e
good afternoon this is Daniel here with
Copwatch TV just want to welcome
everyone into our live show we're going
to break down some of the most important
issues in policing and specifically
today we're going to focus on two
different cases we're going to focus on
the Roger forson case and also the
Samuel Sterling case these are two
incidents where people died during
interactions with police officers that
not only have they been controversial
incidents but also there are a lot of
really interesting legal issues to these
and it's very possible that my opinions
about some of these cases are going to
be different than a lot of your opinions
so one of the most important things that
I really enjoy is that we have it back
and forth while while I'm going through
some of these cases so you know
definitely while I'm going through these
cases if I say something that you don't
agree with or if you have a question or
a comment definitely put it in the chat
and I'm going to get to as many of those
as we can so again welcome everyone in
if you haven't already please go ahead
and subscribe to the channel and make
sure that make sure that you share it
with friends and family um but first you
know there's there's a question that I
that I want to ask that um you know I
have you ever wondered what happened to
the legendary Chuck Norris uh so I saw
recently a video he made and I I was
shocked this this guy's in his 80s he's
still kicking butt he's working out he's
staying active and even more shocking is
that he's stronger he can work out
longer and he even has plenty of energy
left over for his grandkids and listen
he did did this by just making one
change and he says he still feels like
he's in his 50s his wife even started
doing this one thing too and she's never
felt better she says she feels 10 years
younger her body looks leaner and she
has energy all day so Chuck made a
special video that explains everything
so you know you can make sure to watch
it by going to Chuck defense.com
CW or by clicking in the link uh Below
in this video it will change the way
that you think about your health once
again that's Chuck defense.com
CW and click on the link in the
description below to watch the video you
won't believe how simple this is you
know just a reminder that the legendary
Chuck Norris he's a whopping 81 years
old and he has more energy than me he
discovered he could create dramatic
changes to his health simply by focus on
three things that sabotage our body as
we age watch his method by clicking the
link in the description below and
that'll be Chuck defense.com
CW all right so the first case that
we're going to we're going to talk about
is the Roger forson case so I know I
covered this case last week but listen
this is this is an important case you
know not just because it's made national
news and not just because I think it's
an interesting case but other people
think this is an interesting case and it
really brings out a lot of interesting
legal issues and so we're going to talk
about some of those and we're going to
kind of go through some of those and you
know one of the things about this case
that is it it makes it difficult to talk
about just as transparent as I can be
because Roger Fortson he was a good guy
he was a hero he was in the military he
was in the Air Force not a bad guy
didn't have a criminal record you know I
just want to say that it's easier for me
to talk about even though obviously all
life has value it's easier for me to
talk about a case when someone is in is
committing a crime they're committing a
felony they've victed IED all kinds of
people now they're pointing a gun at at
a police officer it's it's easier for me
to talk about those cases because where
no of course no one deserves to die but
you know when when there's truly a
despicable person who is in the middle
of like legitimately threatening the
life of someone or a police officer you
know whether or not it's not only
legally Justified but morally Justified
philosophically Justified you know that
that that makes these things a little
bit easier but listen in this Roger
foron case this is absolutely absolutely
not that clear legally I do think it is
pretty clear and I know I'm going have
some push back there but what I I want
to make sure that people understand this
case is that anything I say about this
case is purely about the facts of the
case it is not me saying anything
negative about Roger because again Roger
was a good man and looking at this case
I don't think looking back in 2020
hindsight which again which we have 2020
hindsight the police officer in the
moment did not have 2020 hindsight but
looking at this 2020 hindsight I I find
it very difficult to believe that Roger
forson that he had the intent to harm or
kill the police officer who responded
like I I don't I don't think that's true
fortunately that's information that I
have now that we all have now that the
deputy in the moment just simply didn't
have so let's go ahead and talk about
this case first we're going to talk
about some of the myths and some of the
lies that have been told about this case
so if you remember before the body
camera video came out Ben Crump went on
national television and he said three
different things about this case he said
that police officers went to the wrong
address he said police officers did not
announce themselves as police and he
said that police officers forced entry
into the home those are the things he
said now in between after I saw that Ben
Crump interview and before the body
camera footage was released I did a
