June 9, 2025 • 22 mins
On this episode i'll break down what happened in the now viral video of police harassing me that has over 1 million views. So many folks have asked why was I arrested and I'm going to break down exactly why and what happened after I was arrested. Follow me on facebook and instagram @TheLawAccordingtoAmber for more content
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey guys, and welcome to the Law according to Amber.
Every other Monday, we'll discuss controversial topics with the mixture
of opinion and legal facts. Thus the Law according to Amber.
Be sure to give me a follow on Facebook at
the law Coording to Amber, as well as Instagram, same
name The.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Law according to Amber. What's up, y'all?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Welcome back to another episode of the Law according to Amber.
And this episode, I'm going to get into something that
everyone's been sharing and commenting on, but I hadn't got
a chance to really go into detail about what actually happened.
So some folks might remember a video I posted on
Instagram when I was having an interaction with police.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thanks out, gon arrat me go open the gup.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Listen to them.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm not serving the piece the north or from in
the morning. It's passing. The North is not count it's.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
From okay, and I got you on camera, so I'll
make sure to let everybody know and that's fine. So
basically in the video, I was I'll start from the beginning.
So in the mornings, I like to go running. So
I was out for a run in the morning. I
had ran down the street and when I got to
(01:35):
the Indus Street. I saw all these police cars surrounding
someone's house. Not just regular police cars. There were three
undercover cars run in front of someone's house with energy
drink cans on top of their cars, and then one
regular police car on the side. And I immediately started
filming and also sending it to my friend because I
(01:55):
was concerned that it was an ice ray or just
them executing like a a warrant or something. But it
just felt very excessive. There were about seven cops in
front of the person's house, and I just felt like
that was a lot for whatever they were trying to do.
And I mean, we can see from history that police
(02:15):
usually respond in a very aggressive and excessive way. It's
just not necessary. So I started filming, and then I
started talking about the energy drinks that are on the car,
because I just think that you should not be executing
a warrant or doing arrest, whatever you're doing, you should
not be doing those duties while you're hopped up on
(02:36):
energy drinks. Because if we're being real, energy drinks increase
your heart rate, they give you a burst of adrenaline,
and police already have a history of abuse. They already
have a history of being excessive and committed brutality against folks.
And I can't imagine energy drinks making that less. I
would think that the energy drinks would actually make that
(02:57):
worse because you are in such a heightened state. So
I was talking about that in the video, and I
was letting the person know that they did not have
to open the door and let the cops in because
there was a police officer there and he was pushing
his way into their house. And when a police officer
is serving a warrant, they don't have to come in
and search your home.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
If you're serving a warrant, you arrest the person. That's it.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
And a lot of times police will say they need
to come inside as a way to search your house illegally,
and I've heard that story multiple times, and there's nothing
illegal about telling people their rights. And so I was
letting them know you don't have to let them come
inside your house. You don't have to open the door
for them. They're saying they have a warrant, they can
serve their warrant, the person can come out whatever, but
(03:40):
you don't have to let them into your house.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And what people.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Didn't see in that video is that they were surrounding
the person's house. There are people knocking on like the
windows on the side of the house. And none of
these people were wearing regular uniforms. They were all in
these Fusure Task Force outfits. Very I'm back looking like,
just very aggressive for really no reason. And there were
(04:05):
a lot, I mean to me, more than three polices
a lot, so there were a lot of police officers.
Of all those police officers, the only one who started
saying come to me is the one that you hear yelling,
the black guy telling me that if I cause a scene,
he's gonna arrest me. At this point, I'm standing on
a sidewalk. I was standing on the sidewalk the whole time.
Nothing about what I'm doing is illegal, so I'm filming him.
