foreign
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welcome to audit the audit where we sort
out the who and what and the right and
wrong of police interactions this
episode covers the Texas agriculture
code illegal parking and side-by-side
vehicles and was originally uploaded by
Red Oak video vigilante's channel but
also featured on black Luster's Channel
be sure to check out the description
below and give them the credit that they
deserve before we dive into the
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this episode on August 14 2022 officer
Matthew Pettit of the Red Oak Police
Department was dispatched to the scene
of a fire in the rural area of Red Oak
Texas while in route to a nearby
residence to ensure no one needed to be
evacuated officer Pettit encountered
several local ranchers including the
owner of Red Oak video vigilante's
channel Chris Moses as they were
attempting to move cattle across the
road and out of the potential path of
the smoke and Flames the interaction
that followed was captured on officer
pettit's body camera footage
good
move out of the way
no move move your vehicles out of the
road
okay you stopped the attitude I need to
block the road to move cows the fire is
not coming this way if you're not coming
you sure yeah I just came over here
we've had to cross them across the road
that's why we had the road block when
you block off a road that emergency
vehicles are using to get somewhere
that's my concern is the fire's gonna
get bigger if I can't get a fire truck
or an ambulance or a brush tractor yeah
the reason we had it shut down because
we just got to be moving the cows down
through then there's they're locked in
there okay
no I just need to make sure the road
stays open because if any if any
immersive Vehicles come from Lancaster
they need to bring water from Lancaster
and y'all walk on the road yeah we
didn't know if y'all wanted us to block
them or not nope okay I need y'all to
move out of the road
I had a line just first so they had some
hot spots come back and they went down
to just one host but they're getting
fixed
okay uh you're gonna have to feel the
complaint I just got into a screaming
match with Chris Moses over there good
he decides he's going to block the road
because he needs to move cows
and I said well okay well how's the
emergency vehicle getting us through to
put out the fire that's just gonna get
bigger because you decide you want to
block the road for cows he's got his
he's got his his vehicle in the middle
of the road with his red and green
splashing there's traffic backed up
so I I ain't taking his attitude
when officer Pettit recounts his
interaction with Mr Moses and the other
ranchers to Sergeant Lockhart he
misstates the facts several times for
instance while officer Pettit claimed
that the ranchers had blocked the road
the body camera footage shows that Mr
Moses and the other Rancher stopped on
the side of the street with plenty of
room for other vehicles to move through
additionally officer Pettit tells
Sergeant Lockhart that Mr Moses had red
and green lights flashing on his truck
but the body camera footage shows that
Mr Moses has a small LED light bar near
the rear view mirror of his truck
finally officer Pettit tells Sergeant
Lockhart that Mr Moses had his truck
parked in the middle of the road and was
backing up traffic and later Sergeant
Lockhart repeats officer pettit's story
to his supervisor alleging that Mr Moses
had his truck parked across the entire
road while a fire unit was trying to get
through however officer pettit's body
camera footage shows that no other
vehicles were attempting to get through
while the ranchers were moving the
cattle and that as we discussed earlier
the ranchers had parked their vehicles
facing a proper direction to towards the
sides of the road not in the middle of
the road after the interaction Mr Moses
obtained the body camera footage and
posted it to his YouTube channel where
he confirmed in the video's description
that at no time when he and his neighbor
were moving cows did a fire unit drive
by and that the ranchers were already
gone by the time the fire unit came down
the road
I'm busy right now what do you need
you're not allowed to block an entire
roadway okay I don't know if you know
that but you're not allowed to stop Sam
Park in the middle of the roadway
against the transportation code okay to
move cows from one pasture to another to
block the roadway that's right that's
right
now
all right and we're in the
transportation code does it say you can
do that we're in the transportation code
does it say you can do that
the transportation code's BS you're
allowed to ignore it that's what you're
saying
okay
Sergeant Lockhart asks the ranchers
where the transportation code says that
they can block the road to move cows and
the ranchers respond that the
agriculture code allows them to do so
neither the Texas Transportation code
nor the agriculture code explicitly
states that individuals are permitted to
stop their vehicles on the road to move
cattle however it does not appear that
the ranchers violated any of the rules
governing stopping standing or parking
found in section
545.302 of the Texas Transportation code
which states that quote an operator may
not stop stand or Park a vehicle on the
roadway side of a vehicle stopped or
