In 2014, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) posted an article on the growing epidemic of criminal records among Americans; this preceding the sudden outbreak of violence and widespread looting amid the riots and misguided protests following the 2020 death of George Floyd while under arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota; this preceding the extremes of sanctuary cities, politically-motivated race riots, lax attitudes toward crime, the growing indifference toward the most basic standards for ethics, morality and community, degeneracy specifically brought about or tolerated by government agencies themselves which are charged with serving the public, or which assert that case, but which so regularly fail in their stated duties, albeit often by design.
My Testimony
My First and Fourth Amendment rights, among others, including Title 18 U.S. Code Chapter 13, Section 241, were violated on the afternoon of July 28th, 2014. I was arrested after honking my horn near a police scene — an attempt to warn approaching vehicles and incoming traffic of my presence, deemed necessary due to the precarious positioning of the police cars obscuring the view around the bend of the road. Upon suddenly noticing flashing lights behind me in my rearview mirror, I immediately pulled into a parking spot in The Village apartment complex, where I currently reside. When Novi Police Officer Sergeant Warren arrived at my window, I asked for his reason for pulling me over. He acknowledged me and demanded that I wait while he presumably documented and reported my license plate number. The officer, whom I then and again later identified as Sergeant Warren (badge number: 219), then approached my window, which was entirely rolled down so as to permit an easy and free exchange of words and documentation. After asking the officer to explain the purpose of the stop, I immediately presented my license but hesitated to hand it over to the officer, who shortly thereafter summoned backup before proceeding to demand that I relinquish possession of my license, registration, and proof of insurance.
I identified myself as the owner and operator of the vehicle and notified the officer that I would provide him with registration and proof of insurance, but that I only first ask that he detail the reason for the stop along with the reasonable suspicion upon which the stop was based. I asked him to describe the crime that I had committed, or the crime that I had been suspected of committing. Upon the arrival of two other officers at the scene, I begged each of the officers to explain the reason for the stop. Apparently, all of the officers on scene had only one intention: to force my compliance with their arbitrary demands, inspired presumably by frustration with a citizen exercising his rights or by their loose interpretation of some equivocal and equally unreasonable set of laws which any man could, without any evidence and at any time, be suspected of committing, whether it be 'disorderly conduct', 'resisting arrest', or, apparently, angering an officer by honking a car horn.
In short, as was the dialogue between the four of us, the officers displayed no intention of allowing me to speak or to understand the cause of my detention and eventual arrest. The three officers, at the behest of Sergeant Warren, began to impatiently and forcibly remove me from my vehicle. Unfortunately, my window had been rolled down, which — conveniently for them — permitted easy access to my driver-side door lock. Sergeant Warren then unlocked my car door, violently flung the door open, then grabbed me by my arms to drag me from my car — during which time I had remained buckled into my seat.
After I had finally released the buckle, the three officers grabbed and threw me to the ground, aggressively pinning my legs and smashing my head to the ground. I repeatedly expressed that I was not resisting and that I would comply. All attempts were in vain, however, for the officers were obviously hellbent on exercising their brute force over me, which, as it turns out, they knew all along would go unchecked by any measure of accountability or any semblance of justice in front of a judge already infamous for corruption.
Returning to the aforementioned article, in 2014 the WSJ reported that nearly one out of every three American adults has a criminal record, roughly equaling the number of Americans who have a college degree; a statistic corroborated in 2014, and still supported in 2025, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), whose records show more than seventy million individuals on file within the organization's master criminal database. One can’t help but wonder: Is this an indication of a society which has simply become more violent and criminal over the long term, or it is also (or even more so) the consequence of a society restricted by ever more red tape, a society overburdened by onerous and overreaching laws, ordinances, and regulations?
