but then when I walk up he's like you're the Smith
he was like um none of your business you're dismissed and then rolled up his window and
I'm like okay and unfortunately he got blood on my uniform so it's another charge from criminal
mischief so police officers have a hard time understanding that Reasonable Suspicion to justify
detaining a citizen is supposed to be based on suspicion of a crime rather than just a hunch
or the ego of the police officer how many police videos that we see were completely unnecessary
and achieved nothing other than bad publicity lawsuits and constitutional violations Devin
Thomas was asleep in his truck on Christmas night in a Home Depot parking lot in Delaware he was
waiting for the store to open because he needed to buy products they sell inside for his business
he was traveling for work which takes place on highways hence the fact that he was sleeping in
his truck he woke to a flashlight in his face and somebody trying to talk to him that somebody was
Delaware State Police Trooper Trevor White who was on quote proactive Patrol and noticed the parked
vehicle in the Home Depot parking lot during the encounter Trooper white claims that he was called
to Home Depot however apparently there was no 9-1-1 call Home Depot apparently never complained
about Mr Tom Thomas being parked and sleeping in their parking lot there was no complaining just
a police officer who wanted to be quote proactive who claims that Home Depot allegedly asked him to
do something at some point unknown in the past take a look at the footage and see for yourself
foreign
can you roll down the other windows I'm going to walk on that side all right
can you roll these other windows down I'm gonna just come up talk to you what's up
I can't hear you man
you're you're just in a parking lot that's closed can you roll down the
windows it's not a big deal it's not making a big deal roll down the other
windows what's the issue man I'm a private property right nobody calls me thank you
if you could send me another unit and someone get out of the vehicle
it's the white male gray hair heavier set for about 220. and this gray hair gray facial hair
roll down all your windows and exit the vehicle with your hands off
roll down all your windows and exit the vehicle
I don't know who you're calling but instead I would exit the vehicle
so exit the vehicle
this can be simple or you can be placed under arrest exit the vehicle with your hands up
exit the vehicle with your hands up
that's all right that's all right perfect
foreign
behind my back all for nothing hold on
he could have just walked out right
Fourth Amendment yeah you're mixed up brother
I don't know how he's gonna get up so bring your knees up I am not a brick then bring your knees
up sequels that's as far as my knees go okay what do you need to do to sit up I don't know
I'm gonna try to be like this and then you're gonna touch your knees in all right you're ready
no not yet um
good enough bro pop up in here buddy
what's your name I'm sorry my name is go right to level 10 escalation out of the gate okay what you
have to understand is that this is private property right that you don't own I'm not
I'm not done talking okay and the Home Depot has been having problems with break-ins and
they've called us because people are here they did okay that's what you have to understand
is not open for business for customers right now
uh you don't get to park on somebody's private property I do when I'm waiting for them to open
no you don't I'm not a threat to you guys and I never was okay as long as we're not
a threat hop out again obviously you can get taser again but we don't want to do that it
wasn't it didn't need to be an issue what I'm going to do is there anything in the car yeah
he was
figured it was probably the best route to go since you started snatching the car was honest instead
of that yeah that's what I saw I figured it was just maybe sitting here is like a uh contractor or
something like since they were having issues when I saw the laptop but then when I walk up he's like
Curtis Smith he said that he was like
um none of your business you're dismissed and then rolled up his window and I'm like okay okay
that's where you're wrong I will be back shortly with the with the squad
he hasn't answered questions
and unfortunately got blood on my uniform so it's another charge for
criminal mischief so so if you have like anything worthwhile that he would be doing
understand what was in me yeah laptops cameras
I may look young but I've been doing this for a while so not that I can't learn lessons but
like I said unfortunately you you made this night the way it has turned out so that that was on you
you know I'm accountable for my actions so if I'm wrong on something I will absolutely take
accountability for it is there any factual basis the officer can use to support or establish that
criminal activity had taken place at that Home Depot which made the presence of Mr Thomas's
truck appear suspicious or related to criminal activity a law enforcement officer May detain an
individual for investigation when that officer has what's known as Reasonable Suspicion it has
to be supported by articulable facts that some criminal activity is afoot courts in this case
the third Circuit of the federal courts consider the totality of the circumstances in determining
whether the facts know to the police officer amounts to an objective in particularized basis
for reasonably suspecting criminal activity courts have ruled that the government must do more than