story on my Tik Tok Channel which you
can go ahead and follow over at police
law news I did a story where I basically
said you know this doesn't seem right
something about this isn't making a lot
of sense Ben Crump has a history of
lying about these cases and I cited the
Jacob Blake case and I essentially said
that we should not believe Ben Crump
unless we have some objective evidence
um I got more hate and DMS because of
that video than almost in any other one
I've done it was like a 14-second video
so you know then we got the body camera
footage and essentially the body camera
footage disputed everything that Ben
Crump said we saw that the police
officers did go to the right Department
we see that that that police officers
did announce sheriff's department or
Sheriff's Office the deputy yelled at
twice and we see that Mr forson opened
the door police officers did not kick in
the door so we know that's true and
what's what's frustrating for me is that
you know I was I said hey we should
really we should really not trust what
Ben Crump says unless we have objective
evidence the the messages I got were
that I was that I was racist and and all
and all these just crazy things which
has has nothing to do with me saying we
shouldn't trust this guy then on as soon
as we get the body camera video it shows
that I was right and now those same
people who were you know criticizing me
for even having the audacity to question
Ben Crump those same people are saying
well yeah Ben Crump lied but it doesn't
matter no it does matter when you get on
National Television when you have the
platform that he does and you lie about
something like this in an effort to try
to make this case bigger trying to piss
people off trying to get get protesters
out in the streets that's intentional
and I think that's wrong I think it's
important that when we look at cases
like this that we're all operating under
the same reality if a police officer
messes up let's all say that they messed
up but let's not say a police officer
didn't announce themselves if they did
let's not say that a police officer
broke into the home and forced entry if
they didn't we should all operate under
the same reality that's why one of the
reasons why I love body cameras for
police officers to wear all right so you
know I and I know I said this and the
first thing I said is I'm going to is
you know that the police officers went
to the wrong wrong apartment um I'm
still getting messages and DMS about
this today both on Tik Tok and on and on
X about that police officers actually
did go to the wrong apartment so let's
let's address that I think that's a fair
question so when I say wrong apartment
or when we say wrong apartment we could
be talking about two different things
meaning that we're you know and I'm
assuming that other people I'm speaking
with are being honest obviously if
there's someone who's being dishonest
there's not much I can do about that but
if I'm speaking to someone who you know
honestly wants to know what happened and
they say hang on it seems like the
officer did go to the wrong apartment
because Roger forson was Home Alone he
was home alone there was no domestic
dispute there so how Dan how are you
saying that he went to the correct
apartment well here's why so in the
moment all the deputy can do is go to
the apartment that the caller the
apartment manager tells the deputy to go
to the deputy isn't psychic you know
that there's no there's no way to know
if someone is not telling the deputy the
correct thing so so that's what I'm
saying in this case the deputy went to
the apartment that the apartment manager
told them to go to so again just to
recap so the deputy got a call that
there was a domestic disturbance and
instead of just going directly to that
apartment the deputy kind of went above
and beyond and I mentioned this last
week the deputy again didn't just go
right to the apartment he went to the
leasing office who was the one who
called he made a stop there because he
wanted to get more information again
that's that's something a lot of police
officers don't do they get a call
they're in a hurry they they'd rather
just get this over with so they can go
have hang out with their buddies behind
the 7-Eleven milk the call um but again
this is I'm I'm telling you as as a
retired police officer this is this is
thorough this is what we want want Cops
to do before you just respond to some
place Hey listen if there's any way to
get more information get that more
information that's what the deputy did
he actually went he talked to the
apartment manager to the person who made
the call and she walked the deputy all
the way over she she she walked the
deputy um all the way to to the building
and um yeah and and this is this is one
of the reasons why so she she walked the
deputy all the way to the building to
the to the elevator and um you know it
it's stuff like this also with a data
driven policing with real-time crime
centers and other kind of field
experience and and tools these are
things that police officers use instead
of just okay we got a call here let's
just go let's not let's not do anything
else so
and she said it's apartment number 1401
well the deputy knocked on 1401 now for
some reason if the deputy went to the
wrong building or knocked on 1406 yeah I
think we should we should have that we
should have that conversation and we
should maybe criticize the deputy for
making you know in a human error that
sometimes people make right but the
deputy went to the right apartment in
