Video posted by YouTuber James Freeman August 9 shows South Dakota cops tackling and then arresting a man for giving cops the finger and saying f–k the police.
And it was all caught on video.
If it hadn’t been for a fan of Freeman’s pulling up on the scene, approaching, conversing with Freeman and eventually getting arrested for talking smack to the police, it would have been a rather boring video.
It all began after Mark Burgess stopped by to say hello to Freeman who was live streaming police officers deal with the aftermath of a car wreck at an intersection in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Burgess apparently wanted to show his appreciation for the First Amendment activist, who runs the YouTube channel James Freeman News.
“I appreciate James Freeman, dude,” Burgess says into Freeman’s camera.
“Peace.”
Burgess then apparently gives credit to another YouTuber.
“Aaron Brandt’s the one who got me to be ‘fuck the cops,'” he tells Freeman before turning his attention to the officers on the scene.
To be fair, the officers aren’t really doing anything out of line or extraordinary before Burgess begins giving them the bird.
“Fuck this one, fuck that one, fuck ’em,” Burgess tells Freeman.
“Fuck ’em. Fuck you.”
“Uh, oh…,” Freeman replies.
“Yeah, that’s good shit. He (sic) ain’t gonna do shit. He knows he’s not gonna do shit.”
“He’s gonna stand there and take it,” Burgess says, assumingly.
As video rolls, Freeman narrates that there was only one cop on the scene, but that another police car just rolled up.
That’s when one Sioux Falls police officer approaches Burgess.
“Don’t talk to me,” Burgess tells the officer.
“You know I won’t give you the time of day,” he adds.
“What’s going on today?” the officer asks.
“You can back the fuck away,” Burgess replies.
“OK,” the officer says before grabbing for Burgess’ arms.
“What? Leave him alone. Guys, leave him alone,” Freeman tells the officer.
“Guys, what are you doing to him?”
“He’s causing a disorderly—”
“No, he’s not,” Freeman says before the officers take off sprinting and tackle Burgess to the ground.
“Guys, he’s standing on a public sidewalk, talking. What is wrong with you?” Freeman says.
“It’s free speech on a public sidewalk!” Freeman says before turning to the crowd and explaining the man was being arrested for speaking his mind.
“No, there’s more to it than that, sir,” a man, exiting a restaurant with his family, says.
“What more is there to it? They’re arresting him for speaking his mind.”
The man thanks James for recording as he’s being arrested and says police know who he is.
“We have no idea who you are, sir.”
“So, you’re arresting him for saying f–k the police?” Freeman asks the officers.
“We’re arresting him for trying to resist when we were trying to investigate,” one of them replies.
Freeman points out it wasn’t necessary for the officers to grab Burgess in order to investigate.
“You don’t need to touch to investigate. What were you investigating?”
“What if I were to grab you while I were investigating you? That would be wrong,” Freeman points out.
Eventually, after a back and forth conversation between officers at the scene, the video ends.
Burgess was arrested on three misdemeanors including disorderly conduct, obstructing a police officer and resisting arrest.
He has since been released from jail.
The full, unedited video is included below.
