I-Team: Commerce cop repeatedly charged innocent drivers with DUI
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- Опубликовано: 23 янв 2025
- By Randy Travis
Published February 12, 2024
COMMERCE, Ga - For nearly a year, the Commerce Police Department charged innocent people with driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol who insisted all along there was no evidence to make an arrest.
One of them passed breathalyzer tests 10 times either in the field or at the jail, yet he was still charged with drunk driving.
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So basically what happened was the chief looked the other way so long as that fat revenue kept coming in until suddenly they got investigated by you folks. Then the entire story changes. This is why qualified immunity needs to go away. This 'officer' needs to be charged with abuse of power under authority of law.
They investigated themselves and found themselves innocent.
Ryte
and OUTRIGHT ROBERY!
He should be allowed to sue.
His bosses knew. They're lying.
Everyone falsely arrested should file a civil lawsuit against the police department and the town
And we are about to
EXACTLY!
@niks.1391 Good luck 👍
The guy blew 0.00 *ten separate times* and the cop charged him with DUI anyway? What's the point of testing him ten freaking times *if you're just going to ignore the results and arrest him anyway???*
His eyes where glassy, so.....
@glee21012 how does that boot taste?
@glee21012 how does that boot taste?
when he said that he probably will also lose his job 💔
They wanted that arrest to get a prise from MADD, they don't care about justice
Should be given a mandatory 10 years in prison. This is sick
Can't. Cops are sovereign citizens. They aren't held to the same standards as us lowly citizens
Cop belongs in jail
They all need to sue him and the dept. Clean their clock.
Oh 100% he needs to be in jail. The jail was made for people that prey on others and take advantage of people.
I live in Jefferson, makes me leary
Charged with felonies so he can never carry a gun (therefore badge) again or vote for his cronies.
*grave
This cop needs to be put behind bars, arresting people for drunk driving who are 100% sober is outrageous and the whole department should be investigated!!!!
All those poor people that lost their jobs or had other things happen to them as a result of a DUI-- THEY are victims.
And then the tyrants will say,”but we have such a hard stressful job” because they want all the pity as they say that they never make mistakes! Blue line gang is all they are
They didn’t get convicted, only charged.
@@TGWazoo1 you dont think having car towed, paying a lawyer, sitting in jail, list work because youre in jain and cant come up with bail etc is a problem because they wetent convicted? That is an awfull lot of lost money that the city does not pay for. And hiring a lawyer to recuop those fees often cost more that what those fees are and takes months to years if you even win
@@TGWazoo1 An arrest record, no charges filed, no conviction, kept me from joining the Air Force.
@@TGWazoo1are you a slow individual? Because that comment indicates you are
"If you have a [corrupt cop], it doesn't just reflact badly on that cop; it also reflects badly on that police department and cops as a whole."
10 times triple zeros and still charged dui?? That cop should be in jail!!!
How his supervisor allowed it is beyond comprehension as well.
Street justice.
@@ColonelFusionhe should be in jail with the pig
The false arrests don't account for those who were innocent, but pleaded out because that was the path of least resistance.
And Fox 5 Atlanta has the guts to write that these people got their cases “dismissed”. WTF?? **No, these people got 3 License points and put in a cell, AND fined $250 for a literally fraudulent charge that the state COERCED them to plea out of**, and had their record marred for all of eternity with an arrest that even after expungement will always be discoverable. The media is as complicit as these criminals with badges in normalizing the exploitation of the citizens for the system's monetary gain, it makes me sick.
Its beyond hypocrisy that this department is calling for the public to give the officer due process while he is being investigated yet this officer didn't do that for a single person he arrested. Why is this officer innocent until proven guilty yet the rest of us are all guilty until we can prove our innocence in court. This is such an abuse of the system its disgusting.
this is why we have lost respect for police ..its a mob taking our money a court system set up to take our money a insurance co charging you more
Due process means you get a trial where the evidence for and against is weighed. A police officer arrested someone is part of "due process" and not violating it. Learn how the system works before you condemn it as abuse.