(04:28):
And then right after I finished that video, I posted
immediately I tagged the mayor, the current mayor, I tag
the police chief, I tag everybody I can think of
in the moment, and it was like, say, Hey, this
is what's happening in real time right now, And I
don't understand why I'm being threatened to be arrested for
my First Amendment rights to speak because I can tell
(04:49):
someone that writes that's not illegal, and we know that
the Memphis Police Department, specifically because it's happened in Memphis.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
They have a history of this. They want to intimidate people.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
They don't want people to help folks out, so they
like to intimidate people who are telling people their rights
or telling folks they don't have to do some certain
things because police operate in an authoritative way that makes
you think that whatever they're saying is true even when
it's not. And so I was recording them. I started
walking down the street and panning my phone to get
(05:20):
video of every single officer because I also want to
look these people up because I felt like they were
not operating in an ethical way and it just felt
very aggressive and excessive and scary. And one thing that
I talked a little bit about was like some of
my friends other people are, you know the.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Ways that we react to situations like this.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I know that a lot of people would not have helped,
they wouldn't have said anything, And I can't be that person,
Like that's just not me. When I see something happening
that's wrong, I'm gonna say something. And although it was
very scary, I still did it because I know that's
the right thing to do, and I would much rather
(06:07):
have said something and help that person out. Then I
said something and something escalate or they not know what
their rights are, or they you know, incriminate themselves in
some way because they just aren't sure. They don't know
what to say or do. And that's why I started
saying something. And so then I started going down the street,
like I said, and painting the camera. At this point
I called my friend because they were texting me after
(06:30):
I posted a video. Probably about five to ten minutes
have passed, so I'm still doing my run. I run
down the street after I get a paying video of them,
and I run back up and they were still out there,
and I started getting a zoomed in video of the
guy states who was yelling at me. And when I
started like getting a zoomed in video, I'm still sitting
on the sidewalk the whole time. But when I started
(06:51):
zooming in the camera and like turning it around, and
that's when the guy got really upset, like got really aggressive,
and you could see in the video actually he charges
at me and like throws me against a car. They
put me against the car all the other officers start
coming around, because the whole time I was feeling, I
was saying, I'm trying to get this guy's face, like
(07:12):
I'm trying to turn the camera around.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I'm trying to get his face.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
They put me up against a car, they pulled my
arm back and pin one of my other arms. It's
like at least three people on just me, and then
they're telling me to let go of my phone or
they're gonna break it, and they're gonna mace me in
the face, which I'm pretty sure also is not a
look goal. But I didn't know that someone holding on
to their phone warring you breaking their phone and macing
(07:38):
them in the face. But that's also, like I said before,
the history of police in general, but especially them if
it's police department. So then they took my phone and
put it in a bag or something, and they pulled
me up and like put me in front of a door.
And the guy who's face I will feel me he said,
you see my face now, you see me now? And
(08:00):
I knew in the moment when I was feeling that
the only reason why he was reacting like that was
out of ego. He was upset because he didn't want
to be seen and he saw me filming him and
he was getting upset and he arrested me. And when
he said that, I said, I sure do. I definitely do,
and they took me to jail. I was charged with
(08:22):
disorderly conduct and obstructing a highway, which I was not doing.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Like I said in the video.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
The guy was saying that I was making too much noise,
and I said, well, the noise ordinance is from six
am in the morning, meaning it ends at six am
in the morning. It's from ten pm to six am.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
It's ended. I can be as loud as I want.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
And his comments about saying if I make a scene
or if somebody complains, he's gonna arrest me, that's still
not legal. And police will use tactics like that to
try to scare you, but it's just not true, Like
I can't be arrested for making noise. That means you're
saying if children were outside playing, they could be arrested
because they're making noise. Like that's just not realistic And
(09:06):
what kind of what type of speech do we then
try to censor. If it's kids playing, that's okay, but
if it's people telling people their rights and that's not okay,
that's illegal. No, that's just not how that's not how
this is gonna work. So I they took me to jail.
The guy whose car I was in, they did not
immediately take me to jail when they put me in
(09:28):
the car. They put me in this car. They take
me to a precinct. I asked to speak to a supervisor.
They take me to this precinct. They're sitting there. They
had been sitting there for about two hours. At this point.
My friends know that I've been arrested because one some
of them drove up when I was being put in
the car, and so they're following them, and they took
(09:50):
a weird route and my friends lose them at some point,
and then they're still trying to like find me and
people are calling me, but I don't have my phone.
The guy has it on the front seat. So to
get that precinct. When the police officer whose car I
was in, his name is Officer Stephen Owens. He got
out of his car and he took his body camera
off and sat it on the back of his car.
(10:11):
Then he walked over to the group of people who
are with the task Force, and they were talking to
a lieutenant guy and they were watching their body care footge.
They're trying to figure out what they I know what
they're doing. They're trying to fare out what they can
charge me with, which is gonna be hard because you know,
I wasn't doing anything illegal, and usually when you're not
doing anything illegal, they'll charge you with this orderly conduct
that's like the most common thing. I feel like they
(10:32):
did the obstructing a highway or passageway thing just to
be petty because I was standing on a sidewalk. I wasn't,
you know, obstructing anything, and I feel like they just
did that to be petty. Eventually a supervisor does come
because I'm trying to talk to a supervisor to ask
them what I'm being charged with. The supervisor some old,
ugly black guy. I forgot his name, but he asked me,
(10:54):
was I injured? I need medical tension. I was like, no,
I'm not injured, and then he says okay, and he
starts to close the door. I was like, no, I
have a question question and he was like, well, they
can help you with that. He walks away. So one
that's I mean, he should have he shouldn't have walked away.
