[Music] welcome to audit the audit where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers city permits trespassing and battery and is brought to us by sidewalks 22's channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve in a video posted on july 6 2022 first amendment auditor sidewalks 22 who we will refer to as mr sidewalks noticed that an event was occurring at the e-bell of los angeles which is a historic clubhouse operated by the ebell women's club in los angeles california he began to film on the side of the building walked around and approached a security guard stationed in front of the building while continuing the film uh do you have special limitations or what so you're gonna have to enter where you get the wristband so go around this way to eighth street and then go back there so i don't want anybody going right here so just follow the building you're gonna get to 8th street and you're going to make a right you'll see the entrance over there and they'll give you like a yeah they'll get a wristband so just go this way yeah that way you don't waste your time go get your wristband no i just wanted to get a glimpse from over here all right well if you're not here for the event you can take a picture from right here yeah you can't go in right here no no i don't want to go in through there i just wanna like catch a glimpse do me a favor don't pass those uh no no i won't yeah i'll just i'll just be on the side yeah like over there to the right with the lady no don't pass those cones or the uh the sidewalk closed area okay so just go up to that and that's it okay all right so he says don't pass the sidewalk okay hey you how you doing i'm doing well the street is closed the street the sidewalk okay it's closed and the curve okay if you want to go across the street that's fine right i'll even make a a deal with you if you want to go to the corner on the other side of that tree or something all the way over there yeah i'll let i can live with that but so all this is close too the whole sidewalk the whole sidewalk it's close the street side so what what is this doing here and why is he indicating that way so that i can get you to cross the street so right here this is private too right now oh it's private okay the permit gives us all the way to the fire hydrant the security supervisor informs mr sidewalks that the event has obtained a permit to close the sidewalk in front of the building although the e-bell of los angeles is a privately owned building that regularly hosts private events the sidewalks surrounding it are public property that is generally held open to the public however under section 41.20 of the los angeles municipal code an individual or an organization can submit an application to the investigation and enforcement division of the bureau of street services of the city of los angeles department of public works for a special events permit to temporarily close a public right-of-way such as a street lane curbside or sidewalk according to the division's website street closure permits can be granted to applicants who own lease or rent property adjacent to the proposed closure for community events block parties celebrations political purposes and other similar events in order to obtain a street closure permit an applicant must submit a petition quote indicating that occupants of at least 51 percent of the residences or businesses within the closure area have no objections to and support the closure as well as 312 dollars in fees when determining whether to grant a closure the investigation and enforcement division will consider various factors such as the impact of the proposed closure on residents occupants or business persons of the block the impact of the proposed closure on the accessibility of emergency vehicles the impact of the proposed closure on vehicular traffic such as circulation traffic movement and availability of alternate routes for traffic the potential interference with commercial and business activities in the immediate vicinity and any conditions existing within the surrounding area that when occurring in conjunction with a street closure might create a hardship or an unnecessary inconvenience to the general public or persons residing in the area if a street closure permit is granted the permit holder is responsible for installing and maintaining properly placed barricades during the entire period of the closure and restricting the use of the closed public street to the specific purpose for which the closure is approved here it is possible that the e-bell of los angeles or the host of the event may have obtained a permit to close the sidewalk for the event and if the permit extended to the fire hydrant as the security supervisor claimed then a court would likely find that mr sidewalks could be excluded from an otherwise public sidewalk however the location of the sidewalk closure barricade as well as the consistent use of the sidewalk by other pedestrians seriously calls the security supervisor's assertion about the extent of the permit into question that's why we have the bus if you notice we took the bus uh away this used to be the bus stop but it's not and so the the so but the button stops here just now right it wasn't stopping here just now it's not i'm trying to be polite to you right so here's here's my polite and the end of my be polite okay you're going to go down there or you're going to go across the street your preference does that work for you no it doesn't work because i'm not going to be able to catch the people from over there well that's unfortunate but you don't have a permit to be here so unless you want to go home go across the street hey don't push me back don't push me don't push me no don't push me across the street now you don't have to push me off okay pushing me down go now you're pushing me you're trespassing go now go now go now are you gonna push me again you get close to me again yes you're closing to me yes because i'm telling you you're trespassing you have a bad breath man that's mildly interesting walk over there by the fire no no there's a fire hydrant there's a fire hydrant hey don't push me bang what's going on the security supervisor forces mr sidewalks off the allegedly closed portion of the sidewalk and claims multiple times that he is trespassing by refusing to leave california's trespassing law which is codified in section 602 of the california penal code lists more than 30 activities that can lead to a criminal trespass charge in the state the section that is most relevant to this situation prohibits quote refusing or failing to leave land real property or structures belonging to or lawfully occupied by another and not open to the general public upon being requested to leave by the owner the owner's agent or the person in lawful possession as the united states district court in the central district of california explained in the 1998 case of james versus city of long beach quote the statute envisions an originally innocent entry followed by an unlawful sojourn after a refusal of requests to leave in this case the court held that probable cause existed to arrest an individual for trespassing under this section of the statute when he refused to leave a baseball stadium located within a public park the court reasoned that even though the individual was in a public park when the arrest occurred because the stadium was leased to the baseball team for its exclusive use at game time and the team prevented the general public from entering the field without purchasing a ticket the field was not open to the public without permission from the baseball team at the time of the arrest here if the sidewalk really was closed to the general public for the private ticketed event it is possible the court could apply the same reasoning and find that mr sidewalks was trespassing if he refused to leave the sidewalk after being asked by the security supervisor who was likely acting as an agent of the owner or lawful possessor of the property what's wrong with you hey brother that's it hey brother thank you sir thank you sir keep recording keep recording keep recording sir what is his name what is your name your coward that was not okay what you