On May 12, 2021, Oklahoma City Police Officer Daniel Lopez responded to a call in a northwest Oklahoma City neighborhood regarding a domestic dispute with Daniel Hobbs.

The encounter ended when Lopez shot Hobbs multiple times, and he died from his injuries later in the hospital.

Now that the police department has released the officer’s body camera footage, we know a little bit more about the interaction that led up to the shooting. What can this incident tell us about body cameras and civil rights in the face of abusive police? Civil rights attorney Jacqui Ford explains below.

Body camera footage and what it means

The video of Hobbs’s shooting paints a pretty bleak picture. Lopez approaches Hobbs, who is standing on the sidewalk, staring at the sky. Lopez begins to interrogate Hobbs, and learns that he has schizophrenia.

Despite not being threatened at all, Lopez insists on searching Hobbs’s person. (Read more about the legality of police searches below.)

When Hobbs resists being searched, the two begin to struggle, both trying to get a hold of Lopez’s taser. It’s at this point that Lopez’s camera is turned off, but we can see from a neighbor’s cell phone recording that Lopez shoots Hobbs four times in the torso.

The combined footage appears to depict a police officer using excessive force to conduct a warrantless search, ultimately leading to an unarmed man’s death.

For decades, reformers have been advocating the use of mandatory body-worn cameras in police departments to increase the accountability that police officers face in their interactions with the public.

However, studies have shown that body cameras generally do not have a significant impact on police officers’ or citizens’ behavior.

In addition, the use of these cameras as an accountability tool has consistently run into a major design flaw: when the police don’t want to be filmed, they simply turn their cameras off. Whether intentional or not, that’s what happened with Officer Lopez in his struggle with Daniel Hobbs.

Police shootings and brutality cases are caught on camera all the time, and yet this rarely has the effect of holding police accountable for their actions, or reducing the rate of police brutality and civil rights violations. That’s why reformers need to focus instead on broad, systemic changes to policing and incarceration in the United States, rather than band-aids like body cameras or sensitivity training.

Know your rights when the police want to search you

In the video, Lopez asks Hobbs if he has any weapons on him, and then asks if he can search him. Hobbs attempts to turn out his pockets and show Lopez that he only has a wallet on him, but Lopez tells him to put his hands behind his back so Lopez can conduct the search himself.

When Hobbs refuses consent to the search, that’s when the struggle begins.

In general, police are not allowed to search you unless they have a warrant. This includes your home or property, your vehicle, or even your person. However, there are some exceptions to this rule:

• Probable cause– the police have reason to believe you are carrying something illegal
• Emergency situation– to prevent harm from happening
• Consent– if you give your consent to being searched
• Arrest– if you’ve just been arrested

However, as the video of Hobbs’s shooting demonstrates, police often simply ignore this rule, and conduct warrantless searches whenever they want. While you are perfectly within your rights to refuse a search of your person, the results can be deadly.

Suing the police for excessive force

At Jacqui Ford Law, we use 42 U.S. Code § 1983, a federal statute that protects Americans’ civil rights, to sue the government on behalf of clients whose civil rights have been violated. These lawsuits are usually referred to as “1983 claims,” and can fight against a number of different government wrongs:

• Police brutality
• Racial profiling
• Abuses of power
• Discrimination
• Government agencies depriving citizens of their rights

One of the violations you can file a 1983 claim for is excessive force. This means you can sue the police officer, supervisor, or responsible government agency for damages if you were seriously injured or a loved one was killed by the police.

But 1983 claims against the police are notoriously difficult to win. You have to prove a number of things in court:

• A pattern of abusive, discriminatory, or harassing behavior by the officer in question (one incident isn’t enough)
• That there was significant injury caused by the police
• That the officer involved was not justified in their actions

And even then, the odds are stacked against you because of a myriad of ways that the United States justice system tends to favor the police.

You will need an experienced and fierce civil rights lawyer on your side if you’re going to sue the police for excessive force.

Hire an Oklahoma civil rights attorney

At Jacqui Ford Law, our priority is to hold the government accountable and make sure you get the justice you deserve. If you’ve been the victim of police misconduct, or if your civil rights are being violated in any way, contact us to schedule a free consultation and talk about your case.

As we all know, the police can sometimes have a reputation for being aggressive with protesters — especially protesters of color. 

At the Jacqui Ford Law Firm, we are dedicated to being LAWYER ALLIES to our brothers and sisters peacefully utilizing their First Amendment rights. 

We ourselves have participated in protests in our personal lives, and have attended protests in our role as attorneys, as well. 

