Brute Show

It could happen to you!  Thankfully all charges were finally dropped.

We have every right to record in a public place in Texas. <read the TX state law.

 "EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY. If there is no expectation of privacy...you're out in public for example, you CAN be videotaped by anyone at anytime with or without your knowledge or consent."

7 Rules of Recording Police

Only open your bag with a warrant from a judge-remember the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution.

The Proof Is Out There. 

What I have learned about state law and resisting arrest charges, infuriates me.  That in many USA states, mind you, you can be charged with resisting arrest and nothing else.  

But last year the TX Court of Appeals, Sheehan vs State of Texas, ruled what could be used as resisting arrest.

A person commits the offense of resisting arrest if he intentionally prevents or obstructs a person he knows is a peace officer from effecting an arrest by using force against the peace officer. Tex. Pen. Code Ann. 38.03(a) (Vernon 2003).

TEXAS Penal Code Chapter 38, resisting arrest 

"Sec. 38.03.  RESISTING ARREST, SEARCH, OR TRANSPORTATION.
(a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally prevents or obstructs a person he knows is a peace officer or a person acting in a peace officer's presence and at his direction from effecting an arrest, search, or transportation of the actor or another by using force against the peace officer or another.
(b)  It is no defense to prosecution under this section that the arrest or search was unlawful.
(c)  Except as provided in Subsection (d), an offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
(d)  An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree if the actor uses a deadly weapon to resist the arrest or search."

"Sec. 38.08.  EFFECT OF UNLAWFUL CUSTODY.
It is no defense to prosecution under Section 38.06 or 38.07 that the custody was unlawful.
Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Renumbered from Penal Code Sec. 38.09 and amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994."

We recently wrote: The Penal Code does not provide a definition of using force against or of those terms individually. Courts have concluded that non-cooperation with an arrest is not an act of use of force against a peace officer under the resisting arrest statute, for example:

• shaking off an arresting officer's detaining grip. Anderson v. State, 707 S.W.2d 267, 269 (Tex. App. Houston [1st Dist.] 1986, no pet.).overturned conviction.
• pulling away from an arresting officer after being arrested. Young v. State, 622 S.W.2d 99, 100-01 (Tex. Crim. App. [Panel Op.] 1981). overturned conviction.
• crawling away from an arresting officer. Leos v. State, 880 S.W.2d 180, 181 (Tex. App. Corpus Christi 1994, no pet). overturned conviction

Thus, refusing to cooperate with being arrested does not constitute resisting arrest by force. However, we have held that evidence of non-cooperation combined with violent swings of the body and a forward movement causing the officer and the defendant to fall off a porch was sufficient to establish resisting arrest. 

• Bryant v. State, 923 S.W.2d 199, 206 (Tex. App. Waco 1996, pet ref d).

• Campbell v. State, 128 S.W.3d 662, 671 (Tex. App. Waco 2003, no pet.) (emphasis added). 

• And courts have made the distinction between actions that endanger an officer (i.e. striking an arresting officer's arm) and those actions in which there is no danger of injury to the officer (i.e. pulling arm away from officer). 

• See Raymond v. State, 640 S.W.2d 678, 679 (Tex. App. El Paso 1982, pet. ref d).

Protect yourself by knowing the law. Police are "To serve and To Protect" society not individuals.  You should be told by the arresting officer what you are being charged with.

What is the League City Police Department's General Codes?  Know the Texas Constitution.

Profanity in Texas is illegal as well, and can be charged with disorderly conduct which historically is enforced in Galveston County.  If the officer allegedly cursed, then the officer should be charged criminal Class C misdemeanor for profanity in public and a violation of Galveston County employee handbook.

Hello Texas General Assembly, clarify the law so this law does not continue to change our Great State of Texas into a capricious and without merit Police State.

Make them be held accountable for their actions. You can file a complaint anonymously to the police.

Recent news story about Texas, Police Department's choosing laws to not obey resulting in innocent citizens' dead and/or seriously injuries.