In a country whose growing numbers depend upon government (i.e. taxpayers and foreign creditors) for their salaries, subsidies, and entitlements, the relationship between man and state has essentially been compromised, with hardly a man ready or willing to challenge the hand which ostensibly feeds him, which thereby so charitably permits his survival, which establishment has managed to permit him to keep whatever he possesses in the way of property or peace of mind. This is indeed the means by which a cruel relationship between abuser and dependent is facilitated, encouraged and maintained; the abuse defending the system which promises the plenty, with the promises, being popular enough and politically unimpeachable, in turn appearing to justify the abuse. It is through this circular phenomenon, this wretched system which mechanically dehumanizes and distances the people from their governments and each other, that the people’s acquiescence is virtually guaranteed, and ultimately it is in this way, among others, that the people are quite literally bought and paid for in their submission to the state, in their tolerance for being treated as criminals, and in their political assault upon the rights and property of their fellow man. For this reason alone, ignoring the fear, ignorance, indifference and avarice of an increasingly-unprincipled society of incompetents and malcontents, many are apparently more than willing to surrender progressively more of their freedom, or that which remains of it, for the promise of free stuff; a certain culture within (and a growing segment of) society strictly incompatible with a state of liberty and, put another way, other cultures within that society that place a value on character and respect, morals and ethics, initiative and personal responsibility; this known incompatibility perhaps forming one basis for the political initiative promoting open borders specifically and multiculturalism more generally, thereby forming the basis for further enforcement and regulation where the people had previously preserved their civility through the congenial character of their communities.
In any event, the thirty-three percent (or so) of Americans who are catalogued as 'criminals' are 'criminals' in a country not lacking the initiative to bequeath this distinction upon even more of its citizens. Indeed, members of the state are constantly concocting new schemes and initiatives: in fact, the page count of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) alone has increased from 71,224 to over 200,000 during the fifty years between 1975 and 2025. Along with the perverse and pervasive proliferation of laws across the United States, their enforcement has become progressively more aggressive and egregious (where they elect to enforce them); and the incidence of police brutality, along with the subversion of Constitutional rights which comes with it, has become more obvious, more frequent, and greater in severity. What's more, as previously explained, this threat to the Constitutional (and inherent) rights of Americans is becoming ever more serious over time.
In any event, the thirty-three percent (or so) of Americans who are catalogued as 'criminals' are 'criminals' in a country not lacking the initiative to bequeath this distinction upon even more of its citizens. Indeed, members of the state are constantly concocting new schemes and initiatives: in fact, the page count of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) alone has increased from 71,224 to over 200,000 during the fifty years between 1975 and 2025. Along with the perverse and pervasive proliferation of laws across the United States, their enforcement has become progressively more aggressive and egregious (where they elect to enforce them); and the incidence of police brutality, along with the subversion of Constitutional rights which comes with it, has become more obvious, more frequent, and greater in severity. What's more, as previously explained, this threat to the Constitutional (and inherent) rights of Americans is becoming ever more serious over time. Many activists, journalists, social media pages, and online applications and articles, such as those found through The Free Thought Project, populate the web virtually every day with accounts of government misconduct. Other websites, such as Reason.com, regularly document these violent incidents. As we have observed in such cases as the 1992 siege on the Weaver family home in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, the 1993 siege on the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and the 2016 killing of Tony Timpa, the police state has laid siege upon the people systematically and often indifferently, without much in the way of second thoughts.
In the case of Tony Timpa, he was an unarmed man who called 9-1-1 for assistance during a mental breakdown, informing the dispatcher that he had schizophrenia and depression but had not taken his prescription medication; to repeat, it was he who had called 9-1-1 for assistance yet was instead issued a death sentence in effect, that taking the form of homicide from “the stress of being restrained” by police officers in Dallas, Texas, after Timpa (who had already been restrained by a security officer by the time police had arrived on scene) had lost consciousness, after repeatedly crying out, "You're gonna kill me!", and after the police on scene restrained Timpa, holding him prone on grass for nearly fourteen minutes with his legs zip-tied and one officer pressing his knee into Timpa's back.
