s his life going?
Hmm…
http://www.returnofkings.com/83568/how-america-went-from-greatness-to-irreversible-decadence
I mean what can you say. He actually was much less rough than I expected.
These things won’t end as long as we have traffic laws and traffic enforcement.
If they say your broke the “law” you have best comply, comply, comply.. Given the laws as they are written, he probably did nothing wrong.
I sincerely hope you’re joking. He assaulted her when she reported that she was being harassed. She posed no danger to anyone and was complying with police by requesting that another officer be sent to the scene. It is clear from the video that “safety” had nothing to do with his decision to assault her. Given the timing of his attack, it is reasonable to assume that he was annoyed that this mundane dared to question his authority.
Any non-cop doing such a thing would be charged with a serious crime.
Jeremy
I agree with everything.
What he did was within the law. The law needs to be changed.
She is lucky she didn’t get hurt for real.
Hi Todd,
What he did was not within the law, which is why pleas to change the law don’t work. Only changing attitudes about police abuse has a chance of working. Despite the “investigation” that cleared him, he clearly did not fear for his or her safety (the pretext used to “justify” his actions). She was not resisting, attempting to flee, posing a danger to anyone or refusing to comply with police. She reported that she was being harassed. At which point he assaulted her, attempted to steal her phone, kidnapped her and falsely imprisoned her. All of this is illegal. But, when cops and prosecutors get to judge themselves, the law doesn’t matter.
Jeremy
What you mean is policy not law.
Cops write their own policies. These policies often contradict the policies the officially tell people. Follow official police advice at your own peril for what a person is subject to is the all too often random and unstable emotions of the cop.
Hi Brent,
Exactly! Cops have their own policies, departments have stated policies that they routinely violate and many of these policies are, in fact, “illegal”. According to many court rulings, Miss White would have been justified in using any necessary level of force, including lethal force, to thwart her unlawful arrest.
“One has an undoubted right to resist an unlawful arrest, and courts will uphold the right of resistance in proper cases.”
United States Supreme Court, United States v. Di Re, 1948.
Furthermore, as the Michigan Court of Appeals recognized in a 1999 ruling (People v. Wess), the statute expressly recognized the individual right “to use such reasonable force as is necessary to prevent an illegal attachment and to resist an illegal arrest.” – from Will Grigg.
Of course, had Miss White resisted her unlawful arrest more forcefully, she would probably be dead. The “investigation” would clear the officer and claim that he acted according to policy, because he did.
Jeremy
Hi Brent,
Yup. It is very telling that cops are brazenly ignorant of (or willfully disregard) “the law” and simply make it up on the spot. Obvious examples of this include hassling a person who is legally open carrying. They will say things like, “we got a call” or “it is alarming to see someone walking around with a gun”… which is neither here nor there as regards the actual statute. When this is pointed out to them, they often do not back off and go away but continue to demand ID and sometimes, even demand the person surrender their weapon and submit to a search.
Now, the question arises: If a cop hassles a person who has committed no crime, if the cop is acting contrary to the law, does the citizen have the right to refuse to obey unlawful orders? To defend himself – if it comes to that?
I think so, yes.
But we all know what the result will be in the event he does so.
“it is alarming to see someone walking around with a gun”
That’s true, especially if they are wearing a Wehrmacht uniform.
We watched The Departed a couple weeks ago. In the funeral scene the state cops look like a who’s who of the SS. They cast them well, probably real troopers. Square jawed old men with snake eyes doing the goose-step.
I’ve had cops make up laws to hassle me more than once. (this is the beauty of knowing the vehicle code, I know when I am being BS’d. I am sure it happens to lots of people they just don’t know it) I have one such instance on video. I have no doubts if I had simply ended the encounter by walking away my life would either be in ruins or ended.
Brent, with the new SCOTUS ruling don’t look for things to get better. This is a blow to the 4th amendment that’s going to legalize “hey you,come here” and that will be the end of any type of freedom. I can tell you this from experience since I was a victim of a “fishing expedition”. Now the predators will view every person they see as a potential criminal.
http://thecrimereport.org/2016/08/08/search-seize-convict/
When I was stopped walking home and turned from the public way on to my private property the cop says “I WANT TO TALK TO YOU”. I’ve told the story before but way the guy wrote the article is what I experienced. Good thing all I had was beef sandwich and no warrants.
Usually knowing the law allows me to push back and I’ve avoided giving ID when illegally requested on occasions. I didn’t refuse, I ignored the order as if he had not said it and pushed the conversation the direction I wanted. That of the law. The order sometimes does not get repeated when I show I know the law. Some cops do get a bit concerned because they don’t know how much I know. Now they have to worry about what my profession may be, who I may know, etc. That seems to be the only way to ‘mess’ with a cop I’ve really been successful with. Get them worried I can mess up their life somehow. Sometime however it just makes them angrier, thus not without risk.
Hi Eric,
We definitely have the moral right and, according to the supreme court decision cited above, we have the legal right as well. But, as you say, try exercising that right and you’ll probably wind up dead. That’s why the “gotta change the law” argument is pointless.
Jeremy
I think I read you right. Your tongue actually sneaked out of your cheek in your “photo”!
Am I right? You “expected” him to beat her to the ground. The “laws” are written to allow him to do all that, and more, without repercussion since he is “special”. Complying lets you deal with the predator later in court instead of being in a cardboard box in the hall closet. Life’s a Bitch, but that is what it is coming down to. At least until……
Yes, given the typical encounter we see with police I did expect him to slam her into the ground. Possibly kick or hit her several times.
Expect might be the wrong term, not expect as in that is the proper thing. Like I expect my kids to clean up. Is it correct to use that in a negative? Expect as a bad thing? lol
Complying might keep you alive. “most” people who get shot are not complying.
My girlfriend was pulled over for crossing solid line on a freeway merge. Impounded her car for no registration even tho her license sticker was current. But she did not have the registration card in her glove box. Two cops giving her conflicting info, one screaming at her to get out of the car while the other one tells her to collect her personal effects. She called an Uber from the freeway because one cop told her to find her own ride. Then they berated her while waiting for Uber to arrive because she would not get in their car for a ride off the freeway. And the searched her car (but they said it was in inventory, not a search). They didn’t find anything but then berated her saying there must be something in her purse. Horrible situation for this 55 year old professional woman. Thank you Utah Highway Patrol.