that this is the apartment that she told
him to go to um he has no reason to not
believe her um also the police officer
the deputy he did knock and announc and
yelled sheriff's police twice and um
again Mr forson open opened the door you
know one of the other things that a lot
of people are saying is that and I'm
again I'm not making this up I'm still
getting messages about this this morning
I actually told someone an ex who I was
having a conversation with to joining on
our live because I was going to answer
this question here so I don't know if
they if they jumped in or not maybe
they'll watch it later but the comment I
keep getting it's almost like someone
sees a headline that says this and
everybody jumps on even though it
doesn't make any sense and what people
keep saying is like why was the deputy
hiding from the peephole and
and again it's it's and that's what
makes part of this difficult is am I
dealing with someone who's being
dishonest someone who's being dishonest
or someone who's you know honestly has
that question it's difficult because if
you're just being a troll I don't really
have time for that but if it's an honest
question let's go ahead and answer it
and here's the answer so police officers
are trained to not stand directly in
front of a door that they're knocking on
every police officer should do this in
every single case if you watch body
camera footage from basically any police
Poli officer all around the country what
you will notice is police officers knock
on the door and they kind of stand off
to the side I was giving that I was
given that uh training in 2005 um I know
that um other people who uh became
police officers in the 80s they had that
same training and I know that's a
training now so for at least 40 years
police officers have been training hey
when you knock on the door you stand off
to the side you do not stand directly in
front of the door it's a safety issue if
you do do that on field training you're
not going to make it you're going to be
fired so again the idea that this single
Deputy was trying to be somehow
nefarious and hiding from the people
that's just on its face ridiculous and
again it's either someone legitimately
doesn't know and I'm happy to answer the
question or it's people who are or it's
people who are um you know just being
dishonest and trying trying to troll
even though they know it's a ridiculous
thing to say so I just wanted to answer
that so you know what what I now there
are legitimate questions about this case
but there's also a lot of irrelevant
arguments that people are making so
there's a couple different ways to talk
about this case we can make an emotional
argument we can make a philosophical
argument and those are those are fine
conversations to have honestly those may
even be more interesting conversations
than a conversation about you know
what's relevant legally but I'm a
retired cop with a law degree I don't
talk about the philosophy behind any of
this stuff um I don't talk about like
what's what's moral uh or anything like
that talk about what do the police
officers do there is policy there is
training and there is Law and how do the
police officers actions basically match
up with those things and the reason why
I use that metric is because if a police
officer messes up quote unquote messes
up we should be able to site to
something in there training policy or
law that the police officer violated and
that's a good thing if we can cite that
say Okay police officer are trained to
do this this officer this officer did
this and said that's where the problem
is where's the breakdown how do we fix
it how do we make sure this doesn't
happen again or is it just this officer
you know he violated the policy and and
we and we go from there what I mean by
that is and I'm so I'm going to go
through some of the arguments that
people are making in this in this Roger
forson case and you know to be honest
most of the arguments that people are
making are you know their emotional
arguments their philosophical arguments
they have nothing to do with the law and
that's what I'm concerned with so here's
how I'm going to look at this case and
frame this case so definitely put any
questions in there and I can go through
them as as we go but you know basically
you know I'm I'm looking at okay if the
police officer is charged is the with
either you know Murder or manslaughter
whatever they decide to do if the police
officer is charged you know will he be
convicted in court so that's kind of
what I'm what I'm looking at here um and
that's what a prosecutor is going to
look at on the front end before they
decide if the officer or the deputy is
going to be charged so essentially so
how do we know like what's what's the
law well you know we could look at the
law for murder the law for manslaughter
but you know this is a short show we
don't have too much time so really the
most relevant piece of law that is
relevant to this case if there's one
thing there's a bunch that's re that's
relevant but the most relevant thing is
basically the jury instruction for
justifiable homicide in Florida and the
reason is because if the deputy is
charged my guess and I could be wrong my
guess is that he's going to say his
defense is going to argue this was a
justifiable homicide if anyone disagrees
that that's going to be what the deputy
says please put it in the chat but my my
guess is the Deputy isn't going to say
yeah yeah you're right I I I did it it
wasn't justifiable sorry no I mean
they're going to make an argument that
this was justifiable homicide in Florida
