Imagine. You are sitting at the beach on a beautiful 70 degree day with your 4 month old daughter and small Yorkshire terrier. You’re sitting there, unassumingly, feeding your infant daughter by the water, when out of nowhere you are approached by two police officers on an ATV. When the officers get to you, they do not both meet you head on though, they go one to one side and one to the other; a move which looks eerily as though you are about to be detained. You are questioned and your information is demanded. You are literally being forced to remain seated without first given a reason, and your personal belongings are being rifled through. Your 4th Amendment rights are being tossed into the cool, California breeze.

 

Why? Because you brought your Yorkie on the beach, that’s why.

 

But this is not imaginary. This is the life of Rafael Bautista.

 

On Friday, June 6th, Mr. Bautista had taken his daughter to Mission Beach, San Diego, CA and encountered this exact situation. While feeding her, two officers approached asking him if the dog leashed to his daughter’s stroller was his, to which he obviously replied yes. After asking if he was free to go, if he was going to be ticketed, about the law he broke, and if not having his ID on him mattered, he (smartly) decided to record what transpired. He was able to record and upload three short videos of the incident through the YouTube capture app on his phone.

 

“I initially recorded that clip because the officers took a hostile position against me by enclosing me in while I was sitting near the water, barefoot, with my daughter in my hands,” he writes on his YouTube video page for the second of the three videos. "In the process of standing up [to get my wallet from the stroller's basket], the female officer pushed me back down to the sand,” he continues. “I could not believe what had happened. I was not told that I was being detained or arrested and was not told to remain seated."

 

In the post to his page, Bautista explains the situation in full detail, not only how the one officer held him down, but also of his attempts to explain where his identification was, and how he was all but ignored as the second officer began, unlawfully, to raid his belongings.

 

“The male officer asked for my ID. I told him, twice, that it was in the ‘basket,’” Bautista told TonyStiles.com. Apparently the officer didn’t care to pay attention, as he continued to go through the diaper bag. “This happened after I had attempted to stand up to hand them the ID.”

 

It was at that point which he told us that, “the female officer sat me down without warning or instruction to remain seated. I filmed it the second time [she pushed me down].” When asked if she had given him any reason why he was to remain on the ground, Bautista stated that she did so only after she had pushed him to the ground. “She stated that she prevented me from standing because I said I was going to leave. When in fact, I asked ‘what would happen if I just left’ [and] also asked ‘am I free to go?’” He was then told that he would be arrested if he stood up.

 

The officers finally concluded their extensive search of the diaper bag and found Bautista’s wallet in the stroller’s basket, where he said it was all along. They took his identification, ran his information, then after threatening him with arrest if he did not sign the ticket, coerced him to sign and left him and his daughter to enjoy the time they had left before going on their way.

 

The reception to his video and written account on YouTube has drawn comments by viewers which have been all but supportive. The wall is littered with all sorts of justifications for the behavior of the police. There have, of course, been the status quo, pro-police state commenters who believe he was at fault for the actions of the officers in those videos. There have also been a few who have gone so far as to (falsely) claim that the police have the right to restrain and search a person who has committed a misdemeanor/code infraction. One commenter, claiming to be a law student, even referenced the disturbing Navarette v. California SCOTUS ruling, even though the two instances are not even remotely close to comparable!

 

To be fair, San Diego Municipal Code §63.20.12 does specifically state that dogs are not allowed on the beach between the hours of 9am and 6pm during this time of year. The question in this situation is, was the police response to this situation appropriate?

 

TonyStiles.com was able to reach out to Danny Panzella, the founder of the New York City chapter of the Peaceful Streets Project, for his take on the situation.

 

“Obviously it’s an irrational use of force for the officer to physically restrain a man who had a 4 month old baby and – even if he didn’t have a baby, even if he was just standing there alone – to physically restrain a man from getting up to give them his ID so they could write him a ticket,” Panzella told us. “Police behavior seems to be getting to the point where it’s not so much what is reasonable, it’s what ‘I as a police officer have the right to do.’”

 

When asked if he thought that Bautista gave the police cause to behave the way they did, Panzella was not convinced. “I think the way this guy did it, from what I saw, seemed pretty reasonable,” he said. “He was narrating to the camera very reasonably, speaking to the cops very reasonably, he wasn’t cursing at them, he wasn’t – didn’t become overly aggressive with them.” He continued on, “I think it’s important to assertively stand up for your rights, but also in a way that makes sense where you’re not going to escalate the violence.”

 

Bautista has requested information from the SDPD regarding filing a complaint against the officers involved, however he states that he has yet to hear back from them. As of the time of our interview he had not yet received the summons in the mail, but fully intends on attending the court date so that he can “display the officers’ conduct.”

 

TonyStiles.com will remain on top of the matter in the event of any further happenings.

 

- Chris Lewis  06/18/14 08:00 AM CT