Nikon Rep

Torrance police have a long history of harassing cyclists. They stop them for no reason, search them without probable cause and without consent. They force them to be detained sometimes for up to an hour and ask intrusive questions into their personal lives.
If subjects assert their rights to not be search or to answer questions, the police will threaten arrest for "obstruction" and will always make up a bogus charge to cite them for.
In this incident here, police stop an innocent man riding his bicycle at night. The cyclist was breaking no laws. He has all lighting equipment and was riding in the street.
When the police were done with their illegal harassment, they decided to retaliate against me for filming. They drove through a back alley and turned off their lights and followed me for two blocks. When I got into my car they follow me for about a mile, ran my plates, ran me for warrants.

Good thing for me I am not a criminal, I just record the actions of criminals.

rydabent

The illegal search of all the cyclist papers with out probable cause is totally illegal. It is one reason that I dont carry my wallet when I ride.

casio04330

Drug dealers sometimes use people on bike to run drugs or cash... But besides that the stop was illegal... If he was on some kind of watch list then the 1st thing would have been fine.. but my guess is he was not and they were looking for some kind of bust.. also cops and towns people don't like bikes because you don't need a magic piece of paper to ride a bike... The more people that ride the less people they have to harass about there insurance sticker and there inspection tags and there license plate lights and so on..


Also the best way to get a cop to stop following you is to stop moving..
I was in boston and this cop keep following me..
This was on foot.
So i just stopped..
He walked up near me and just looked at me and i looked back at him...
And just waited... Then waited some more... Then he walked off.. Have no idea why he was following me.
But he was.

sam21fire

How do you know the cops ran your plates/warrants etc?

Nikon Rep

They do it every time I film them. I was listening to my scanner.

Lot's Knife

Hard to tell for sure, but it looks like the cyclist unwisely consented to the search.

JonnyHK 

The cyclist and one cop were chatting away, so I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that the cyclist is either known to police or has a criminal record. He's been stopped and searched plenty of times before and it is either habitual or 'water off a ducks back'.

Astrozombie

Because it's easier to play along instead of trying to play hardball with the cops, they'll make you miserable for a little while and all because you didn't give them the simple information they want.

I know i know, I'd love to be a hardass for once but why bother? I've spent a night in jail and it wasn't fun, avoid it if you can even if you know they are violating your privacy and it's turning/is a fascist country.

Speaking of probably cause, do you guys think the "illegal search" card will actually uphold in court?

Chris516

Possibly.
I was stopped a couple years ago. Because the officer thought I was drunk. I didn't argue with the officer. Because it was one of the first times, that I had made a particular right turn. That is going downhill, then the turn at a T-section goes suddenly uphill. So, I gave the officer the benefit of the doubt. Since it looked like I was weaving. I was willing did the breathalyzer test.

CB HI

Torrance police have a reputation for this type of phishing crap. If it was a traffic stop, why no citations? They went through all his papers, his cap, made him take off his shoes; they were phishing for drugs. Don't you know that in Torrance, all cyclist must have drugs on them.

You are probably right on one thing, it is likely that the Torrance police have stopped him before. It was likely another illegal stop as well.

JoeyBike

Cops are lazy and a lone cyclist is an easy target. The "Blue Gang" in Torrence are especially lazy. Even their bicycle cops are dicks.

dynodonn 

If the cyclist has a criminal record, and if he is currently on probation, part of his probation could be that he can be stopped and searched by an LEO.

spivonious

Cops can already search your entire vehicle and person with "probable cause" (in the U.S.). Riding a bicycle in the dark late at night is enough probable cause for most judges/juries. Refusing a search is a good way to get arrested.

GP

I can't hear the dialogue. Did the guy have a fourth waiver?

ItsJustMe

There is no "besides that" - the stop was entirely illegal.

Drug dealers sometimes use people in cars to run drugs or cash. That doesn't mean that the cops can stop anyone in a car and see if they think maybe they might be running drugs (west Texas not withstanding).

howsteepisit

I am just so happy that Angio Graham has been reincarnated to tell us of the social ills of all authority, while he live in anarchy.

SquidPuppet

If those officers were looking for drugs, they need to be retrained because they are clueless.

Seat tube, steerer, down tube, stem and bars would hold a lot of dope.

02Giant 

I liked how the search light was redirected, into the camera when the officer noticed they were being watched.

kickstart

The video just shows the search, not why he is being searched. How can one determine from just that if the search is legal or not?

Nikon Rep

how about the harassment of the photographer afterwards ? if police are willing to harass someone over exercising a constitutional right do you really think the police care about making legal stops on cyclists ?

howsteepisit

How about none of you have any idea, based on what has been presented, of why the stop was made.

Nikon Rep

I do, I was there.

howsteepisit

Hence the "based on what has been presented" part. Is there a reason for keeping this massive injustice a secret?

kickstart

So why? Do you know the cyclist?


Walking up to an active police investigation is kinda dumb, and looking for trouble, they don't know who you are or what you're up to.
If some stranger started recording me working, I'd be annoyed and wondering WTF too.

CB HI

You must hide out in your home under the covers to avoid the store cameras recording you and the traffic cameras on the road and on and on. Bad cops brought the video recording upon themselves. The good cops have nothing to worry about. Who started recording traffic stops first, cop dash cams or private citizens?