parked at the edge or curb of Street on
a sidewalk in an intersection on a
crosswalk between a safety zone and the
adjacent curb alongside or opposite a
street excavation or obstruction on a
bridge or other elevated structure or in
a highway tunnel on a railroad track or
where an official sign prohibits
stopping in addition section
545.407 of the transportation code
states that quote an operator may not
drive into or Park the vehicle in the
block where the fire apparatus has
stopped to answer a fire alarm or quote
drive or Park the vehicle where an
ambulance has been summoned for an
emergency call in a manner intended to
interfere with the arrival or departure
of the ambulance although this statute
prohibits parking in certain ways that
interfere with the emergency vehicles as
the body camera footage shows the
ranchers were not near the emergency
vehicles responding to the fire while
they were moving the cows finally
section
12.03.001 of the red oak code of
ordinances prohibits willfully
obstructing any Street alley or other
public way now while the Rancher's
actions were willful and it could be
argued that they obstructed a portion of
the road while moving the livestock
because they were not blocking traffic
and the road remained passable it seems
likely that a court would not conclude
that the ranchers violated this
ordinance or any other parking laws now
as for the agriculture code Mr Moses
cited section 143. 104 in the YouTube
video description as justifying his use
of the code to move cattle the statute
states that quote this sub-chapter does
not prevent the movement of livestock
from one location to another by hurting
leading or driving the livestock on
along or across a highway it is
important to note that this statute does
not create any affirmative rights or
authorize individuals to violate the
transportation code to move cattle
rather it simply states that the
subsection of the agriculture code where
it is located which prohibits owners
from letting livestock roam at large on
the road does not prohibit them from
moving Livestock on the road by hurting
leading or driving them however even
though the agriculture code does not
expressly authorize the ranchers's
specific actions in moving cattle since
they did not appear to be violating the
transportation code a court would likely
conclude that their actions were still
legal in fact it appears that the
ranchers stop their vehicles in
compliance with section
545.303 of the trans Transportation code
which requires that a quote operator who
stops or parks on a two-way roadway
shall do so with the right hand wheels
of the vehicle parallel to and within 18
inches of the right hand curve or edge
of the roadway although the statute
cited by Mr Moses do not explicitly
authorize the type of action shown in
the body camera footage the statutory
language indicates that livestock can be
moved from one location to another by
crossing a highway and since it does not
appear that the ranchers violated any
provisions of the transportation code a
court would probably determine that Mr
Moses and his neighbors were permitted
to move cows in this manner
okay
and I'm not going to put up with here
Chris I'm not going to put up with your
attitude either hey I don't need the
attitude either all right leave it be if
you want to file a complaint go up
tomorrow eight to five okay anything
else I can help you with
okay
I got you and
we're trying to deal with some too and
you got the road blocked off I'm trying
to get Lancaster down here too all right
so if it's a little bit high stress
could you understand like I said come
down tomorrow
file a complaint okay
all right
he filed complaint all he wants my job
is not to take attitude from people that
are telling me how to do my job that's
not that's not my job I don't care what
he has to say he was sitting in his
truck blocking traffic I'm not moving
any cows I'm fine but dude I'm seriously
I'm not gonna get talked to Wrong by
Chris Moses then he comes up and he's
like walk away I'm talking to him he's
like no you're not no that's not how
this is going to go they're flying up
and down the road on that side by side
they're not even supposed to be driving
a side by side on the road
I guess that's agricultural code too
when Mr Moses and his neighbor returned
to where officer Pettit and Sergeant
Lockhart are standing officer Pettit
claims that the ranchers are not
supposed to be driving a so-called
side-by-side on the road a side by side
also known as a utility vehicle is a
type of so-called off highway vehicle
that section
551a.001 of the Texas Transportation
code defines as a quote motor vehicle
that is not a golf cart or lawn mower
and is equipped with side-by-side
seating for the use of the operator and
a passenger designed to propel itself
with at least four tires in contact with
the ground designed by the manufacturer
for off Highway use only and designed by
the manufacturer primarily for utility
work and not for recreational purposes
according to section
551a.051 of the transportation code
individuals generally cannot legally
drive a utility vehicle on the road
although there are limited exceptions to
the rule likewise under Section
551a.o 52 of the Texas transfer rotation
code quote an operator May operate an
unregistered off highway vehicle on a
highway in a manner authorized by this