so that's where I'm going to go so what
does the jury instruction say what does
the instruction tell jurors looking at a
case about whether or not this was
actually justifiable homicide so here's
what it is again we have can have all
these philosophies and theories about
this case but here's what actually
matters so here's what the jury
instruction says a person is Justified
in using deadly force if he or she
reasonably believes that such force is
necessary to prevent imminent death or
great bodily injury to himself or
another that's it that's it it's not
well you know Roger was a good man in
his own home he was legally able to have
a firearm so the deput is guilty that's
not in the jury instruction the way that
the law works and especially in Criminal
on a case like this it actually has
nothing to do and people think this is
strange but it it's the reality it has
nothing to do with Roger State of Mind
it has nothing to do with what Roger was
doing and everything to do with what the
deputy was doing and the deputy state of
mind that's what matters not what Roger
was doing it's very possible and I I
think this is true that Roger was not
committing a crime
but if the deputy or any person this
isn't just for police officers but if
the deputy had a reasonable belief that
there was some threat of you know death
or great bodily injury death or great
bodily injury
that that it would be considered a
justifiable homicide so so you might ask
well how is it possible so so you're
basically saying that you know Roger
could not be doing anything illegal but
the deputy still could be justified in
killing him or because the way that it
works is even if the do so again it's
yeah rich spilman thank you totality of
the circumstances and again totality of
the circumstances about whether or not
the deputy had a reasonable belief and
the thing is the Deputy doesn't have to
prove they have a reasonable belief the
prosecution has to prove that there was
no reasonable belief of of death or or
great bodily injury Beyond a reasonable
doubt that's going to be pretty
difficult to do and and I'll and I'll
say here in a minute but it's also
important to know that the depuy's
belief and again I say deputy because
he's involved this is really any person
in Florida who's charged with this it's
the same jury instruction you know what
I'm what what I'm talking about is that
the deputy doesn't have to be factually
correct the deputy could be completely
wrong so let's say that in this case the
reality let's say we all agree
objectively Roger forson he was in he
was in the Air Force no criminal history
he was not involved in a domestic
disturbance he literally has no motive
reason and he's a good guy no motive
reason or anything like that to harm a
police officer that's totally out of
character so the deputy was wrong there
was no actual threat in the moment so
the deputy was wrong he was incorrect
well again that's per the law that's
that's acceptable it's about what's a
reasonable belief was the belief
reasonable so here's where I'm going
with this and and let let me give you
another example that might make it a
little more concrete let's say there's a
person who has one of the those pellet
guns that you know isn't uh it's not a
real gun it shoots out something that
can't kill you but it's one of those
replica guns that looks real so let's
say a police officer gets unseen and
someone is holding one of these replica
guns and they pointed at the police
officer and the police officer shoots
and kills the person well later on you
find out that it was a replica gun that
actually had no projectiles in it so in
reality was the deputy in danger of
death or great bodily injury well no the
deputy wasn't the the deputy was wrong
the officer would be wrong in that case
right because one it's a replica gun and
it wasn't loaded so in reality the
deputy was incorrect but that isn't
what's relevant was the belief of the
Deputy reasonable in the moment so we
would look okay well this gun looks like
a real gun it's poined at a police
officer the officer I know cjun Randy
I'm getting there um didn't point it at
a at a police officer I'm I'm merely
saying that like explain another
circumstance where a person could be
wrong about whether or not there was a
deadly threat yet it's still justifiable
I was just giving an example I know that
Roger didn't point the gun cjun Randy
good to see you though sir um so that's
what we have to look at so I think that
yeah it was reasonable for the deputy in
the moment and and I'm going to go
through why and then I'm going to
address some of the other myths and
stuff like that about this case so the
reason why I think it's I think it's
reasonable that the he had this fear and
again we can all sit here you know be
able to look at the body camera video we
know who Roger is we have all the time
in the world the deputy had a fraction
of a second so that's that's something
right so the deputy was dispatched to a
domestic violence call we know that
domestic violence is statistically one
of the most dangerous calls for police
officers so he knows he's going to you
know statistically a dangerous call for
police officers he's informed by the
apartment manager he's informed by the
apartment manager that Not only was
there a domestic dispute today but that
this apartment has a history of domestic
disputes she even recounts one incident
where a male yells at a female and slaps
her so and what the deputy is told is
that today was worse than all those not
saying it's true I'm saying this is what