That was wrong too, But we all know that police
operate in a way where they feel like they are
aboffalow they can do whatever they want.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
So I still did not know what I was charged with.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I didn't know what I was charged until I actually
got to the police precinct. But I was sitting there
for about two hours. And so while I'm sitting there,
I am calling people on my phone using Siri. So
I did not have my phone physically on me, but
the phone was sitting in the front seat, and so
I used Siri to say, call this person on speakerphone,
(11:38):
and then it would call people on speakerphone for me,
so I could let them know where I was, what
was happening, letting my friends know where I was because
I wasn't able to physically touch the phone, but I
knew how to finagle basically.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So that's a tip that other people can use.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
If you ever get arrested and your phone's on the
front seat, that's an option for you. And so I
was calling people like, Hey, I'm trying to see what's
happening because they got me at this precinct. I'm telling
people like, you know, I don't know what I'm being
charged with. It's kind of like feeling the me in
on what's going on, trying to get them to let
me go. So the mayor, the different city council members,
(12:19):
they're contacting people, talking to them. They're not letting me
go though, And I think that this is a great
example of how none of these motherfuckers having in real
power when it comes to the police, because of multiple
city council members, the mayor, other folks are telling you
to let me go, and you don't. It's because you,
as police, feel like you can operate in that way
where there's no accountability, because no matter what you do wrong,
(12:42):
they'll still give you more money in the budget. They'll
still buy you new equipment. They'll still buy you more cars.
Even though you keep crashing them. Memphis specifically keeps crashing
police cars. They'll still keep buying them for you. There's
no actual measure of accountability happening. So eventually the guy
gets back in the car, taking me to the Jail East,
which is the jail here in Memphis.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
They take me to Jail East.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
At this point, I'm hungry and I wasn't really talking
to the guy that most like pretty much our entire time,
I'm just hungry, So I'm ready to get to whatever
place we're going to because I'm starving, and I know
they got food there, even though the food probably gonna
be nasty, but I know it's food there.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Because this was early in the morning. This was like
seven am, seven thirty in the morning.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I was outrunning, and by the time I've waited at
this precinct for two hours, it's like close to ten
thirty eleven.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
When we get to the actual jail.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Now, the guy who was driving me, Officer Stephen Owens,
he starts randomly talking, even though I'm not asking him anything.
He starts really talking about how, you know, he didn't
have an issue with what I was doing. You know,
he wished that people were, you know, befilming him when
he was younger and police were harassing him and stopping him.
He wished someone was there filming or like telling him
(13:52):
his rights. He didn't see no problem with it, you know,
It's just that I upset the other person, and you know,
when they're doing failing and weren't like that, you know,
it could be dangerous.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
We never know.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Da da da da Just saying random things that did
not make sense. But we're basically telling me that he
didn't have no problem with what I was doing. And
this particularly is why I say that it's not just
about one bad cop, it's about the entire system of policing.
Because if you and the other people that you were
with had no problem with me filming, but this one
(14:24):
person gets upset and so then y'all all arrest me,
that is a system problem. That is not a one
bad apple problem. And the guy who arrested me, I
figured out who he was like the next day. His
name is David Rowsey, and I see now why he
did not want me filming him after looking him up.
David Rowsey was accused of police brutality against someone. Him
(14:49):
and his partner took someone to a precinct and beat
the shit out of them, took him in a bathroom,
lifted his shirt up and beat him mercilessly with his
hands handcuffed behind his back, just beat the shadow. And
they lied. They said that they don't know what happened
to him. Then turn investigator of asking him questions. They're
lining they say they don't know what happened. You know,
(15:10):
they didn't do anything, and eventually, after continuously asking them
for more details, David Rowsy just admits it that he
lied that he beat him. He was mad because they
felt like they had got the suspect for something, and
he was mad that the guy was the suspect of
the person who either killed the officer or injured the
office or something something about another officer, and they took
(15:32):
that out on him even though this person who's not
been convicted of anything. You know, people get the rest
of all the time for shit they didn't do. Prime
example is me. But they beat this guy, and the
guy files a lawsuit, files to complain all this stuff,
and it comes back and he eventually admissed to it.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
And one of the main reasons.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Why he was getting away with it in the beginning
is that there was no video in the precinct they
were in.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
There was no video.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
It was just the guy's word against theirs unless they
admitted to it, which they eventually did.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
He doesn't get fired. He's still a police officer.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
He gets some kind of recrimmend, but he's still a
police officer up until you know till now since present day,
where he's yelling at me about arresting me. The fact
that he was not fired is one of the main
reasons why he's still acting the way that he is,
because when you are able to beat someone viciously and
(16:23):
then still maintain your job, then.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
You feel emboldened.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
You feel like you can do whatever you want, and
that the exact type of environment that we talk about
in the police department is the same environment that breeds
the people who kill Tyrie Nichols. It's the same environment
that created the people who arrested me, and it's the
same environment that currently exists within the MFIs Police Department
that the DJ put out a very scathing report on
(16:47):
and talk about their practices. So at this point, back
to my story, I'm in jail and I was there
for about eighteen hours. I got there at like ten thirty.