@@TruthFiction this is how the system works: An officer charges you. Then you have two options, 1 take a plea deal, or 2 fight it in court. Option 1 requires you to plead guilty to something that you might be innocent of. Option 2 requires spending thousands of dollars on a lawyer that you won't get back, even if your found not guilty. It's loose loose. And if you do decide to fight your case in court, you'll often be punished harsher because they are upset with you for not just taking a plea. The courts only have enough resources to bring a small fraction of their cases to trial. You might technically have due process, but the system is set up to prevent you from using it.
@@TruthFiction but it cost folks to prove it and when a mistake is made well its just to bad you spent 5 grand to defend 1s self..
When innocent people get arrested the system doesn’t work.
Every single one of those people who that cop arrested needs to file a lawsuit for damages against the police department.
The dash cam footage was "lost."
Co-conspirators
I laughed at that one too.
Happens all the time.
Which is why I've said over and over again there's no such thing as a good cop. They're all protecting him.
@@dontbanmebrodontbanme5403 that’s just ignorant. Of course there are good cops.
This man is trying to be a pilot! That officer almost ruined his career, he has probably ruined many people careers, lives, or relationships.
When he had twice the amount of DUI arrests in the whole department combined that's got to tell you something right there come on he'd give his mom a DUI
Major red flags
And the chief didn't care. It's now that they are caught they know the jig is up
Well, he's probably the reason she drinks so.....
I hope there's a good attorney listening to this because the civil rights violations are 'out of this world'.
If the authorities don't deal with this, the citizens will have to.
Authority is make-believe.
No justice, no peace.
Extreme cowardice has total control.
2nd amendment. The time is approaching.
Absolutely correct.
"We have investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing."
I bet a 2 piece and a biscuit that cop won't be put on the Brady list, he'll be allowed to resign, he won't lose his certification.
Is anyone actually shocked? This is what they do daily!!!
No this is what this one officer does. NOT all officers
@@thomasnew8606not really look up how many police agencies are under the radar for doing the same exact thing.
@@damronbrooks6902 so you're saying it's all officers in all departments?
Nope.
@thomasnew8606 Wrong. Huge percentages of sick cops are getting caught for everything from this, to full blown sexual assault.
Further proof that if a cop is speaking your best bet is to assume everything theyre saying is a lie.
I'm no lawyer, but when you pass 10 breathalyzer tests and they still arrest you, I believe you have a pretty good lawsuit for being unlawfully detained and I'm sure there's a few other things too a good lawyer could add to that.
I gotta write that down.
In this corrupt judiciary, the DA’s will still make life hell for citizens and then there are the judges, who will also protect the police.
I would definitely agree. Especially if you're a cdl holder.. you want to hire a lawyer to save your job..
We investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing says every police force forever
And this is what makes ALL cops bad. Because they don’t hold each other accountable even when one is BLATANTLY in the wrong.
What do you think "all" means you remedial tool?
People who think like this live in california and everyone's leaving california. This is probably the most ignorant thing I keep hearing.
@Jedi007c6 Silence is compliance. If I know you're committing crimes and I don't snitch, I get in trouble. But if we're both government cops, it's cool because we're immune from the law? People who think like this live in North Korea.
Blue wall of silence. Unless they're complaining about being victims, then they aren't silent whatsoever
@@Theonlysunazeveryone's leaving California!? That must be cratering their GDP... Wait, why is there GDP the highest it's ever been?
This is disgusting. He's ruining people's lives. I would almost guarantee he's done something like plant drugs on people. It's officers like him that cause police mistrust.
Abolish qualified immunity
Found the person who thinks qualified immunity protects police from breaking the law or policy when it in fact does not. Educate yourself.
