Man Legally Filming in Public Harassed, Illegally Detained, and Arrested (Multiple Times) by Las Vegas Police

Filming in Public Las Vegas Metro Harassment — Video shows a man, who is legally filming in a public space, being repeatedly harassed, illegally detained, and unlawfully arrested multiple times by police officers from the LVMPD.

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 video embedded below, which was posted to YouTube by Las Vegas attorney Stephen Stubbs, pretty much speaks for itself. (Especially with the text that has been added to it.) Within the video, consisting of a series of different encounters over a course of several days in late October (2017), a Las Vegas man is out filming public areas at or near various police substations. Each time, he is stopped by members of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, illegally detained, harassed, and on at least two occasions unlawfully arrested.

In spite of what the police say in the video, the Nevada “Duty to Identify” statute (NRS 171.123) only requires a person that has been legally detained to give their first and last names. They are not required to give any other information, such as an address or birth date. Not to mention the fact that the man in the video was never actually legally detained in the first place.

Police parking lots are public property and are open to the general public. The “no trespassing” signs that are referenced in the video only apply to a restricted area behind the building that is gated off. Filming areas that are visible from public spaces is absolutely legal and has been ruled to be a First Amendment protected activity by several courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Watching the video, it’s incredibly obvious that the stated “Reasonable Suspicion” the officers are using to justify their detention of the man are nothing but very flimsy excuses to harass him. As already stated, he isn’t trespassing and filming in public is legal so there was no legal cause to stop him for being in the parking lot. Also, even if “aggressively approaching” their car is even an actual cause to detain someone, that clearly didn’t happen on the video.

Regardless of the fact that he wasn’t legally detained during any of those instances, the man on the video still complies under duress and tells them his name. Therefore, they absolutely have no reason to subsequently arrest him for not telling them his birth date (which he actually does tell them before the final arrest) or any other information beyond his legal name.

The reality, widely known among Las Vegas residents, that this video illustrates is that the LVMPD are just a bunch of bullies who will not hesitate to harass and retaliate against anyone that doesn’t follow their orders, even when those orders are flagrantly unlawful. And contrary to their statements on the video, they quite obviously have not learned much of anything from their past behavior.

Also, while it should be surprising that supervising officers ranking as high as lieutenant are not just involved in the harassment and illegal actions depicted in this video, but actually initiating it, it isn’t for anyone that knows how Las Vegas area police operate. Metro is corrupt and out of control from top to bottom.

And as is commonly the case whenever the LVMPD are in the process of harassing and/or arresting someone on some minor (or non-existent) crime, the dozen or so cops that show up at the end are a great display of how desperately short-handed the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is these days.