While opinionated successful a backstage parking batch successful Sussex, Wisconsin, connected May 4, 2025, Napoleon Jones witnessed a postulation extremity made by an out-of-county constabulary officer. "It conscionable didn't beryllium correct pinch me," Jones told TMJ4 News, a section NBC News affiliate. "So I did what I legally could do, and I walked complete and recorded it."
Jones, a United States Navy veteran, was good wrong his rights to record the constabulary stop. But moreover though he recorded from a safe region without interfering, that didn't extremity the Waukesha County Sheriff's deputy, Brandon Shayhorn, from later unlawfully stopping and arresting Jones.
After Shayhorn completed the postulation stop, Jones returned to his vehicle. But earlier Jones could exit the parking lot, Shayhorn turned connected his lights and initiated a 2nd stop, claiming Jones' impermanent licence plate, displayed successful the rearview window, was unreadable, reports TMJ4 News. Shayhorn demanded to spot Jones' driver's license, but Jones refused, arguing that he'd been unlawfully pulled complete connected backstage property. Video clips of the brushwood show the lawman opening Jones' doorway and pulling him from his vehicle.
Flock being utilized against a national successful retaliation for exercising his first amendment right
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Jones was successful a backstage parking batch crossed the thoroughfare from a constabulary serviceman he was signaling connected his phone. The serviceman saw him signaling and came complete and harassed him, pulled him… pic.twitter.com/bYAbmAeqwS
— Orwell Day (@OrwellDay) August 30, 2026
Jones was subsequently arrested "for resisting and obstructing," according to a national suit he revenge against the arresting officers and constabulary department. But aft being held successful custody for 5 hours, he was released pinch nary citations aliases criminal charges. An soul post-arrest memorandum reviewed by Reason revealed that Shayhorn's supervisor informed him soon aft the apprehension that he'd, successful fact, illegally stopped Jones, and he truthful could not compel Jones to nutrient his identification.
The adjacent day, Jones revenge a citizen's title against Shayhorn for the forbidden extremity and said he believed Shayhorn retaliated against him for exercising his First Amendment correct to record. Jones past sought ineligible counsel to prosecute claims against the arresting officers and the constabulary section for his unlawful stop, detention, and arrest.
While litigating those claims, Jones' attorney, Nate Cade, recovered thing odd: A azygous photograph of his client's vehicle, provided by Flock Safety, dated May 30, 2025. Provided successful the sheriff's office's consequence to Jones' title "was a azygous photograph of [Jones'] achromatic vehicle, a achromatic BMW," Cade told TMJ4 News. "The incident occurred connected May 4, truthful that starts maine thinking, what's going on? Why do you person a photograph of his conveyance 25 days later?" Cade continued.
Further investigation revealed over 100 Flock searches for a achromatic BMW successful the weeks pursuing Jones' unlawful arrest. Some of the searches were made by Shayhorn himself, a clear conflict of interest. When asked astir the searches during a deposition hearing, Shayhorn and others replied they'd been ordered to behaviour the searches by their lieutenant successful relationship pinch Jones' national complaint, according to TMJ4 News.
"I was highly shocked," Jones told TMJ4 News, "I couldn't understand why aliases really that would moreover beryllium a anticipation from what happened astatine the opening of May would lead maine to beryllium searched successful the Flock strategy because from my understanding, it's for criminal stuff."
In July 2026, Jones amended his complaint to see the further officers who searched for his conveyance without "a morganatic rule enforcement purpose" arsenic required by the county's personification agreement. There was nary Flock camera successful the parking batch wherever the unlawful apprehension took place, and Jones was not accused nor suspected of immoderate wrongdoing erstwhile the investigative searches took place. Indeed, Jones alleges that the officers alternatively utilized Flock to way Jones "in retaliation for exercising his First Amendment correct of signaling a postulation stop" and arsenic a "means to effort to find a imaginable crime against Jones."
At a clip erstwhile constabulary usage of automated licence sheet readers is facing fierce nationalist backlash for invading Americans' privacy, Jones' lawsuit serves arsenic a reminder of conscionable really easy authorities powerfulness tin beryllium abused without due oversight. While the officers progressive aren't being accused of attention-grabbing misuses of Flock Safety—like, say, utilizing the tech to outlandishly stalk their romantic interests—their alleged abuses are still concerning. If lawfully filming a constabulary serviceman tin group disconnected a weekslong surveillance run against the videographer, really tin Americans expect different constitutionally protected reside and actions to not beryllium met pinch akin retaliation?
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