Just let me give you back the stuff
back.
>> Why are you doing this?
>> An officer catches up to a woman walking
out of a Walmart with clothes she did
not pay for. Right away, the reasons
start coming. A friend made her do it.
She owes money. She has a baby. The
officer keeps it simple. Stop running
and put the stuff back. But taking the
items is only part of this.
What happens over the next 2 minutes
[clears throat]
is what turns a shoplifting stop into
something she cannot talk her way out
of.
>> I just give you the stuff back, please.
Please.
>> We're going to go over here and we'll
talk about it.
>> I have an 8-month-old baby.
Here she is.
>> All right, you don't need to be
answering that right now.
Do you have an ID on you?
>> He asks for her name and she will not
give a straight answer. She insists she
has no warrant before he has even said
the word warrant.
The officer tells her plainly, "I
already know who you are."
And he does. She has an active warrant.
From this point on, she is not getting a
ticket and going home.
The only question left is how hard she
makes the next few minutes.
>> I already know who you are.
>> No, I'm not.
>> I didn't even say it.
>> When they go to put her in handcuffs,
she pulls away again and again. And the
police get louder. She says her baby is
alone in a car. Now, listen to how the
officers actually handle this. They do
not get rough. They warn her over and
over that she will be taken to the
ground if she keeps pulling away.
They tell her they will make
arrangements. Only after all of that,
with her still fighting, do they bring
her down and get the cuffs on.
Here is the part that matters legally.
Resisting arrest is its own criminal
charge, completely separate from the
theft.
Being upset, even having a reason to be
scared, does not make it legal to pull
away from a lawful arrest.
>> Got it?
>> 15 and 13-3.
>> So, where's your baby at?
>> I don't know. Listen.
>> Where?
>> I don't know, man.
>> And then there is the baby. She says it
over and over, "My baby is in the car. I
have to get to my baby." So, the
officers check. They ask her where the
baby actually is, and the story shifts.
She gives them an address on another
street. One officer confirms it out
loud.
>> just going to make sure that
>> is not here, not in her car, not at the
scene.
This is something officers deal with
constantly. When someone is about to be
arrested, they will say almost anything
to be let go.
And the right move is exactly what these
officers did. Take the claim seriously,
verify it, and do not let it stop a
lawful arrest.
>> Where's your baby at?
>> I'm sorry. Oh, no, listen. I
>> So, here is what actually happened. A
retail theft, a refusal to give a name,
an active warrant, and a resisting
charge stacked on top.
The desperate claims did not change any
of it because officers are trained to
separate what is real from what is just
said in the moment.
She did not fight her way out of
anything.
She only added another charge.
The full case file is linked below.
>> That's right.