An Attorney Breaks Down A Dubious Traffic Stop In New Castle, Indiana

Attorney Mark Nicholson examines an off-duty stop in New Castle, Indiana, and tests the officer’s claims against available video. We explain why “being dumb at the light” fails as probable cause and outline what the footage suggests about the use of force and credibility.

• off-duty stop premised on non-specific conduct
• why “being dumb at the light” is not probable cause
• absence of body camera and credibility gaps
• Facebook video showing the suspect in the vehicle
• potential unlawful seizure and force implications
• what a probable cause affidavit should include
• open questions about the dash cam and the procedure
• legal takeaways for drivers and officers

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Transcript

The Off-Duty Stop Claim

SPEAKER_00 0:05

I'm attorney Martin Nicholson, Law Officer Martin Nicholson, and I'm going to talk about something happened in Newcastle, Indiana, Henry County, Indiana. There was an apparent arrest, and this officer uh said that the suspect got out of the car and uh charged him. Well, I'd like to show the video that I received that calls into question what really happened in this particular case. Now, here's the video.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

Yeah, we were going to obviously go with the rule table. And then they're just they're dumb at that light where that right lane is. And I was gonna pull them over until we were dumb. And I let them go with the verbal warning, and he starts popping out of the car in charging me. I'm like, you'll go to jail.

Body Cam Gaps And Credibility

The Facebook Video Surfaces

SPEAKER_00 1:13

So this officer, who's one is off duty, says that he was gonna pull them, that they were being dumb at the light. Now, I don't know what dumb at the light means, right? It's not in the uh penal code that I'm aware of, any kind of statute, Indiana Code. It doesn't seem like that's against the law, being dumb. This officer would be arrested. But I don't know what being dumb is. Uh he didn't say they were ran through the light, that they uh were smoking marijuana. There was no, he didn't say what this so-called being dumb and and then he said he was going to pull them over to tell them that they were being dumb. Now get this. This is an off-duty police officer that says someone was being dumb at the light, and he was gonna pull them over to tell them that they were being dumb. Look, that right there is an illegal stop. You can't pull somebody and just tell them they're dumb. It makes no sense. Now, he, because he's off duty, was not wearing a body cam. So we don't know, you know, it's just gonna be his word, and he can just get in there and make up a whole bunch of stuff about what allegedly happened at this light. And, you know, it'd be interesting to see what he said at the Probably Cause affidavit and says he gives him a warning, and then the guy gets out of the car to try to charge him. I mean, now he doesn't have body cam, so that's that doesn't show that. So it's it's interesting that that's what he says. The guy got out of the car to charge him because but he pulled him over to say he's being dumb with the light. Okay. That's this officer's off-duty officer story in Newcastle. Now, got another video to show you, okay? This is on the personal public Facebook page.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

What are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah, I'm recording you. What the fuck are you doing to me?

SPEAKER_02 3:19

What are you doing? You grabbing me, Mug! What are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yeah, I'm recording you. What the fuck are you doing to me?

Open Questions And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Now, this is that same officer that said that he pulled him over to tell them that they were being dumb at the light, and he said the guy got out of car and charged him. Now, the video doesn't start at the very beginning. We don't know what happened prior to that. But what we do know from the video that we saw is that the suspect is inside the vehicle and the officer is tugging, trying to pull him out. That's what you see in the video. And then the dude does get out of the vehicle and say, hey, what are you doing? What are you doing? So if he's trying to say, if the officer's trying to say that the person got out of the car and charged him, the only reason why is because the officer pulled him out of the car. And the guy's like, got his hands up saying, What are you doing? That officer goes back to the vehicle. Goes back to the vehicle. Now, I don't know if he's turning off the camera. I don't know what he's doing. He goes back to the car. Doesn't go all the way back into the police vehicle. It'd be interesting to kind of find out what was the officer doing. Was he turning off the body cam? I mean, the the dash cam. What was he doing when he went back to the vehicle? He didn't, it doesn't show him coming out with a gun, anything like that. Uh doesn't show him getting on the radio, calling for radio traffic. Maybe he did all that. But it just, it to me, I thought it was kind of interesting. Maybe there's more body cam footage out there that's going to show something else, totally different story. I don't know. But this is a case that I'm really interested to learn more about because what I see from the two videos that I have, not complete videos, obviously, but the two videos I have show an officer that looks like he is out of control. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a travesty of justice. And that is what I fight against. That's your nickel snugger today. Please be sure to like and subscribe.