A Missouri motorist who recorded a St. George cop's threats to falsify charges against him in order to throw him in jail & teach him a lesson, is now being hounded & harrassed by other area cops after his videotape resulted in the first officer's firing.

I first heard about Brett Darrow in 2006 while conducting online research regarding sobriety checkpoints. At the time, Brett was a 19 year old teenager who had already had a troubling run-in with an off duty cop. The cop, who turned out to be drunk at the time, assaulted him, lied about the incident and falsified charges. The charges were later dropped by a grand jury and when Darrow threatened to sue for violation of his rights, the City of St. Louis settled to keep the lawsuit from going forward.

This incident, along with a separate dispute over a traffic ticket, prompted Darrow to outfit his car with a video camera. Darrow realized it's always an uphill battle when it's just your word against authority, so he hoped a video camera would help even the odds just a little.

Boy was he ever right.

Brett's first trial by fire came in late November of 2006. While minding his own business and obeying all traffic laws, Darrow was stopped at a suspicionless sobriety checkpoint in St. Louis County, Missouri. After being stopped, a deputy demanded to know where he was going. Darrow responded by telling the man with a gun and a badge, he didn't want to discuss his personal business with him. The deputy became angry and demanded that he get out of the car.

Darrow's video of the incident and a transcript of the encounter is available at:

Police Roadblock Harassment Caught on Tape

What's troubling about this encounter, above and beyond the presence of suspicionless police roadblocks on America's streets, is how willing police officers seem to be to escalate a situation beyond reasonable boundaries when an individual, who hasn't done anything illegal to begin with, doesn't immediately bow down to the misuse of official authority. Darrow had no legal obligation to talk to the officer who stopped him. Nonetheless, the deputy used Darrow's desire for personal privacy as an excuse to detain him, conduct a wants and warrants background check, and temporarily seize his vehicle - all violations of the fourth amendment.

Without the video camera, it would have been assumed by many that the police officer had reasonable suspicion to detain Darrow and conduct a background check. Indeed, when Darrow told his story to a police supervisor, the supervisor stated there must have been some other reason why the deputy took the actions he did. The video makes it clear however the deputy had no such reasonable suspicion and was merely pissed that Darrow refused to play his game. The deputy then abused his authority by detaining him in order to show Darrow who was in control.

While the first video encounter helped to illustrate the excesses associated with suspicionless checkpoints, Darrow's second video encounter from early this month continues to open people's eyes regarding the excesses of 'law enforcement' in general.

While obeying the law and minding his own business once again, Brett Darrow was approached by St. George Police Sergeant James Kuehnlein after entering a commuter parking lot late at night to wait for a friend. Upon approaching, Sgt. Kuehnlein demanded to see Darrow's identification even though Darrow hadn't violated any law. When Darrow asked Kuehnlein why he needed to see ID, Kuehnlein became abusive and demanded that Darrow get out of the car. Darrow did so and Kuehnlein started in on a fifteen minute verbal tirade designed to threaten, intimidate, and harass Darrow for daring to ask him a question. All the time, Darrow's video camera was recording the encounter.

To get an idea of just how abusive Kuehnlein's tirade was, a short excerpt from the transcript appears below:

Eventually Darrow was allowed to leave but not before he was bodily searched and a wants and warrants background check was conducted.

When Darrow posted the video and transcript of the encounter online at:

Police Threaten, Detain Motorist for Parking After Hours

Folks were rightfully outraged by Sgt. Kuehnlein's abusive behavior and misuse of police power. Darrow correctly pointed out that without the video, few people would have believed his version of events over the word of Officer Kuehnlein.

Police tales put town on map

After the internal investigation was complete, St. George's Board of Alderman voted unanimously to fire Sgt. Kuehnlein:

St. George Police Officer Fired Over Internet Video

And even more disturbing, a death threat from an anonymous police poster:

Cop Website Contained Apparent Death Threat Against Video Vigilante

Remember - these are the same folks that have been entrusted by the public with extraordinary authority to serve and protect - not dominate and control.

At first, I thought perhaps these were just a few misguided cops letting off a little steam online, but the latest news shows at least some of these cops are following through with their threats to intimidate and harass Mr. Darrow:

Missouri: Police Stake Out Brett Darrow Home

Needless to say, the actions of these police officers are unacceptable and represent a clear and present danger to the surrounding community - not to mention Mr. Darrow. Nonetheless, no real action has been taken by local government to address the rampant culture of arrogance and unaccountability that seems to have infested the ranks of local law enforcement.

Brett Darrow has shown us that without vigilance, it's not a question of whether or not power will corrupt. It's merely a question of when. Unless someone thinks this type of police state behavior from law enforcement is a fluke, then perhaps it's time we all started carrying cameras for protection from the excesses of government and to hold government perpetrators responsible for their actions.

My thanks go out to Mr. Darrow for putting himself in harms way to stand up for what he believes.

- Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action - George Washington