Michael Picard was filming a protest near a police DUI checkpoint in West Hartford, Conn., in Sept. 2015 when troopers confiscated his camera. The ACLU says this recording proves the officers fabricated criminal charges against Picard. (ACLU-CT) 
 
 Three Connecticut state troopers fabricated criminal charges against a man protesting at a DUI traffic checkpoint, according to a lawsuit filed against Connecticut State Police last week. 
 
 In an odd twist, the state troopers appear to have accidentally filmed themselves making up the charges — using the protester’s own video camera, according to the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut. 
 
 “There’s a lot about the case that attracted our attention,” Dan Barrett, legal director of the ACLU of Connecticut, told The Washington Post. “Of course, Michael’s protesting and that’s an important thing. But also we’ve seen … how vital it’s become to police oversight that people be able to record police.” 
 
 The roadside protest in question was not out of the ordinary for Michael Picard, a 27-year-old East Hartford man who had become something of a regular at DUI checkpoints in Connecticut. 
 
 These set-ups, Picard thought, were a waste of public money. For years, he would find out where Connecticut State Police planned to hold the checkpoints, then would show up with his digital camera. Afterward, he would upload the videos to YouTube, with titles such as “How to Flex Your Rights at a DUI Checkpoint” and “Cop Claims Freedom of Speech Does Not Give Citizens the Right to Question Police.” 
 
 His regular protests had made him into something of a known thorn in the side of police — so much so that a Hartford police employee apparently notified state police weeks ahead of time that Picard probably would be at a checkpoint on Sept. 11, 2015, but noted that he was “harmless” and the lawful owner of a pistol, according to the lawsuit. 
 
 On that September evening, Picard arrived at such a checkpoint with a handwritten yellow sign — “Cops Ahead: Keep Calm and Remain Silent” — and situated himself on a triangular traffic island near an Interstate 84 entrance road, according to the lawsuit. For an hour-and-a-half, he recorded activity at the checkpoint, including that of state trooper John Barone, sergeant John Jacobi and master sergeant Patrick Torneo, the lawsuit said. 
 
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 Shortly after 8 p.m., Barone walked over to Picard. Someone had called in a complaint about a man “waving a gun and pointing it at people,” the lawsuit claims Barone told him. 
 
 Without warning, Barone slapped Picard’s camera out of his hand, causing it to fall to the ground, an act that was captured on video. Barone then confiscated a pistol Picard had been wearing in his hip holster, as well as his pistol permit from his pants pocket — “theatrically” shouting “I’ve got a gun!” in the process, according to the lawsuit. 
 
 Picard knelt down to pick up his camera to see if it was broken and then pointed it back at the troopers, the lawsuit said. Barone strode back to protest: “It’s illegal to take my picture,” he said, as captured on video. “Did you get any documentation I’m allowing you to take my picture?” After a brief debate, in which Picard argued that he was on public property, Barone grabbed the camera and took it back to the two other troopers, as indicated by the video. 
 
 “I got the camera,” he told them, setting it on top of Torneo’s vehicle. 
 
 What the troopers appeared not to know was that the camera was still working — and recording everything. 
 
 In the video, they can be heard discussing how to charge Picard after his pistol permit comes back as valid. 
 
 “You want me to punch a number on this either way?” Barone is heard saying, referring to entering a code in the police database. “Gotta cover our ass.” 
 
 The troopers discuss where Picard was standing on the road. Jacobi, the sergeant, tells the two others: “So, we can hit him with reckless use of the highway by a pedestrian and creating a public disturbance, and whatever he said.” 
 
 They agree. After some additional discussion, Torneo, the master sergeant, adds: “And then we claim that, um, in backup, we had multiple people, um, they didn’t want to stay and give us a statement, so we took our own course of action.” 
 
 “Okay,” Jacobi is heard saying. 
 