the deputy was told this is part of the
depuy's mindset so the deput is going to
one of the most statistically dangerous
calls he told that this apartment has a
history of domestic violence
and today was the worst day so now he
goes now he knocks on the door he knocks
on the door and he yells Sheriff's
Office twice really loud so a reasonable
Deputy again what would a reasonable now
of course Roger could be sitting in the
house with headphones on but what would
a reasonable Deputy think so knocking
that loudly and yelling he didn't just
knock lightly you know yelling loudly
Sheriff's Office open the
door the deputy would reasonably assume
that anyone inside the apartment would
know that he's yelling sheriff's police
sheriff's department also right before
the door opens and you can hear this on
body camera footage right before the
door opens you can hear Roger say
something from the other side of the
door and some people claim to know
exactly what he says my ears aren't
great and I've tried to listen to it as
loud as I can with no other sound I
can't make it out if anyone else can
please put it in the chat I'm really
curious what what your opinions are but
Roger says a couple words I can't make
out then he clearly says the word police
then he says a couple other words that I
honestly can't make out so I'm not going
to pretend that I can't I've heard what
other people think that that he says I
honestly can't make it out thank you
bystander yeah that that's exactly what
it says so so he says something
something police something something so
now we're go back to the mindset of the
cop again you knocked and you announced
Sheriff's Office really loud the guy on
the other side of the door says the word
police so if you're the Deputy a
reasonable Deputy would assume okay
who's ever on the other side of the door
knows that I'm a police officer right I
mean that's that's not an unreasonable
thing to assume now if Roger had said
something something door Dash something
something Amazon well I'd be with you
there that you know maybe Roger's frame
of mind is that you know this is this is
someone else and at no point does Roger
yell who is it who's there um identif
yourself so we have Roger saying the
word police and then not asking any
follow-up questions which he absolutely
could have done so it I think it would
be pretty dishonest to say that Roger
doesn't know this as a cop if you have
and again we don't know what's in
Roger's frame of mind but all the
evidence would suggest that a reasonable
deputy and that's what we're going by in
the moment would a reasonable Deputy
think that the person on the other side
of the door thinks it's a cop well of
course I mean to me that's obvious
obious so now the door opens the deputy
the deputy knows that this person knows
that he's a
cop and the door opens and there's a
dude standing there holding a
handgun in that moment under those
circumstances what would a reasonable
Deputy
think that's that's the question that's
the question that's the context now if
you think I said anything untrue about
the context please go ahead put it in
the chat if I said anything that isn't
objectively true please put it in in in
the chat now notice that's the question
under those
circumstances is what the deputy thought
thinking that there's a deadly threat of
death or great bodily injury was that a
reasonable thought for a deputy to think
you put you drop in any other Deputy or
cop in that circumstance that exact same
C circumstance would they also have a
reasonable belief that death or great
bodily injury was possible I'm going to
say yeah and again the deputy in court
the deputy doesn't have to prove that
that it was any of this the prosecution
has has to prove that it wasn't the
prosecution has to say all those
different things I said and then say
yeah but when a guy is stand there with
a gun the deputy has to think that like
you know he's just doing it for for for
for fun right I don't know what else you
would say what would I I mean tell me
tell me the reason why a normal good
decent reasonable person like Roger
would open the door knowing it's a
police officer holding it holding it not
not not holstered not concealed holding
it I I give me the reason we're going to
struggle to find that reason sitting
here having a discussion where we have
all the time in the world and we're
asking a deputy to process this like in
the moment and just remember if the
deput is wrong he dies so it's easy for
us to say so that's why I think that
this is this case is I I I think that
based on how the Florida jury
instruction is written that the deputy
will not be convicted um I think it's
clear that there's a reasonable belief
um so because of that I I think it's
that a reasonable prosecutor
probably probably wouldn't um charge in
a situation like this but I should say
that there's that there's strange
Dynamics in this case because you have a
lot of people who are pro-military and
pro-law enforcement you have a lot of
people I mean in Florida right you have
a lot of people like this the Florida
jury pool you have a lot of people that
are pro-military that are pro law en
ment but this case really even shouldn't
be about that making this case about
making this case about the making this
case about the making this case about
hey Karen uh beads I I we don't know if
he knew it was a police officer um I
just went through it though Karen and I
the the police officer had a reasonable
belief that the guy on the other side
thought that he was a cop um if you
didn't watch it go watch it later I just
