A grandmother and mother were filmed by police officers at Hemet in California. The footage was recently made public.
A federal civil rights ForensicsFiled last Thursday by Mariah Herefored’s mother Monett Herefored and Ryan Gadison. They claim that Hemet police searched Gadison’s vehicle and then arrested Herefored for filming the encounter.
Both women recorded cell phone video of themselves, which appears to be yet another example police using their right to arrest people who film them. The First Amendment right of the police to be filmed has been repeatedly upheld by federal appeals courts, as long as it doesn’t hinder their duty, however, illegal arrests continue to occur all over the country.
According to Herefored, a Hemet police officer stopped Gadison as he pulled into his driveway the evening of March 31, 2021.
The lawsuit states that the Hemet Officers did not have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to ask Plaintiff permission for a search of his vehicle. “When Plaintiff Gadison refused to comply, the Officers forced him out of his car and aggressively handcuffed and detained him.”
Many cell phone video cameras captured the next events. Mariah’s mother Monett Herefored (54 years old), began to film Gadison being arrested. She was warned by a Hemet officer to not back down, and she was threatened with being arrested for obstruction.
Herefored declared, “I am stepping back.” “I’ve moved.”
Gadison was taken by an officer to the hospital. A second officer approached Monett Herefored and closed the driver’s door. The video suddenly stops shaking. According to the lawsuit, the officer hit the phone with her finger.
Mariah Herefored started filming her mother’s handcuffing, and then pat-down. Her mother protested that she hadn’t done anything. Mariah Herefored was then led off by the officer. She was not warned by the officer to move backwards or give any other commands. As he approached, Hereford begins screaming and falls to the ground in pain. The officer can also be heard screaming, “Stop the Fuck Up!” You can hear her crying in distress as well.
Gadison, an attorney at Toni Jaramilla stated that it was heartbreaking for her children to have to see firsthand the police’s heightened levels of hate, evil and prejudice towards them.
The lawsuit claims that Mariah Herefored was hit by the officer, and she suffered neck pain, left shoulder pain, low back pain, and headaches. [and] whiplash.”
The suit also alleges that officers beat and restrained the family’s dog, “despite their inability to access the Officers from which they were prevented.”
Although Herefored’s attorneys released footage from Herefored’s cellphones, it doesn’t show the police beating the dogs but they do pick one up by its collar. The dog seems limp. One neighbor said that the dogs had been killed.
Gadison, Mariah Herefored, and Monett Herefored were cited in the suit. Riverside Press-EnterpriseNewspaper ReportsAccording to records from the county court, no charges were filed against them. The suit states that one of the dogs had to be vaccinated.
ProPublica reportedThe case against Jacobi Carage, a Louisiana resident was reported last year. Cage was filming Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Deputies when one grabbed his phone and then flipped it off. Cage reciprocated the gesture. The First Amendment protects. His head was immediately dragged into the ground by deputies who then charged him with battery and resisting arrest.
Recording man was enough to get him assassinated and imprisoned for no reason pic.twitter.com/Ef3z2WVfAI
— Chubbs???? (@chubbs504) March 2, 2019
Police officers in Vallejo (California) will become more prominent in 2019. DefeatedAdrian Burrell, a Marine veteran for filming traffic stops from his porch.
Civil liberties organizations say that filming police officers is important for accountability by the government. However, lawmakers have tried to limit the rights of citizens. This is the South Carolina, ArizonaPlease see the following: FloridaOver the last two years, all the legislatures introduced legislation to limit the ability of the public to view police officers’ footage.
Herefored and her families are suing for damages due to violations of the First, Fourth, & Fourteenth Amendments rights.
Jaramilla, Herefored’s lawyer, stated in a press release that the fight against violence and injustice against women also involves law enforcement violating women for sport. Mariah and Monett Herefored were not a threat or justification for the violence these officers caused to a grandmother and mother.
Hemet Police declined to comment.