on December 27th 2023 an auditor named Travis Hines parked near a store in Illinois at around 1:00 a.m. Travis is known to travel across the country and document police interactions wherever he goes this encounter was also recorded by his camera hey y good sir hey can I help you yeah I just uh saw you parked over here wanted to make sure everything was okay with you ask you what you were doing here what do you mean ask me what I'm do here what's that what's the what kind of what's other choices just multiple choice no it's just one choice just curious what you're doing parked here yeah what are the choice experiences in that an excuse as to why you'd be parked on private property this is private property indeed sir it is who's uh who's who owns it Lowe's the company yeah I didn't really see any um sign that said it's private uh it is a parking lot for a a no PR with a parking lot you yes indeed do you have your ID with you sir can I see yours no you cannot but you uh will need to give me yours okay why can't I see yours because uh I'm a police officer in a uniform so it's clear to you who I am and what I am it has my name right here on my vest okay what you name oh you're kind of shining a light on me yeah I know some light put some light on carbon no 310 you get a return on the 28 so I need your uh ID or your driver's license please my ID okay where's your ID try running that excuse me where's your ID it's right here B burus burus yep that's my name tag from the carbon Police Department you're in Carbondale Illinois yeah carale burus okay so um I think I seen burus name before okay like b r r i s that is correct all right yeah I don't know why I don't know why you don't want to hand me your ID no no let's exchange okay well you're still not doing it though you just keep saying let's exchange and I've provided you my information so now I needs you to do the same for me what's your partner's name okay well I tell you what I'm not going to answer more your questions if you're not going to cooperate with me so why don't you uh show me some respect and I'll show you the same if you can hand me your ID what's your partner's name show me some respect uh find out who everybody is uhhuh okay I'd be happy to do that if you're willing to cooperate with me in the recorded footage officer burus from the Carbondale Police Department pulls up in his Patrol vehicle and immediately approaches Mr hines's car shining a flashlight into it this initial action becomes significant later in the encounter officer barus is then seen opening Mr hines's driver side door without permission stating that he was checking on Mr hines's activities however this intrusion raises questions about officer baru's Authority as there was no apparent reason for such scrutiny the encounter revolves into a situation where Mr Hines is effectively detained even though no criminal activity is observed officer baru's insistence on obtaining Mr hines's ID without Reasonable Suspicion further complicates the interaction this demand for identification lacks a legal basis as there was no valid reason to initiate a Terry stop or stop and frisk additionally officer baru's claim that Mr Hines was on private property justifying his actions is contradicted by the actual location of the car which was parked on a public road this discrepancy points to potential misrepresentation by by Officer barus regarding the circumstances of the encounter overall the detailed examination of the footage reveals several issues with officer baru's approach highlighting concerns about the legality and justification of his actions during the interaction with Mr Hines yeah yeah why don't you show some good faith to me and hand me your Ida like I asked do you recall what I told you I don't know I've been speaking a lot of gibberish here since I got out with I think you might be drinking some energy drink or something you are Russian uh this this conversation I'm not I've got all night I'm just trying to make sure I know who I'm talking to that's always what helps me so yeah yeah you're buris yeah I'm the only in my car okay but let's what's what's the partner's name I thought it's somebody else here sir are you going to get your ID well what's what's everybody's name okay why don't you step out for me yeah yeah yeah I'll do that appreciate it thank you I got a couple of blankets on here I see that yeah it's cold tonight that mean it's not easy to see the blankets when it keep flashing that light in my eye mhm well you got enough cameras huh yeah so you got a YouTube channel is that right yeah it's uh to record my drives cool where are you coming from oh just driving yeah you see I got too I see that what is it is a little after 1: in the morning okay we got buris so far okay my shoes up here I'm going to toss the shoe down here another shoe up here slipons yeah there see my feet are kind of large so this actually I cut them for Comfort here they're not on that one either to Whois Travis we got burus oh I want to this a baggie what you got in there my car my car key all right you locked your your light out over there something