The pre trial person, So when you're in jail, there's
a pre trial person who will talk to you and
ask you about your life, your income, where you stay,
(17:10):
like your community tie, stuff like that to gauge your
bill amount. And the person who was there never talked
to me for eight hours. I was there for eight hours.
It wasn't until like twelve or something around eleven or twelve,
I finally get to speak with the person and then
they let me out of the little interview room. They
(17:33):
speak with meeting, let me out a little interview room.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I waited for another
hour in the mission.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
She comes back out and tells me that they're gonna
release my own recognizance, so which means just r R,
meaning I don't have to pay any bail amount. And
I didn't get released from there until about four point
thirty in the morning. Get released at four thirty in
the morning. I have an arraignment that same day. I
have a core day at nine am that same day.
My friends meet me outside the jail. Shout out to Alice, Anthony.
(18:01):
Anthony went to watch my dog because people who don't
know I have a dog. And Alex and LJ. We're
out there waiting for hours. Alex when he got my
got me some food, and LJ my homide was just
waiting on me to check on me, make sure I'm good,
which I appreciate it. I go back to my house,
(18:21):
me and my dog. I lay down for like two
hours and then I get up and go to court
for the arraignment. The people were like, oh, okay, we
want to see the body cam footage before they dismiss it.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
But they were like, we're going to dismiss it.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
So then I get there waiting on that and they
don't get the body cam footage like that same day,
of course I have to go to another court date.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Go to the other court date.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
They dismiss it, of course, because I wasn't doing anything illegal.
But this exact cycle is what police used to keep
this like idea of control over people, because all that
that they did to me was just meant to.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Induce trauma, and it is. I mean, it worked.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
For sure, It's not going to change the things that
I'm doing, but it definitely was literally just meant to
deter me from continuing to like stand up for people
and speak out and educate people.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
That's all it is. They knew that I wasn't really
convicted of nothing. They knew that nothing was going to happen.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
They just wanted to torture me and you know, play
psychological warfare games by me having to sit in a
jail for eighteen hours.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
That's all it was. So that's what happened.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
I think that this is actually a great example of
how our police department operates, and it's one of the
main reasons why people here talk about how cricket and
trifling they are, because they do things like arresting people
for speaking, which it's not illegal. And I just want
people to know that what I did is something I
(20:06):
will always do no matter what. I'll do it scared,
I'll do it afraid, but I'll do it every time
because it's the right thing to do. And more people
need to do that. When you see something. The bystander
effect is killing black people. When you see something happening,
do something, stop recording and just you know, being silent,
(20:29):
record and speak up, tell the person what to do,
tell the person their rights, like I did.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You have the right to do that.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
And there is a chance you might get arrested, but
I mean that risk is worth it. I think I
think the risk is worth it. So that's what happened.
To this day, I still have not received the body
cam footis that I requested for, both the body camera
of the guy who was yelling at me and the
body camera of the guy who arrested me, and the
(20:58):
dash cam video and the car It's been about a
month now, and I still haven't received that. My record,
of course, has been expunged. Stuff has been dismissed. It's
just sponge, you don't exist no more. And the min's
police department is still operating in the same way. So yeah,
(21:20):
we haven't seen much improvement there of course, And I
mean we really won't see any improvement unless the police
are bledged, which is what we all should be working towards.
So now y'all know the full story. Now y'all know
what happened, and yeah, it's been another episode of your
favorite podcast, The Law. According to Amber, It's always feel
(21:42):
free to follow me on Facebook and Instagram, same name
The Law. According to Amber, it was really important for me,
especially after seeing like different news stations and YouTube pages
and like all kinds of different like news people talking
about what actually happened, that you actually hear from me
(22:02):
the truth of what actually happened, which is that I
was targeted, I was mistreated. I was taken away from
my family and friends for two hours in which they
didn't even know where I was, and then in jail
for eighteen plus hours, and that was wrong.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
So thanks for listening.
