4 Aug
2015

BREAKING VIDEOS: Austin Police Affidavit Proven False by Peaceful Streets Project Videos; Video Proves Illegal and Unconstitutional Arrests

In what many believe was a continued assault on the First Amendment rights of police accountability activists by the Austin Police Department, Antonio Buehler, founder of the Peaceful Streets Project, and Mike Bluehair Smith of Film the Police Portland were both arrested early Sunday morning, August 2nd, while filming police officers in downtown Austin during an organized “cop watch.”  Fortunately for Buehler and Smith, the videos that members of the Peaceful Streets Project were taking proves that their arrests were illegal, unconstitutional, and that the Austin Police Department issued a fraudulent probable cause affidavit.

Austin Police Officer Aljoe Garibay #6155 was the author of the affidavit for the arrest of Buehler. The affidavit included a series of misleading and false statements. The misleading and false statements are listed below in bullet format, with an explanation of why the statement is misleading and/or false in the subsequent bullet:

  •  “Not only did responding officers have to move around crowds to get to the disturbance they also had to move around members of the Peaceful Streets running towards the scene attempting to get there before we could, this delayed our response time to help and assist breaking up the disturbance by adding to pedestrian traffic, blocking my path, at one point I had to move Buehler out of the way.” (Paragraph 3)
    • First, the Peaceful Streets Project members are a part of the crowd, and should not be treated as a separate class of people who are expected to always be mindful of who may be behind them. To argue that only those with cameras have the responsibility of knowing if a police officer is behind them and wants to move in a straight line to an unknown point that would lead the police officer through that person with a camera else they be arrested for interference places a considerable burden on cop watchers. A burden that is a violation of their First Amendment rights.
    • Second, the video of the incident shows that Garibay was in a hurry to get nowhere. Garibay went past the disturbance to push past Buehler, and then stopped and stood around doing nothing.
    • Third, Garibay refers to the scene as a “disturbance” implying that a crime was in progress involving a crowd. The scene was merely a young woman vomiting. The police work performed was in the nature of a welfare check to make sure the young woman was OK and nothing further happened.
  •  “It was then that Antonio approached our perimeter and made contact with SGT. Randy Dear. Antonio was holding a video recording device in his hand and was holding it approximately 6 inches from SGT. Dears’ face nearly touching him.”
    • First, the affidavit makes it appear that the police presence at this time was related to an ongoing crime scene incident or disturbance. In fact, there was no incident at this point at all.  The incident with the sick young woman had been resolved, all parties including the police had dispersed, and all Peaceful Streets Project cameras turned off. There was no disturbance whatsoever.
    • Second, Buehler did not approach their perimeter. The police officers formed a huddle where they were all listening to SGT Dear, ostensibly preparing to orchestrate an illegal arrest of Buehler. Buehler was approached by SGT Dear, not the other way around. The video does not reveal any reason for the huddle.
    • Third, the video clearly shows that SGT Dear moved from the huddle approximately 10-15 feet away to within inches of Buehler’s camera. At no point while Dear was approaching Buehler did Buehler advance his body or his arm holding the camera.
  • “SGT Dear. Advised Antonio that he was on patrol and asked him to get back as he was in blocking his view, preventing him being able to have a clear line of sight of the large 6th street crowd. Antonio moved his recording device approximately 2 inches and began arguing with SGT. Dear.”
    • First, the claim is an outright lie. SGT Dear said, “Hey, I’m going to let y’all know, the next time we go to a disturbance and you all get in the way … yes you were … the next time you’re interfering you’re going to be arrested. Alright, thank you. You’ve been warned Sir.” And then he walked away.
    • Second, as previously proven through video, Buehler did not advance toward SGT Dear at all. Buehler’s “arguing” consisted of Buehler asking for clarification on how they could be interfering for standing somewhere.
  • “A few minutes went by and I then asked Antonio to step back at least an arm’s length as he was now focused on recording CPL. Sebek. Antonio had his recording device approximately 6 inches away from CPL. Sebek face.”
  • “A few minutes went by again, and Antonio kept arguing with us getting closer and closer every time attempting to distract and engage in conversation. I … pointed exactly to him where he needed to be for a safe distance. Antonio kept getting closer and loser, rallying up his crew as he was being loud trying to get attention from the 6th street crowds and his crew quickly becoming a hostile situation.”
  • “Antonio again refused to maintain a safe distance, again standing very close to officers placing camera phone into the faces of officers trying to watch the large 6th street crowd.”
    • First, Buehler never advanced toward the police officers. The only reason Buehler was ever “very close to officers” was because the officers advanced toward Buehler.
    • Second, Buehler never stuck a camera phone in the face of any officers trying to watch the crowd. The officers place their faces in Buehler’s largely stationary camera throughout the entire episode. The only time Buehler actively moves his camera is to be able to film Sebek who uses his camera to block Buehler’s. Sebek obviously was not watching the crowd; he was filming Buehler.
  • “SGT. Dear approached Antonio and notified him to turn around he was under arrest for interference with public duties.”
    • After SGT Dear approached Buehler and moved to within inches of him, Dear told Buehler that he had to move back because they were about to go on patrol. While protesting an illegal order, Buehler did step away from Dear and moved out of the space that he suggested he needed. Buehler was arrested, anyway. Buehler then turned around and tried to hand off his cameras to other Peaceful Streets Project members.
  •  “… he kept resisting by attempting to put his right arm under him.”