Readers may also consider such events as those from 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, where we witnessed the power of a heavily-militarized police force which possesses the capacity to effectively shield government from the people, immunizing government from the accountability to which it is otherwise susceptible where the public retains the means to carry it out, the means to practically petition for a redress of grievances or to practically gauge the 'consent of the governed' which is said to form the basis of 'just government'. Or consider the baseless enforcement of various policies pertaining to masking, 'social distancing', and mRNA 'vaccinations' during the lockdowns suffered by the people for such sinful desires as seeking to freely travel or go shopping, to keep their conditions of employment, to continue operating their businesses, to celebrate occasions with friends and family, to witness the birth of a newborn or to accompany a loved one who is dying or in ill-health, or to simply remain somewhat human during the COVID-19 pandemic. None too surprising, the state was not only hidden behind their desks, on leave or 'working from home', but concealed conveniently behind their masks and served just as conveniently by their conscience and their peace of mind (in the form of job security) as by their claims on 'the science' and 'the law', the latter having little basis in the former.
Ultimately, the essential safeguards of freedom are maintained through the capacity of the individual to secure his freedom for himself, to be secure, by natural right, in his person, property, and effects. Where government boasts of its 'generosity' in its allowance of any 'peaceful protest', it is an admission of its instinct to thwart it. As evidenced by the intimidating presence and 'qualified immunity' of police officers across modern America, a government too insulated from the people will invariably own them.
These are not rare events in America. Indeed, they are even expected in any other country of the world which more readily acknowledges its police state. Americans are rather unique in the way that their traditions of bygone eras keep them in denial; the noble ideas and traditions of an America free and independent, the land of the free and the home of the brave, a land of free and rugged pioneers standing tall on the prairie, the spirit of '76 and that of the American who still fancies himself part of that lost tradition and that largely-forgotten cause. What's more, it is not an epidemic unique to any particular race or ethnicity, not an abuse of power selectively sparing others among the public; it is a case of equal opportunity abuse stemming from a rampant culture problem across (federal, state, and local) police departments in America, not at all separate from the training, hiring practices, general attitudes, and known mental illnesses so common within departments — a problem exacerbated by mobbing, complacency, and negative experiences, ultimately fostering a deep-seated resentment for the public they are charged to "protect and serve".
Hereafter, I offer an account of one of my own personal encounters with law enforcement. The following testimony offers insight into the events of my 2014 arrest. As will be shown, the officers involved in the events violated not only the indispensable principle of self-ownership but the supreme law of the land: the Constitution of the United States. In this testimony, I spare no detail to expose the absurdity of the business of government, which is to squash its benefactors under the thumb of 'official business', to forcibly expand upon the people's obligations to, and yet their overall dependence upon, the system which asserts its authority over them. The people predictably yield where they have been so thoroughly groomed to adhere to the norms, to respect 'authority' as a means to survival, 'success', and acceptance, to view the establishment as having its place and worthy of the people's embrace; yielding as they accept the stated intentions or 'justifications' of those who abuse their 'authority', where the people either acquiesce or, through their shortsightedness of judgment, their ignorance of the philosophical, the economic, and the political, come to accept that which is seen at the expense of that which is unseen. In the end, the result is a sacrifice of some measure of freedom for some measure (or promise) of security, but all that this consistently manages to accomplish is to replace the threats against liberty, real or imaginary, with the constant threats of intransigent institutions defended by well-armed men and women adorned with badges and the benefit of conscience.