went I went through the whole thing why
um it's if I was the cop standing
outside I would absolutely think that
this guy knew knew that I was a cop um
so it it's this shouldn't be about
against pro-military or pro cop it's
it's what are the facts of the case and
that's really what we what we have to
look at and what a jury should be
looking at given that I I don't think
the deputy should be charged or
prosecuted if he's prosecuted I I really
don't think that he'll be convicted
because again that's what the jury
instruction that's what the jury
instruction says now if the jury instru
said something different right so a lot
of people are making this about the
Second Amendment it's not about the
Second Amendment let me just put that to
rest there it's absolutely not um when
someone says that that's an emotional
argument that's a philosophical argument
and I'm happy to have that conversation
it's an interesting conversation right
but it's not relevant like legally
because there's no jury instruction if
there let me put it this way if there
was a jury instruction that said um if a
person is in their own home doing
nothing illegal and all they're doing is
holding a gun then it's not justifiable
homicide yeah cool I'm I'm good with it
i' agree with you but that's not the law
in Florida that's not the jury
instruction there's actually nothing in
the jury instructions that mention this
so again interesting philosophically
interesting emotional argument not
relevant legally and I'm talking about
the legal case so I think that when
people argue about this case they often
talk past each other you know you're
making an emotional argument I'm making
like a legal argument based on the jury
instructions in Florida and those two
may not may not actually align you know
you want to have a moral conversation
about this yeah let's let's have it but
um there isn't a whole lot a whole lot
um a whole lot there so a couple other
things about this case that people are
that people are saying so so again um
yes Roger had a legally owned handgun um
he was legal to own it uh again it's not
relevant when it comes to it being legal
it's not it's whether the handgun was
legally owned or not it's about did the
deputy have a reasonable belief that you
know he was in danger of death or great
bodily injury that's it that's the that
that's that's that's the that's the
question I 100% completely understand
that Roger was legally able to have it
and um yeah I I there's no there's no AR
there's no argument there this is not a
second amendment case it's you don't
just get to say well he was in his own
house with a gun it's legal we have the
Second Amendment so that means that the
deputy is guilty no I mean because if
you want to play that game it's like
well the Second Amendment for Roger
doesn't Trump the 14th Amendment of due
process for for for the deputy right so
so that's why this just it isn't it it
isn't a thing um so
um uh Charles says a sympathetic young
man was cut down in his own home Dan is
providing a sober legal analysis and he
be right about the ultimate outcome but
it's a tragedy in the community
regardless Charles I couldn't have said
a bed better myself thank you that's
exactly exactly how I feel about it and
and like I said it's it's it's just
honestly it's easier to talk about a
case like where you know the person
who's killed by police officers is a bad
person is out there victimizing the
community you know pointing a gun at the
cop um that's easier to talk about right
um this is a difficult case because
Roger was a good man and again for the
third or fourth time 20120 hindsight I
don't know what Roger was thinking but I
do not think that he was I do not think
that he was trying to harm or threaten a
police officer I know that now the the
deputy didn't know that in the moment um
so a lot of PE I already addressed you
know people saying that the cop was
hiding from the peep that's ridiculous
um also you know for some reason I've
getting got a lot of questions about
fake cops and you know listen there's a
couple things that people love and and
you know is being part of this body
camera Channel you know I'm glad that it
happens every now and then people love
funny drunk drivers and people love fake
cops we put up fake cop videos you guys
love it you know why I love it I love
watching fake cop videos I love watching
these get busted it's so much
fun but to pretend that there's like
this epidemic of fake cops it's a little
dishonest a little disingenuous but and
I'm not exaggerating the amount of
comments and DMS it's literally in the
hundreds of comments of of of of uh
comments and DMS about about you know
possibly uh uh fake cops um uh you know
it's difficult you know and again
because we track this stuff listen I'm
I'm going to promise you this right now
if we could find we scour the freaking
internet for this if we we can find
fascinating interesting fake cop footage
that you guys are going to love again we
have every incentive to find it we do we
scour it and we put it up there for you
guys because you love it and we love it
there's about there about around the
country there's about one a month just
just saying what the numbers are about
once a month there's a fake cop
somewhere who gets arrested now of
course there could be more who don't get
arrested I'm I'm I'm good with it but we
go through public records and delays and
all kinds of stuff to try to find this
stuff for you guys but again this this
about one one a month okay so so a lot
of people are saying and and again I'm