@@TruthFictiontelling someone to "educate themselves" after spewing nonsense made me lol.
Cops are the REAL SOVEREIGN CITIZENS 🤡
@@TruthFiction It allows you to sue the cops personally for their behavior. It needs to be abolished.
@@erikanders3343 Sure, sue a person, who you can only collect from if they actually have anything. Yeah, that's a real good option if you never want to see any money. A PERSON can simply file bankruptcy and erase your judgement. A government agency has to pay. Duh.
@@TruthFiction does not absolve the department or the city, it just means the officer AND the department will have to pay and often the insurance the city has will not cover the officers portion of the liability. This adds the deterrent to abuse by the officer.
The GBI told the same PD to investigate itself, that tells you how much GBI cares about making sure bad cops and PDs are held accountable.
The pain innocent citizens go through because cops want to win the most DUI arrest contests.
And that’s just how it is these days. Nothing you can do about it
Id sue
You can thank MADD for these stupid awards.
@@mimim8532 unfortunately that does nothing because even if you sue and win the money comes from tax payers not the cop and the department can still choose to keep the police officer. It's a fucked up system that needs to change
The tax payers deserve to pay. When most of them remain wilfully ignorant then their monies will go to settle damage complaints.
As a former LEO, this absolutely disgusts me! I was fortunate in that I figured out that your job is NOT to control society, nor is your job to just arbitrarily arrest anyone you feel like. I was all for taking people to jail, but they had to EARN it! I only knew one officer similar to this case. If he stopped you suspecting dui, you were going to jail. He proudly boasted “no one passes my field sobriety no mater how well they do “. Thankfully he didn’t last long.
Even if found not guilty of the charges, you are still left with an arrest record that, in most cases, is a permanent mark on your life. You still have the memory of suffering the indignity of being arrested and booked into jail, knowing you did nothing wrong, and then you have to try explaining yourself to others. People can loose a job or an entire career over a false arrest for dui.
& they wonder why people hate cops .
Arresting people totally based on your own subjectivity is no way to be!
The public must begin holding police accountable. Immediately.
FUCKIN PAID LEAVE
THAT’S DISGUSTING. I’M SORRY BUT THAT’S INSANE
"he saw something green up his nose" thats called a booger! Great investigation technics.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Here, hold out your hands, ill blow it out for you.
😖
Snorting that there Marijuana. Cop saved him from a potential overdose...
@@themachine8277was that some attempt at humor, to a better joke already made.....
These people need to sue the officers, department, and the city, county, and state.
Never submit to field sobriety exercises. All you're doing is providing evidence even if you're 100% sober.
Some states will automatically suspended your license if you refuse
If you refuse to blow, you're going to get arrested for suspicion of DUI and when you go to court, the state is not going to just let you walk away because there is no evidence other than officer testimony. If you pay for a lawyer, the solicitor will likely let you plead guilty to Reckless driving, carries the same points deduction but it doesn't count as a DUI. It's not really helpful if you were sober, you're still getting screwed.
@@Atoxiccell that's if you refuse a breathalyzer after arrest
@@AtoxiccellThats not true, field sobriety tests (fst) are voluntary and highly subjective!
Your license will probably get suspended if you refuse a breath/chemical test.
The guy in this video submitted to fst and yet he still was arrested *AFTER* he blew triple zeros on *EIGHT* breath tests!!
If you’re sober your best bet is to refuse the field sobriety tests and only submit to a breath test, don’t give a lying aZz cop ammo to arrest you!
@@Atoxiccell that’s not true A-tall
This is corruption and he needs to be in prison along with the Chief.
Bubba wants his MADD Award no matter how many innocents he must railroad. He's Lucite crazy!
There needs to be a class action against MADD. I can understand their intentions, but they underestimate just how corrupt cops are nowadays.
@MrBubba311 exactly, no organization should be allowed to "incentivize" police work.
"The job wasnt perhaps being done the right way" Understatement much?
