In August 2022, police in Adams County, Ohio raided the home of Joseph Foreman -- a.k.a. Afroman -- on unfounded suspicions of drug trafficking and kidnapping. In brilliant retaliation, the "Because I Got High" rapper used home security footage of the raid and referenced it in multiple music videos. Now, seven officers have sued Afroman for allegedly invading their privacy.
Local news outlets report that the plaintiffs -- four deputies, two sergeants, and a detective -- are claiming Afroman took footage of their faces obtained during the raid and circulated it without their consent, which is a misdemeanor violation under Ohio Revised Code. They're also suing on civil grounds, claiming they've suffered "emotional distress, embarrassment, ridicule, loss of reputation, and humiliation." [...]
"They come up here with AR-15, traumatize my kids, destroyed my property, kick in my door, rip up and destroy my camera system," Afroman said of the raid at the time. The officers took a number of items from his home, including about $5,000 in cash.
"Will You Help Me Repair My Door?"
Tags: doomed, mpegs, music, security, stormtroopers
Current Music: as noted
12 Responses:
COPS: "Every citizen's residence should have a video doorbell to which we have full, unrestricted access at all times. After all, it's not as if we in law enforcement should be ashamed of those videos."
AFROMAN:
I assume that his ironclad defense will be that he meant to delete the footage, but then he got high?
I hadn't heard about any of these videos, until today when this lawsuit has been all over the news. Now, I watched the videos and even told my friends about them. Maybe Barbara Streisand is on the Adams County PD staff?
They don't care about the Streisand effect. When they say that they are embarrassed and that's why they are suing, they are lying. They are just trying to rob Afroman, after getting caught failing to rob Afroman. They didn't get the robbery they wanted through civil asset forfeiture and flat out illegally pocketing cash, and so now they are trying it through the courts.
Having watched the footage before they disconnected the cameras, why the fuck is one of the officers, dressed in military camouflage (in a urban setting)? Why are law enforcement allowed to dress as military while on duty? LARP in your free time, behind closed doors by all means, but this just reeks of intimidation tactics. The general public I believe can't LARP as military (or law enforcement), stolen valour/impersonating a police officer.
It's generally legal to dress as a gravy seal, judged freedom of speech; you have to be committing fraud for some kind of actual profit while wearing specific medals to be guilty of "stolen valor".
Impersonating an officer usually requires you to be attempting to apply the power of an officer. It would be fun protest to dress as a "security guard" and just wander around being a shit, being careful to not order anyone around.
Is "gravy seal" is the new "pork barrel" pejorative for the miltiary-industrial complex?
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gravy%20SEAL
See also: Meal Team Six, Vanilla ISIS, Y'all Qaeda.
Well that search was depressing:
https://i.redd.it/pqjwtnakva291.jpg
I doubt they'll successfully sue the cops themselves, given qualified immunity, but perhaps they can sue the county. If the raid is judged unlawful, then presumably the cops would lose their cases just given the fact that there's no expectation of privacy in someone's house you're breaking into.
And once again, the "we don't like the publicity so we will sue you" gambit backfires.
"Afroman previously announced plans to run for president in the 2024 election. Incredibly, he’s not the only announced candidate to have been subjected of a police raid."
OK, that's peak snark. Bravo, Abby Jones (Consequence journalist), bravo!