I'd like to make sure you're okay to drive this car. >> I'm good to drive this car. I don't consent to anything you have to say. Please leave. Please may I be on my way? >> Okay. Where are you headed to tonight? >> It doesn't matter. It's none of your damn business, dude. There's no reason for you to be messing with me. All you're doing is eating too much and making that uniform look like crap. I'm a combat veteran, wounded warrior, and you have absolutely no reason I didn't go to war for you to play billy badass like this. You had better hope, Levi Chowski, that you are correct because you're asking me now that I'm not good to could drive my vehicle when you just said that you pulled me over because you couldn't see my tag. Am I free to go? >> This might be one of the best police encounter videos you'll ever see because it has everything. A wounded combat veteran standing up to an officer, a questionable traffic stop, repeated demands for his ID, and a confrontation that keeps escalating as the officer struggles to justify keeping him there. After claiming he couldn't see the veteran's license plate, the officer still refused to let him leave once he was close enough to see it. What follows is an intense back and forth where this veteran refuses to simply surrender to the officer's demands. Watch how this encounter unfolds when he refuses to let the officer push him around. >> How are you, sir? >> Uh been better. >> Why is that? >> I got pulled over for no reason. >> Okay. Well, it's not no reason. Well, I said that. Okay. Well, I couldn't see your license plate because of the tinting you have. >> reason. >> No, that's not no reason. How's that no reason? >> Because you couldn't see it. Now you do and now it's there and now I got pulled over. I'm completely legitimate. I am a Texas registered that tint's legal in Texas. Everything's legit. I got pulled over for no reason. >> No, it's not a no reason. I didn't see it. I see it now that I walked up to the car. >> Okay. So now I got pulled over and you were erroneous. >> I'm not erroneous. I might pulling you over was correct. But now that I'm up this close I can >> Now you see how you were incorrect. Am I free to go? >> No, can I take a look at your driver's license? >> Nope. I don't consent. >> Okay. >> There's no legal reason for you to pull me over. You can keep walking, man. Am I free to go? >> You're not free to go. I'd like to make sure you're okay to drive this car. >> I'm good to drive this car. I don't consent to anything you have to say. Please leave. Please, may I be on my way? >> Okay. Where are you headed to tonight? >> Doesn't matter. It's none of your damn business, dude. Let me go. I'm good to go. You have absolutely no right to have pulled me over and there's your just pushing this thing and I got stabbed by one of you crap cops and this freaking DA up here is make charge me for it to keep it quiet. All you guys have done is terrorize me and all you're doing right now is doing nothing, accomplishing absolutely nothing and there's no reason for you to be messing with me. All you're doing is eating too much and making that uniform look like crap. >> Okay. I'm not messing with you, sir. I couldn't see your license and registration. >> Right. So am I free to go? >> No, you're not free to go. I'd like to see registration and driver's license. >> I do not consent. I don't consent. I don't consent. There's no reason for you to ask me for that. There's no reason for you to pull me over. You were erroneous. Man, am I free to go? >> I need to see your driver's license. >> Nope. Am I free to go? I don't consent. I don't consent. No, there's absolutely no reason. There is absolutely no reason, pal, for you to ask for that when you were erroneous to pull that over. >> Okay. >> Am I free to go? >> No, I disagree. >> Call your sergeant down here. >> Okay. >> Call your sergeant down here. >> Okay. >> Call your sergeant down here. There's no reason for you You saw that it's erroneous right there. Everything Run my tags, do all that stuff. I don't consent to any reason you're doing any of this. I absolutely detest everything in your being right now. Am I free to go? >> No, I just to see your driver's >> No, don't consent. There's absolutely no reason for you to ask for that. Piss off, dude. Straight up, man. Straight up. I'm a combat veteran, wounded warrior, and you have absolutely no reason. I didn't go to war for you to play Billy badass like this. Go get your cop. Go get your sergeant. There's absolutely no reason for you to be pulling me over like this. I've been terrorized by the cops in this town, and you're doing your job to step in them shoes. I do not consent to anything. Am I free to go? >> Okay, can I ask you how I'm terrorizing you? >> Because you pulled me over for no reason. Am I free to go? >> I pulled you over >> Am I free to go? >> No, sir. I need to see your driver's license and registration. >> I don't consent. Am I free to go? >> No, can I >> I don't consent. Am I free to go? >> Can I ask you one question? >> No, I You already asked You already done enough, man. Am I free to go? Ma'am, are you his sergeant? >> Nope. >> Can you get your sergeant up here? >> He's in charge. >> This guy is not complying. He illegally pulled me over. He wants to search and seizure me and my being, and he has absolutely no reason to. Y'all terrorists can take this elsewhere. I am not consenting. >> of this county. Okay. If your driver's license is good, I