Florida Officer with Violent History Interferes with Copwatcher Filming Police Brutality in Public

Officer D. Lade Obstructing Legal Filming Fort Lauderdale Police Beating Video — Recently, Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Derek Lade attempted to prevent a copwatcher from legally filming the police. Back in 2008, Lade was involved in a high profile case in which video vindicated a man who had been beaten and falsely arrested by the police.

Note: The video and description included within this post was shared with Nevada Cop Block via an anonymous reader submission. If you have videos, stories, upcoming events/protests, or personal interactions with the police (and/or “justice” system) that you would like to share, send them to us and we will do everything we can to bring it to the attention of the world. In addition, you can visit the Nevada Cop Block resources section for information and links to the rights of citizens when dealing with police, during which you should always be filming.

The first section of this post and the video embedded under it consist of the original anonymous submission. In the video, a copwatcher begins filming the arrest of a man, whom he claims to have seen being assaulted by Fort Lauderdale police. Officer Derek Lade, who is moonlighting as security at a local bar at the time, notices the man filming and begins trying to prevent it, (Just in case one of the officers making the arrest happens to be a Bad Apple and feels the need to get a little physical.)

Officer Lade begins with the common tactic of trying to stand in between the cop watcher and the arrest to block the camera. Then he begins going through the typical roll call of police tactics to prevent filming. First, he starts berating the cameraman with things that he thinks will hurt his feels. Then he threatens to confiscate his cell phone because it is needed for “evidence.”

Next, he moves on to claiming that the public sidewalk is “my property” and therefore the man filming is trespassing. The trespassing claim is accompanied by demands to show ID. (He did, however, somehow miss the incredibly effective tactic of taking photos or video of people that generally don’t really mind being recorded.) The person making the submission also claims that the harassment, including an illegal physical detention, continued off camera afterwards.

After doing a search on the Google to see if there was additional background or images related to this story, I discovered that Officer Derek Lade does in fact have a history of violence during his career as a cop. Not only that, but it’s rather obvious that this previous experience, no doubt, taught Lade the importance of trying to make sure there are no digital witnesses available whenever people are getting their head dropped onto the hood of a police car or otherwise abused.

The second section below details an incident that happened in Dec. of 2008, in which Lade and two other officers assaulted a man. As is typically the case, after they attacked the man Officer Lade lied and claimed on his official police report (otherwise known as committing perjury) that their victim had actually assaulted them. Fortunately for him, surveillance video showed what really happened. Of course, although the charges were dropped against the man they assaulted, the cops were punished in no way whatsoever for their actions.

Officer Involved: Officer Derek Lade
Department Involved: Fort Lauderdale Police Dept.
Dept. Facebook Page: Fort Lauderdale Police on FB
Dept. Twitter Account: @FLPD411
Department Phone No.: (954) 828-5700

Interfering With a Copwatcher Legally Filming an Arrest

After seeing police officers slam a handcuffed man’s head into the hood of their squad car, I started filming them. Officer D. Lade was there to try to prevent me from filming. Usually he is busy talking to drunk girls outside of the bar, so I will give him credit for actually trying to do police work for once.

After I stopped filming, he continued to harass me and even grabbed my wrist refusing to let me leave. Luckily I know the owners and bouncers who vouched for me and he let me leave the property, but threatened to arrest me if he saw me downtown again that night. This happened in downtown Fort Lauderdale, in front of Fat Cats (a local club).

Officer Lade Interfering With a Man Legally Filming The Police

Beating an Innocent Man Then Lying and Falsely Arresting Him

As stated earlier, Officer Lade learned the value of not having video available all the way back in 2008. At that time Lade along with Fort Lauderdale Police Officers Stefan Silver and Steve Smith were in the process of breaking up a fight when a man named Joshua Daniel Ortiz had the nerve to question their technique as he got onto a nearby elevator with friends.

Apparently, Ortiz made the mistake of asking Officer Lade what his problem when he was confronted by the officers. According to Ortiz, Lade responded that he would “show him what a problem is” and shoved him backwards. Officers Lade, Silver, and Smith then proceeded to beat Ortiz after pinning him in the back of the elevator. In the meantime, several other officers stood blocking the door of the elevator and intimidating Ortiz’s friends.

As a result, Ortiz suffered black eyes, a broken nose, and other facial bruise. In the mind of Lade and the other officers, that wasn’t sufficient punishment, though. Instead they lied and claimed that Ortiz had initiated the altercation and assaulted them. Based on their police reports (which are considered sworn statements), Ortiz was charged with aggravated battery against an officer. That felony charge, obviously, could have had a devastating effect on Ortiz’s life.

Via the Orlando Sentinal:

“They were just sitting there watching my life go down the drain with those charges,” Ortiz said Wednesday. “I’ve been going crazy thinking my life is over. It’s barely started and it’s over.”

The looming legal charges delayed Ortiz’s enrollment in college classes, he said.

Fortunately for Ortiz, however, the hotel that he was in when the attack took place had surveillance cameras, including within the elevator. That video footage (embedded below) showed what really happened and it was dramatically different than the lies Officers Lade, Silver, and Smith had written in their reports. So those false charges were dropped.

Of course, in spite of them not only having assaulted a citizen, filed false charges against him, and committed perjury by lying in a sworn statement to justify that assault and the false charges, there were absolutely no consequences for Lade or any of his cohorts. Which is why Officer Derek Lade is still out there in Downtown Fort Lauderdale threatening innocent copwatchers to cover up for other Good Cops while they smash the heads of people they are arresting onto car hoods.

Personally, I can’t see any way that could eventually go bad.