You would think that either a Police Policy or the DA office would review the arresting officer report and when this same cop kept arresting people blowing .000 and keep charging them with DUI that some sort of red flag would have popped up? It's a shame a local news reporter had to investigate this and not the PD or DA finding this out?
They just love those numbers
They didn't care. They can dismiss the cases and hope no one notices. If it cost anything it's the citizens who pay not them
The Prosecutors nearly always protect cops, no matter what they do. They are complicit with the corruption, incompetence and malfeasance of bad cops.
With Georgia DAs?? Come on now
The DA hopes they can get a guilty plea and a conviction for himself, plus steal a basket of cash for his office.
How much money are these people paying for attorney's. To have these false arrests, dismissed?
Let alone...losing their jobs!
SMDH
Sounds like kidnapping to me
Cops are sociopaths who don't care about ruining innocent lives.
Because it is.
Along with many more felonies and civil rights violations.
Guy “had to” get is record expunged, should not have ever been there and the government should have taken care of that immediately!
Sounds like lawsuits need to be filed for false arrests.
As long as the unfair qualified immunity is being exercised by the judges lawsuits are a waste of money. You pay a lawyer (unless he is honest and tells you what will happen) only to the judge throw your case out citing the Supreme Court qualified immunity decision. The only thing you might gain is to know if the lawyer is trustworthy.
I will never understand what cops gain from falsley arresting and charging people.
Reaching the arrest quota that helps them get promoted and more money
It's just a psychopath who takes joy in tormenting people.
Law enforcement has zero standards and the bar to become an "officer" is way too low.
They need 4 year degrees and at least 2 years training before being unleashed to the public.
@@lifeisbeautiful7452 Yep, they need to have a law degree with a minor in psychology or social work and then be required to learn at diverse institutions.
thats not true. in order to be a cop you need to have the skills to be able to violate people at will doesn't matter if its a kid or an old lady just do your job with no remorse and you wont have accountability
I hope this crooked liar is sued
He took a 4 hour seminar, and now he's a Drug Whisperer.🤔😡😡😡
Even if license suspension is threatened... DO NOT DO FIELD SOBRIETY TESTS. THEY ARE DESIGNED TO GIVE YOU A DUI.
Only refusing a blood test suspends your license. You are more than welcome to decline field sobriety
Federal government needs to step in and arrest all those involved in civil rights violations. Officer should be fired for lying on an official government document
There Union which has all the power would never allow that. These people are above the law.
Corrupt chief was probably MADD at everyone else for lagging.
Him and every other cop that knew what he was doing should be arrested and charged for the many felonies that he committed.
The department of Just Us will never go after their local "Brown Shirts" (Check history for context)
Bruh, they literally funding this behavior.
"Paid leave". What a joke.
Wait a minute, that man blew 0.00 EIGHT DAMN TIMES and they still charged him with DUI. Bruh, that's insane and evil. Yet law enforcement still act clueless as to why people don't like and trust them.
Plus 2 at the station. So, a total of 10 times, just crazy.
@@td7723 insane. And they let it happen. All of them saw he blew triple zeros and they still allowed that cop to arrest and charge him
@@MichaelDaKahnThose were the "good cops" the bootlickers are always telling you about.
The officer needs charged and put in jail for each bad arrest.
Where are the “good” apples that are supposed to stop this from happening? ……. Exactly.
GBI just passed the buck! And now the city's going to clear itself. That's fine. People! *SUE THE CRAP OUT OF COMMERCE!*
GBI are quite corrupt theirselves. Jody Barr has had some good investigations on them, if i recall correctly.
He should have an easy 4th amendment suit for false arrest without probable cause.
The biggest question is how often is this happening across the country? One state they was taking people to sheds and assaulting them in all kinds of ways. We really need to reform the justice system.
This happens in every town across the country all the time.
Often than you think.