just need to verify that >> There's no reason. Tell me why you need to verify that. There I was I wasn't breaking any law. I wasn't speeding, and you can see that my truck is legitimate. Why do you need to see anything? You don't. Go. Let me leave. I do not consent. Let me go. >> Okay. All I want to do is check that you're good to drive. >> I'm good to drive. >> Okay. >> I do not consent. Let me go. >> I don't know >> I don't consent. Let me go. Well, you pulled me over illegally because you could not see the thing the license plate in my thing. Now you Now your story is you don't know if I'm good to drive. Dude, I don't consent. Leave. You're terrorizing me. You're absolutely terrorizing me. Am I free to go? >> No, you need to go. You need to go. >> Why not? >> need to check see if you're >> No, you I do not consent. I am good to drive. I was driving just fine. You pulled me over for a tag violation, not because I was erroneously driving. Dude, you can push this as far as you want to go. You're on video, you're on live uplink, live load. You had better hope, Lew Watowski, that you are correct because you're asking me now that I'm not good to to drive my vehicle when you just said that you pulled me over because you couldn't see my tag. Am I free to go? >> No, I just need to make >> That's illegal search and seizure. There's absolutely no You do not need to There's absolutely no reason for you to. I don't consent. There's absolutely no reason. >> Okay, then will you provide me with your name and date of birth so I can check? >> Nope. Dude, you can run these tags. That's everything right there that you need to do that are you legal to do and that you can see through the window like you just said. I do not consent. Am I free to go? >> No, sir. This is very simple. >> Get your sergeant on the line. I do not consent. I do not consent. I do not consent. I Am I free to go? >> No, sir. If you just let me see your driver's license >> There's no reason for you to do this, dude. Do you know who I do All right, I'll show you something >> I'm not sure who you are. Okay. Are you carrying? Are there any weapons down there? I get nervous when you move your hands like that. Okay. >> Take that. That's ID. >> Okay. >> Now you're trying to get legal to do his job. >> to do anything. >> Yeah, you are. >> to check your driver's license. >> Dude, that's my ID right there. Why don't you go look that up? >> That is not ID. >> Why don't you find out how you're going to wind up on film? >> That's fine. I realize I'm on film. >> Mhm, yeah, dude. I do not consent. I do not consent. I do not consent. I do not consent. There's no reason for you to pull me over. You said you saw it now. Now am I free to go? >> No, sir. >> Don't consent. Get your sergeant on the line. What Get your sergeant up here. Get your sergeant up here. Get your sergeant up here. >> In the meantime, if you just let me see your driver's license and I check that you have a valid driver's license >> [screaming] >> This encounter is a perfect example of why the limits of a traffic stop matter. Under the Fourth Amendment, an officer cannot turn a traffic stop into an open-ended detention simply because he wants to keep questioning the driver. The Supreme Court's decision in Rodriguez versus United States makes clear that a traffic stop may last only as long as reasonably necessary to handle the traffic violation, address related safety concerns, and complete the ordinary tasks of the stop. Extending the detention for an unrelated investigation requires additional reasonable suspicion. Pennsylvania courts apply that same rule, and that is exactly where this encounter raises serious questions. The officer initially said he stopped the veteran because he could not see the license plate, but once the officer moved closer and acknowledged that he could see it, the veteran repeatedly asked why he was still being detained. Instead of simply resolving the original traffic issue, the officer continued pressing the encounter, demanded identification, questioned whether the veteran was fit to drive, and began asking about weapons. Pennsylvania's vehicle code 75 PA.C.S.6308 does give officers authority to stop a vehicle when they have reasonable suspicion that a vehicle code violation is occurring or has occurred, but that authority is tied to the lawful purpose of the stop. It does not give an officer unlimited authority to keep a person detained after the justification for the stop has been addressed. The important lesson is that having authority to initiate a traffic stop is not the same thing as having unlimited authority to prolong it. Once the original traffic mission is completed, the officer needs a lawful basis for continuing to hold someone. That is one of the most important Fourth Amendment protections during a roadside encounter. So, the problem here isn't simply that this veteran disagreed with the officer. The bigger issue is the The continuing to escalate the encounter after his original explanation for the stop had been challenged and the license plate was plainly visible. If an officer wants to keep someone detained, there needs to be an actual legal basis for that continued seizure, not simply more questions, more demands, or a desire to investigate something else. That's why knowing the law matters. A traffic stop is not a blank check for police authority, and the Fourth Amendment places limits on how long that seizure can continue and what officers can do with it.