Know Your Rights Training: Police Confrontation Advice That Could Save Your Life

Oborski-ing = The act of an officer abusing a female. That officer is Obosrki-ing that lady!

Adan Salazar
Infowars.com
July 3, 2012

If you were going to hold an anti-police corruption rally, you’d probably pick a different meeting place than the steps of police headquarters. But Peaceful Streets is pissed and it’s putting it right in APD’s face.

The Peaceful Streets Project, a group headed by an Austin, TX man who alleges assault by police and falsification of charges, held a Know Your Rights Training Session where the primary topic was how to react when confronted by bully cops. Several speakers gave explicit instructions in police obedience and tips that focused on keeping you alive and out of jail.

The group was born when Antonio Buehler (pronounced bee-ler) was arrested after snapping photos of two Austin police officers abusing a young woman. In photos Buehler took, police can be seen holding a handcuffed woman’s hands tortuously high behind her back while trying to pick her up off the floor.

When Buehler began asking questions one of the officers approached him and asked “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He proceeded to slam Buehler up against the closed trunk of a truck. Buehler stood in a non-threatening position while the officer got in his face and pushed him. Next Buehler claims Officer Patrick Oborski laughed and claimed Buehler spit on him, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison. Buehler was jailed for 16 hours. Fortunately, someone across the street filmed the whole thing (and we never see Oborski wipe the spit, as he claims he did in his police report).

Buehler, who is a teacher in Austin, attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, has a BS in Systems Engineering, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and is an Iraqi war veteran with a non-violent history, is hellbent on holding police accountable for their actions.

The Peaceful Streets Project is encouraging everyone to film their interactions with police. On July 14, they’re holding an all day summit where they plan to hand out video cameras to citizens that want to record abusive police behavior.

Tips on Getting You Home to Spend the Night in your Bed Instead of a Jail Cell
At first it seemed like the training would be hindered by the lack of electricity; it was to be derived from an outlet right outside the lion’s den, APD HQ. But by the time Buehler took the stage (more like the sidewalk) someone, with or without permission, had procured a power source. The training proceeded to relay practical advice on how to prevent police situations from leading to your imprisonment or even death.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Beuhler’s advice seemed common sensical at first, but it addressed mistakes being made everyday, such as “never stop anywhere dark or secluded.” He explains to instead turn your hazard lights on, drive slowly, and get in your right lane until you can pull into a well-lit public area. “You want to move there as quickly as possible without giving the impression that you’re trying to evade because the thing about a lighted area is there might be cameras and there might be witnesses and it’s a lot harder for them to get away with stuff.”

Buehler recommends always exhibiting a respectful manner and tone with police, applying pleasantries such as sir, ma’am, or officer (even if you don’t mean them), and of course never try to run away: “If you run away, they’ll shoot you in the back.”

When one attendee expressed that he may be able to outrun the police, Buehler told him, “I would not try to get away because chances are they’re gonna catch you and when they catch you it’s going to turn really bad…You can’t outrun radios and bullets, that’s the bottom line.”

He said no matter how tough you think you are, never fight with a cop: “You will never win in a fight with a cop. You might beat him down, but then other cops are gonna show up and they’re gonna beat you down and kill you and it’s just that simple.”

Body language is also important in confrontations. As an example Buehler pointed to footage of his own case. In the video, he can be seen standing arms outstretched with his palms facing the officer. From this position, it would be difficult for an officer to argue assault. Buehler has heard cases where a clenched fist could justify use of force.

Speak loudly but do not yell. “There’s a fine line. If you speak too low they can claim they didn’t hear you. But then again if you shout too loudly they’re going to claim what they claimed with me, that you were being aggressive in tone and manner.”

At this point in the presentation, a fellow speaker approached Buehler notifying him that APD wanted the power turned off, but Buehler didn’t comply: “APD wants us to turn the power off, but we’re not harming anyone, so we’re just going to keep going.”

Also important is to always maintain eye contact with the police officer. “Make eye contact and don’t look away too much. This gives the impression that you’re being nervous and that you’re trying to avoid the cop.” Your nervousness could feed a bully cop. And try not to smile: “If you don’t respect the cop, don’t make it known.”

A few situations were presented that every individual must seek answers to for themselves such as What do you do when a cop pushes you? “The answer to that question could have very dire life or death results.” Also posed was what do you do when a cop accuses you of a crime you didn’t commit? “At the moment that I’m charged with a crime, knowing now what I didn’t know then, I would simply say, I want a lawyer.”

“These are really difficult questions to ask of yourself. You don’t know when you’re going to come across a criminal cop…when it happened that night I reacted on what I thought was abuse.”

Oborski-ing
In the end, at least we were able to get a new word describing police abuse. “Oborski is a verb that was created because of officer Patrick Oborski. Essentially if you ever see a cop abusing a woman or assaulting someone he’s Oborski-ing her.” Let’s try to spread this term.

Know Your Role
It all boils down to knowing your role. Are you an activist, approaching situations fearlessly, hoping you can appeal the legality of the matters at a present or later time (if you don’t get beaten to death), or are you just a common citizen concentrating on getting back to where you really want to be…out of jail and back home?

The activist would want to dispute an officer’s authority, deny consent to searches, and record his entire event. However, this approach never guarantees that you emerge victorious, or even breathing.

Despite officer Oborski’s actions that night, APD assistant police chief David Carter told Fox 7 they’re OK with being filmed as long as the public maintains “a reasonable distance.”

Unfortunately, Antonio’s legal battles are far from over. According to Fox 7 “an internal affairs investigation found that police were not in the wrong. Monday, Buehler spoke in front of the office of the Police Monitor’s Citizen Review Panel about his case. “The fact that internal affairs can come back and say police broke no policy and did nothing wrong is absurd on its face,” Buehler told Fox. Buehler has been charged with a felony and a misdemeanor and is currently awaiting trial.

After the conference, Infowars was able to get an exclusive interview with Buehler. He told us he will be pursuing civil and criminal charges against the officers once his case is done with: “This is an all out effort…[Oborski] is an evil person that should be off the streets and incarcerated…Everything that we can do to try to bring justice we’re going to do.”

“Do not fuck with Antonio Buehler,” is how another writer eloquently stated it, and he was right. By going after police in a fury of anger and protest, Buehler and Peaceful Streets prove they are a forced to be reckoned with.

If you get stopped, film the cop
Don’t wait until police corruption in your area reaches these heights. Defend your rights, and remember to always film or audio record your interactions with cops.

Antonio Buehler of the Austin Police Victims Legal Defense and peacefulstreets.com speaks in-studio with Alex on the Infowars Nightly News talking about his organization’s work against police abuse.

This article was posted: Tuesday, July 3, 2012 at 8:01 am

Tags: police state

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