Texas Cop Viciously Assaults Activist For Recording Himself Filing a Complaint

ARLINGTON TX – The man known as “The Battousai” on YouTube just released a series of videos showing the now infamous Arlington Police Department impeding his First Amendment right to record in public, then later assaulting him for recording the complaint process landing him in the hospital.

The three part video series begins at night, outside Arlington Memorial Hospital where The Battousai was recording a mentally ill man sitting on a curb surrounded by five Arlington officers. Annotations on the video explain the reason for filming the situation was for man’s protection as a number of mentally ill individuals have been killed by police. In fact, of all police shootings in the United States, 25% involve mentally ill victims.

Although The Battousai was recording on the opposite side of the street on a public sidewalk, that didn’t stop one Officer A. Klinkenberg from trotting across the street to attempt to bully him into shutting off the camera.

“I can appreciate why you are here and what you’re doing, and I don’t have a problem with it. But what we having going on right now is kind of private with this guy, he’s talking about some mental health issues, and I don’t appreciate you being here while we’re doing that. So i’m going to ask you to go back to the corner where you were, and you can video tape from down there, but you’re not allowed to be here, Klinkenberg explains.

The Battousai declines his offer, and tells the officer, “I’m alright right here.”

Klinkenberg didn’t take too kindly to a citizen declining to comply to his request and in turn started to escalate the situation by barking more demands in a raised voice. The Battousai quietly reminded the officer he was standing on public right-of-way and was obviously far enough away from the situation where he wouldn’t interfere. Nonetheless, the officer pretended to be very concerned with the privacy of the mentally ill man, that his official orders quickly turned into a personal request.

Accepting that no laws were being violated, the officer then decided to childishly stand in front of the camera to block the shot, both with his wide body, and later with his hand and flashlight. If this is not a government agent impeding ones First Amendment right to record police in their official duties, I don’t know what is.

Magically, when a citizen points his camera at government agents, they suddenly have concern for the public’s privacy– funny how that works. The first video ends in ironic fashion by showing one officer taking a picture of the mentally ill man in the back of the squad car with what appears to be his personal cell phone– very private indeed.

The second video shows The Battousai catching up with the same crew of officers around the block where they had transferred the mentally ill man. As he approaches the scene on foot, via a public sidewalk, two officers make a B line to impede his progress. When The Battousai keeps walking, the officers yell, “STOP! Now you’re being detained!” After the officers could not articulate a crime he had committed they let him on his way. With ego smashed, Officer Klinkenberg attempted one last tactic to prevent an objective record of the situation from being captured.

“Just so you know, per HIPPA, you cannot film him.” The uninformed officer chides.

The officer was quickly corrected on the knowledge of the law, as The Battousai reminded the officer HIPPA only applies to medical records. The video ends showing one brave officer standing guard against the lone activist and his camera.

After the incident, The Battousai reports that he was targeted by one of Arlington’s finest and cited with a traffic ticket which he believes to be a retaliatory action by the police.

All of the civil rights violations committed by the officers, along with their refusal to verbally identify themselves in the first two videos led The Battousai to file formal complaints at the Arlington Police station. The third video shows an interaction at the front desk which appeared to be a civil discussion with a desk officer and his bureaucrat assistant.

Shortly after gathering the proper forms to make his complaints, The Battousai made his way to the records department in order to make a public information request for the dash cam footage, which would have captured the bogus traffic citation. Video then cuts to a scene where The Battousai was surrounded by medical personnel, tending to his wrist as if he had been roughed up. According to the video annotations, The Battousai was confronted after leaving the records department by one officer Thomas Green, who stated that cellphones and videotaping is now allowed inside the police station.

“I told him what I was doing and wasn’t going to turn it off. I asked him to show me the policy and he got enraged. He went for my camera in which he failed and grabbed my wrist and flung the camera out of my hand, knocking me up against the wall with my arm in a very uncomfortable position. I did not resist at all. The video file was lost due to the impact from the camera hitting the floor”

X-rays of The Battousai’s wrist came back negative, but he left the hospital wearing a sling. Doctors believe he has strained litigants in his wrist and if the pain doesn’t subside in a few weeks he should return for an alternate diagnosis.

The men who bully, lie, and assault peaceful individuals for simply attempting to capture an objective record of police activity will likely go about their lives believing they are heroes because the majority of societies actually believe they are. The Battousai will likely have detractors who will say he should just comply with what police tell him to do, and he could avoid the harassment. This is why those who are aware of the atrocities carried out by men in uniform, tasked with protecting our rights, need to support those who are holding the line and setting precedence. The Battousai has setup a GoFundme page where you can donate to his cause.

The Battousia routinely travels the state of Texas, following leads from his viewers who experience bad service by their local police departments and documents his own interactions for the public good. Your donation will help expose corruption, and hold the line of freedom at the same time. Consider donating to this brave activist.