Florida-based activist Adam Bocanegra is a firm believer that our public officials must be held to the same set of standards as everyone else in the community. So the brave young man chased down a Sheriff’s cruiser that he believed was driving unsafely.
“The reason I pulled you over today, I’m actually doing a citizen’s pull over because I’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but your headlight is out,” Bocanegra advises the perplexed deputy.
“Yes, I’m aware,” the officer tells Bocanegra.
“Well, you’re driving an authorized city vehicle in unsafe conditions. I’ve actually been pulled over for this same exact thing and was given a ticket, I’m actually not gonna give you a ticket today, I’m actually gonna give you a warning,” he tells the sheriff’s deputy.
“Oh, thank you for that,” the deputy sarcastically responds.
“I’m just letting you know that as a citizen of the United States of America, we have rights and we have rights to actually hold our police accountable,” Bocanegra tells the officer, who at this point steps out of his vehicle, in a possible attempt at intimidating the fearless activist.
Bocanegra proceeds to inform the deputy that he clocked him going at least 65 miles-per-hour, to which the officer responds by asking if Bocanegra had been speeding himself.
“Actually, no, you were speeding. I was actually trying to wave you down to let you know that you had a headlight out, which is very, very dangerous… and especially in this area over here where there is construction.” Bocanegra calmly explains.
The activist armed with a camera repeatedly asks the officer for his name. The deputy refuses to comply and gets in his vehicle and drives away as Bocanegra reads his license plate out loud on his footage.
“This is our community, these are our streets, our tax dollars pay their salary, and if my tax dollars are paying their salary, I’m going to hold them accountable.” Bocanegra explained in a subsequent post to social media.
ABC Action News reached out to a legal analyst Jeffrey Schwarz to find out the legality of Bocanegra’s stop. Schwartz explained that the activist was in the wrong, as citizen’s arrests are only permissible in the event of a criminal act. The analyst believes that having a headlight out is only a civil act.