 [Father ‘utterly terrified’ after trooper points gun at his 7-year-old during traffic stop] 
 
 The police ended up pressing Picard with two criminal trespassing charges: one for reckless use of highway by a pedestrian, the other for creating a public disturbance. 
 
 Both eventually were dropped by the state, after nearly a year in the Connecticut superior court system. 
 
 “The evidence clearly shows that these police officers violated Mr. Picard’s rights,” attorney Joseph Sastre said in a statement. Sastre defended Picard against the criminal charges and also, with ACLU’s Barrett, is representing Picard in the civil lawsuit. “We are confident that the court will agree, and we hope that it will send a strong message to police and the public alike that enforcing the law means respecting free speech, not trampling on it.” 
 
 Barrett said they had not heard anything from Connecticut State Police regarding what action the agency took, if any, as a result of the incident. 
 
 “It was unbelievable — this is an interaction that was recorded from start to finish on high-quality digital video,” Barrett said in an ACLU summary of the case. “A year later, there has been zero movement on the internal affairs investigation as far as anyone knows, which just shows that police and prosecutors in Connecticut should not be in charge of policing themselves.” 
 
 A Connecticut State Police spokeswoman said the agency was not making any statements about the case, nor would it confirm the current employment status of the three troopers named in the lawsuit. 
 
 “They’re not commenting on anything at this time,” she said. 
 
 In its lawsuit against the Connecticut State Police, the ACLU of Connecticut claimed the troopers violated Picard’s First Amendment right to “receive and memorialize information” and his Fourth Amendment right against seizure of his property without a warrant. 
 
 In addition to the First Amendment violation, Barrett noted that Connecticut lawmakers passed a statute last year that makes clear that a person is allowed to record police officers as they perform their public duties. 
 
 Picard also declined an interview but confirmed the authenticity of the videos. 
 
 “Community members like me have a right to film government officials doing their jobs in public, and we should be able to protest without fearing political retribution from law enforcement,” Picard said in a statement through the ACLU of Connecticut. “As an advocate for free speech, I’m deeply disappointed that these police officers ignored my rights, particularly because two of the troopers involved were supervisors who should be setting an example for others. By seeking to hold these three police officers accountable, I hope that I can prevent the same thing from happening to someone else.” 
 
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 Ticketed Protester's Video Spells Trouble for Police (CN) — A Connecticut man received a fistful of tickets for protesting a DUI checkpoint, but he is getting the last laugh in court. Video released in conjunction with his federal lawsuit shows police spoke openly about fabricating charges while the camera they seized recorded the whole thing. 
 
 The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut filed the lawsuit Thursday on behalf of Michael Picard, who has a habit of protesting DUI checkpoints because he sees them as "contrary to the Fourth Amendment, and a waste of public money." 
 
 Picard was protesting near a checkpoint in West Hartford on Sept. 11, 2015, when Connecticut state trooper John Barone approached. In addition to Barone, the suit names as defendants fellow troopers Patrick Torneo and John Jacobi. 
 
 According to the complaint, Barone approached Picard and swatted the camera out of his hand. As the camera clattered to the ground, ejecting its battery, Barone allegedly removed a pistol from Picard's hip holster and the pistol permit from Picard's pant pocket. 
 
 Picard says Barone had gone to his police cruiser to talk to Torneo and Jacobi, so he picked up his camera and reinserted the battery. 
 
 As Picard began filming the officers, the footage shows Barone grabbing the camera, saying, "it's illegal to take my picture." 
 
 The tape was still rolling, however, when Barone put the camera on the roof and the cruiser and talked with the troopers about Picard. 
 
 Picard's footage show that the troopers were dissatisfied when his pistol permit proved valid. Barone asked the others, "Do you want me to punch a number on this one? We gotta cover our ass." 
 
 "Punching a number," according to the complaint, is police slang for opening an investigation in the electronic case management system and assigning it a case number. 
 
 The conversation turned to what charges they would issue. 
 
