A video that surfaced on YouTube shows an Arizona cop with his foot planted in the front door of a Black man’s apartment, threatening to arrest him over allegations made by his neighbor.
The video also indicates the Black man’s 5-year-old daughter crying and panicking off camera, believing her father was about to be arrested by the Flagstaff police officer.
“You’re already scaring her,” the concerned father tells the officer.
At one point, the little girl slaps the cop in the groin area, saying “he’s a bad person.”
“If she touches me again like that — ’cause that actually hurt, she caught me in the nuts —we’ll have problems,” the cop said, threatening to arrest the father for his daughter’s actions and accusing him of being a bad father.
“You did not raise your child to respect authority, did you?”
But the Black man, who can be heard telling his daughter not to do that, subsequently told the cop she will be disciplined by not being allowed to watch TV in what he described as a “timeout.”
The young girl continues to scream during the incident, pleading with the officer who has handcuffs in his hands to “Please, let go of my daddy!”
The video was posted to the police accountability YouTube channel BP Cast on Saturday without mention of the date it occurred but Flagstaff police told Atlanta Black Star the incident took place in July 2022, resulting in no arrests.
But even though the video is dated, it has raised the question as to whether police have the right to plant their foot in the doorway to prevent somebody from closing it, a routine practice we’ve seen cops do on dozens of videos over the years.
The Black man said he had no right to do that, but the cop insisted he did have the right, claiming officer safety.
“When an officer is investigating a crime, they have the right to hold the door open,” the cop said and he even read the man his Miranda warning.
So who is right?
According to Mike Mandel, an attorney who runs the YouTube channel LawByMike, cops do have the right to plant their foot in the door but they are not allowed to enter your home without a warrant.
“Even if they don’t have a warrant, slamming the door on a cop’s foot could actually get you charged with assaulting an officer,” Mandel warned.
“Instead of slamming your door, take a step back further into your home.”
“They may still come in but now they have to decide between justifying entering your home without a warrant or just leaving.”
Mandel said the best thing to do is not open the door in the first place if the cops do not have a warrant.
“The number one way to avoid the foot in the door is to don’t open the door in the first place, always ask first, ‘got a warrant?’” the attorney said.
But the Black man did open the door which led to the cop planting his foot in the door, threatening to arrest him for disorderly conduct – allegations the Black man denied.
“I’m investigating disorderly conduct with disruptive behavior,” the cop told him.
“That you guys have been arguing verbally and that she had her window open and that you stood outside and stared at her through her window.”
“If I can’t talk to you about this, then I can cite you off of one side of a story.”
The 23-minute video shows the cop and the man debating the law but ultimately the cop decides not to arrest him.
At this point, the video has received 376 comments with most people saying the man should have never opened the door in the first place and many complimenting the little girl for hitting the cop.
“Kid is born with strong instincts. Immediately identified a predator,” commented @coryiverson9151.
“There were no exigent circumstances,” added another commenter named @tonytaylor5461.
“Nothing happened within his presence. There is zero validity to what he is doing. Also crossing the threshold minus exigent circumstances and warrant is a clear 4th amendment violation.”
Fortunately, the altercation did not result in anybody’s arrest but the video may serve as a lesson for citizens if they ever find themselves in that situation.
Flagstaff police told Atlanta Black Star to file a formal public records request to obtain more information but that could take days to fulfill.
Great Job Carlos Miller & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