What is a lawyer ally?

Because of our training and education, lawyers act as advocates. 

When we are acting as lawyer allies, however, we are advocating for justice more generally, without a specific client in mind.

One of the main ways we do this is by defending the rights of protesters to utilize their First Amendment rights to protest legally and peacefully, and supporting them if this right is challenged. The goal is to educate and empower citizens and community members.

Additionally, we can use our training to help advocate for just causes by writing to and speaking with legislators and political leaders who might otherwise ignore or disregard messages from protesters or advocates from other channels. 

So what does being a lawyer ally look like?

Being a lawyer ally at protests and demonstrations

In the context of protests and public demonstrations, a lawyer ally attends these events not to take part in the protest or intervene, but to observe what is happening and to record and document what occurs.

It’s important to make this distinction about observing and not engaging in the protest, however. This distinction can be difficult for lawyers who like to wear an activist hat and a lawyer hat.

Our role at these demonstrations is to document what’s occurring and prevent police from being able to lie about what happened down the road, but we are not a part of the story. Organizations like The National Lawyers Guild organize these mass defense practices by providing trainings and workshops and by assembling what they refer to as Legal Observers® to act in this lawyer ally role at demonstrations.  

Being a lawyer ally to demonstrators from your home 

One of the most important acts of a lawyer ally can be done from the comfort of your own home — legal hotlines. Legal hotlines are ways for protesters or lawyer allies at demonstrations to contact attorneys for representation or advice when arrests or violence may be happening. 

Most of these hotlines are not staffed 24/7, but are organized before a known protest is about to happen. Many times Jacqui has received calls as a protest is winding down from demonstrators wondering whether they’ve been given a real number and seeking advise or counsel in real time. She always tells them, “Yes, this is real. I’m a lawyer. How can I help you?”

Lawyer allies can also assist from their home or office by compiling all the lawyer ally videos taken at demonstrations and organizing them into digitized databases. However, it’s important to remember that sometimes arrests are made after police have seen this online footage of the protests, and these photos, videos, and the people in them should be well protected.

Being a lawyer ally in the courtroom (or government building)

Other lawyer allies use their position as legal advocates in the courtroom to do their part to uphold justice — particularly defending protesters who are actually charged with a crime after the fact.

Other times, lawyer allies can work with protesters in their role as attorneys to speak at public meetings or in government buildings and use the technical and legal language that government officials and legislators will relate to.

How to become a lawyer ally 

The National Lawyers Guild has chapters around the country that provide training for becoming an official Legal Observer®.

Being a lawyer ally more generally, however, can come via training and mentorship from all sorts of attorneys and professionals who have spent their careers fighting for justice.

To learn more about our efforts as lawyer allies and to join our fight contact Jacqui Ford Law today.

UPDATED JUNE 2020:

In light of the recent deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd (among others), people across the United States have taken to the streets to protest police misconduct and brutality.

But whether you’re protesting or simply witnessing police misconduct on the street, it’s important to stay safe while filming these acts.

• Safety

You need to be mindful of your safety AND the safety of the person you are filming. If for some reason you feel unsafe taking a video, you can stand in solidarity with the victim and/or take notes on what’s happening.

• Know your rights

You have a 1st Amendment right to record law enforcement IF you are not “interfering.” The officer will be the one who decides whether or not you are interfering, so it’s important to keep a distance and comply with any orders you’re given (you can even say “I’m complying with your orders” on the video just so it’s clear).

• Privacy settings

Make sure your phone has a passcode, not just fingerprint or facial recognition, before you start recording. Similarly, set your phone up to automatically save any photos or videos to a cloud or Google Drive in case your phone gets confiscated.

• Show what needs to be shown on the video

Be sure there’s evidence in your video that proves it’s real — verify time and date by showing a clock, street signs to show your location, names and badge numbers of officers to prove who they are, etc. You can even choose to sort of narrate what’s happening in the video so it’s clear to your audience, but it’s important to keep your commentary factual and unbiased.

• Allow the audience to really see what’s happening in the video

You can do this by keeping the camera in one position for at least 10 seconds and only moving slowly, not in quick bursts and jerks. Also, hold your phone horizontally to allow more in each shot.

These tips — along with common sense — should help keep yourself as safe as possible and allow your video to be used as evidence in the future, if need be.

Our team at Jacqui Ford Law hopes that these situations are never necessary, but if it happens to you or someone you know, you’ll want to be ready.

Bystanders and their smartphones have proven to be a very powerful tool in police brutality cases, whether justice was served or not.

