So, you know, I walk up. >> Were you guys having >> Yes, of course you are. >> Okay. All right. >> Most arrests look from the outside like a simple thing. Something happens. Someone is taken into custody. A charge is announced. Cause [music] and effect. But step inside the actual minutes between [music] something happened and you are under arrest and you find something far less certain. You find officers standing in a parking lot [music] working a problem that has almost nothing to do with what they saw and almost everything to do with what they can prove. This is the story of 45 minutes [music] in a Florida parking lot and the single question that decided whether someone faced a felony. a misdemeanor or nothing at all. [music] It starts the way thousands of calls start. A passer by sees something in a parked car they believe shouldn't be happening in public. They call 911. Deputies from the Martin County Sheriff's Office are [music] dispatched to a fast food lot in Palm City. When they arrive, the situation is in the [music] broad strokes exactly what was reported. two adults, a parked vehicle, a complaint about conduct [music] in public view. The kind of call that sounds at first like it answers itself. It does not. >> Yeah. I'm 10 with the vehicle. We need a Sierra 44 Papa. >> Yep. >> ID. >> Yeah. >> I need your ID, too. So if it's the Imaginal seagull. >> Yes, sir. There you go. >> Where you guys coming from? >> Uh we just stopped here because we were on our way home. >> Okay. You do know it's it's a public place. You guys have the door wide open and there's people everywhere here. >> Okay. >> I got your ID. >> Okay. We totally understand now. >> Then you guys obviously didn't care cuz the door was wide open. No, totally understand. No, totally understand. >> We're just getting crazy out with the door is what he's saying. >> Okay, I'm fine. >> Anything else from us? >> No, you're going to wait right here. >> Okay. No, no, no, no, no. We're all Biden citizens, trust me. >> Are you waiting on your side? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Actually, I might. >> I'm not touching your hand after what I just saw here. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, there's no reason for me to touch anything. >> No, no, it's understandable. >> Because the law [music] does not care what a thing looks like. It cares what a thing legally is. [music] And those are not the same, which is why the deputies don't make a quick arrest and leave. They stay [music] for 45 minutes working out a puzzle that the 911 caller never had to think [music] about. Here is the thing people misunderstand about policing. An officer cannot arrest you for that was inappropriate. A charge is not a reaction. A charge is a specific [music] statute, a written law with specific elements. And every single element has to [music] be met and provable or the charge collapses. >> Don't start the attitude of me. It's not the right thing to do. >> No. No. I trust me, sir. No. No. I don't do any attitude any I support the police officers. You have no idea how much money I put into uh the sheriff's department. If you look at my background, how much money I put into uh the sheriff's department, you understand? >> Okay. But you understand that you're also what you're doing in a public place. >> Yep. Yep. 100%. >> So, nobody's talked to the callers or >> are you the one that called? Okay. >> Think of each statute as a checklist. [music] For a charge to stick, every box has to be ticked with evidence [music] behind it. Miss one box even won and it doesn't matter how bad the conduct looked. [music] That particular crime did not legally occur. >> No, no, no. Hey, no hey. >> That's not what you do when I'm patting you down. Do you understand that? Do you want to get on your face? >> Nope. >> Do you want me to throw you on your face? >> No. >> So, stop. Put your hands up here. >> Okay. >> Do you have a gun on you or something? >> No. So then why did you just do that? >> I'm just showing you one. >> I'm telling you right now, if you move your hands off that hood, I'm going to dump you on your face. Don't do that again. >> I will do not do it again. I swear to God. >> Holding a signal 13 mile. >> Don't ever do that. >> No, I'm sorry. You understand? >> Yes, sir. >> Possibly. >> I don't understand. What? Here. If you're going to reach for it, put it no you can reach for it. >> What is it? >> Just money. That's all it is. >> So then why are you reaching for it? I'm just putting my hands in my pocket. It's a comfortable place. That's it. >> 17. >> I swear to God. >> If you look at >> So, in that [music] parking lot, the deputies aren't asking, "Is this wrong?" They're asking [music] a colder, more technical question. Which law exactly? And can we prove every part of it? [music] That's the work. That's the 45 minutes. >> My gun's right there. >> Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it. Nothing else on you? No, I don't. All right, we'll just My gun's right there. >> We'll just hang out right here at your trunk. All right. >> Okay. My gun's right there. >> I'm not >> Okay, that's we Trust me, we greatly appreciate you telling us about it. >> I'm >> No, don't go back over there. All right. Is there any other guns in the >> No, I have a [ __ ] loaded arm right there. >> Okay. Is there Is that the only one in the car? >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. >> Who is it? >> You see my gun? >> Nope. