on January 8th 2024 Joel Martinez a law student found himself in Anthony Texas working with a locksmith to unlock his vehicle after misplacing his keys in a local junkyard during this process a deputy from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office arrived on the scene in response to a call the ensuing interaction between Martinez and the deputy was captured on the deputy's body camera hello how you doing brother doing good all right right J okay say that again uh I lost the keys and the junkyard over there okay so I called them to come in get the to come open the gate or what huh to come open the gate no the key the the car the car is the one that lost the keys that lost the keys to the car oh like you went into the property and you dropped the keys yeah the I was in there doing you know like regular junkyard Stu looking for my parts uh when I was leaving is when I found out I didn't have my keys they let me go in look for them all over the 30 Acres of cars they have okay didn't find them so they just grabbed the tractor and moov move the car outside so I can call them blocksmith oh okay yeah that's yeah cuz we got a call with a gentleman with your description that's why on the property were you the only one on there yeah he just got here to the no we had a description of your your description that you were walking around the property yeah well I was here and the car was close so I couldn't get out so let me understand is this car is yours well at the moment I just bought it you already bought it okay you going to what's wrong with it besides the key it starts yeah it starts and everything there a key just came to pick up some Square oh okay all right yeah they just sent us out here cuz I I'm wondering if the owners cuz there's cameras on your brother oh yeah yeah so they uh saw saw you walking around they also told me like they told me like oh the alarms activate after 5 automatically so but they Clos the gate behind you or what yeah they move they just moved the car here and they Clos a okay what's your last name brother uh just my I'm sorry uh I don't want to get any I didn't invite any information I'll just give you my first name well I need your info man cuz I'm talking to you brother cuz you're the person that they called on so first name n it's chill what's that it's just just just like that I'm not going to give my information right now okay why not just just just okay now now here here's the thing brother I'm going to be honest with you Mr Martinez yeah now me asking you for your information is nothing illegal I'm just I'm just asking you because you're the person they called on I I need to find out who you are and you're telling me one thing so I got to call the property manager and ask them if they were the ones that allowed you on the property yeah that's that's the investigation right yeah yeah so I need your name brother well I gave you my last name and you could just you could just call the the property man and have IDE I do you mind if I see it I do okay why is that brother cuz I I don't want to be difficult man cuz I don't trying to as long as as long as I'm Cooperative with you you're Cooperative with me man this goes a lot smoother for both of us okay well we'll leave it like this and we can call it Cho I'll give you my last name and that's about it cuz at the end of the day I don't I'm not legally provided to give you the full name I'll just just leave it at the last name bro okay well here's the thing is brother and I I I don't know I I don't know where you heard this from or what but since I'm investigating what's going on in this property and you're the one that matches the description I need to know who I'm talking to now if if you want to take this further you want to complain you want to whatever it's up to you brother but see look I'm coming I'm coming to you respectfully bro what was Ito mes menes men so I'm just investigating what's going on bro now if you fail to ID yourself I'm asking you lawfully to see who you are you're the one making it difficult now if you want to impair my my my investigation that's fine that's on you okay but I don't think you want to take it to that extent brother for giving me your name and date of birth no you have ID see see see I do Jo him oh no okay okay okay so I'm going to warn you now I'm going to warn you now brother you don't give me your ID or your full name I'm going to arrest you for failure to ID okay CU this is I'm investigating brother that's all I'm doing okay okay okay it's fine like that okay I'll give you my my name after after where I say this okay all I need is your name and date of birth BR that's it I'm not asking you I'm not and I'm a lud in here too so I'm I'm not asking you for blood sample I'm not asking for your DNA all I'm asking that's a CES identification okay correct so I'm on to investigating are not are not reasonable articulable suspicion to suspect of a crime under Florida versus j under the I'm not here to argue with you yeah I'm not here to argue I'm here to defend my rights so I'm asking asking okay that has nothing VI me cuz I don't know you it doesn't it doesn't I don't know you either officer I thought you were I thought you were a chill officer when you got like he my hands whatever they're like hey okay he'll respect my rights I'll just get my last name you're the one making this difficult all I'm asking you for is your name it's really not difficult and it's not impeding your investigation cuz it's not a physical or it doesn't or it doesn't my giv you my ID doesn't help law school you're a law student sir so you got to understand sir I'm investigating okay you match the description of the gentleman that was in the yard okay so that's the only Reas why I'm ask y yes it said that you were in the yard yeah it says you were in the so that's the only reason why I'm asking you yes brother and I'm not going to run your name I'm not all I'm do is that I made contact with you and that's it but now now now you're making it bigger than it is because all I'm asking is for name and date of birth you don't