Afroman for the win! 'A singer named “Afroman” has created a music video out of the home security footage taken during a police raid at his house.' 'The video is called: “Will You Help Me Repair My Door?” I love it.' 'He is being sued by the officers who broke into his house with a search warrant–when he wasn’t there, but his wife was'–for causing them emotional distress. They broke the gate, broke the door. Looks like a no-knock raid. 'In the suit, the officers say Afroman’s music videos, social media posts and merchandise related to the raid amount to an invasion of privacy and misappropriation of their likenesses … and they say it’s causing them emotional distress, ridicule, humiliation, loss of reputation and embarrassment.' They are embarrassed because they look stupid, and that's the problem with doing stupid things. Some cops keep trying to pretend that they cannot be photographed, and thats been litigated repeatedly, they absolutely can be photographed. And as for making money off their images, news organizations do that all the time. I think that the video's fair. 'They broke into his home with guns drawn using force, searched the house for drugs without finding any, took a disputed amount of money without returning all of it, and now are arguing that they have a right to privacy. The warrant was to search for narcotics and a kidnapping victim.' Want to have fun? Try to find out from the police department who they think was the kidnap victim they were going to find there. 'Can I sue a police department for taking and releasing a mugshot for a crime that I get acquitted for? No, I cannot. And that mugshot would follow me for the rest of my life, harming my reputation, even if the charges were entirely bogus. Seems fair that police entering my home should be subject to similar rules.' Police Officers do NOT have an expectation of privacy, homes have security systems, and the police have no control over how the owner of the footage uses it. Please discuss why the police officers dismantled his camera system and how that "helped" them locate the non existent drugs and kidnap victim. And city cops in camo look like idiots.
Citizens have the right to film police and to disseminate that footage any way they want to, protected by the 'free press' element of the 1st amendment. Police, just like everyone else, have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public, and they have no authority to stop anyone from filming them.
The song is cute. I find it interesting that there is no mention of any defamation claim in the lawsuit.
AS A WISE COMMUNITY ORGANIZER ADVISES, GET IN THEIR FACES, AND PUNCH BACK TWICE AS HARD: Afroman for the win! “Don’t want to be embarrassed as an officer? Don’t do embarrassing things, like break doors down unnecessarily and roam around with guns in a house only occupied by a scared woman. The couple also have children, and they could have been there but thankfully weren’t. Afroman: I am with you on this one. I hope you make a lot of money off this song. I thought it was hilarious.” Amen! I hate No Knock raids
You're exactly right. My opinion: Qualified immunity is a necessary protection for police, however, it should be stripped in cases where police abuse their authority, intentionally violate citizens rights, or coerce people into voluntarily surrendering their rights through deception, or intimidation.
..."they say it’s causing them emotional distress, ridicule, humiliation, loss of reputation and embarrassment." All of which these officers and their department are now DUE. Thats a really bad F-up. Often gets folks killed. I get **** happens (ESPECIALLY when conducting no-knock raids, which should be banned) but when it does happen and its your fault- OWN IT. Sueing the victim is precisely the opposite of owning it. This dept (prolly just one or two of its top bureaucrats, but thats how it goes) deserve ALL the ridicule and shame now. Here's hoping wealth and victory upon Afroman.
I wonder how much of this response is from the officers involved and how much is from their superiors who werent there but make all the decisions.