When compared to the multiple videos that the Peaceful Streets Project took of the arrest, it is clear that the affidavit written by Officer A. Garibay #6155 is one long string of misleading and fraudulent statements. At no point did Buehler advance toward the officers, at no point did the officers give Buehler any legal orders that would have required him to step back, and at no time did they have probable cause to arrest him. Further, Mike Bluehair Smith was illegally arrested for “interference with public duties” for simply trying to catch Buehler’s cameras as he tried to hand them off to Peaceful Streets Project members to prevent the police from confiscating them and suppressing the video evidence of the arrest.

Austin Police Officer Aljoe Garibay, author of the fraudulent affidavit

APD Officer Aljoe Garibay

Buehler said, “This arrest highlights how the Austin Police deliberately uses false arrests to trample on the Constitutional rights of those trying to hold the police accountable. By every measure, they were the only people who committed crimes on Sunday morning. They know that by the law, it is impossible to interfere with public duties simply by standing in a public space and filming cops standing around doing nothing. They also know that the Constitution trumps their belief that they can bark arbitrary orders at people with cameras to prevent them from filming their activities.” 

In a follow up to statements made to the media on Sunday, Millie Thompson, Buehler’s defense attorney said, “I told you all that it was an illegal arrest. I told you so.”

Buehler originally made news on January 1, 2012, when he was arrested on the charge of Harassment of a Public Official, a 3rd degree felony, for allegedly spitting in Austin (TX) Police Officer Patrick Oborski’s face. Buehler was ultimately cleared of all charges from that arrest due to multiple witnesses stepping forward to testify that Oborski lied about Buehler spitting in his face, as well as multiple videos and audio files that proved that Oborski lied. In the fall of 2012, the Austin Police Department trained their officers how to illegally go about arresting Buehler and other members of the Peaceful Streets Project for filming them using the “interference with public duties” statute.  Over the past three and a half years, Buehler has been arrested five times, has had ten charges levied in the courts against him, and has had dozens of criminal investigations launched against him (including at least three felony investigations by the Austin Police Department). Buehler has beaten every charge. No police officers have been disciplined or arrested for their illegal arrests.

The Peaceful Streets Project and Film The Police Portland are independent grassroots organizations that attempt to promote police accountability through cop watching (filming the police in public), in addition to other forms of direct action such as Know Your Rights trainings, protests against police brutality, and police accountability summits.

Videos:
Antonio Buehler’s video: https://youtu.be/7ktkUingcOs

Steve D’s video: https://youtu.be/qIFItJeCM5c

Julian Reyes’ video: http://youtu.be/kvE8qGIUPm0

Richard B’s video: http://youtu.be/e4mziCp43VI

Lynn F’s video: http://youtu.be/ES04LtfEMCQ

Here are the first four videos synced highlighting how everything APD claims is a lie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiwtuBP7SXw

Antonio Buehler’s video of “disturbance” before the arrest: http://youtu.be/tCGPt0VvZg4

Here are some more videos of SGT Dear harassing cop watchers over the past couple of months: https://youtu.be/ItnODSJjqKEhttps://youtu.be/TG_yvl6j2hk 

14 Comments

  • [...] affidavit was posted on Peaceful Street’s site along with several videos and a written breakdown on each instance where they lied. [...]

