Early on the morning of July 4th, 2024, John Sexton was out walking with his 6-year-old son in Watonga, Oklahoma. What began as a normal walk quickly turned into a tense encounter when Officer Win Mon Torres stopped them. Shortly after, Officer Monte Goodwin arrived on the scene. Everything that followed was captured on body camera. Hey, how you doing today? Hey, what you heading out to? Walking. Just walking? Uh any specific location? No. Okay. Is this your son? Yes. All right. Hey, what's your name? You can tell me my name. No. All right, what's your name, sir? Johnny. Johnny. All right. All right, Johnny, where you coming from? Just walking around. >> Just walking around? >> Yeah. All right, enjoying this weather? >> Yeah. Got you, got you. Well, uh we Checking up on you, man. You know. >> I just walk around. What in the heck is this deal? Uh hm. Found it a little bit suspicious, you know. So, uh just Just walking around. Walking around is a little bit suspicious? Uh I'm in Go ahead. So, we weren't really not really, but I mean, it is pretty early in the morning. Just wondering what was going on. >> we do. We walk get up early in the >> You got your ID on you? What do I need ID for? Cuz I just asked you for it. >> need to show my ID. >> Okay. If you don't give me your ID, I'm going to take you for failure to identify cuz I've identified that you've been walking around down here at 5:30 in the morning. >> Yeah, we do that. >> No, you're not. Give me your ID. >> have my ID on me cuz it's at the house. >> Okay, what's your name and date of birth? >> Huh? At this point in the encounter, the officer threatens arrest for failure to identify. However, under the Fourth Amendment, an officer must first have lawful grounds to detain someone before requiring identification. Without reasonable suspicion of a crime, a demand for identification alone may meet the legal standard for detention. >> What's your name and date of >> know, but you can't run I don't have This is a state where I don't have to show my ID. >> Turn around. You're going to do this in front of my son? >> Yeah, turn around. Are you serious? >> Yeah, turn around. >> son. Let me bring my son home first. >> No, turn around now. >> Bro, you need to Here, let me videotape this real quick. I want this on video. What are you doing to my Bro, this is [ __ ] up. Son, it's okay, okay. Bro, I promise you you're going to pay for this. You think? Yeah, I promise you that. We're walking around. There's nothing suspicious other than that. It's criminal. I don't have my ID on me. I told you that. And what did I tell you? I want to do that. And then you just slammed me on the ground cuz I was trying to record. No. What do you keep ON WHAT ARE YOU rolling me on the ground for? Dude, this is ridiculous. And look what you're doing to my [ __ ] son. There's my phone right there, too. You're a punk-ass [ __ ] YOU KNOW THAT? DUDE, I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE YOU'RE DOING THIS TO MY SON CUZ WE was walking around on 4th of July. Have a seat and I'll talk to you. Hey, buddy, come here. You're okay. Listen to me. You're okay. Hey, quit crying. While the officer begins explaining the stop, the central legal question remains whether simply walking through an alley early in the morning provides reasonable suspicion of criminal activity under THE FOURTH AMENDMENT. PEOPLE THAT DON'T WANT TO IDENTIFY typically are involved in criminal activity. I've known this individual to be involved in thefts in the city of Canton. There has been no criminal activity. Okay, listen to me. Bro, we were just walking and when you came up Can you No, look You didn't hear what he said >> Shut up and listen to what I'm telling you. No, shut up and listen to me. >> So, I saw y'all walk down the alley behind the I saw y'all when I was headed into the office. Walk down, walk across the street. Yes, sir. Then I got my unit ready. While getting my unit ready, man, I see y'all back in the alley you left from, okay? >> We always walk in that alley around It's It's our house is around that. Is that why we were doing that? I promise we do it every morning. I'm surprised you haven't seen us here. So, here's the thing. That's fine and dandy, man. But listen, we have people that are going down up and down these alleys spray painting and tearing [ __ ] up. >> Yes, sir. I understand that. >> Okay, it's the 4th of July, man. But >> Okay, no, no, no. He would have came up and said something like "Hey." Said to me he just goes "I've been called for uh What do you say? Uh investigation of something." I was like, "What?" Yeah, okay, so here's the deal though. Listen, when I got there, I didn't play games with you. I asked you what y'all were doing. You said, "Okay." I work Yeah, and that's fine, dude. I love it that you're out with your kid, but it is a little odd, okay? So, when I asked you for your ID, you said you don't have any ID. So, what's your name and date of birth? That's all you have to give me. Give me your name and date of birth. What is your name and date of birth? >> but it's just because it's >> this is your last stop. This is your >> Oh, you're asking me right now? I thought you were saying or something. My My name is John Sexton, 12/30/86. >> Okay, set tight. 