Hey guys, and welcome to the Law according to Amber.
Every other Monday, we'll discuss controversial topics with the mixture
of opinion and legal facts. Thus the Law according to Amber.
Be sure to give me a follow on Facebook at
the law Coording to Amber, as well as Instagram, same
name The.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Law according to Amber. What's up, y'all?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Welcome back to another episode of the Law according to Amber.
And this episode, I'm going to get into something that
everyone's been sharing and commenting on, but I hadn't got
a chance to really go into detail about what actually happened.
So some folks might remember a video I posted on
Instagram when I was having an interaction with police.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thanks out, gon arrat me go open the gup.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Listen to them.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm not serving the piece the north or from in
the morning. It's passing. The North is not count it's.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
From okay, and I got you on camera, so I'll
make sure to let everybody know and that's fine. So
basically in the video, I was I'll start from the beginning.
So in the mornings, I like to go running. So
I was out for a run in the morning. I
had ran down the street and when I got to
(01:35):
the Indus Street. I saw all these police cars surrounding
someone's house. Not just regular police cars. There were three
undercover cars run in front of someone's house with energy
drink cans on top of their cars, and then one
regular police car on the side. And I immediately started
filming and also sending it to my friend because I
(01:55):
was concerned that it was an ice ray or just
them executing like a a warrant or something. But it
just felt very excessive. There were about seven cops in
front of the person's house, and I just felt like
that was a lot for whatever they were trying to do.
And I mean, we can see from history that police
(02:15):
usually respond in a very aggressive and excessive way. It's
just not necessary. So I started filming, and then I
started talking about the energy drinks that are on the car,
because I just think that you should not be executing
a warrant or doing arrest, whatever you're doing, you should
not be doing those duties while you're hopped up on
(02:36):
energy drinks. Because if we're being real, energy drinks increase
your heart rate, they give you a burst of adrenaline,
and police already have a history of abuse. They already
have a history of being excessive and committed brutality against folks.
And I can't imagine energy drinks making that less. I
would think that the energy drinks would actually make that
(02:57):
worse because you are in such a heightened state. So
I was talking about that in the video, and I
was letting the person know that they did not have
to open the door and let the cops in because
there was a police officer there and he was pushing
his way into their house. And when a police officer
is serving a warrant, they don't have to come in
and search your home.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
If you're serving a warrant, you arrest the person. That's it.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
And a lot of times police will say they need
to come inside as a way to search your house illegally,
and I've heard that story multiple times, and there's nothing
illegal about telling people their rights. And so I was
letting them know you don't have to let them come
inside your house. You don't have to open the door
for them. They're saying they have a warrant, they can
serve their warrant, the person can come out whatever, but
(03:40):
you don't have to let them into your house.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
And what people.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Didn't see in that video is that they were surrounding
the person's house. There are people knocking on like the
windows on the side of the house. And none of
these people were wearing regular uniforms. They were all in
these Fusure Task Force outfits. Very I'm back looking like,
just very aggressive for really no reason. And there were
(04:05):
a lot, I mean to me, more than three polices
a lot, so there were a lot of police officers.
Of all those police officers, the only one who started
saying come to me is the one that you hear yelling,
the black guy telling me that if I cause a scene,
he's gonna arrest me. At this point, I'm standing on
a sidewalk. I was standing on the sidewalk the whole time.
Nothing about what I'm doing is illegal, so I'm filming him.