want to give me your ID just give me your name and date of birth and that's it unfortunately the state t yeah dude you have to identify yourself man you're making Texas Texas is like said you got your name you're making this bigger than it is brother okay we go on our way man all I have is Martinez you were giving me your first name like like a normal person would okay my name is not going to help you in your investigation first of all yeah but I made contact with you only contact is not enough Reasonable Suspicion for you SE my identification you're not being placed on arrest or anything brother okay that's okay are you asking for my name I'm asking for your full name brother okay if you're asking for my name I I I exercise my Fifth Amendment right to remain silence if you're demanding my ID that I never said I'm not demanding I did never demand all I said is give it to me okay now here's the problem I'm investigating okay I for my identification or I'm asking you for name and date of birth that's all I'm asking for ask asking right that's it bro I'll don't answer [Applause] questions all right man so if you want to play this car with me man I I got I got want call no you know what you don't need a supervisor cuz this what's going to happen is dude I'm going to place you under arrest for failure ID okay and that's going to be on you not me brother you already said that it's going to be under arrest I will be under arrest if I don't give you my brother go so I'll give you my IDE now no put your hands on the car you already failed to identify yourself okay give me your left give me your right arm you got you want to play games brother I'm I'm here being nice and you don't want to give me your name and date of birth after Mr Martinez declined to provide his full name and date of birth the deputy arrested him the deputy cited a section of the Texas Penal Code that addresses failing to identify oneself to law enforcement this statute essentially says that if someone intentionally refuses to give their name address or date of birth to an officer who has lawfully detained them they can be charged however since Mr Martinez wasn't under arrest when asked by the deputy and didn't give a false name a court might question the validity of the arrest similarly there's a law about interfering with a peace officer's duties it says that if someone disrupts or impedes an officer while they're doing their job it's an offense but there are legal defenses such as if the interference only involved speaking in previous cases courts have ruled that verbal disagreements with police especially about constitutional rights don't necessarily constitute interference with an officer's duties so it's possible that a court would question whether the deputy had a valid reason to arrest Mr Martinez in this situation and then all this just for a car bro that's it okay your car so we can imp it yeah it says he just purchased it all right come on brother okay all right stand right there no no you're staying right there cuz you're going to my unit you're under arrest all right going to take a second there first time on the back of the car you see you're a lawsuit bro see see see when we get to the station you'll see when we get to the station that was in his wallet yeah well thank God you R dude so you want do impound it yeah impound it brother I think he was saying that they kicked him out yeah that's what they were I saw the notes oh sho's this help you guys up oh you're on days or uh the other shift I'm on H crossco shift cross oh okay oh so you came to help us out tonight uh till further notice oh going to make it so so uh impound it said yeah impound the vehicle it's his so he can tell this guy to take off he doesn't need a V all did you need sir no dude I'm just going to go process this guy I'm going to present it and just going to read on his War Miranda real quick so what going with this guy it's cuz he didn't want to give me his name dude he didn't want to give me his name cuz we're investigating cuz they called us he was inside their property they want to know what he was doing he tells me you find the carpet it is what it is man here I saved it all right let's see I think I saved it in here somewhere there all [Music] [Applause] right all right Mr Martinez before we go to the station I'm going to read your rights okay you have the right to remain silent anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law you have the right to an attorney you cannot afford an attorney one will be provided to you if you decide to answer questions now without any attorney present okay you will have the right to stop answering any at any time until you talk to an attorney do you understand the rights I've just read to you with these rights in mind you wish to talk to me no I don't answer questions okay perfect hey uh what's up hold on search your did he have keys on him no there's no keys supposedly he he was telling me that he lost him inside he just bought this car from inside that's what he told me there's a couple of Grinders but there's nothing illegal right now he's saying he just bought this car inside the lot and uh he was in there looking for parts and he dropped the keys in there so he's waiting he was waiting for locksmith to start the car so um I need to call the owner to see if it if it's true so what you want to do you want to ound it or what this car yeah yeah yeah yeah you go 10 15 for fa failure to man during an investigation what is that I can also charge him with um what is that uh interference in my investigation so the deputies conducted a search of Mr Martinez's vehicle and opted to impound it citing standard inventory search practices for impounded Vehicles however the legality of this search is called into question due to potential issues surrounding Mr Martinez's arrest if his arrest was not conducted lawfully the sub quent impoundment of his vehicle and the search that followed could be considered illegal furthermore the circumstances of the search rais concerns the deputies began searching the vehicle before confirming its