My Testimony
My First and Fourth Amendment rights, among others, including Title 18 U.S. Code Chapter 13, Section 241, were violated on the afternoon of July 28th, 2014. I was arrested after honking my horn near a police scene — an attempt to warn approaching vehicles and incoming traffic of my presence, deemed necessary due to the precarious positioning of the police cars obscuring the view around the bend of the road. Upon suddenly noticing flashing lights behind me in my rearview mirror, I immediately pulled into a parking spot in The Village apartment complex, where I currently reside. When Novi Police Officer Sergeant Warren arrived at my window, I asked for his reason for pulling me over. He acknowledged me and demanded that I wait while he presumably documented and reported my license plate number. The officer, whom I then and again later identified as Sergeant Warren (badge number: 219), then approached my window, which was entirely rolled down so as to permit an easy and free exchange of words and documentation. After asking the officer to explain the purpose of the stop, I immediately presented my license but hesitated to hand it over to the officer, who shortly thereafter summoned backup before proceeding to demand that I relinquish possession of my license, registration, and proof of insurance.
I identified myself as the owner and operator of the vehicle and notified the officer that I would provide him with registration and proof of insurance, but that I only first ask that he detail the reason for the stop along with the reasonable suspicion upon which the stop was based. I asked him to describe the crime that I had committed, or the crime that I had been suspected of committing. Upon the arrival of two other officers at the scene, I begged each of the officers to explain the reason for the stop. Apparently, all of the officers on scene had only one intention: to force my compliance with their arbitrary demands, inspired presumably by frustration with a citizen exercising his rights or by their loose interpretation of some equivocal and equally unreasonable set of laws which any man could, without any evidence and at any time, be suspected of committing, whether it be 'disorderly conduct', 'resisting arrest', or, apparently, angering an officer by honking a car horn.
In short, as was the dialogue between the four of us, the officers displayed no intention of allowing me to speak or to understand the cause of my detention and eventual arrest. The three officers, at the behest of Sergeant Warren, began to impatiently and forcibly remove me from my vehicle. Unfortunately, my window had been rolled down, which — conveniently for them — permitted easy access to my driver-side door lock. Sergeant Warren then unlocked my car door, violently flung the door open, then grabbed me by my arms to drag me from my car — during which time I had remained buckled into my seat.
After I had finally released the buckle, the three officers grabbed and threw me to the ground, aggressively pinning my legs and smashing my head to the ground. I repeatedly expressed that I was not resisting and that I would comply. All attempts were in vain, however, for the officers were obviously hellbent on exercising their brute force over me, which, as it turns out, they knew all along would go unchecked by any measure of accountability or any semblance of justice in front of a judge already infamous for corruption.
While dragging me from my car and hurling me to the ground, the officers commanded me to stop resisting, all while I had acted much like a noodle, attempting no resistance at all. The officers threatened to use their tasers while continuing to throw me around and abuse my limbs. I had on countless occasions begged them to ease their force and to permit my compliance. No such leniency was granted. I wanted nothing more than to end this torture to return to my residence to unload my groceries and relax after a day of work. After the officers attached their cuffs to my wrists, the officers rushed me to a patrol car and forced me into the backseat, manhandling me the entire way.
From there, I watched the officers enter my vehicle to proceed with a 'search', which really amounted to them making a mess of everything in my center console, my glove compartment, and the groceries in my backseat. I had nothing to hide in my car (not that it should matter), but I was quite disturbed by this process and their mistreatment of me and my personal property, and I was particularly disturbed for I had never consented to a search, and I was still unclear as to the charges leveled against me.
From there, I watched the officers enter my vehicle to proceed with a 'search', which really amounted to them making a mess of everything in my center console, my glove compartment, and the groceries in my backseat. I had nothing to hide in my car (not that it should matter), but I was quite disturbed by this process and their mistreatment of me and my personal property, and I was particularly disturbed for I had never consented to a search, and I was still unclear as to the charges leveled against me.
During the search, one of the officers approached me to insist that I comply in order to make things easier, with an attitude indicating frustration with (possibly) a hint of guilt and sympathy for my poor treatment — yet this was a bit unusual, as I believed that I had already made abundantly clear my readiness to comply. After minutes of a hasty yet thorough their search, the officers departed from my vehicle, leaving the interior in complete disarray. At this time Sergeant Warren returned to his squad car to escort me to the station for booking and fingerprints. At the station, I continued to comply with Sergeant Warren and the two cadets on duty: Cadet Mitchell and his senior cadet in command.