fell yeah your light that you stuck on the side of your car it fall all the way okay not quite what's the matter with this thing you can turn on can't you yeah the cold weather tends to I see that mess with my cameras yeah so what's your name yeah yeah I got Bruce my last name oh yeah yeah and uh KN has in night T man what are we do with these cameras I don't know you might want to check on your batteries maybe or something and then uh we got the daily RoR of YouTube yeah you guys like to point out that I should be able to see your name tags but I I can't especially you got your light Shin in my face like that it's not in your face it's on your chest right there no no it's there's hey what's your what's your name it may not be directly what's your name I'm trying to see his name what's your name sir can you you want to tell me or this is offic there you go now you know all of us how about you tell me your name like I've asked you d o v e okay yeah yeah my last name is Hines Hines what's your first name oh all right all right burus what's your first name Brandon Brandon burus okay rert and Jerry what's your first name Rupert L I want to get the first names the last names correct and then yeah Jer n what's your first name yeah yes Travis Travis so now we got the where are you from Travis I'm just a traveler you're just a traveler what brought you to Carbondale who brought me to carbon no I said what brought you to carbon you quite a tactic with your lights I don't understand why it has to be in my face it's not it's right here on you see who I'm what I look like but you still have to continue to see what I look like you can't show me any respect I find this disrespectful okay you're talking about respect and uh it's not in your face Travis it's right here on your chest this car is all beat up too wow like it got like a rolled or something or how long how long have you been in town uh just a couple days I don't know I'm new I'm new to the area I don't know the are well so I mean I'll admit that just a traveler just traveling through just for your YouTube channel or yeah I'm not sticking around you know people here in Carbondale or why did you choose this area to why you like him I don't know why did you why did you why do you live here what do you like about I live here cuz I grew grew up here and I work here are you stuck here I mean you just no I choose to be here the place you decided to stick around where are you from Trello to everybody you guys what's up how long have you been working at carale where are you from Travis let's how long have you been working your your registration is out of Wisconsin is that where you're from how long have you been working here quite a while quite a while okay I mean that's that's a pretty easy question to answer I mean how how long have you been working on the forest quite a while quite a while that's that's pretty uh officer baru asked Mr Hines to step out of his vehicle and demanded ID during their conversation resembling a criminal encounter however Mr Hines had not committed any crime so he was not obligated to show ID under Illinois Law he was within his rights to refuse questions and remain in his vehicle protected by the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches officer barus denied blinding Mr Hines with the flashlight despite evidence in the footage showing otherwise generic pretty are you all right well I just I think that your answers are are pretty pretty lame I mean they don't really give much information about yourself that's that's correct doing here for for good reason I don't give personal information called oh okay all right you're kind of pleading the fifth kind of not no as a police officer I don't have to plead the fifth I'm here because I was conducting a business check on this establishment saw your car parked illegally in the parking lot and I came to investigate as to what you're doing here because it could either potentially be a suspect in a burglary or a theft I don't know it's my job to be inquisitive about that at 1:00 in the morning you can ask questions yeah 1:00 is the perfect time to be asking I'm going to get some water here oh you can't really see very well there a little water bottle getting a little dry mouth yeah well are you nervous so how many how many parking spaces are make nervous Travis you're calling this a parking lot that's interesting it's yeah it's a thorough fair for the parking lot to Lowe here this is where delivery trucks and things like that would park not Vehicles just out oh hanging out you think I'm illegally parked that's correct am I too close to a parking or too close to a a fire hydrant Travis hey you call I I know that you're I know that you're doing this for your YouTube Channel and that's fine that's cool I don't care no you're doing I'm sure you guys are reping I think if you're going to go this route though you probably want to make sure that you're asking legitimate questions yeah I'm asking what how many SP now that we've established that you're not here doing anything other than just trying to make it on YouTube uh I think we can