(04:28):
And then right after I finished that video, I posted
immediately I tagged the mayor, the current mayor, I tag
the police chief, I tag everybody I can think of
in the moment, and it was like, say, Hey, this
is what's happening in real time right now, And I
don't understand why I'm being threatened to be arrested for
my First Amendment rights to speak because I can tell
(04:49):
someone that writes that's not illegal, and we know that
the Memphis Police Department, specifically because it's happened in Memphis.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
They have a history of this. They want to intimidate people.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
They don't want people to help folks out, so they
like to intimidate people who are telling people their rights
or telling folks they don't have to do some certain
things because police operate in an authoritative way that makes
you think that whatever they're saying is true even when
it's not. And so I was recording them. I started
walking down the street and panning my phone to get
(05:20):
video of every single officer because I also want to
look these people up because I felt like they were
not operating in an ethical way and it just felt
very aggressive and excessive and scary. And one thing that
I talked a little bit about was like some of
my friends other people are, you know the.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Ways that we react to situations like this.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I know that a lot of people would not have helped,
they wouldn't have said anything, And I can't be that person,
Like that's just not me. When I see something happening
that's wrong, I'm gonna say something. And although it was
very scary, I still did it because I know that's
the right thing to do, and I would much rather
(06:07):
have said something and help that person out. Then I
said something and something escalate or they not know what
their rights are, or they you know, incriminate themselves in
some way because they just aren't sure. They don't know
what to say or do. And that's why I started
saying something. And so then I started going down the street,
like I said, and painting the camera. At this point
I called my friend because they were texting me after
(06:30):
I posted a video. Probably about five to ten minutes
have passed, so I'm still doing my run. I run
down the street after I get a paying video of them,
and I run back up and they were still out there,
and I started getting a zoomed in video of the
guy states who was yelling at me. And when I
started like getting a zoomed in video, I'm still sitting
on the sidewalk the whole time. But when I started
(06:51):
zooming in the camera and like turning it around, and
that's when the guy got really upset, like got really aggressive,
and you could see in the video actually he charges
at me and like throws me against a car. They
put me against the car all the other officers start
coming around, because the whole time I was feeling, I
was saying, I'm trying to get this guy's face, like
(07:12):
I'm trying to turn the camera around.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I'm trying to get his face.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
They put me up against a car, they pulled my
arm back and pin one of my other arms. It's
like at least three people on just me, and then
they're telling me to let go of my phone or
they're gonna break it, and they're gonna mace me in
the face, which I'm pretty sure also is not a
look goal. But I didn't know that someone holding on
to their phone warring you breaking their phone and macing
(07:38):
them in the face. But that's also, like I said before,
the history of police in general, but especially them if
it's police department. So then they took my phone and
put it in a bag or something, and they pulled
me up and like put me in front of a door.
And the guy who's face I will feel me he said,
you see my face now, you see me now? And
(08:00):
I knew in the moment when I was feeling that
the only reason why he was reacting like that was
out of ego. He was upset because he didn't want
to be seen and he saw me filming him and
he was getting upset and he arrested me. And when
he said that, I said, I sure do. I definitely do,
and they took me to jail. I was charged with
(08:22):
disorderly conduct and obstructing a highway, which I was not doing.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Like I said in the video.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
The guy was saying that I was making too much noise,
and I said, well, the noise ordinance is from six
am in the morning, meaning it ends at six am
in the morning. It's from ten pm to six am.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
It's ended. I can be as loud as I want.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
And his comments about saying if I make a scene
or if somebody complains, he's gonna arrest me, that's still
not legal. And police will use tactics like that to
try to scare you, but it's just not true, Like
I can't be arrested for making noise. That means you're
saying if children were outside playing, they could be arrested
because they're making noise. Like that's just not realistic And
(09:06):
what kind of what type of speech do we then
try to censor. If it's kids playing, that's okay, but
if it's people telling people their rights and that's not okay,
that's illegal. No, that's just not how that's not how
this is gonna work. So I they took me to jail.
The guy whose car I was in, they did not
immediately take me to jail when they put me in
(09:28):
the car. They put me in this car. They take
me to a precinct. I asked to speak to a supervisor.
They take me to this precinct. They're sitting there. They
had been sitting there for about two hours. At this point.
My friends know that I've been arrested because one some
of them drove up when I was being put in
the car, and so they're following them, and they took
(09:50):
a weird route and my friends lose them at some point,
and then they're still trying to like find me and
people are calling me, but I don't have my phone.
The guy has it on the front seat. So to
get that precinct. When the police officer whose car I
was in, his name is Officer Stephen Owens. He got
out of his car and he took his body camera
off and sat it on the back of his car.
(10:11):
Then he walked over to the group of people who
are with the task Force, and they were talking to
a lieutenant guy and they were watching their body care footge.
They're trying to figure out what they I know what
they're doing. They're trying to fare out what they can
charge me with, which is gonna be hard because you know,
I wasn't doing anything illegal, and usually when you're not
doing anything illegal, they'll charge you with this orderly conduct
that's like the most common thing. I feel like they
(10:32):
did the obstructing a highway or passageway thing just to
be petty because I was standing on a sidewalk. I wasn't,
you know, obstructing anything, and I feel like they just
did that to be petty. Eventually a supervisor does come
because I'm trying to talk to a supervisor to ask
them what I'm being charged with. The supervisor some old,
ugly black guy. I forgot his name, but he asked me,
(10:54):
was I injured? I need medical tension. I was like, no,
I'm not injured, and then he says okay, and he
starts to close the door. I was like, no, I
have a question question and he was like, well, they
can help you with that. He walks away. So one
that's I mean, he should have he shouldn't have walked away.