only addressing this because you would
not I'm not exaggerating you would not
believe the amount of messages and DMS
I'm getting about this case I should
just say that you know uh one of my
posts on this on X I got 5.2 million
impress Impressions it's actually the
most viral post I've ever had and you
know thousands of comments on it most of
them are coming from from from that post
um so I did did get a whole bunch of of
Engagement and I again I got good
questions and bad questions but let's
pretend that this is this is a good
question that you know well Roger came
to the door with the gun in his hand
because he thought it could be someone
acting as a fake cop okay you know what
let's let's let's explore that so you
know there are uh you know thousands of
police officers who knock on millions of
doors every single
day compare that to how many fake cops
are operating out there again I'm sure
there's some I'm sure there's a few but
we're literally talking about
99.9999999% % of the time it's going to
be a real cop when when someone uh when
someone uh uh calls for police um you
know
99.9999 times it's going to be this um
you know um in in Albuquerque New Mexico
you know I think there were you know 1.4
million calls for service and you know
maybe there was like one fake cop you
know so again it happens right it
happens but it's it it's statistically
rare so I guess what I'm going with this
is being like that was on the top of
Roger mind like that it was a fake cop
and you know because you know there was
one I mean you have better odds of
winning the lottery I'm not exaggerating
you have better odds of winning the
lottery than of a fake cop knocking on
your house with the intent to burglarize
I'm not saying it doesn't happen and yes
you should be careful but let's not
pretend this is something that happens
all the time okay and a couple things so
listen listen I mean listen I I I it's
it's you know I think I would actually
rather have Jeremy DT knock on my door
to win the Powerball that that'd be
fantastic do you know the amount of
amount of views I would get on a video
like that okay if I had engagement with
Jeremy DT not knocking on my door um but
if you think about it this way it's
it's it doesn't happen all that often
but so what can you do if you think that
there's a fake cop so let let's let's
talk about that well first of all listen
you have no obligation to open the door
for police if police not again I'm a
retired police officer yes I'd rather
have I'm not telling people to not
answer I would rather have people answer
of course but again you've got no legal
obligation to open the door for for
police right just don't don't open the
door and the police will either
eventually they'll go away or they'll
get a warrant right I mean um you know
if you're actively killing someone
inside of the house then maybe they'll
kick in the door then right but but
again like you're under no obligation to
to open the door for police and if you
don't especially on a on a misdemeanor
domestic violence call where it's like
third-and information you know you knock
on the door and cops don't hear anything
again cops aren't coming into your house
for that they're probably just going to
leave I guarantee you they're just going
to leave right um or you know if there's
felony something where you know they'll
they they can get a warrant right that's
that's fine but that that take a couple
hours all right so um don't open the
door if you're not sure but here's a
couple other things you could do you
could look through the people and you
could talk to the person you say Hey you
know I'm not sure if you're a a a real
police officer you know how do I how do
I know if you're a real police officer
well this might sound in contradiction
to what I said earlier most police
officers won't stand in front of a
peephole or in front of a door because
it's not safe that's general practice
now and I'm speaking for myself I'm not
speaking for policy or for anyone else
if I'm outside of a call like this and
some dude knocks the the door and says
Hey listen I'm not sure if you're a real
police officer can you show me that you
are one um well I might do a couple
things I might say hey are you looking
at the peeple dude Hey listen I'm right
here my name is Daniel I'm a police
officer I'm right here I might I might
say that or I might say hang on man um
list you know what um I I understand
that you're that you have a reasonable
fear um so what I'm going to do I'm
actually going to have dispatch call you
right now um or or you call dispatch
because that's nothing that that that
someone can do someone could call
dispatch the non-emergency number be
like hey I live at this this apartment
of 1401 dude's knocking on my door
saying he's a police officer I'm not
sure can you verify dispatcher can look
it up and be like yeah actually two
officers were dispatched at 1356 hours
um again they won't give you a whole lot
of information but they'll tell you if
there's cops at the at the house or not
let's say you don't want to do that well
if you live in a if you live in a house
in the middle of nowhere this isn't an
option but since we're talking about the
Roger forson case he lives in a big busy
apartment complex with really
nosy um uh leasing office staff right so
all he has to do is call the office be
like hey this is Roger over in apartment
number 1401 listen there's someone
knocking on my door saying they're a cop
I'm not sure um is there any way one of
you guys can you know come up and check