sub-chapter only if the vehicle displays
a license plate issued under this
section although it is not clear from
body camera footage whether the side by
side has a license plate section
551a.057 of the transportation code
which allows for the operation of off
Highway vehicles on a highway if the
transportation is in connection with
quote the production cultivation care
harvesting preserving drying processing
canning storing handling shipping
marketing selling or use of agricultural
products also states that quote an off
highway vehicle operated under this
section is not required to display a
license plate therefore a side by side
such as the one used by the ranchers is
not required to display a license plate
so long as it is used for agricultural
purposes while the ranchers use of the
utility vehicle while moving cattle was
likely agricultural Mr Moses and the
other Rancher also use the vehicle to
drive to Sergeant Lockhart and officer
Pettit to make their complaint and it is
unclear whether a court would determine
that Mr Moses violated Texas law by
driving on a public road yes sir
um my camera's still on but I guess
Chris was I guess trying to help one of
the neighbors move cattle so Chris Parks
his vehicle across the entirety of
staying back and block all the traffic
and we had a freaking Lancaster fire
unit trying to get through then after
all that was done he came down here and
tried to yell at pet it again and I was
like no it's not going to happen he
thinks they have some sort of
agricultural exemption that really lets
them block the road to get cattle across
you know he had his little like
blues and greens or whatever yellow and
green whatever life she's got on it he
was blocking both lanes because I guess
they were supposed to be moving cattle
across the road but and the thing is the
fire truck wasn't there yet but it was
coming so yeah
Johnny the boss
I was just giving him a heads up
that red oak talks about the blow up
yeah after the encounter Mr Moses
obtained the body camera footage of the
interaction and posted it on his YouTube
channel lackluster also covered this
interaction on December 7th 2022 and he
reported that Mr Moses had filed a
complaint with the department but as of
the date of his coverage he had yet to
hear back in the video description Mr
Moses wrote that he spoke to a State
Trooper in the same county and a Texas
Livestock agent about the situation Mr
Moses asserted that both the state
trooper and livestock agent told him
that he quote did nothing wrong and that
quote the officer did not use common
sense in this case and seemed to have a
chip on his shoulder Mr Moses's YouTube
channel includes other encounters with
the Red Oak Police Department and the
Channel's description includes a
statement claiming that red oak officers
have quote harassed annoyed and
belittled him multiple times in October
of 2022 just a few months after this
interaction the Red Oak Police
Department posted on their Facebook page
that officer Pettit was named officer of
the quarter for his quote-unquote
attention to detail and is quote unquote
consistency and performance overall
officer Pettit gets a c because although
he did not wrongfully arrest or cite Mr
Moses and the ranchers for their alleged
violations of the law he demonstrated a
lack of comprehensive knowledge about
the Texas Transportation code conveyed a
completely inaccurate version of his
interaction with the ranchers to
Sergeant Lockhart and maintained a
hostile and unprofessional demeanor
towards the ranchers throughout the
encounter now although I cannot say for
certain that officer Pettit
intentionally lied to Sergeant Lockhart
about the Rancher's actions his story is
clearly contradicted at multiple points
by his own body camera footage and it
would not be a stretch of the
imagination to conclude that he at the
very least allowed his interpretation of
the situation to be biased by his
seemingly negative opinion of Mr Moses
this interaction demonstrates why it is
so essential for officers to focus on
facts rather than feelings when dealing
with citizens and to accurately recount
information information to other
officers Mr Moses gets an a for
defending the legality of his behavior
obtaining and sharing the body camera
footage after the encounter and filing a
complaint with the Department while it
is possible that Mr Moses may have used
the side by side for non-agricultural
purposes when he drove over to speak to
Sergeant Lockhart for the most part it
seems that Mr Moses and the other
ranchers stayed within the boundaries of
Texas law while moving their livestock
to a safer location even though they may
have been justified in taking more
drastic actions given the exigent
circumstances I commend Mr Moses for
Having the courage to not only file a
complaint about this encounter but also
to share his various experiences with
the Red Oak Police Department on his
YouTube channel and I hope that with
time and officer education the
relationship between Mr Moses and the
department can become a more positive
one let us know if there is an
interaction or a legal topic that you
would like us to discuss in the comments
below thank you for watching and don't
forget to check out my second channel
for even more police interaction content
thank you
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