12/30/86. Call 911 Weatherford. Show 1 detain. All clear. Call Weatherford. Check 44s on a John Sexton 12/30/1986. Okay, listen, man. As long as you don't have like a bad warrant, I don't want to take you to jail. I don't like taking people to jail. I don't like doing what I had to do to you in front of your kid. >> recording my 44 on my cell phone. But you caused it. All you had to do was provide the information asked. We had We had re No, no, listen. Shut up and listen just a minute. We had reasonable enough suspicion to identify you. That's all that matters. But if I did criminal activity Yeah. But I didn't do no criminal activity. Yeah. No, I get it. I did nothing criminal walking with my son. Okay, it's not criminal, but we still have reasonable enough suspicion to identify you. >> And if I want to give the ID, I can. No, it's not a if The state is not a if you want to state. >> a It's a state that you they can ID you anytime? It's not a This is not a shall ID state, but once you're being detained And what was I being detained for? Criminal like we don't know what's going on, but we can call it criminal activity. That's not But I didn't do criminal activity here. Okay, man. >> me down like that in front of my son. >> I didn't even throw you down, if you want to know the truth. You did. And you rolled me on the ground, sir. I rolled you on the ground to >> I just making sure you don't have any weapons in there, bro. Bro, that was just a little overdoing it when a kid like that is all I'm saying. Well, do you not think maybe next time a cop says, "Hey, what's your name?" >> I have my ID though. That's what I was telling you. I don't have it on me. >> That's But I did ask you what your name and date of birth is. I'm not going to sit here and argue with you about it, Mr. Sexton. What you say your first name was? John. I think the ID got court on 8/30/16 or something like that. Okay. >> It was court like a week ago or two weeks ago. To county court? Yeah, [clears throat] Blaine County. Okay, you got warrants out of See, and that's what I was saying, man. I've been doing this. You got warrants out of Woods County. >> pick me up. I was just there. >> Okay, but here's the thing, man. >> It's a It's a ticket that unpaid ticket. Okay. But here's the thing, man. Typically, when a cop's out with somebody and they don't want to identify, it leads us to believe that you are involved in more criminal activity than we need to So, that's why you heard me saying what I was saying because I'm narrating for the camera. I'm not This is not my first day on the job, okay? And I'm going to tell you right now, man, I'm straight up with people. If I tell you to do something, you better be doing it. Does that make sense? >> Yeah, it makes sense, but Hey, you know what? Maybe Maybe teach You just My son being there wasn't the right time to >> do all this [ __ ] Yeah, well, you know what? Man, at 5:30 in the morning Bro, I get up 4:00 every morning. >> No, it's cool, man. Yeah, 4:00 >> But But put yourself in our position. We have a We Our job is to make certain that shit's not going on down here. We see all the spray painting. So, I literally saw y'all cross right here at Prouty. >> Indians around here running around doing that [ __ ] I got you, bro. All is clear. How you getting along over there, boss? Huh? Yeah. He's got possible warrant. Yeah. So, when I When I was headed in, I saw him walk down the alley. Mhm. And then when I moved my truck around to the covered stuff, you know, you can park back there if you want, right? >> No, I didn't know. Yeah, you can, man. When I moved my truck back around there, like I turned So, this is Prouty. They were already walking out of the alley of Noble. Mhm. They walked and then they just turned around and he went right back into the same alley he came from. And he was hanging around on the Oh, it'd be like 101, 102 or something like that. I have to go back and look at the address. He's hanging around back there where they cook all that barbecue and stuff. So, that's why we're We're contact with him. Yeah. When people don't want to identify, typically there's something else going on. You know what I mean? Yeah. Too early for this [ __ ] It was like 10. Huh? You know what? One week down, like 10. Yeah. He didn't want to identify. He got his ass tripped up, put on the ground. What was he doing? So, when I came in, you know, I come from the north. I see him cross this street, Crowdy, in the alleyway. He's walking down. When I turn to go put my stuff up, they don't come out at Noble. I get my stuff to go and I move my pickup around back and they're hanging around like the back over there. You know where the bar like where TGC is and stuff? They're hanging around over there. I don't know what they're doing. So, Joaquin finds him. Joaquin stops him. He's like, "I don't have to tell you anything." I said, "Dude, like you're being detained. You