impoundment status suggesting a lack of clear protocol adherence while law enforcement officers are generally allowed to search a vehicle incident to an arrest under specific conditions such as when there's reason to believe the vehicle contains evidence related to the arrest these conditions were not clearly met in Mr Martinez's case there was no apparent indication that the vehicle held evidence pertinent to Mr Martinez's alleged defense nor did the deputies seem to have probable cause to suspect illegal substances or criminal evidence within the vehicle given these factors it is likely that a court would view the search of Mr Martinez's vehicle as a violation of the fourth amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures right sir so I'm the supervisor here I was just made aware of what happened um so I don't think he qualifies for any crme okay doesn't qualify for crme I'm going go ahead and release of course um I I want that off oh mying let me finish what's your bch number mine yeah or your name Sergeant procopio 571 I'll give you aiss okay I'm going to get all cameras dash cam body cam phone calls everything it did not constit a crime look what what he did let talk over here oh the lights working uh my belongings let me go get it yeah like I said I just got here yeah and I'll was just brief of the incident so I'm trying to get all the facts of what happened yeah so based on what he told me like I said I'll constitute the F time let me get him for you oh let me go talk to the deputy first can you get him here just so you can educate them and so it doesn't happen and that's why I want to get with you but I want to ask him some questions first yeah is that okay yeah uh lock my phone and my wallet and my airpods yeah I'm going to get yeah let me just be what about my car we're going to take you do it but like I said give me some time so I can try and find okay so what happened to the Lo locksmith cuz locksmith was cuz I lost my keys in the junkyard and I needed the locksm to get me to make me a key those details I'm trying know okay what happened was to through what happened okay so I was in the in the junker right during business hour was I was doing my job anything with my hands I I've been working because you can tell um then i s in the junkard you seen how big it is I lost my keys in yeah Co part yeah lost them couldn't find them they gave me a chance it was like they close at 5:00 it was like 4:30 and like please let me I find g they looked and they picked me up on Tru said hey the arms are going to activate automatically you need to get out what about your car cuz it was parked inside the property it's like well I don't know like so the owner or one of the employees give me three choices like okay Choice one you could leave it here it's all secure we have sensors cameras and whatever uh if anything well and you'll come back tomorrow and look for your keys or get a lock me to make you a key or we could get or we can get a tractor or one of the forklifts to move your car right outside like if you can move my car right outside like call lock be fine M uh locksmith got there and during this whole time I was just waiting outside right the locksmith got there and he was like we did everything right and then I just see a patrol like whatever I get down it's like hey like oh we got a call and your that you were inside the property that you were looking at or what he said that that you were inside the property and then like okay and then they take it they and then they say okay what's your name what he's like what's your last name Martinez he's like okay what's your first name like I'm not going to give it right now he like okay he's like why not he's like I'm trying to be I give you my name whatever he tells me like you know and I like okay but I'm not going to give you my name cuz I'm not legally required to give it to you right now I'm a law student I let him know too and MSU criminal justice major let them know I'm a law student and under Florida versus JL uh an anonymous call or a call is not enough Reasonable articulable Suspicion to articulate a crime because R is only based on the fact to the officer right MH so I told and he was like I don't want to hear like give me your ID no he he wasn't demanding he was asking you know I'm asking you for your name I'm asking I'm asking I'm asking and then until he said well now I'm going to arrest you you're like okay that's different you're asking if you're asking me what's your name I just say I don't answer questions but if you demand me my ID give me your ID oh I'm going to arrest you or give me your ID I'm going to arrest you I that's enough that's all I need I could get that on the phone and be like okay that's enough show it to my attorney and that's enough for litigation and and he said and I told him that if you telling me to if you're threatening me with arrest and I have it all on video he said if you threaten me with the arrest I I'll give you my my wallet right I'll give you my ID right now like no turn around push me into the car boom put your phone down set it up in the windshield put your phone down grab me type me up like you're a really stupid loer aren't you like okay let's see what happens okay uh takes me into the thing right and I'm telling him like bro you're going to sponsor my new car I'm telling you you're going to sponsor my new car he thinks it's funny he thinks he's a good LW student whatever he leaves doesn't and I asked him to and I asked the other do I get my phone call no that's up to the the description of the arresting officers it's fine I'll I'll what I comy just waiting in the cell disturbing anything and as you can tell I'm a really cordal R I'll talk to you whatever don't disrespect me obviously someone randomly goes up to you asking you for your name and stuff just nothing it's not something you do it's self respect what I was doing he arrests me makes fun of my studies makes fun of everything like okay you think it's funny now but you're superv and I when we were over there too I told him call your supervisor you