or look on the cameras and yeah tell me
if it's a cop or not they'll tell you
there's no apartment complex in the
world that isn't going to say yeah hang
on because they want their residents to
be safe they don't want crazy people who
are pretending to be cops roving around
apartment complexes especially in nice
complex like Roger was living in so
that's that's another option you could
do um you could call a neighbor hey you
have a neighbor who lives across can you
see if there's a cop out there there's a
lot of different options right I mean
the idea that the best option is to open
the door with a gun in your hand again
it's may not be illegal but it's not
something that most people do and we
know this now I often open the door with
a gun um it's holstered usually
concealed um sometimes the when we've
had a doorbell ring at like 1:00 in the
morning and
um last year or so the doorbell rang at
1:00 in the morning so I did I grabbed
my gun and I opened the door a tiny bit
and I had the gun behind the door person
couldn't see you know it was a neighbor
they needed something but I mean but
they couldn't see I'm not trying to
scare the out of my neighbors at 1
o'clock in the morning if they need
something from me but I mean that's what
a lot of people do it's very rare that
someone opens the door with the gun out
it it does it doesn't happen it doesn't
happen very often so let's see if we get
some some of these comments here
uh let's see Charles says he's a foreign
police officer but I'm not don't answer
the door people they'll come back with a
quicky warrant if it's important thank
you Charles you're 100% correct um I
don't know if you said that before after
I made the comment yeah listen if you're
not sure if it's a police officer or if
you just don't want to you got no legal
obligation to open the door for police
officers and again they'll eventually
they'll go away they'll come back with a
warrant either one is fine uh let's see
um Fernando says you are speaking for
yourself yeah I was and I think I even
said that um if I'm citing policy law or
training Fernando I'll say that if I'm
speaking just for myself I'll also say
that I think it's important to do right
I think it's important for you to say
like hey I'm saying this and this is
policy this is law this is training no
like I'm I'm I'm saying what I would do
in a situation like this I absolutely
can't guarantee other police officers
would do that meaning like you know
standing in front of the door so they
could see that's why I'm saying here are
the other options you know you can you
could call dispatch you could call the
apartment manager you can call a
neighbor uh or just don't open the door
um uh let's see um kjun says don't be
around a cop when Acorn drops yeah so
this is this is funny thank you kjun
Randy I like the joke so this is the
same Police Department agency that had
the acorn case um the problem with that
is is that um it's not relevant um it's
not um so if if one of your arguments
about why this is a bad shooting is
citing a different case that happened
with different cops a couple years ago
if that's your best evidence of why this
shooting is not legal then I'll take the
win on that okay oh let's see uh
Fernando says what would what world do
you live in leasing office uh will check
leasing office will check it out yeah
yeah they will um I live in a reasonable
world where if you live um in a
reasonable apartment complex and you
call and say hey there's someone a
knocking on my door and uh they're
saying they're police I'm not sure um
I'm I'm concerned I'm a resident can you
guys help um the leasing office will
help um if they don't um then yeah I
think you've got a complaint you have a
reasonable issue um again now if you
live in a terrible apartment complex
where you can't even get people to
answer the phone fine but this apartment
complex we know that there were at least
two people on staff because the officer
talked to them and again they seem
pretty nosy because they're
calling on their residents right so
again a simple call there they would
have been e verifi and again apartment
complexes they have they have an
incentive to not have crazy people
walking around pretending to be cop so
um if if it's if the leasing office
wasn't the people to call like they want
to make sure that like criminals
pretending to be cops aren't trying to
victimize their residents um any
property manager would be like holy
we need to get to the bottom of this um
they again if you have a different
experience fine um but decent apartment
complexes like that's that's what
they're going to do I absolutely promise
you um all right so that that's going to
be that's going to be our our show today
I really wanted to get to the Samuel
Sterling case um body camera footage
just came out I actually put up a couple
videos on uh Tik Tok and um a couple
posts on uh on X about it over at police
law news so you can go engage with me
there or make sure throughout the week I
do te I do check this chat so if there's
an interesting case or another question
on this case that you have definitely
put it in the chat throughout the week
it is something that I check um I just
want to say thank you all for the
interesting comments and it's likely
that I didn't get to every possible
question good question on this Roger
Forton case so again please definitely
put it in the chat cuz that's what I
like reasonable honest discussion I
think is important especially on cases
like this and that's going to be it I
hope everybody has a great and safe
weekend thank you so much bye