welcome back to the civil rights lawyer Channel this footage shows a man being confronted arrested and tased by police officers after he pulled over to the side of the road to observe and record a traffic stop that involved his son now did he have a right to observe and record that traffic stop or Can the police make him leave or worse do you need to be behind this traffic stop why it's my son right there he was following me okay he's on a traffic stop though you don't need to be behind it I'm not being mean we just don't like when people pull in behind us that's what we get paid to do to pull people over you don't get paid to be and you don't either okay I don't got to put up with your bull okay I asked you a simple question okay just being nearby to observe and film a traffic stop is a constitutionally protected activity foreign this footage comes to us from a Los Animas County Colorado where the sheriff's department is now facing a lawsuit from this man after he was tased in the face by these officers Kenneth Espinoza was driving to a shop to get his truck serviced his son was following him separately in another vehicle but then his son was pulled over by a deputy with the Los Animas County Sheriff's Office for allegedly following too closely to the police car his father then pulled over behind the deputy quite a ways to observe the Stop and to wait for his son here's the interaction between the Sun and the deputy making the stop Windows Frozen okay what's up Deputy Norwood Sheriff's Office let me get your driver's license hold that dog a little Snappy the problem is what's the problem yeah yeah you're following too closely can't you see the roads are icy you see me slowing down and you're still crew coming up behind me there's no reason for you to be doing that it's not good don't tell me how I should be driving okay I'm in a mark all right well I mean that doesn't give you the right to follow up Mark patrol car close like that what if I had to stop I know there is ice there that's why I was cruising so I don't slip there's no reason for you to be trapped but be that close behind a mark patrol car foreign but that's not the main story here rather the story becomes the officers on the scene getting butt hurt that the father is observing and waiting behind the stop in the body cam video Deputy Henry Trujillo is seen walking up to the father's window but first I want to thank the sponsor of this video The Ridge wallet every guy I've shown this wallet wants one now you can now save up to 10 percent off just go to ridge.com tcrl not only do these wallets look great coming in a huge assortment of designs but they are also crafted for materials like carbon fiber weave titanium and Aerospace grade aluminum making them extremely durable and rugged they also block thieves from using RFID technology I've been running this gold setup for several months now and I think I like the ridge key case even more than the wallet but it's a great combination 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being mean we just don't like when people pull in behind us that's what we get paid to do to pull people over you don't get paid to be [ __ ] [ __ ] you don't either okay I don't got to put up with your [ __ ] okay I asked you a simple question okay he tells Espinoza the father that he needs to leave the scene or else he'll be charged in fact you need to leave now or you're going to get charged it's that easy I'm recording too I asked you a simple question if you have a shitty attitude that's your problem okay running on my door yeah you saw me and you rolled your window up when I came traffic stopped hold on a second okay no you rolled your window up no when I walked up okay so I knocked on your window okay you don't need to be behind yourself okay so you need to leave no I don't need to do anything five seconds to leave okay there's no reason for you to be behind this traffic stop no reason okay no reason okay no reason do I not pay it back sleep Espinoza refuses but moments later can be seen attempting to leave the scene at which point the deputies prevent him from leaving including by pointing their weapons at him stay stay stay out the [ __ ] car what are you gonna do you're gonna that's the file SD card give me that radio go with the [ __ ] car get out the car get out the car the footage then shows the father being tased multiple times including while he was handcuffed you do what you're told all right you think it's okay just to roll up our traffic stop no I'm not doing now you go to jail what do you want Donald he's gonna get a citation he's staying there that's my original stuff okay next what do you want from us what can we do to help we should be good okay um I got Matt coming to check him off okay prosecutors have now dropped all charges against the father Mr Espinoza he had been charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a peace officer Espinosa's lawsuit now alleges also that Deputy Trujillo shouldn't have even been a deputy in the first place due to his criminal history in 1997 this Deputy was charged with felony menacing with a weapon which was pled down to misdemeanor disorderly conduct the following year he was convicted of misdemeanor harassment according to the father's attorney the conviction that conviction should have barred trujilo from becoming a certified police officer in Colorado there were also multiple restraining orders apparently filed against him including a 2006 domestic abuse allegation and also including a stalking and assault allegation from 2007 and there's more Trujillo was apparently forced to resign from the sheriff's office