He Filmed Arrest of Man Shouting 'I Can't Breathe.' Minutes Later, He Was in Handcuffs

By Sam Stanton, The Sacramento Bee

14 December 20

 

rlando Truitt was on a walk to a North Highlands market last February when he saw a neighbor walking home carrying bags of takeout Chinese food.

Suddenly, a Sacramento sheriff’s car pulled up and told the man to stop, Truitt said.

Within minutes, his neighbor had been tackled to the ground, and had five or six deputies on top of him, Truitt said.

So Truitt, a 66-year-old Black man and retired nurse, instinctively resorted to the same tactic countless other Americans have in recent years: He pulled out his cellphone and began recording the incident.

“I’m gonna die,” the man on the ground was yelling. “I can’t breathe. I’m dying. Help. Help me.”

Truitt said he felt an obligation to record the incident, that as a member of the community it was his duty.

What he didn’t bargain for was being handcuffed for the first time in his life, being searched, having his cellphone taken from him and being detained while deputies ran a background check on him.

The ordeal is now the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit against Sheriff Scott Jones and deputies, with Truitt alleging he was intimidated by deputies and subjected to an unlawful search and seizure, excessive force and interference of his First Amendment rights to record law enforcement actions in public.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin, who filed the lawsuit. “These people are so insensitive, just dismissive of the rights of the public to record their activities that we feel compelled to do it.”

The Sheriff’s Office did not offer a comment after being provided a copy of the lawsuit.

But Merin and the Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union say it is the latest example of overreaction by law enforcement when they see bystanders recording their actions in public.

“I’d say it’s been an issue that has cropped up increasingly when law enforcement feels they’re under pressure,” said ACLU senior staff attorney Sean Riordan. “In the border region, there were similar issues when there were calls for reform of the Border Patrol and Border Patrol agents were increasingly going after people who were recording incidents in public places.”

Riordan said there is no doubt that bystanders have a legal right to make such recordings.

“I think the most important general principle is courts time and again have recognized that the First Amendment strongly protects the right of individuals to record law enforcement activity in public places,” he said. “I can’t imagine a legitimate rationale for the conduct that’s alleged in the (Truitt) complaint.”

The lawsuit, which includes a transcription from the cellphone video Truitt recorded before a deputy took his phone and turned off the camera, describes the deputies detaining the man turning their attention toward Truitt as he moved closer into the street to record them while the suspect begged them to get off him.

“The officers did not get off of the man but instead verbally berated him: ‘Stop! Just stop! Knock it off! Cut the s---!,’” the suit says. “Additional officers pulled-up in patrol vehicles and began to arrive at the scene.”

One of the new arrivals was Deputy Kyle Zimmerman, the lawsuit says, who began talking to another deputy and pointed at Truitt as he continued to record.

Zimmerman then walked over to Truitt, the suit says.

“Hello. How’re you doing?” Zimmerman asked.

“I’m fine,” Truitt answered.

“Do you mind if we take a look at the video and see what happened?” Zimmerman asks.

“No,” Truitt answers.

“For investigation purposes and stuff like that?” Zimmerman asks, but Truitt still refuses.

“No? Alright, then,” Zimmerman said. “What’s your name and information?”

“You don’t need — you don’t need my name,” Truitt answers.

Zimmerman responds by telling Truitt he is standing in the roadway and “I could detain you,” the lawsuit says.

Truitt took a step back to stand on the sidewalk, but that wasn’t good enough, the suit says.

“Okay. Then you’re gonna get searched,” Zimmerman says, according to the suit. “I’m gonna search for an ID.”

“You don’t have a reason to search me,” Truitt says.

“I actually do,” Zimmerman responds, adding, “You were in the roadway...

“It’s actually an infraction to be in the roadway. Unless you are crossing the street. But you were not.”

Next, Zimmerman asks for another deputy’s help to search Truitt — who insists, “Don’t touch me” — as Zimmerman tells the other deputy to take Truitt’s phone and the recording is ended, the suit says.

The search alleges Truitt was subjected to unreasonable search and seizure, prolonged detention, excessive force and other violations.

It seeks compensatory and punitive damages “in an amount sufficient to deter and to make an example of (sheriff’s officials) because their actions and/or inactions, as alleged, were motivated by evil motive or intent (and) involved reckless or callous indifference to constitutionally protected rights.”