go ahead and end this interaction because it's obvious that yeah I I mean you're not really a concern for me I'm curious about carbon I'm not a concern to you you say no sir yeah I'm curious about uh carbon is it look seems like you guys are a little tense like maybe you get some problems around here it has its issues yeah yeah I I I I kind of noticing a little little issues here and there as as I've looked around well just I mean I I see that there is a little homeless activity I yeah we do have a homeless population I got a couple of these hats from that park over there so I know that uh this this Farmland is private property it is we're on a public how do you know that cuz I searched a little bit okay man you are very offensive with your light it's on yourest every time every time I try to make it's on your chest bro it's pointed right there bud well every time I try to make eye contact I'm getting blinded so I'm going off my senses sure but um just I promise I know this is private property no no no it's I go by my senses I don't I understand it's okay my senses don't lie to me it's like a dog's nose doesn't lie to it I get it man uh but I know it's private property on the the farmland and then it's like a public property Green Space can I ask you something like what why' you you come from you're from Wisconsin you said well I'm just traveler I'm traveling around so what do you do do you just travel and do like YouTu I like to look at different places I me that's cool I I go around and and uh just get familiar with places like up north of here south central Illinois I I must have a sensitivity there's a lot of pollution in that that area they're doing the oil you ever see the oil pumps north of here and and then they got major Trucking and Mount Vernon you know I was in Mount Vernon that's a lot of truck route straight east of St Louis and just a pollution they got like five different truck stops in that City and um I couldn't hang out there for very long this this is cleaner but uh so anything in particular uh catch your eye out here like bring out this one just traveling just traveling just getting familiar with uh places across the country I'll admit you know you see you got a YouTube channel yeah I've been on the road for like over you got go like across the whole country and stuff yeah I've been on the west whole Western half of the country what's the typical content of your channel the typical content of this is just driving and just watching uh you know what's ahead of me yeah and I just got a new a new camera man this thing is messed up it's got 177 uh field of view mhm uh in front what's your most watched video my most watched video Yeah across I got four channels okay and you know this this is uh uh this video with you guys AG go on a cop channel oh so you got a cop Channel which is what just your interaction with police yeah cuz uh it happens you know with you guys so much officer barus intentionally used his flashlight in a way that blinded Mr Hines which can be seen as a form of seizure not a consensual encounter this mirrors a 2014 case state vpv where police overstepped by shiny in a light in a citizen's eyes leading to a wrongful OVI charge flashlight beams can cause temporary Vision impairment when directed into someone's eyes as seen in Mr hines's encounter really why is that well I mean you you know what you're doing so I mean I think I I think you know what you're doing I know I see what you I think that you part here specifically to get a police interaction heard that before okay so i' I'm intentionally attracting three cops three cop cars to to my spot without any calls you guys just one guy saw me and then being proactive out checking our businesses like we're supposed to do yeah and then you had to call everybody else for for the big I didn't call anybody they just heard me out with you and came to came to help I'll be out with this guy it's you know easy spot to to reach yeah it if that's what you want to what what you want to say I I've I've uh my car is look different with other interactions and yeah it's 1:00 a.m. that's that's suspicious cuz we know night time you know you guys are night cops and that's that's just a great time for you guys to really uh watch over people cuz there's so fewer people on the road you guys you know anything that anything that you know just jolt jostles a little bit is is going to be suspicious for you night cops that's that's just great you're kind of rambling Tris I'm not following I'm telling I'm telling you that you guys are you guys are are not in the Public's eye as much I'm just curious bro how do you purchase all these cool cameras well you guys you guys have bought them for me really with your aggressive uh uh Behavior it kind of want to watch that mean to you and then you like sue them and [ __ ] yeah I've been arrested just over my ID we're not so why would why wouldn't you want to just I mean I don't get it like what when you got arrested what happened with that they're over ID yeah you don't understand the ID thing is that it no I don't I mean okay it depends on what state