know, hold on." Mhm. I said, "What is your You give me your ID." He's like, "I'm not giving you my ID. I'm not giving you [ __ ] I don't have it." I said, "Okay, what's your name and date of birth?" And he said, "I don't have to tell you shit." Something like that. So, I said, "All right, go ahead turn around and put your hands behind your back. I'll I'll take you in for failure to identify. Like you're being detained. Like I don't know." I was fixing to tell Joaquin like, you know, if we can kind of get the situation where we can go over there to TGC and see what's going on and make sure nothing's out of the ordinary. He's like, "I We're just out walking, man. We just We walk every day." Okay, that's cool. But how much crap goes on in these alleys, Jared? You got it, right? Yeah, right. So, uh he wouldn't turn around and put his hands behind his back. So, he got the old jerk kick your feet up from underneath you right in front of this kid. Mhm. I hate to be that way. What did you lie? You know what I mean? I mean, why is he out so early in the morning with this kid? He said he gets up every morning at 4:00 and walks around. Have you ever seen him? No. Me neither. No, I call out I call out for my beginning too. Yeah. I don't think I'm out of scope of my job, do you? No. I mean, we've literally we've been told to extra patrol because of issues in the alleys and now we're checking out somebody with a In the alley. same [ __ ] hour. Exactly. We've had break-ins, we've had graffiti, the porch drug stuff. Yeah. He's got warrants out of Woods, Custer County. Yeah. Yeah, that popped up and I was like, "Oh, shit." So, we're doing that on our finishing our 10-10 duty. Yeah, it was your night. Oh, it's nothing too too fancy. Hey, how do we just We dispose of those narcotics? I'm cutting her a break and not charging for it. She just Yeah, if you're not going to charge now if they're doing evidence correct, it's easier not to take Cuz then we have to put it in there and then you have to fill out all the paperwork on it and then they have to fill out a deal and we have to take it to the state and get it disposed. Marijuana? Yeah. Probably those 30 shorty personals. Yeah. I cut one a break yesterday, no DL. No, it was He was suspended and no insurance. This guy, he's and he had weed in his car, a little bit of weed, but not enough to matter. Warrants clear. Woods County can be slow. I'm All right. But yeah. Warrants clear. Okay, man. Have a good night. See? I'm not dumb, am I? People usually have warrants that don't want to identify. >> I know, but they've been on here for 10 years. Like literally just for tickets. Well, well, here's the thing though. Are you aware of what they're doing now? To To So, now that I've advised you, they're all supposed to put a check mark on them or whatever. So, the next time somebody checks out with you, guess what? There's a good chance you might go to jail for them. So, you might want to start getting a hold of them counties and take care of it. Yeah, you got to get a hold of them now, they say. They used to just put warrants out, but they said if you get a hold of them and you can't pay it, they'll work with you and not put one out, but >> Yeah, but here's the deal. This was from 10 years ago. That's the reason why A lot of you A lot of Yeah, a lot of you guys have strung them out so long now that they're saying, "Hey, guess what? Send them out. Nope. Yep, you can send them out. Yeah. All right, man. Mr. Sexton, if you're going to be walking around, that's fine, but we've We've literally been put on extra patrol in the alleyways, so that's why you got checked out with. And if one If me or one of my officers check out with you, at least give them your your information. Okay? All right. You guys have a good day. Um Do you have my phone? Yeah, I do. I had to do that. I'd have to try to come find you. Where you working at? Um Apple Valley Okay, man. Hey, buddy. See, this is what we don't Come on, son. Hey. You're not supposed to be in there, son. Come on. You can't play in there. That's not hard, okay? We'll go home and play your All right, so listen. You guys, we don't mind you getting out walking around, but when the police officers ask you who you are, you better tell them, okay? Come on. Come on. Let's go. I'll put these up for y'all. Following the incident, John Sexton filed a complaint that triggered an investigation by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, which later submitted its findings to the district attorney. After reviewing the case internally, the Watonga Police Department ultimately dismissed Officer Goodwin from the force. Encounters like this center on the protections of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which limits when police can detain someone and requires officers to articulate reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before restricting a person's freedom. Situations like this highlight why understanding constitutional protections and the legal limits placed on law enforcement authority remains critical for both citizens and police alike.