That was wrong too, But we all know that police
operate in a way where they feel like they are
aboffalow they can do whatever they want.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
So I still did not know what I was charged with.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
I didn't know what I was charged until I actually
got to the police precinct. But I was sitting there
for about two hours. And so while I'm sitting there,
I am calling people on my phone using Siri. So
I did not have my phone physically on me, but
the phone was sitting in the front seat, and so
I used Siri to say, call this person on speakerphone,
(11:38):
and then it would call people on speakerphone for me,
so I could let them know where I was, what
was happening, letting my friends know where I was because
I wasn't able to physically touch the phone, but I
knew how to finagle basically.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So that's a tip that other people can use.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
If you ever get arrested and your phone's on the
front seat, that's an option for you. And so I
was calling people like, Hey, I'm trying to see what's
happening because they got me at this precinct. I'm telling
people like, you know, I don't know what I'm being
charged with. It's kind of like feeling the me in
on what's going on, trying to get them to let
me go. So the mayor, the different city council members,
(12:19):
they're contacting people, talking to them. They're not letting me
go though, And I think that this is a great
example of how none of these motherfuckers having in real
power when it comes to the police, because of multiple
city council members, the mayor, other folks are telling you
to let me go, and you don't. It's because you,
as police, feel like you can operate in that way
where there's no accountability, because no matter what you do wrong,
(12:42):
they'll still give you more money in the budget. They'll
still buy you new equipment. They'll still buy you more cars.
Even though you keep crashing them. Memphis specifically keeps crashing
police cars. They'll still keep buying them for you. There's
no actual measure of accountability happening. So eventually the guy
gets back in the car, taking me to the Jail East,
which is the jail here in Memphis.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
They take me to Jail East.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
At this point, I'm hungry and I wasn't really talking
to the guy that most like pretty much our entire time,
I'm just hungry, So I'm ready to get to whatever
place we're going to because I'm starving, and I know
they got food there, even though the food probably gonna
be nasty, but I know it's food there.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Because this was early in the morning. This was like
seven am, seven thirty in the morning.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I was outrunning, and by the time I've waited at
this precinct for two hours, it's like close to ten
thirty eleven.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
When we get to the actual jail.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Now, the guy who was driving me, Officer Stephen Owens,
he starts randomly talking, even though I'm not asking him anything.
He starts really talking about how, you know, he didn't
have an issue with what I was doing. You know,
he wished that people were, you know, befilming him when
he was younger and police were harassing him and stopping him.
He wished someone was there filming or like telling him
(13:52):
his rights. He didn't see no problem with it, you know,
It's just that I upset the other person, and you know,
when they're doing failing and weren't like that, you know,
it could be dangerous.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
We never know.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Da da da da Just saying random things that did
not make sense. But we're basically telling me that he
didn't have no problem with what I was doing. And
this particularly is why I say that it's not just
about one bad cop, it's about the entire system of policing.
Because if you and the other people that you were
with had no problem with me filming, but this one
(14:24):
person gets upset and so then y'all all arrest me,
that is a system problem. That is not a one
bad apple problem. And the guy who arrested me, I
figured out who he was like the next day. His
name is David Rowsey, and I see now why he
did not want me filming him after looking him up.
David Rowsey was accused of police brutality against someone. Him
(14:49):
and his partner took someone to a precinct and beat
the shit out of them, took him in a bathroom,
lifted his shirt up and beat him mercilessly with his
hands handcuffed behind his back, just beat the shadow. And
they lied. They said that they don't know what happened
to him. Then turn investigator of asking him questions. They're
lining they say they don't know what happened. You know,
(15:10):
they didn't do anything, and eventually, after continuously asking them
for more details, David Rowsy just admits it that he
lied that he beat him. He was mad because they
felt like they had got the suspect for something, and
he was mad that the guy was the suspect of
the person who either killed the officer or injured the
office or something something about another officer, and they took
(15:32):
that out on him even though this person who's not
been convicted of anything. You know, people get the rest
of all the time for shit they didn't do. Prime
example is me. But they beat this guy, and the
guy files a lawsuit, files to complain all this stuff,
and it comes back and he eventually admissed to it.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
And one of the main reasons.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Why he was getting away with it in the beginning
is that there was no video in the precinct they
were in.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
There was no video.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
It was just the guy's word against theirs unless they
admitted to it, which they eventually did.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
He doesn't get fired. He's still a police officer.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
He gets some kind of recrimmend, but he's still a
police officer up until you know till now since present day,
where he's yelling at me about arresting me. The fact
that he was not fired is one of the main
reasons why he's still acting the way that he is,
because when you are able to beat someone viciously and
(16:23):
then still maintain your job, then.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
You feel emboldened.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
You feel like you can do whatever you want, and
that the exact type of environment that we talk about
in the police department is the same environment that breeds
the people who kill Tyrie Nichols. It's the same environment
that created the people who arrested me, and it's the
same environment that currently exists within the MFIs Police Department
that the DJ put out a very scathing report on
(16:47):
and talk about their practices. So at this point, back
to my story, I'm in jail and I was there
for about eighteen hours. I got there at like ten thirty.
