Copy.
I'm Justin Pullum.
I covered the Fort Bend County police beat.
And so some of that is, uh, cop watching where you go out and you
film what the police are really doing.
They say there's a juvenile in the front yard, uh, had some
object and threaten to get a gun.
They say right now he doesn't have anything in
his hands, they're about to probably make scene right now.
Right.
I see some blue lights.
I see some lights.
2 22 checking.
We're gonna stop right here.
The dispatchers checking on him.
All right.
They say they're checking clear.
Let's see, they've got someone in the back seat.
Bring it out and get this local journalist, Justin Williams on thing.
Last year, Fort Bend County deputies, they did not even have body cameras.
If they were away from the car, it was either my camera or no camera.
I have a YouTube channel, the corruption report.
We cover examples of waste, abuse and discrimination at the local level.
I, I was initially quite skeptical about a lot of the stories of police
abuse that were in the mainstream media.
Uh, but then I had a.
Scanners and I started listening to that and what the police were doing.
It didn't match up.
And then when I started, uh, switching into watching them on scene, uh, it
was like, wow, this is what happens.
Would he talk to you?
Yeah.
He told me, I gonna arrest you if you see that word again.
Just Oh really?
Yeah, because he just makes up whatever laws he wants.
It's the laws according to the chief.
What did Nathan Carr do?
Can you tell me about Nathan Carr?
What did Nathan Car do?
Hey, don't, sorry.
Did Nathan Car do what?
Did Nathan the car do?
A car?
Tell me about Nathan's.
And I really think that city staff is playing a game.
Um, we're talking five meetings to get something so simple about weather rabbits.
I was covering a.
Missing persons a story, uh, a search.
And I was in a public park and I arrived.
I was the first person, uh, with the media there, and it was a constant
thing of them setting up tape.
And pushing me back.
And then they closed down the whole park and said, we'll have a
press conference outside the park,
Mr.
If you were not, uh, Media.
So at the sheriff's request, could you step back this way for this please?
And if you just stick right here, you're more than happy to show him
right here, man, so I can be right here.
Okay.
This is, this is the game.
It comes straight from the top guys.
Journalism is at the heart of the First Amendment.
The government doesn't have power to restrict journalism or political
commentary based on its content.
We are driving, we're near the end of the county and there's not a lot out there.
Uh, a deputy passes us going fast out there.
There's only a couple of houses he could be going to.
So I'm thinking in the back of my mind, like this is probably, uh, this individual
whose store I've been following, uh, where there's some mental health.
Issues involved.
This is the kind of call that I most need to film because it's literally a,
a difference between life and death.
So we arrive in the parking lot and I get out of the vehicle my wife was driving.
Uh, I go and obtain permission first from the property owner to film for,
uh, the individual's safety and beyond where the police vehicles are parked.
And there's no incident happening anywhere near me.
I'm a far distance away.
A couple minutes later.
Deputy Sergeant arrived.
He walks up to me and he is basically excluding me, making me
leave where I will not be able to document what's actually happening.
Uh, I turn around to leave and I'm walking off.
Everyone was leaving, but then everyone else went back to talk.
And so I was like, well, is it for safety?
What's the deal?
Is everyone leaving or is it just me leaving?
You would wouldn't say no.
Only you are leav.
Then he starts marching up to me, counting down from five.
I am walking backwards away from him and, uh, he arrests me.
That's I.
It's scary and I, I basically don't film deputies much anymore,
but I very much fear retaliation.
So I think that's one of their goals and they succeeded.
And, and it's not just the arrest, it wasn't just one officer.
It was the administration and then it was the district attorney and, and that all
in combination is incredibly chilling.
If they'll do that, you know, I, I worry that at any second they're gonna
be barging through my door to take my server with all my other video files.
The sheriff and the county officials are trampoline all over my rights
to protect their image, but this isn't happening only to me.
This is a societal, a contemporary issue happening all across the country,
and it's my hope that this case will make it to where people can feel
comfortable and protected exercising.
To question government officials and to document the official acts of government.
Filming the police is good for everyone.
It protects the public from police abuse, and it protects the police
from false accusations of wrongdoing.
I want to protect my rights and I want to protect the rights of everyone else.
You absolutely have the right.
Film, a press conference and the public portions of a public park.
You have the right to film your city council, and you have
the right to film the police.