- September 18, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
When Jeff Gray, driving south on Interstate 95 on Aug. 8, flipped off a Flagler County Sheriff's Office deputy who then pulled him over and gave him two traffic tickets, the obscene gesture wasn’t without reason, he said.
“There's established case law on it,” Gray said. “We have the right to tell the cops to go F themselves.”
Gray, who calls himself a civil rights investigator and First Amendment auditor, said the citations issued by FCSO Master Deputy Kyle Gaddie were retaliatory. Gray said he normally conducts himself in a peaceful and polite manner, but he’s been recording interactions with law enforcement since 2011 and uploading them to his YouTube channel, HonorYourOath Civil Rights Investigations.
The proper place to dispute a traffic charge is not on social media, where he gets paid to have his videos out there, but in the court system.”
— RICK STALY, Flagler County sheriff
He's one of a number of citizens engaging in a practice sometimes known as "cop-watching" or "First Amendment auditing": Video-recording interactions with law enforcement officers, sometimes after saying or doing something provocative that might tempt the officer to overreact. Gray was mentioned in a recent Washington Post story about the practice (the Post called Gray "one of the least confrontational auditors").
Gray's videos are intended to educate people, he said. A recent uptick of videos of officers pulling people over for flipping the bird made Gray curious to see what would happen if he did it.
“I decided to do what I call a civil rights investigation,” Gray said.
It was nothing personal against [Gaddie]. It was an investigation … to see if he would respect my civil right to flip him off. And, in my opinion, he did not do that.”
— JEFF GRAY
Gray said FCSO Master Deputy Kyle Gaddie immediately pulled him over after Gray flipped him the middle finger. Gaddie gave Gray two traffic citations: one for following too closely and one for impeding traffic in the left lane.
“It was nothing personal against [Gaddie],” Gray said. “It was an investigation … to see if he would respect my civil right to flip him off. And, in my opinion, he did not do that.”
In Gaddie’s body camera footage, which Gray posted to his YouTube channel, Gray asks the deputy if he was pulled over for his hand gesture. Gaddie says, “No, I don’t care about that.”
But at the end of the footage, after handing Gray the citations, Gaddie said, “If it gets your rocks off trying to get people all riled up, that’s fine. However you want to spend your day, dude.”
Gray said he has discussed the incident with his attorney. He will contest the citations, he said, and he and his lawyer will also look into adding Gaddie to a national law enforcement misconduct and complaints list, called the Brady List.
“What we're hoping to do is show that he intentionally lied,” Gray said. “He knowingly lied about the citations that he gave me. Those are sworn statements. And we want to go to court and we want the judge to know that he lied.”
Sheriff Rick Staly told the Observer Gray is welcome to file a complaint against Gaddie, at which point the FCSO would investigate.
“The proper place to dispute a traffic charge is not on social media, where he gets paid to have his videos out there, but in the court system,” Staly said.
Fits of rudeness or lack of gratitude may violate the Golden Rule. But that doesn’t make them illegal or, for that matter, punishable.” — JEFFREY SUTTON, U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals judge
United States courts have long ruled that free speech is not just limited to words: Actions can also be protected speech, including flipping officers the middle finger. In 2019, a Michigan appeals court sided in favor of a woman who flipped off a Taylor, Michigan police officer.
“Fits of rudeness or lack of gratitude may violate the Golden Rule. But that doesn’t make them illegal or, for that matter, punishable,” U.S. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote in his opinion on the case.
Gray also said Gaddie tried to tell him the Fifth Amendment — which includes the right to not incriminate yourself — only applies in the court of law.
During the stop, Gaddie noted that Gray's insurance information had the date crossed out. Gaddie asked him about it, then about his tint level. When Gray declined to answer, Gaddie brought out a tint-reader and asked him to lower his rear passenger window so Gaddie could check the tint.
Gray refused to lower the window, citing the Fifth Amendment. Gaddie can be heard in the footage telling Gray that the amendment only applies in a court of law.
“I think that's a troubling thing for law enforcement officers to say,” Gray said.
In an email, Staly said the driver had every right not to roll his window down, as Gray contends. It’s similar to a suspected DUI situation, Staly wrote, in which drivers may have only committed a traffic infraction and refuse to take a field sobriety test.
Staly told the Observer he has watched the footage himself. He said Gaddie is an aggressive deputy “for criminals and traffic violators.”
“Gaddie was doing his job in there,” Staly said. “If this driver has a different opinion than Deputy Gaddie’s, then that’s exactly what the court system is for.”