A lot. Happened to my buddy and me. He had literally 2 SIPS of a drink I made, and said it was too nasty to drink. I had a little bit, but a quarter of the drink. I blew a .06, he blew a .001. Both of us under the legal limit, but he was driving and gave him a DUI, and I was under 18. Took the station test as well. Still blew the same. All charges got dropped, but we were 3 states away from home, car got impounded, had to have family drive all night to get us. Cost him over ten thousand dollars when it was all days and done
Sue that cop.
That police department is a joke. What a bunch of clowns
All police departments are.
And this is why you always refuse to do road side sobriety tests
Makes you wonder if the field sobriety test was designed to screw people over regardless if they're sober or not.
This is why you always refuse a field sobriety. It does you no good to cooperate with their investigation.
@@bobthetitanicnowhere in the 50 states do you have to submit to the roadside gymnastics course. Refusing the field exercises alone is lawful. There are other requirements for breath or blood tests however. Lawyers have said that the field exercises will only harm you- so don’t do it.
@@bikeguyhd1035Yeah but submitting may help you case. Refusal isn’t going to help you
@@mrbearder6373 wrong. No innocent person wins after doing roadside gymnastics. The internet is full of cases where the coo lies and just has to say that they “saw something”, there are so many thinks that can go wrong for you all it takes is a minor pause doing the toe to heel walk or the alphabet and they’ll say that means you’re drunk. It’s all subjective based upon the cop’s opinion and not science.
@@bobthetitanicThe cop giving you the *voluntary* field sobriety tests is the one determining if you pass or fail so why would you perform those bs tests??
Performing them only makes the lying cop’s case against you!
You’re less likely to be arrested if all they have is a triple zero on a breath test.
Enjoy getting your license immediately revoked.
Don’t hold your breath, they will investigate themselves and find no wrong doing .
If I was that young man, I’d file a complaint against every prosecutor that saw this bs arrest and not drop those bogus charges!!
I would definitely file a lawsuit against the cop, his department and the city!!
Prosecutors have FULL criminal and civil immunity. Even if you do complain, the prosecutor will just blame the cop for a bad investigation. So, WTF is your point?
@@glee21012 Your reading comprehension is low apparently!! I didn’t say sue the prosecutor, I said he should file a complaint against the prosecutor!!
You can file a complaint in Georgia against a prosecutor for prosecutorial misconduct (Georgia Rule of Professional Conduct 3.8); the fact that the driver blew triple zeros on 10 breath tests doesn’t support the prosecutor moving forward with the bogus charges!! The charges were only dropped because of media attention!!
They wanted to drag it out and hope the driver would take a plea deal on the bs charges!! 🤷♂️
That’s the FN point!!
@@glee21012Actual middleschool levels of reading comprehension at play here. Embarrassing.
Those cops should lose their license for a minimum of two years and spend at least two months in jail.
Refer this to the Feds. Minimum 25 years in prison, civil forfeiture of all assets. 10 years monitored parole after sentence served. Felony charges.
I had a cop act like I blew bad on a breath test when I hadn't drank anything. blew 0.0 and the cop wanted to act like I had been drinking.
Charge this cop with every one of the charges he put on others.
Also, once you've given a breath test you're not required to give another. "I want a lawyer immediately".
Woods is a clear snd present danger to his community. Toss his unqualified impunity and put him on trial for serial false arrests.
The biggest reason for these things happening is because arresting someone for DWI is highly incentivized
10 times the poor guy blew zero's..... Damn
The cops aren't the only problem, the prosecutors and judges that rubber stamp these false charges need to be investigated as well.
And they give out bogus traffic tickets too
yes
How else would they justify their worthless, predatory existence?
Personal dashcam is your best friend
Been there, done that. One cop even told me, "The chief said we need to remove the licenses of motorcycle riders so we're writing false tickets."
There is no down side for police. They don't get in trouble if they are wrong.
This needs vigilante justice.