don't need a supervisor just turn around and put your hands I this all this could have been safe if you would have called you you would have gotten there and you said hey yeah unfortunately I was barely made aware of it yeah and he he he's like no you don't need a supervisor took me in and I told him with a smile in my face this is not what you want to do man this is this is really not what you want to do okay let me go meet with him so what are you missing my phone your car as far as your car um I cancel whatever record they had in route so your they search my car without without consent so I guess like you said this is does not look good for the Department I'm going say it as far as searching it I understand the deputy made a mistake mhm and when a person is arrested we have to do what we call an inventory yeah it's an inventory i it's all part it's not separate from the but when it's a when it's an unlawful arrest that makes an unlawful search it's an unlawful it was this this whole thing was unlawful the moment he put his hands on me that was unlaw be this whole situation became unlawful therefore that was an unlawful search I lost the guy that was going to give me a key so now now I have to call someone to come and pick me up and the car is going to have to stay wherever it's at still I I can't get a hand of a of a slots with there now so how can we fix it okay the deputy made a mistake that's going to be addressed of course well where's the deputy you said he was going to be here he's here but I want to meet with you first okay well I give you my side I would like to hear the deputy side right here okay if that's fine fine um as far as your car there's your property I have your stuff right here your phone your wall your airs yeah you hand over thank you what was your name next number 453 453 nice to meet you yeah I have I have the videos here I have I I'm not I don't I'm just trying to get the facts as far as well those are the facts yeah from your point of view um as far as plus my understanding is that uh someone called M and said that there was suspicious activity m i get it it's not a crime it's not but that's enough reason to detain someone not detain it's enough wish to make contact when you legally detain someone that's already a cease of someone's person because you temporarily are ceasing that person unto your Authority cuz if you tell me I'm detained I can't walk off right that's a question like if you say you're detain can I just walk up you're investiga a possible Tres or possible that's that's not my question though my question is if you're detain can can I just walk off like if you said hey you know the answer to this sir yeah you can if it's a consensual if it's a consensual like for example like if you see me talking about consensual enounter yeah if you see me like jumping a fence that's enough Reasonable Suspicion to say okay I think he's burglarizing that house if whatever it is the case whatever but that's that's or if some but if someone calls and say oh I saw this guy that looks like like me right now uh jumping off fense that is not that's enough for you to say hey you're matching a description where were you that's that's a consensual encounter you don't you don't go and say hey you're retained because we suspect you of trashing because suspicion is based on the facts known to the officer not to the not not to the that's enough for what that's enough for so the detention was off what you saying the detention was the F ID in the arrest was not the supervisor argues that although Mr Martinez's arrest was illegal the detention leading to it might not have been determining this hinges on whether the deputies had Reasonable Suspicion to detain him based on the 911 call they responded to however merely responding to a 911 call doesn't automatically establish Reasonable Suspicion courts consider factors like The credibility of the informant the specificity and verifiability of the information and whether the report concerns recent activity anonymous tips without verifiable credibility are generally insufficient for reasonable suspicion without knowing more about the 911 call including its anonymity and the caller's ability to describe the situation accurately it's unclear if the officers had a valid basis for detention a court would review these details including the caller's identity and the information relayed to the deputies to determine if Reasonable Suspicion existed so this whole thing became unlawful cuz he first off he never said that I was detained never once said that I was detained I'm trying to answer your questions okay okay this question okay going back to what happened today he never said that I was detained so as far as I'm concerned I could have walked off because if you're just asking or it's a consenual encounter I can make it UNC consentual and just walk away there's a lot of what is yeah I mean I can sit here and say that but that's why I'm trying to find the facts first from you then from the deputy and then we'll move on question okay I'm done with my story you can have the deputy and give his start okay so what are you looking for uh I'm looking for your story now and then I'll tell you what I'm after it I I'll let you know what's going to happen Okay let me with him and then I'll be back okay his story is basically your story pretty much um so what I'm going to do of course luckily I caught it on time yeah you were brought over to the station that was kind of a mistake of course uh so the right here is going to take you as far as doesn't want to see you it it's a different process of course you do have a complaint well okay let's put it this way if he comes here and apologizes to me I won't litigate this whole thing it's up to you I mean I I can always my job is obviously make it better for you um let me go talk to him yeah cuz cuz before before and he saw himself to the cop making fun of oh what a stupid LW student he thinks he's going to get out when he got it when we got into the thing the soon we got in he was already hey he's a lost student he was telling the