Regardless of the case verdict, the media attention captured by citizens has shed a much needed light on the violence and discrimination in our country’s police departments.

No matter what a police officer tells you, filming an officer performing his duties in a public place is absolutely legal. Read more on your rights to film a police officer here.

Although smartphone cameras are effective on their own, there are several apps for your smartphone that are even better for recording violence by police officers. Here are a few:

• Hands Up 4 Justice – This is an app for your iPhone that was created after the riots in Ferguson, Missouri. The developers recommend that you keep your GPS on while using it for best results. Once you’ve uploaded the video, the app sends backups of the evidence you’ve recorded to another place, like YouTube or Dropbox.
• Stop and Frisk Watch – This app was created by the New York Civil Liberties Union, and it can be downloaded on both iPhones and Androids. The NYCLU says the app has three basic functions – recording, monitoring and reporting – but it can be used for other things as well.
• I’m Getting Arrested – This is an Android-only app, but it’s great for people who participate in civil rights protests. If you get arrested and have this app on your phone, it will send messages to your friends, family and attorneys on your behalf.
• Mobile Justice – This is an app that was developed by the ACLU of California, but it has since been adopted in Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska and Oregon. It’s available for iPhones and Androids, and it sends police encounters that you record on your phone directly to the civil rights organization. The ACLU will then save the video, even if your phone is taken from you or damaged while you’re participating in the protest.
• Cop Recorder – Available for both iPhone and Android, this app is designed to save voice recordings of encounters with police officers, even if the app is not open all the time. You have to enact a feature on the app, and once you do, it will not show as open or recording on your phone, but it will still be voice recording the interaction.
• Cop Block – This filming app, for both iPhone and Android, allows you to film what you believe could be questionable police behavior, then it uploads the video to a community of people to view for themselves.

If you believe you have witnessed police misconduct, or if you were arrested amid what you believe was police misconduct, contact an experienced civil rights attorney today.

The U.S. Supreme Court has dealt a crippling blow to law enforcement accountability with a decision that “perpetuates the belief that cops have a license to kill.”

According to The New York Times, on April 2 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of an Arizona police officer who shot a woman standing outside of her home in Tucson in 2010.

Here’s how the case of Kisela v. Hughes unfolded:

• The Police responded to reports of an erratic woman who was slashing a tree with a knife.
• When the police arrived, they saw the woman standing in the driveway of a home. That’s when a second woman, Amy Hughes, came out of the same house holding a kitchen knife.
• Hughes reportedly was holding the knife at her side and was acting calmly, but the officer shot her four times in her driveway after ordering her to drop the knife. Reports say it’s not clear whether Hughes heard the officer’s commands.
• It turns out, Hughes and the woman were roommates, and the woman did not feel threatened by Hughes coming out with a knife.
• Hughes survived being shot four times by police, then sued the officer who shot her for excessive force.

 

A federal appeals court allowed the case to move forward, but the Supreme Court reversed that ruling.

Jacqui Ford, a civil rights attorney in Oklahoma, calls the high court’s decision “offensive.”

“This equates to cops being licensed to kill at all times under all circumstances. We are not safe,” she says. “The continued lack of accountability by law enforcement officers perpetuates the real belief that cops have a license to kill. This is offensive to the ideals of government power and law enforcement’s duty to protect and serve.”

Although the court did not determine whether the officer violated Hughes’ civil rights, the court did say that there was no precedent to stop the officer from shooting Hughes in an effort to protect the other woman who was at the scene.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissent for the high court, noting that there’s a disturbing trend and “unflinching willingness” to protect officers who use excessive force.

Jacqui Ford agrees.

“As long as law enforcement can cry that they were afraid for their life and nothing changes, then nothing changes. More cops get scared more often and more people die,” Ford says. “When carrying a badge comes with immunity, what incentive do police have to change their behavior?”

The officer is free from punishment under a doctrine known as qualified immunity, which protects the actions of officers “insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.”

It’s designed to protect officers from frivolous lawsuits, but at what cost to citizens?

Ford believes law enforcement agencies should be going a different direction, requiring more training for officers, more mental health tests, more guidance on handling the mentally ill and people who don’t speak English.

“If instead, we would hold law enforcement agencies and officers, individually liable, then we could affect change by hitting them the only place it matters, in the pocket book,” Ford says. “We could be affecting change, but we are too busy being afraid!”

Jacqui Ford is dedicated to protecting individuals who have been victims of excessive force by a law enforcement officer. Contact Jacqui Ford’s office today for a consultation.