The two cadets processed my booking information along with my fingerprints, following a thorough pat-down by Sergeant Warren. Following the booking procedure, I posted bond in the amount of $100 cash, whereafter I was escorted to a lobby in the building to pay a $20 cash fee for my vehicle release. Cadet Mitchell executed this transaction under the supervision of his fellow senior-ranking cadet. Shortly thereafter, I set out by foot to find Hadley's Towing, where my car had been impounded — this despite the fact that I had pled with the officers to leave my car where it was parked, in my parking spot in front of my apartment. Despite this, the officers insisted, over my reluctance, that my vehicle be towed. Upon arriving at Hadley's Towing, I was charged an additional $85 in cash for the release of my vehicle from the lot. In the end, I had incurred $205 of fees and a loss of more than 3 hours of my life, not an insignificant sum.
That moment was one in which I take no pride and which I entirely regret. I know that each of us involved in the events outlined herein can learn a number of lessons from this incident, and I truly hope that this opportunity is seized. I take full responsibility for my actions, and I have certainly learned a great deal from this incident. Let it be known, however, that I had on that day no intentions of disobeying orders. I had no intentions of creating a scene or causing a disturbance. I only wished to be secure in my property and my personal effects, and to defend my personal rights as a free and independent human being, and as an American.
As a result of the arrest, the lengthy booking process, posting bond, paying to have the police department release my vehicle from the impound lot, paying the towing company and the later court costs, I had been fined more than $1,200 in fees, I had sustained significant bodily injury, I had been convicted of a misdemeanor, and I had lost over six hours of my life as a free and independent man; the latter of those losses being the most unforgivable aspect of the whole incident.
The two cadets processed my booking information along with my fingerprints, following a thorough pat-down by Sergeant Warren. Following the booking procedure, I posted bond in the amount of $100 cash, whereafter I was escorted to a lobby in the building to pay a $20 cash fee for my vehicle release. Cadet Mitchell executed this transaction under the supervision of his fellow senior-ranking cadet. Shortly thereafter, I set out by foot to find Hadley's Towing, where my car had been impounded — this despite the fact that I had pled with the officers to leave my car where it was parked, in my parking spot in front of my apartment. Despite this, the officers insisted, over my reluctance, that my vehicle be towed. Upon arriving at Hadley's Towing, I was charged an additional $85 in cash for the release of my vehicle from the lot. In the end, I had incurred $205 of fees and a loss of more than 3 hours of my life, not an insignificant sum.
That moment was one in which I take no pride and which I entirely regret. I know that each of us involved in the events outlined herein can learn a number of lessons from this incident, and I truly hope that this opportunity is seized. I take full responsibility for my actions, and I have certainly learned a great deal from this incident. Let it be known, however, that I had on that day no intentions of disobeying orders. I had no intentions of creating a scene or causing a disturbance. I only wished to be secure in my property and my personal effects, and to defend my personal rights as a free and independent human being, and as an American.
As a result of the arrest, the lengthy booking process, posting bond, paying to have the police department release my vehicle from the impound lot, paying the towing company and the later court costs, I had been fined more than $1,200 in fees, I had sustained significant bodily injury, I had been convicted of a misdemeanor, and I had lost over six hours of my life as a free and independent man; the latter of those losses being the most unforgivable aspect of the whole incident.
With this written account, I submit my plea for justice, not only in my case but to prevent further abuses of power. While I would like to request compensation at least for my financial losses, I more urgently plead for justice in the form of accountability, in the form of a message sent to officers here and elsewhere that this kind of treatment is unacceptable and cannot, and will not, be tolerated in a society which proudly places a value on such concepts as liberty and justice; that this type of behavior will never be tolerated and that my children, all of our children, will never suffer the indignities of a society tolerant of abuse.
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