ExCop-Lawyer Uncategorized

The Battousai has done it yet again.

This started with a simple photography exercise at a federal facility, the NSA in San Antonio.

Here, there is a problem with his filming, which is actually the first time I’ve really seen him make a mistake. Under state law, there is no prohibition on filming, but under federal law, there is. Under 18 U.S.C. § 795, photography of a defense facility may be prohibited, under pain of arrest, fine, and imprisonment for up to a year. Plus, the Battousai filmed the federal warning sign that stated it was a federal violation.

But all was well, the San Antonio PD (SAPD) officer was ignorant, as he tried to tell the Battousai that he had to carry ID with him in Texas, which, as we have pointed out multiple places on this blog, is simply not true.

Then the Battousai starts to leave and the dance begins.

Here, the officers follow him around. They are waiting for him to get in a car so they can stop him, but that isn’t working. So the Battousai walks across the street and the officers make their second mistake, they stop him for not crossing at a crosswalk.

The Battousai knew the state law, that even if a crosswalk wasn’t marked, it still existed at an intersection. The problem is that where he crossed is not an intersection. Where private parking lot or drives meet a public roadway is not an intersection. So he wasn’t at an intersection. All was not lost, because the officers had not gotten any smarter.

The violation is not crossing where there is not an intersection. The violation is “Pedestrian Failing to Yield the Right of Way to Vehicle, While Not in Crosswalk.” See Bolds v. State, 14-07-00952-CR, 2008 WL 5341341, at *2 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Dec. 23, 2008, no pet.) (“A pedestrian shall yield the right-of-way to a vehicle on the highway if crossing a roadway at a place … other than in a marked crosswalk or in an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.” ). Now, from what I saw, no cars were interfered with, none had to brake, swerve, stop, etc., in other words, there was not a violation. There other ways to make it a violation, but they don’t apply here.

I imagine that when the Assistant District Attorney was looking at this, he was trying to figure out a way to make it stick, but couldn’t. So the Battousai got released.

Now the Battousai is looking to crowd fund a civil rights lawsuit. While he is certainly free to do so, I’m not sure that these are the right facts to move on. But if you want to, here is his GoFundMe link.