The pre trial person, So when you're in jail, there's
a pre trial person who will talk to you and
ask you about your life, your income, where you stay,
(17:10):
like your community tie, stuff like that to gauge your
bill amount. And the person who was there never talked
to me for eight hours. I was there for eight hours.
It wasn't until like twelve or something around eleven or twelve,
I finally get to speak with the person and then
they let me out of the little interview room. They
(17:33):
speak with meeting, let me out a little interview room.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I waited for another
hour in the mission.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
She comes back out and tells me that they're gonna
release my own recognizance, so which means just r R,
meaning I don't have to pay any bail amount. And
I didn't get released from there until about four point
thirty in the morning. Get released at four thirty in
the morning. I have an arraignment that same day. I
have a core day at nine am that same day.
My friends meet me outside the jail. Shout out to Alice, Anthony.
(18:01):
Anthony went to watch my dog because people who don't
know I have a dog. And Alex and LJ. We're
out there waiting for hours. Alex when he got my
got me some food, and LJ my homide was just
waiting on me to check on me, make sure I'm good,
which I appreciate it. I go back to my house,
(18:21):
me and my dog. I lay down for like two
hours and then I get up and go to court
for the arraignment. The people were like, oh, okay, we
want to see the body cam footage before they dismiss it.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
But they were like, we're going to dismiss it.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
So then I get there waiting on that and they
don't get the body cam footage like that same day,
of course I have to go to another court date.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Go to the other court date.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
They dismiss it, of course, because I wasn't doing anything illegal.
But this exact cycle is what police used to keep
this like idea of control over people, because all that
that they did to me was just meant to.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Induce trauma, and it is. I mean, it worked.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
For sure, It's not going to change the things that
I'm doing, but it definitely was literally just meant to
deter me from continuing to like stand up for people
and speak out and educate people.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
That's all it is. They knew that I wasn't really
convicted of nothing. They knew that nothing was going to happen.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
They just wanted to torture me and you know, play
psychological warfare games by me having to sit in a
jail for eighteen hours.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
That's all it was. So that's what happened.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
I think that this is actually a great example of
how our police department operates, and it's one of the
main reasons why people here talk about how cricket and
trifling they are, because they do things like arresting people
for speaking, which it's not illegal. And I just want
people to know that what I did is something I
(20:06):
will always do no matter what. I'll do it scared,
I'll do it afraid, but I'll do it every time
because it's the right thing to do. And more people
need to do that. When you see something. The bystander
effect is killing black people. When you see something happening,
do something, stop recording and just you know, being silent,
(20:29):
record and speak up, tell the person what to do,
tell the person their rights, like I did.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You have the right to do that.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
And there is a chance you might get arrested, but
I mean that risk is worth it. I think I
think the risk is worth it. So that's what happened.
To this day, I still have not received the body
cam footis that I requested for, both the body camera
of the guy who was yelling at me and the
body camera of the guy who arrested me, and the
(20:58):
dash cam video and the car It's been about a
month now, and I still haven't received that. My record,
of course, has been expunged. Stuff has been dismissed. It's
just sponge, you don't exist no more. And the min's
police department is still operating in the same way. So yeah,
(21:20):
we haven't seen much improvement there of course, And I
mean we really won't see any improvement unless the police
are bledged, which is what we all should be working towards.
So now y'all know the full story. Now y'all know
what happened, and yeah, it's been another episode of your
favorite podcast, The Law. According to Amber, It's always feel
(21:42):
free to follow me on Facebook and Instagram, same name
The Law. According to Amber, it was really important for me,
especially after seeing like different news stations and YouTube pages
and like all kinds of different like news people talking
about what actually happened, that you actually hear from me
(22:02):
the truth of what actually happened, which is that I
was targeted, I was mistreated. I was taken away from
my family and friends for two hours in which they
didn't even know where I was, and then in jail
for eighteen plus hours, and that was wrong.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
So thanks for listening.
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