WATCH: Cop Attacks Innocent Marine Vet for Filming Him from His Own Home, Costing Taxpayers $300,000

By Matt Agorist

Vallejo, CA — In the land of the free, there are ostensible checks and balances which are in place to prevent corrupt and power-drunk government officials from overstepping their authority and depriving people of their rights. The largest ostensible restraint on this power is the Constitution. However, as TFTP has reported for years, despite the fact that police swear an oath to uphold this constitution, they are all too often the ones who ignore it.

As the following case illustrates, to many police officers, the oath they took to the Constitution may as well be dog excrement that they scrape from the bottom of their boot.

Officer David McLaughlin clearly forgot his oath when he was recorded tackling, handcuffing, and temporarily kidnapping an innocent Marine veteran for practicing his First Amendment right to film the police.

The egregious act was captured by Adrian Burrell and is nothing short of enraging. And, because McLaughlin was never held accountable, the taxpayers of Vallejo are footing the bill — to the tune of $300,000.

Burrell issued a statement through his attorney after the settlement was reached this week stating that the money will be used to “seed the founding of a non-profit organization that will provide the families of individuals who are affected by police violence, and the survivors of community violence time and space to heal.”

“I was assaulted by a police officer who participated in blood rituals, the bending of badges to celebrate murders of black and brown folks,” Burrell added. “No amount of money can give back what was taken from me during this violent assault nor during the dehumanizing, patronizing and disrespectful litigation process.”

The badge-bending is in reference to a practice by many California police departments in which they bend the corner of their badges to celebrate their kills. McLaughlin testified in 2016 that his badge was bent by his supervisor after he killed a man in 2016.

McLaughlin has a long and bloody past as an officer, according to the Vallejo Sun, and has cost taxpayers dearly in numerous settlements. Despite his behavior, however, he is still on the streets with a badge and a gun.

As we previously reported, Burrell’s attack began as officer McLaughlin had his gun drawn and pointed at Burrell’s cousin while accusing him of being some guy he saw speeding earlier in the day.

As he assaults the man on the motorcycle with a deadly weapon, McLaughlin notices that he is being filmed. Apparently, stopping a man from filming him then became more important than going after an alleged speeder, so the cop turned his attention to Burrell.

“I am a Black man born and raised in Oakland, California who was physically attacked by Vallejo PD officer David McLaughlin,” Burrell wrote on Facebook after his attack, explaining the incident that took place on January 22, 2019.

“This unfortunate circumstance put me in a situation where if I was to defend myself, then I would have been a hashtag. Or worse, my death would have been ignored or excused on the premise of McLaughlin’s irrational fear,” he wrote.

As Burrell explained, he placed more than enough distance between himself and the officer and gave no reason for the officer to become fearful.

“From roughly 20 ft away, with a railing between myself and the officer, I started filming with my phone,” Burrell noted. But this cop clearly hated the fact that someone would dare document his behavior in public, so he chose to assault Burrell instead of upholding his rights.

Burrell explained what happened next:

Mclaughlin grabbed me, smashed my face against the wall and then swung my body, knocking my head into a wooden pillar causing a concussion. He put handcuffs on my wrists so tight they broke the skin and caused my fingers to go numb. All while telling me “stop resisting” to my reply, “I’m not resisting.”

Burrell was then temporarily kidnapped and thrown in the back of a squad car. According to Burrell, that’s when McLaughlin figured out he had no criminal record whatsoever and was an honorably discharged Marine—who, coincidentally, also swore an oath to uphold the constitution.

When McLaughlin realized he had nothing on which to arrest Burrell, his temporary kidnapping ended.

He said I was going to jail and detained me in the back seat of his car. Would I have gone to jail if I weren’t a vet with no criminal record? When the officer realized I am a Marine, he told me if I wasn’t a vet I’d be going to jail. Does that mean that if I had not been a vet, he would have put me in jail for not breaking the law? Because I am a vet, does that mean my life is more valuable? Military service does not warrant special treatment. Lack of military service does not justify mistreatment?

We could not agree more. For his actions in the video you are about to watch below, McLaughlin kept his job and faced no consequences — just as we predicted.

Source: The Free Thought Project

Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.

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