  • Austin PD is a racketeering influenced and corrupt organization led by a socialist Chief Aholevedo.

  • These officers have been caught in their lies and none of the authorities care. This is the problem. Your elected gov apparently doesn’t care what the officers do as long as it’s not them or their families suffering abuse. Disgusting.

  • I wish this person would get a better hobby than make the lives and careers more difficult. He should have been arrest in one video simply for disturbing the peace. You supposed watch dog groups are nothing but harmful. You serve zero benefit to this community. I think a cop should pull you over and question you if you are following them. I would be concerned for my safety as well. Don’t want conflict with the police don’t go searching for it and being stupid. This is nothing short of useless and dumb. Get a life and leave the police alone. Some of us are thankful we have police to protect our streets. Your radical propaganda is pointless and only makes things worse on a large populus. It make the streets a more risky environment for us because police begin to do their jobs less for fear of idiots like you. So please do many civil, tax paying, law abiding citizens a favor and stop. Find something else to do. Fight legislation, film debates at the capital. Leave public servants alone.

    • Keep your whining, pig lover. We will continue to legally film these tax parasite cops and they can continue to illegally arrest us for it. We will win this fight. Fuck all cops.

    • I’m not sure whether you are a troll or delivering satire. Police officers arbitrarily decide on who lives and who dies and you say thank you?

    • I think that you do not live in the real world, Cody. You must be a rich, white man. I applaud these heros for filming cops. It helps keep them honest or it shows how police really treat people. The cops should not mind being filmed if they are just doing their jobs. Problem is, that A LOT of the time, they are breaking laws and abusing and killing people. Better be glad you aren’t young, poor, black, homeless, etc. CODY.

    • Cody it’s clear you’ve never been the victim of these bullies masquerading as law officers. I’m also here because I believe in this cause and I have been a victim of these thugs in blue, I’m a middle class white female and a psychologist who works with victims of violent crime. I’m not a criminal. I’m not a woman of color (which, honestly, proves race and class aren’t their only targets). I’m not a youngster at the age of 43. I’ve never had trouble with the law until 2012 when police brutality was really starting to blow up in the media. I’ve been attacked 3 different times. I’ll touch on the first incident. A Williamson County Sheriff illegally forced his way into my home without warrant, probably cause, suspicious activity, or anything that would indicate he needed to enter my house. I told him repeatedly that he was not to come into my home without cause or a warrant as he shoved me backward. He stated that he didn’t need a ____ warrant and that I needed to shut up. I even called 911 asking for a supervisor to arrive on scene because of a hostile officer who was making me fear for my safety and life. He proceeded to knock the phone from my hand, tackle me, throw me to the ground with him landing with his full body on his knee between my shoulder blades. My neck and back have been broken and this action could have easily killed me. He yanked my arms behind my back causing serious injury to my shoulders and upper back. There was another cop there who was just standing there watching with a look on his face like “This is wrong. This is so wrong.” and I was begging him to help him and make this guy stop. He just averted his eyes, bowed his head in shame, and ignored my pleas for help. I have PTSD and my partner was outside shouting for them to stop, the I have PTSD and that he was about to trigger a massive PTSD episode. She was shoved to the ground and ordered not to move. And sure enough, when I threw me on the ground an episode was triggered and it locked me into a nightmare of a flashback that lasted 45 minutes. I came out of that with paramedics all around me. I had to be taken to the ER via ambulance because of all the damage this LEO caused me. Why were the cops there to begin with, you ask? My partner called 911 because of an struggling older teen who was in my home and became violent and she was scared. When they arrived my partner and I were both outside trying to find him because we knew he was scared and freaked out and didn’t mean for what he did to happen. We couldn’t find him. The cops finally showed up after he was long gone to who knows where. We told the officers we were sorry to have called them out for nothing and that the person ran off and we didn’t have a clue where he was. The officers were trying to intimidate us into giving them this young man’s name and we refused. I finally said “I’m going back into my house now. There is nothing going on here and I’m not giving you the name a child who is in need of our help, not jail time. DO NOT FOLLOW ME! I’m fine. No injuries. No anything. Again, I’m walking away now to continue with my day. DO NOT FOLLOW ME. You are not welcome into my home, you are not invited into my home. Just leave us alone.” That’s when he followed me anyway and shoved me backwards while forcing his way into my home. What happened after this? We tried to sue them for damages and hold them accountable for what he did and what the others allowed him to keep doing. We were gathering evidence and we contacted IA. ALL the 911 calls were suddenly “missing” after only 72 hours. ALL documentation was gone. I got a copy of the police report this thug filed. You know what it had on it? Nothing…literally nothing. My name wasn’t even on it. My partner, who called them initially, her name wasn’t on it either! Nothing about what happened. It said they responded to a disturbance. That was it. Literally nothing else was on the sheet other than the cops names.

