If you ever confront a police officer, it’s your right to ask for their name and badge number. So when officers refuse to provide this information, it’s justifiable that you would get angry. A California civilian lost it on three officers who were refusing to share their names and badge numbers. In a video taken by the guy, it seems like the police are searching his car with several items thrown on the ground. You don’t get to know the context of what is happening. What you get to see is the guy going after the officers and yelling at them.
One of the officers asks him to step away, and he starts backing away while asking, “How far?” He starts talking to another officer, but quickly loses his temper when he notices him putting his hand on his gun. When he confronts him about this, the officer’s response? “Shut up.” He immediately starts insulting them and yells “F**k you” before starting to back away. At one point, the guy asks again and again for the officers’ names and badge numbers. They completely ignore him and refuse to identify themselves. “Name and badge number motherf**ker,” he repeats, but again receives no answer.
He then starts talking again to the officer who grabbed his gun earlier, and when he asks, “You gonna grab your gun?” the officer just stares at him and says, “Yeah,” as if this isn’t a threat. This officer, however, is the only one who ends up giving his name and badge number. “I’m gonna come after your f**king ass,” the California civilian yells and tells them that he would be filing a complaint. The rest of the video is him calling the officers and insulting them as he says “dicks,” “Suck a dick,” and “f**king clowns.”
People Reacting to the California Civilian’s Breakdown
A lot of people took the California civilians’ side and saw that he had the right to react the way he did. “This guy is my spirit animal,” one person wrote. Someone else called the officers terrorists as they said, “Terrorists in their own country. Such a shame.” Another one said, “nazi f**ks.” Even the Make America Great Again slogan caught a stray as one Redditor wrote, “What f**king losers and traitors. Is America great yet? It doesn’t feel f**king great.” Several people also saw that the guy was quite brave as someone described him by saying, “That dude has balls.” Others believed that this kind of attitude is what everyone should be showing toward the police. “This is the energy we need in this country!” one person wrote.
Since to some, the California civilian’s reaction was extreme, one person asked what exactly the officers were doing. “Seems like conducting a search…now whether it’s a lawful search…that’s questionable,” one person answered. Even though police should give their names and badge numbers, some believed that the man was at fault. “This is so messed up. How can people feel this is appropriate. Standing there swearing and yelling at police? I get it they didn’t identify themselves but honestly wtf,” one person offered as they defended the police.
Someone had a different POV as they wrote, “‘They’re doing their job, getting punks like you away from here.’ Wow. This guy demands accountability and he’s instantly labeled a punk who should be thrown out of our country. These are exactly the boot-licking foot soldiers Trump wanted.” At one point, you have to ask yourself, if these officers are doing nothing wrong, then why are they refusing to identify themselves?
