A man put a police officer under a citizen’s arrest when he noticed the Texas state trooper speeding without flashing his emergency lights. It was all caught on the citizen’s dashboard camera.
Phillip Turner claims that on Monday night, he noticed a Texas trooper flying down Interstate-35 sans emergency lights and going well over the speed limit.
Turner is no stranger to interacting with the police: He is a videographer for the police watchdog group Photography is Not a Crime.
The Austin resident followed the trooper and flashed his brights at him, then both pulled over.
When the trooper exited the vehicle, he asked Turner if there was a reason why he was flashing him.
“The reason why I was trying to pull you over was because you flew right by me… you were going pretty fast back there… are you in an emergency or something?” Turner questioned the officer.
The officer, identified as Trooper Granado, offered up an apology, explaining, “I apologize, I know I was speeding… I’ve got no excuse for that.”
Turner then explained why he wanted to confront the officer, saying, “People get tickets for that all the time.”
Turner told the Statesman newspaper that he was on his way to fight a traffic violation of his own at the time.
When Turner asked for Granado’s name and badge number, the officer was not immediately forthcoming and told him that he did not have his badge with him.
After some back and forth, Granado offered his name and badge number and allowed Turner to take a picture of his badge number.
Turner doesn’t just film police, however. Back in March, he filmed a man with a gun connected to a shooting at South by Southwest. His footage led to the man’s arrest.