 "Torneo said that the defendants should issue Mr. Picard a public disturbance charge, 'then we claim that in backup we had multiple [motorists] stopped to complain about' a man waving a gun, 'but that no one wanted to stop and give a statement,'" the complaint states. "Torneo emphasized the words 'then' and 'multiple' when speaking, as if formulating the defendants' cover story aloud." 
 
 The troopers settled on giving Picard two tickets for use of a highway by a pedestrian and for creating a public disturbance by carrying an exposed side arm in plain view of passing motorists. 
 
 Picard's camera proved a rude awakening for the officers when Torneo started to drive away, and the camera slid off the roof onto the hood of the cruiser. 
 
 "Oh, shit," Torneo said, as heard in the footage. 
 
 "I ended up with his camera on my roof," he tells Torneo. "It's still on." 
 
 This past July, a prosecutor dropped one charge against Picard and nolled the other. Picard is seeking a civil judgment in his favor, but is not specifying any damages, 
 
 A spokeswoman for the state police said the troopers are the subject of an ongoing internal investigation. 
 
 The Connecticut State Police Unions said in a statement Friday that it believes Picard's lawsuit is "frivolous and will ultimately be dismissed." 
 
 They cautioned against a rush to judgment "simply because charges were dropped against Mr. Picard." 

 Published on Jun 9, 2015 
 
 If you happen on a DUI checkpoint, there are a few things you should know: 
 
 
 
 1. According to the Supreme Court (Sitz V. Michigan State Police), police have the right to stop you and ask you questions, but you are under no legal obligation to answer those questions (fifth amendment). 
 
 
 
 2. If you would like to invoke your right to remain silent, make sure you say that: Respectfully and assertively say, "I have the right to remain silent." In Salinas v. Texas, the Supreme Court ruled that the police can use your silence against you, unless you invoke your right to remain silent. 
 
 
 
 3. Roll your window down no more than an inch. Remember, you are under investigation, hence the questions,. Why help them investigate you? Although the officer will want you to roll your window down all the way, if it is not state law, and it is certainly not federal law, then you are not required to do so. 
 
 
 
 4. If you invoke your right to remain silent, officers might detain you, but being detained is better than waiving your rights. If this does happen, ask them to articulate what reasonable suspicion they have to detain you. Merely invoking your right to remain silent isn't reasonable suspicion. Also, many officers will change the subject, but make sure to insist that they articulate what reasonable suspicion they have to detain you. If they can't answer that question, ask to be on your way, or ask to speak to the supervising officer. 
 
 
 
 Also, check out my previous video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB9j5V... 
 
 
 
 Thank you for watching! 

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– Michael Picard has made a hobby of driving through police DUI checkpoints and uploading dashcam footage to YouTube as a way to protest the set-ups and educate people about their rights. He just never imagined he'd catch officers fabricating charges against him, per a civil suit. Picard, 27, of East Hartford, Conn., says he was recording officers from a traffic island at a DUI checkpoint on Sept. 11, 2015, when state trooper John Barone approached him and said someone had complained about a man pointing a gun at people. Picard, who had a pistol on his hip, says Barone then took his gun, permit, and—after knocking it out of his hand first—his camera, reports the Washington Post. Unbeknownst to Barone, the camera was still rolling. "You want me to punch a number on this either way? We gotta cover our ass," Barone is heard asking troopers Patrick Torneo and John Jacobi after Picard's permit comes back valid, per Courthouse News. They then discuss charging Picard with reckless use of the highway and creating a public disturbance. "And then we claim that in backup, we had multiple people, they didn’t want to stay and give us a statement," Torneo says, per the suit. The charges were eventually dropped, but Picard says his rights were violated. The interaction was "unbelievable" and "shows that police and prosecutors in Connecticut should not be in charge of policing themselves," says an ACLU rep. The Connecticut State Police Unions say the lawsuit is "frivolous and will ultimately be dismissed."