from the sheriff's office in 2009 due to a conviction that is now sealed what was it we don't know because it's sealed but then he was rehired in 2010 and then in 2018 he was promoted and now congratulations he's third in command the Los Angeles County Sheriff released a statement in response to all of this saying that he has asked for help from an outside agency to review the actions of his deputies he said that Deputy Trujillo is still on active duty so what is the law here did the father have a right to wait and observe his son's traffic stop the body cam footage indicates that the father was not just waiting and observing the stop but he was also recording the Stop and that's the most important fact here did you find it it just so happens that Colorado which is in the 10th federal circuit is where case law just dropped last year on this very issue and it's not good for the officers the case is Irizarry versus yahia 10th circuit from 2022 and here's the backstory which may sound familiar to those of you who watch police interactions on YouTube which you do because you're literally doing it right now you may have watched a great video that my friend lackluster did on this very incident so early in the morning May 26 2019 abade Irizarry a YouTube journalist and blogger was filming a DUI traffic stop in Lakewood Colorado officer Ahmed yahia arrived on the scene and stood in front of Mr Irizarry obstructing his filming of the stop officer yahia shined the flashlight into Mr irizari's camera and then drove his police cruiser at the two journalists you're not required to answer any questions or perform any tests turn that light the other way or stand to a different side those were lucky to get out of his way you better control his attitude you got to put a leash on your dog here buddy but here is ultimately what the Court held filming the police officers performing their duties in public is protected activity police officers in Colorado will be deprived of qualified immunity where they violate a citizen's First Amendment right to film police officers performing their duties in public and then take retaliatory actions against them officers standing in front of a camera threatening violence including aiming police cruisers at the individual violate the First Amendment according to the federal courts that oversee police officers in Colorado specifically does this situation fall under the Irizarry holding here's the main point if you look at the footage from Mr Irizarry they are actually much closer there at the to the traffic stop than Mr Espinoza was here there's no doubt that police officers have the ability to exercise control over the scene of a traffic stop as well as the occupants of the vehicle at the traffic stop but they do not exercise control over nearby bystanders at least not unless those bystanders have created some Reasonable Suspicion to believe that they're committing some crime just being nearby to observe and film a traffic stop is a constitutionally protected activity so if the argument is that some Colorado state law authorizes officers to prevent this it would have to overcome the holding from the Irizarry case here Mr Espinoza was further away from the stop than were the folks in the Irizarry case the only real difference is that Mr Espinoza was in a vehicle pulled over to the side of the road and I suppose that they could come up with some bogus traffic violation Theory to detain him for being there on the side of the road in the vehicle but aren't we allowed in pretty much every state to pull over on the side of the road if we have some need to do so that could include waiting on or checking on a family member who is also on the side of the road ahead of you for some reason including a police stop thus I don't believe really that that argument hold holds much water at all the fact that the father is filming the police I believe gives him first amendment protections to do what he's doing just because the police officers are afraid of Freedom that's not reasonable suspicion to detain Mr Espinoza especially where they told him to leave and he actually attempted to leave before they changed their mind this is a very clear case of First Amendment retaliation additionally if you watch the raw footage sections that I cut out so that the video didn't get restricted here you'll see that they also used excessive force on Mr Espinoza the best case for that is just the fact that they tased him while he was handcuffed and there's a load of case law depriving qualified immunity from police officers who tased handcuffed arrestees this is also a good false false arrest case here and that just means that they arrested him without a warrant and without probable cause on top of that there's just a general Fourth Amendment violation just by virtue of this man being seized and detained in the absence of reasonable suspicion of him having committed a crime basically there's a plethora of constitutional violations here thanks for watching everyone should spend some time learning the basic constitutional laws surrounding interactions between citizens and their government officials and that's what you just did whether you realize it or not so subscribe both here and at the blog at the Civil Rights lawyer.com if you want to help fight government abuse and end qualified immunity I urge you to donate to the institute for justice and you'll find this Channel's very own donation Link in the description your funds will literally keep civil rights lawyers working suing the government across the country in cases just like this remember freedom is scary deal with it foreign foreign