the deput I'm not lying tell he's a lost student with a smart smile and his face thinking trying to humiliate me making fun of me and now he doesn't want to show up that's the thing like if you can get him to be here if he he's apologize it's not bad it's not bad since I'm obligated to investigate any type of complaints um I don't think it was best but if you want to go that route we can definitely so we can get on here give me one second yes 14 anything to say to me no you said you you laughed at me said that I was a d l did I not okay did you did you not good did you say that I was a dumb loster no I didn't say where you learn ler I no no sir you got me into the cruiser it's on your body too it's on my phone too you got we got got into the cruiser and you said like you're a really dumb L we were getting down here in the station two you're a really dumb law aren't you gets me you get me through the thing and you start making fun oh everybody look at him he's a lost student he's a ludent you left me in there with the cuffs on okay and I told you didn't I told you that what you were doing was UN LW did you believe me no it's not I didn't believe I didn't the supervisor when I asked you to no you said I didn't need one no I said I never said it's on your body camera it's on my phone don't you ask for supervisor what you tell you you said you don't need one turn around and put your hands behind your no I told you we're not going to get one until we get to the station you know what you don't need a supervisor cuz what's going to happen is dude I'm going to place you under arrest for failure ID okay and that's going to be on you and not Meo you know what you don't need a supervisor no no you didn't you tell your body I I wouldn't I wouldn't disrespect my supervisor like that man because we were in the motions and you know and I'm in the wrong I really am I'm not going to lie to you brother okay you are in the wrong and I told you you were in the wrong and I told you you were going and I told you all this and you thought was funny I never thought it was funny no you laugh funny were your comments brother that's it what were my comments your comments that you're saying Florida code this I'm going to get a new must florid Florida versus JL that's K you don't know I can tell because you unlawfully arrested me it wasn't a mistake he broke the it's not a mistake and that's what we're here that's why we're here and now you are going to buy me a new miss you are cuz now all this that's going to get for your that request your dash count in your car everything my phone your batch numbers everything's going to come into one single file record it's going to come in here tomorrow and that's going to go straight to my attorney and how you think and you lost your qualified immunity right now right now so it's getting control um you said something different to me before take off I'll take you complaint uh you have the complaint for I can fill up no I have to fill up myself is there anything else besides what you told me at first that has changed or any anything else that we have to add to your no that's fine I'll see you in court have a nice day so you going to take you to your car as far as the locks me how pick up here you want to get picked up up here or do you want uh I don't I don't have the key I was working there was a lock me there helping me get a key for my car cuz I lost mine in the junkyard so like dark part is in Mobile right now I can't move it like I don't have a key so okay yeah so that's another so you need him well I really don't get pick up okay um as far as that complaint I will send it forward through the channel command well well now that we're waiting we we can feel out that complaint I'm going to do so sir that's well I can always say that I don't want to complain but I do that's not going to change record is we have to record it yes your ID so I can go so you need him um no okay well you have paperwork doing right yeah if you don't need it right I don't need a right okay that good yeah um I wait he went outside you all right thank you that's your contact information yeah that's my name M's name he and then I was right the one that was stand okay he's actually he's a really good Deputy he really he's one of my senior guys yeah he I can tell he was really nice can I just get a phone number I'll give you my email address uh can I write it down cuz it's kind of weird well I thought I was going to have a little more time hold on what's up I got arrested for you got arrested uh-huh for what nothing bro I'm getting released right now I swear to God bro put it on your mom on my mom bro the deput is right here tell me the story tell me the story I'll send you the video too uh tell me the story you read that and the r search cuz I misspelled it when I was creating it okay so yeah just jarz gmail.com so do you want to be contacted by email or email would be nice by email okay yeah you don't want to contact do you have the records you you car for requests here or do I have to go to the uh the open records request form do I get it here or do I have to go to the county no that has to be requested at headquarters okay yeah the body camera and then there's dash cam dash cams and police reports and can you give me a copy of the police report no I can't do that sir okay okay yes we the report you can actually get it here but it has to be processed by her oh obviously she's yeah Monday through Friday okay okay uh so no phone correct uh no no phone well if anything I'll figure it out I'll send it to you depending on how it goes but I just contact me for email okay I'll leave a interal for okay thank you questions before I um no it thank you for your professionalism sir sounds good um oh no Mom's on way okay thank you after obtaining the body camera footage of his arrest Mr Martinez shared it on his YouTube channel however the outcome of Mr Martinez's complaint is unknown and despite his intentions to file a lawsuit mentioned during the interaction there are no updates available regarding any legal action taken by Mr Martinez