This was submitted by Michael Burns, founder of Copblock Central Florida, via the CopBlock Submissions Page on March 25, 2015
Date of Incident: 03-25-15
Department Involved: Florida Highway Patrol
Officer Involved: Trooper R.A. Drake ID#1749
Copblocker, Michael Burns has been pulled over for the eighth time yesterday for an “obstructed tag”. Seven of the previous stops being the FOP badge he decided to retire after beating his ticket with the court finally gave him a win. This time he was driving someone to the airport in a vehicle with the dealer plate border that every new, and most used cars in America are sold with.
Each time he’s been stopped for this “offense” it has been immediately following recording interactions with the police. In May of 2014, he was pulled over for an “obstructed tag” in Broward County, FL by Deputy Paul Sada, after Burns filmed his attempts to get people off of private property. There have been a few other times Michael has been randomly pulled over after filming. In Bartow, Florida, the PD tried to use the fact that he was recording them while driving, when Florida Statute 316.305 gives exemptions and is only designed to prevent texting- another example that was a secondary “offense” which should not ever been used as an excuse to stop any driver. It was cloaked by giving him a citation for “careless driving” and lying in court, claiming Michael ran a stop sign and failed to maintain a lane. Even presented with the interaction on tape, the judge ignored the video.
A person should not be “pulled over” on private property, without “probable cause” for committing a crime.
Note in his video, the person in the vehicle stopped prior to Michael, received a citation from the same officer in five minutes, his stop took twenty. Michael states, “I will likely see the same judge this time that found me guilty of the ‘careless driving’ citation and denied me the ability to record my hearing. This time it will be recorded.”
Source Article from http://www.copblock.org/117475/copblocker-cited-for-license-plate-violation-again-by-fl-highway-patrol/
CopBlocker Michael Burns Cited by Florida Highway Patrol for License Plate Violation…Again
No comments:
Post a Comment