Can you imagine a line of cars just following this cop every day! Just so he knows he being watched …
Yep. FOIA request where he lays his head at night.
This not the only cop escalating just to get an arrest.
I would be extremely surprised if there wasnt some sort of financial incentive to make these arrests. This pigs behavior had to stand out to someone in the department thus leaving us to believe its a systemic problem.
MADD gives them money and other awards/rewards based on arrests numbers, not conviction rates
You mean like hi sargent that he borrowed the field breathalyzer from that he blew zeros in? Or maybe the other cop that administered the breathalyzer at the station? Or maybe the police chief? You mean those cops?
He should be charged with false imprisonment for each of all those false D.U.I. cases that got dismissed
I Blame ALL the Judges for protecting the Police Officers ALWAYS.
Judges, D.A., police unions, and bootlickers are all to blame.
All are working together to frame innocent citizens to get revenue for state. Cops are Bloody Criminals
You nailed it.
@@infinity3jif wow, I can't believe the censors let you get away with bootlickers, that usually gets autodeleted for me.
If you charge someone with a DUI after they blow a 0.00 MULTIPLE TIMES, then the officer should be charged with a DUI because only a drunk would be that stupid.
This officer needs to be charged by the States Attorney's office! He and anyone else involved all should be seeing serious jail time! What the hell is wrong with these people!
Twice as many DUI arrests as all other officers combined.
The dash cam video is always lost and there’s always system upgrades 😂
That cop should face numerous charges & perjury. He should face jail time & be fired for the serious impacts of false DUI charges on innocent citizens.
A criminal police officer. Scary and dangerous
A criminal police officer. I'm shocked. Shocked, I say! Well...not that shocked.
@@chuck8094 I'm not shocked either because there are many many more from where he came from.
As someone who got hit as a pedestrian by a drunk driver and seriously injured by the impact, I have zero sympathy for drunk drivers.
ALWAYS refuse field sobriety tests. You have the right to do so without any negative repercussions. It sets the burden of proof _much_ higher for the officer to arrest you and give the test you must take. The field sobriety tests are designed for us to fail, and to shield the officer from liability for false arrest.
Once again, a chief is ignoring whether an officer broke any laws. He's simply focusing on "policy violations."
Departments need to create a special flag for why officers leave the department, such as "resigned in lieu of termination," to be applied whenever the officer is being investigated and the officer quits before the investigation is concluded. Resigning under those circumstances is acknowledgement of guilt.
Corruption at its finest and the man at the top covering up for his boy.
So this officer and department are guilty of kidnapping, illegal detention, extortion and violation of the 1sr and 4th amendments. Sue the pants of them
Wow! PAID leave? What a joke! He should NOT have pay!
Bruh... this happen to me, they searched my car looking for drugs.. ripped apart my speakers, put me in handcuffs for DUI but escorted me HOME and uncuffed me... 😐
That guy has no business being a police officer. People should boycott everything in the Commerce city limits.
This is what happens when you put quotas and Department incentives for a particular crime.
The news should have mentioned you don't have to do a field sobriety test.
This happens a lot!
The cop lost zero sleep doing this
He should be sent to prison for the minimum of 3 -5 for false imprisonment.
This happens all across the country. It's a fishing expedition. He's betting that when the blood test comes back, it'll show weed. Let's not forget though, you can show positive in a blood test for weeks after smoking. Messed up
How abusive. He should have been fired. He's a damn menace. I hope they all sue.
If you have no morals, values, integrity. You can be a cop.
Forgot no intelligence, no capacity for critical or individual thinking.
What a jerk completely out of control
Paid leave is bull crap
If those police officers would work in a company, they would be fired on the spot for gross errors.
So this cop is going to go to jail for ruining people's lives, right? Right? Right?
"lost the video"
Fuckin predator cops
These “Officers” care more about their numbers than they do about long term problems they created, rather than enforce.