simply label some Behavior as suspicious in their mind to make it so police officers must be able
to either articulate why a particular behavior is suspicious or logically demonstrate given the
surrounding circumstances that the behavior is likely to indicate some more Sinister activity
than may appear at first glance an individual's presence in an area of expected criminal activity
just standing alone is not enough to support a reasonable particularized suspicion that
a person is committing a crime however the Supreme Court has noted that the fact that
a stop occurred in a high crime area could be among the relevant contextual considerations
in this sort of analysis courts in the third circuit here have allowed officers to consider
proximity to locations where crimes are known to have occurred as just one factor in developing
Reasonable Suspicion so what crime was suspected here that Mr Thomas may have committed I reviewed
the state trespassing laws in Delaware and I see no basis for any objectively reasonable belief
that any of those or even theoretically those trespassing laws could have been violated here
it doesn't appear that under the state Delaware State trespassing laws that there could have
been any reasonable suspicion that the crime of trespassing could have been committed Delaware
doesn't appear to have any automatic liability trespassing statute when you're committing the
crime of trespassing just by virtue of driving into or parking in the parking lot of a closed
public business it doesn't appear that there's any evidence that Home Depot specifically complained
here about this individual in particular or about people driving in or parking in their parking lots
after hours or before hours what about burglary there appears to have been no allegation that
there was any burglary that occurred at this location but rather alleged knowledge of past
issues supposedly certainly nothing particular remember particularized is the language the third
circuit uses there's nothing particular here to this individual Mr Thomas moreover no information
is given that the behavior of parking in a parking lot or the appearance of this individual or this
vehicle itself Justified suspicion of something like burglary to the contrary it appears to be
a work truck a white truck in a parking lot of a business that sells work supplies so Trooper
white here wrote in his police report that he was on what he called a proactive Patrol and he
just happened to be passing by Home Depot when he observed a white truck with its lights on parked
next to two Home Depot rental vehicles he further wrote that Home Depot recently advised him that
they were having issues with their alarm system and requested additional Patrols in the area for
suspicious activity he wrote that it was 2 30 in the morning and that the store didn't open
until 7 am however Trooper white mentioned no actual report of any criminal activity much less
criminal activity specifically pertaining to Mr Thomas so it wasn't particularized at least not
prior to the seizure of Mr Thomas by the police officers it was a white truck and a construction
material store parking lot there was no indication that the vehicle had entered a closed off area
through a gate or past no trespassing signs it was a public place parking lot I see nothing in
the Delaware trespassing laws criminalizing the behavior that he engaged in whatsoever all we
have here is an officer with an with a hunch and or an ego and after we get past the Reasonable
Suspicion issue we have the fact that Mr Thomas was tased here the alleged justification for that
according to the officer who fired the taser was that Mr Thomas was allegedly grabbing and pushing
Troop super White's arm as white attempted to forcibly unlock his driver's side door however
Trooper white can be heard on the dash cam footage saying to the tasing police officer I didn't mean
for you to have to tase him apparently that Trooper tased Mr Thomas just because Trooper
white told him to tase him at least he did but he didn't really mean it at one point in the reports
they mentioned that they used what they called D Minimus force and extracting Mr Thomas from
his vehicle and that's literally not true tasing is actually a high level use of force that's not
supposed to be used where unnecessary I believe there's a good case to be made here that even if
Reasonable Suspicion existed to extract Mr Thomas from the vehicle which I don't think it did in my
opinion that the level of force that they used here was unreasonable he was only suspected of
having committed trespassing at best it wasn't actually a threat to them in any way he was
just standing on his rights he was surrounded by police officers he wasn't going anywhere they also
blocked them in anyways they had no indication that he was any immediate safety threat to any
individual except to Mr Thomas of course so as always thanks for watching you find more
information in the link below to my blog the Civil Rights lawyer.com if you have a video you want me
to see please use the submission link it'll be one in the description also at the blog itself
if you want to learn more about these cases about your constitutional rights please make
sure to subscribe also please comment I want to hear your thoughts about this case have you ever
driven into temporarily parked or parked in the parking lot of a closed business also this was
a Home Depot what do you think happens when Trooper white patrols near a Walmart parking
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