A Texas man video recording a traffic stop from private property gave cops too much credit when he figured they would leave him alone.
That turned out to be wishful thinking when they arrested him for failure to identify because he refused to provide his name to an approaching officer.
The incident took place on December 19 in Alice, a small town in southern Texas.
Alice police told the local media that they needed his identity because he was “witness to the arrest” they had been conducting during the traffic stop.
However, under Texas law, he was under no obligation to provide his name to the officer, considering he was not the person being placed under arrest.
The only exception would have been if he had given the officer a false name as they tried to question him, which he did not.
According to Texas Penal Code, Section 38.02:
(a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally refuses to give his name, residence address, or date of birth to a peace officer who has lawfully arrested the person and requested the information.According to the Alice Echo-News Journal, police seized Gabriel Cabrera’s phone as “evidence,” which they had no right to do considering it was not used in the commission of a crime.
(b) A person commits an offense if he intentionally gives a false or fictitious name, residence address, or date of birth to a peace officer who has:
(1) lawfully arrested the person;
(2) lawfully detained the person; or
(3) requested the information from a person that the peace officer has good cause to believe is a witness to a criminal offense.
The Echo-News, which serves more as a police echo chamber, tries its best to state that Cabrera was arrested not for recording, but for failing to identify.
But we can see and hear the video for ourselves.
Although it is not stated in the article, which was published earlier today, they apparently returned his phone because he was able to post the video to Youtube on December 21, two days after his arrest.
The 12:49 minute is pretty uneventful and dark with Cabrera talking into the camera as to why it is not wise to give police the authority to search your car.
Cabrera remains well away from the investigation with a set of railroad tracks between himself and the cops, but at one point, police notice him, prompting him to say the following:
This guy keeps looking over here like he’s going to do somethingAt 11:58, an officer identified by Cop Block as Nick Juarez walks up to Cabrera and demands identification, muttering something about “if this ends up on Youtube or something like that.”
I don’t think he has the audacity to try something like that, he knows I have the camera on him.
Well, it did, and now the world is going to learn that Alice police officer Nick Juarez is a law-breaking thug.
Maybe they’ll give Alice Police Chief Daniel Bueno a call to share their sentiments: (361) 664-0186
Alice Police Chief Daniel Bueno