      Until you’ve experienced what these animals are capable you have zero credibility to speak like this to people who are following their Constitutional Rights that were violated by no good cop.

      • Hello Mikki Bailey. In response to your numerous claims (could not find you in the State Licensing Boards for L.P.C., which is required for anyone who states they are a Psychologist- working w/ victims of violent crime) A psychologist would refrain from making such blatant statements that would besmirch all LEO as ‘bullies masquerading’ and ‘animals’. A Psychologist with such severe PTSD would indeed refrain from working w/any at risk individuals when they are not able to address their own ‘episodes’ lasting 45 min/black out – requiring a ER visit as well. Countertransference would be of utmost concern-as any licensed psychologist knows. A Psychologist that claims Law Enforcement has attacked them on 3 separate incidences since 2012, would question their own ability to interact with the agency that is essential, to investigate and assist their clients. A licensed Psychologist would know not to disparage a person on the internet that expressed an opinion as having ‘zero credibility’. A Psychologist knows their legal right not to release any confidential information concerning a client and how to de-escalate confrontational situations. I wish you the best with your issues and hope you will receive help.
        Your response has been forwarded to appropriate agencies.

        • You’re a clown. No self-respecting psychologist supports pig police. Just the sellouts like the ones who worked to justify torture techniques in the past decade.

  • APD Officer Aljoe Garibay and his police partners need to take Satan’s penis out of their collective mouths and start telling the truth or God and his Christian believers in Austin are going to be very upset!

  • I have been watching videos on “The Battousai” YouTube channel, and he has also experienced much the same as the Peaceful Streets photographers. In fact, Battousai (Mr. Turner) just posted another video today of APD harassing him and attempting to block his view at a traffic stop.

    I put the question to you that I just posted to him:

    “It doesn’t appear that anything other than having to pay out large law suit settlements or DOJ control is going to stop APD’s pattern and practice of interfering with and harassment, intimidation, and false arrest of people recording them in public. APD is hard-headed and needs to learn the hard way.

    Have you thought about getting together with Mr. Turner (The Battousai) and presenting your and their videos as evidence to DOJ of APD’s lawlessness and intimidation, along with a civil rights complaint that APD is intentionally and knowingly taking steps to chill your right to record or to punish you for doing so with the full approval of Chief Ass-hat-vedo and his command staff?”

  • [...] submitted a lie filled affidavit to support the illegal arrests. The Peaceful Streets Project later released multiple videos of the incident in a public rebuttal, proving that APD lied in their attempts to justify an illegal arrest. Sgt. Randy Dear [...]

  • The officers involved in this incident should be arrested by Federal Marshals, and arrested by the Department of Public Safety. Conspiracy to deprive a person of their U.S. Civil Rights is a felony Federal crime, lying on an affidavit is a State and Federal felony crime of aggravated perjury with malice.

    Why are these psychopaths who obviously have no conscience, no morals, and no ethics, not in jail?
    Why are they loose on the streets with a badge, and gun?

    Our courts, judges, prosecutors, and police in this country are out of control.
    Texas has lead the nation in putting innocent people in jail, until just recently
    when Illinois took number one spot. New York, and California are both in the
    top spots as well.

    We have psychopaths, in positions of power who have no regard for life, be it
    animal, vegetable or human. They have no conscience, and as such no shame
    or feelings remorse for needless harm they cause to living beings.

    Professionals in mental health care, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, and others can
    detect sociopathic/psychopathic personalities. Why are we not testing police, and
    other justice system elected or appointed individuals for this serious personality disorder?

    No one devoid of a conscience should ever be issued a gun and badge, or placed in any
    position of power, where they can wreak havoc on the lives of people. These types actually
    add to the crime rates in society. Their actions detract from decent people being able to live
    in a peaceful manner.

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