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Okay. That's [ __ ] crazy. >> Crystal, we're going to avoid the gun situation. Come over here. You're going to stand right here by this passenger tire. Okay. >> Right here. >> Yep. >> Why? Why is I see [ __ ] crazy though? >> Well, >> I don't understand what the problem. >> If if you can follow instructions, we would like to be cool with you. All right. So, >> listen, I I protect all you guys. That's why I have this [ __ ] in my car. >> Okay? I appreciate it. Trust me, I I advocate responsible gun ownership. >> Perfect. >> All right. Uh I think we probably have some questions for you. >> What's your question? >> I don't even know what's going on, though. Uh but because you're not free to go at this moment in time, >> that's crazy. >> We're just going to advise you of your rights. >> You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have them present with you while you are being questioned. If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed to to represent you before questioning if you wish. >> You can decide at any time to exercise his rights and not and not answer any questions or make any >> appreciate you. >> Do you understand each of these? >> Yes, ma'am. >> In [music] Florida, conduct like this can live on either side of a very important line. On one side, a felony, serious, lifealtering, the kind of [music] charge that follows a person for decades. >> All right, fair enough. >> Um, let it let me >> Sorry. >> Uh, hang out. Uh, and we're going to go try and talk with our partners here to figure out what's going on. Okay. >> All right, sir. Sorry. >> Uh, because you have a firearm. >> You can take my firearm. It's my firearm. >> Yeah. No, we're just >> It's leg It's It's legal. All I'm going to ask, will we go talk with our >> partner? It's >> I'm just going to have you take a seat and >> Yes, sir. No problem. >> Thanks. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Nothing in your bra. You're not supposed to have any narcotics, anything like that? >> No. >> All right. You just have a seat >> and we're going to try and figure out what's going on so we can get you out of here. >> Okay. >> Have you sit back for me real quick? Yes, ma'am. >> Um, have you turn around? Do you have on your back for me? >> All right. So, you are under arrest tonight for I totally conduct. >> For what? >> For being in the car and have putting a show on for everyone at McDonald's tonight. Did you want anything out of the car? Your shoes? Anything? A purse? Maybe. Phone. >> Is this for real? Mhm. I said I don't take pride in doing this. >> No, don't either. I just ask you if I can just please and put my shoes on. >> Okay, >> fine. >> Thank you. >> Would you like a seat belt on? >> Anyway, >> on the other [music] a misdemeanor, a minor offense, a citation level breach of the peace. And what decides [music] which side you land on in cases like this often comes down to one specific fact. Whether a child, someone under [music] the age of 16, witnessed the act. That single element is the hinge. With a qualifying minor witness, the conduct can rise to a felony. Without one, the most serious version of the charge simply isn't available, no matter how the scene looked. So everything narrows to that one question. Did a minor see it? The complainant [music] believed children on the sidewalk may have, but may have is not evidence. And the deputies cannot confirm that any minor actually [music] witnessed the act. This is the moment the law does its quiet, unglamorous work. The felony required a box the deputies [music] could not tick. No confirmed minor witness means no felony, [music] not as mercy, not as opinion, but as a matter of what can be proven. So the charge falls to what [music] can be supported, disorderly conduct, a breach of the peace, a misdemeanor. One person is charged with [music] that and that alone. The other against whom even less could be [music] established faces no charge at all. To an outsider, it can look like an inconsistent outcome. It isn't. [music] It's the system functioning exactly as designed, refusing to attach a serious charge to anyone unless every legal element behind it [music] can actually be proved. That's the part the headline never shows you. Not the scene, the reasoning. [music] 45 minutes of trained people resisting the easy obvious reaction and asking instead the only question that's allowed to matter in a courtroom. Not what it looked like, but what can be proven. Because in the end, that's what stands between [music] any of us and a charge. Not how a moment appeared to a stranger. what the evidence [music] can carry. Every time [music] [music] >> [music]