did who who is this guy i can have him arrested too by by by showing the cops what he did so he's gonna go both ways this is public property you can't be pushing people like that my man brother you saw what he did yeah get out of control yeah i understand honestly you got it all okay exactly what's going on man go ahead and get the guy i don't know his name i just know he's my supervisor as far as like who i'm supposed to be listening to brother yeah because that's not cool man i apologize for the whole thing thank you sir i appreciate you you know i mean i appreciate though yeah all right thank you sir all right you can get your shots from right here what about today thank you you're good man no i'm not he has to apologize correct i gotta push me three times for no reason he is pretty professional this guy is professional this guy is here no i don't understand okay is there something okay let me tell you if a guy pushes you three times are you gonna say oh i understand he pushed me you're not going to i was just here to ask if he had any questions in regards to the trespassing that he had mentioned that's that's it whatever happened still probably sidewalk absolutely i apologize for his you behavior apologize a thousand times i still have something pending against him it doesn't make it bad it doesn't make it doesn't make yeah it doesn't make sense yeah it makes no sense okay thank you mr sidewalks indicates that he intends to pursue some sort of legal action against the security supervisor for pushing him three times while attempting to remove him from the sidewalk in front of the e-bell under section 242 of the california penal code the crime of battery is defined as quote any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another as the california supreme court explained in the 1971 case of people versus rocha quote it has long been established that the least touching may constitute battery in other words force against the person is enough it need not be violent or severe it need not cause bodily harm or even pain and it need not leave any mark therefore an unjustified push or shove would certainly qualify as a battery under the legal standard even here where the force used did not cause any apparent injury to mr sidewalks however if the security supervisor were to be charged with battery for this interaction he would have several different legal defenses he could use to attempt to justify the legality of his behavior according to the power to arrest training manual issued by the california bureau of security and investigative services which issues licenses to private security firms and guards quote a security guard is an agent of the owner of the private property and in this role can exercise the owner's right to ask people on the property what they are doing there if they refuse to answer the questions or if their answers are not satisfactory the security guard may ask them to leave if they do not leave the security guard may arrest them for trespassing and should call local law enforcement without unreasonable delay however situations involving security guards and the use of force are not clearly defined in california law resulting in many gray areas for instance while the training manual explains that if an individual is asked to leave the property and refuses he may be arrested for violating the public law against trespassing it also notes that quote if the security guard uses unnecessary force in removing the employee from the premises the security guard may be arrested for committing assault and or battery according to california criminal jury instruction number 3475 on the right to eject a trespasser from real property quote the lawful occupant of a property may request that a trespasser leave the property if the trespasser does not leave within a reasonable time and it would appear to a reasonable person that the trespasser poses a threat to the property or the occupants the lawful occupant may use reasonable force to make the trespasser leave the jury instructions define reasonable force as quote the amount of force that a reasonable person in the same situation would believe is necessary to make the trespasser leave and instructs the jury to quote consider all the circumstances as they were known to and appeared to the defendant and consider what a reasonable person in a similar situation with similar knowledge would have believed when deciding whether the defendant used reasonable force as the legal agent of a property owner or occupant a security guard may be able to use this defense against any battery charge stemming from the removal of a trespasser from the property they are protecting so in this situation if a court determined that mr sidewalks was trespassing the security supervisor could potentially be acquitted of a battery charge using this defense however this defense would only be successful if the jury determined that a reasonable person would believe that mr sidewalks posed a threat to the property or its occupants that shoving him was a reasonable amount of force and that the use of force was necessary to make him leave the sidewalk your bus stop man he kept pushing me around from the sidewalk away from from where the sidewalk closed right there right well there's there's a sign over there but it doesn't say the entire sidewalk he didn't have to push me he pushed me three times do you know his name who you're referring to the the guy that's in charge of all the security the guy is just like a white guy okay after finishing his conversation with the other security guards mr sidewalks left the scene without further incident very little is known about this incident and it is unknown whether mr sidewalk's ever identified the security supervisor or if he's taken any steps to pursue legal action overall the security supervisor gets a c-minus for becoming belligerent when mr sidewalks refuse to leave an unbarricaded public sidewalk unnecessarily escalating the situation to a physical altercation and attempting to stifle mr sidewalk's first amendment right to film in public although it is possible that mr sidewalks may have been trespassing the footage shows that many other pedestrians use the allegedly clothed section of the sidewalk without any protest from the security guards and it is not by any means far-fetched to assume that the security supervisor singled out mr sidewalks because he was filming the legal nuances of this interaction are complicated but it is undeniable that the security supervisor behaved in an overly aggressive and completely unprofessional manner regardless of who was technically right about the legalities at play although security guards are granted some degree of legal authority under certain circumstances this interaction highlights the importance of understanding the limitations of that authority and i would encourage other security officers to refrain from using any degree of force until it is absolutely necessary mr sidewalks gets a b-plus because while he may have been trespassing and at times made unnecessarily antagonistic comments to the security supervisor he exercised and defended his right to film in public objected to and reported the unnecessary use of force and at least expressed an intention to pursue legal action against the security supervisor even if a court did conclude that he was trespassing by ignoring the security supervisor's orders to leave the sidewalk mr sidewalk's refusal to leave is perfectly understandable under the circumstances as he remained outside of the barricaded area at all times and the various security guards that he encountered appeared to have different understandings of where the closure boundary began while i cannot definitively comment on the legality of the actions of each party in this interaction i do commend mr sidewalks for his commitment to the first amendment and his willingness to engage in a constructive dialogue with the other security personnel about the situation let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic you would like us to discuss in the comments below thank you for watching and don't forget to check out my second channel for even more police interaction content [Music] you