Two police officers in Mississippi are being investigated for violating a family’s civil rights when they illegally entered a home and had the gall to order a man to stop filming them despite it being perfectly legal for him to do so.
20-year-old Cardravious Crump had just finished hosting a Halloween party at his mother’s house in Tate County when, unbeknownst to them, the pair of officers had entered their kitchen complete without a warrant and without cause to come inside the home.
“Party went great,” Crump told News Channel 3. “No problems, no nothing, no fights, no anything.”
But the officers were there anyway and were attempting to interrogate the family about underage drinking even though the party had already ended and there was apparently no evidence that anyone at the party was engaged in an illegal activity.
Crump’s mother Carla Echols immediately asked the officers to step outside, which she had every right to do seeing as how the officers had no warrant, thus violating her Fourth Amendment rights.
“I asked him nicely to step out,” Echols recounted. “I said, ‘Well then, I can talk to you, but can you step outside?'”
Despite her request, the officers refused to leave, and that just enraged Echols.
“So I cussed him out,” she said. “I was like, ‘You gonna get out of my house ’cause I did not tell you to come in here.'”
Crump then started filming the officers when they demanded to see identification.
Clearly, the officers were not happy about being filmed and ordered Crump to stop before issuing what sounds a lot like a threat.
“You’re gonna turn that off, get that out of my face,” the officer said. “I just told you to turn it off. I’m not gonna tell you again.”
“I felt violated, being in my own home too,” Crump explained before telling reporters that he turned the camera off because he feared for his life after what the deputy did next.
“At the moment when he reached around his side, I didn’t know what he was reaching for, so I just stopped recording,” he said.
The officer was allegedly just reaching for handcuffs, but as we have seen a lot in recent years, police officers have shot and killed unarmed black men for doing much less than merely operating a camera. It could have easily been a gun the officer was reaching for.
An investigation is currently underway and Tate County Sheriff Brad Lance admits that the deputies were wrong to order Crump to stop filming them, seeing as how filming police is not illegal in Mississippi.
Perhaps Lance could also explain to his officers that the Constitution requires they have a warrant to enter a home without permission.
Crump certainly understands his rights, and he is warning others to know theirs so that officers can be held accountable.
“Learn your rights and don’t let an officer scare you just because he has a badge and a gun,” he said.
Here’s the video via News Channel 3:
These officers had absolutely no right to enter this home without permission, and their actions are precisely why more and more Americans don’t trust the police in their communities. Being a cop does not grant immunity from respecting the Constitution and the law. If they suspected underage drinking, they should have secured a warrant or knocked on the door during the party. But the party was long over by the time the officers decided to go in the home.
Bad cops like these deputies should not be allowed to wear a badge. They’re a disgrace to the uniform and every time they pull stunts like this it makes the job much harder for officers who actually do the right thing.
Featured Image: Screenshot