Illinois has different law it's it's simple I think it's simple I mean when I ask you for your ID in exchange you say no I don't have to give you my ID and I'm like what's protecting you from not having to give me your ID because that's why we wear a uniform with our name on it okay well there's there's a little step back you could take maybe police policy your your your department policy but where do they get that from where do they derive that uh right from all right there's little right to what the right to not have to surrender your documents all right because this is my document this identif me as a as a public servant for the city of carale which is where you are y okay there's a difference between requesting uh ID from from an officer and them having the right to not show you that and us having the right to tell you to show us your ID and you having to do that by lawful order okay what okay that's the but what what what what uh what protects us from having to surrender our documents and papers to to some but do you understand why we need your documents on certain things like traffic stops and stuff you don't you don't need anything I don't I mean you can ask and you can B and you could get a judges uh judge to sign off saying everything 10 for I'm clear out here at Lo 10 all right we got the radio thing going I always I always get silent for that too just like you know what's I don't want to interrupt that conversation it's cool to listen to they could just interact they can just interject at any time and I just I'm silent on that no there's there's the we have I have constitutional rights you have your motivations you're representing the city and you want to it's not even that it's like we have a job to do and we're just trying to do a good job at it you know yeah you want to make the complainer happy there's no complainer with this uh you're you're you're like anticipating a Poss complaints by being proactive possibly they could have complained a farmer I know there private property could have complained about something yeah um I see they got a hunting Shack across the other side of the field oh really um yeah I mean but I'm sure that's on their property cuz this is this Green Field that's supposed to be organ an organization that allows us to walk I took the trail I walk big circle on in the forest on that trail and really I checked is there like a homeless encampments out that way no I didn't notice any camps there's all throughout town there is a little trash and I found these hats at the with the trash I I sometimes dig through homeless stuff I've seen a lot of it I've seen old camps abandoned camps shelters you're pretty interesting dude well I've traveled quite a bit and since SW like how want for how long over 10 years it'll be 11 in January so you mind if I ask how we oh I'm I'm older let's yeah let's I'm 33 33 okay I'm 48 oh okay so so what did you do before traveling if you don't mind me this has been a bum I'm a bum now and bum before just not really got a fix on any kind of career path I mean so I just I mean if you enjoy what you're doing that's fine yeah and you guys you guys kind of pay for my travels you're the bigger jumps in my view cops well you ain't going to get it from us cuz we're not going to be bad cops that's that's fine yeah that's not hopefully that doesn't disappoint you the statistics have kind of turned out to be like one every 25 interactions or so one over 30 get a bunch of some guys just bulldozing like your buddy kind of bulldozing in like they had too many energy drinks they didn't have time no honestly what I think you know he's been here for a long time he's our sergeant and he he's seen a lot of things you know what I mean and he he knows to take to always be in control of the situation and stuff like that oh yeah yeah sergeant barus not just an officer initiated the unlawful interaction with Mr Hines misquoting the law he ran Mr hines's information through the system while he was speaking to another officer trying to escalate the situation this could be seen as a violation of rights under color of law a crime punishable by imprisonment or other penalties according to the US Department of Justice yeah there's there's uh privacy issues um you can record us the cops see that cops are seem to warm up to the cameras okay Travis I was able to get your information in check yeah so everything's coming back okay um I know everything's okay okay well I could have just done that we' have been gone we've been done in 2 minutes and been out of here but uh told try and stay warm tonight okay I was willing all right let us know if you see anything suspicious around you all right have a good night yeah I'll definitely do that if there's anything that it looks out of the ordinary all right it was cool talking to you man be safe okay yeah you need need anything call us all right okay all man yeah stay warm in there it's old all officers left without further escalation indicating Sergeant baru's initial contact was unjustified Mr Hines was detained for almost 30 minutes without Reasonable Suspicion or any crime committed