Cop RESIGNS After This Traffic Stop To Avoid A MASSIVE Lawsuit!

[00:00:06]On August 5th, 2025, officer Victor Montinees of the Venice Police Department in Venice, Florida, initiated a traffic stop on driver Melissa Roger for allegedly driving with an expired registration. The stop that followed was captured on Officer Montinez's body and dash cameras.

[00:00:46]I do not consent.

[00:00:48]>> Sorry.

[00:00:48]>> I do not consent.

[00:00:51]Contract.

[00:00:54]>> You do not consent. You do not wish to contract with me and you don't answer questions. All right, turn your vehicle off for me.

[00:01:03]Can I get 94? I got a sovereign citizen.

[00:01:08]>> Turn your vehicle off for me.

[00:01:11]>> 104. Ma'am, can you turn your vehicle off for me?

[00:01:16]>> All right, listen to me.

[00:01:19]I know you don't answer questions, but you're going to listen to what I'm going to say.

[00:01:24]If you don't open the vehicle door and you step out and you turn the vehicle off, I'm going to break the window and I'm going to take you out of the vehicle and I'm going to take you under arrest.

[00:01:37]>> Okay? You understand that if you don't comply with what I'm saying, you are going to go under arrest.

[00:01:42]>> I commit a crime.

[00:01:43]>> Yeah. 104.

[00:01:46]>> Like I said, Patrick >> 104 question.

[00:01:57]>> All right, one more chance.

[00:02:03]>> All right, I'm going to have her 10:15.

[00:02:05]I need 94 cuz she closed the windows on me. I'm going to break the window.

[00:02:18]I understand that. It's a female driver telling me that and I'm going to break the window and take her under arrest.

[00:02:26]Step out of the vehicle. Step out of the vehicle.

[00:02:29]>> No. Kidnap me.

[00:02:30]>> I'm not going to kidnap you.

[00:02:31]>> I have a fee.

[00:02:32]>> Listen to me.

[00:02:33]>> No.

[00:02:33]>> Listen to me, ma'am. You're going about You're going about this the wrong way.

[00:02:38]You're just going to get a citation.

[00:02:40]You're about to go to jail for resistance.

[00:02:43]>> You understand?

[00:02:44]>> So, step out of the vehicle, >> ma'am. I don't want to use force against you.

[00:02:54]>> I don't want to use force against you.

[00:02:55]You understand that, right?

[00:02:57]>> Number five, >> ma'am. Okay.

[00:03:03]Turn your vehicle off, ma'am.

[00:03:18]Open your vehicle door.

[00:03:36]>> Open your vehicle door.

[00:03:40]I do not >> step out of the vehicle. I'm breaking the window. Open the vehicle door.

[00:03:46]>> You are under arrest at this point. You have no say.

[00:03:50]>> Open the vehicle door.

[00:03:52]>> Open the vehicle door. You're under arrest for resisting.

[00:03:56]>> Step out of the vehicle, ma'am.

[00:03:59]>> You are under arrest for resisting. Step out of the vehicle, ma'am.

[00:04:14]Step out of the vehicle.

[00:04:22]Step out of the vehicle.

[00:04:24]Step out.

[00:04:26]Step out of the vehicle.

[00:04:30]Yeah. Break it.

[00:04:36]fees for these crimes. Millions of dollars. You guys are going to be this hell.

[00:04:42]>> Step out of the vehicle or you're going to get tased.

[00:04:51]>> Step out of the vehicle or you're going to get tased.

[00:04:57]>> They're kidnapping me.

[00:04:58]>> Step out of the vehicle.

[00:04:59]>> They're kidnapping me.

[00:05:00]>> Step out of the vehicle. I don't want to hurt you.

[00:05:03]Step out of the vehicle and do what I say.

[00:05:06]Step out of the [ __ ] vehicle. Get behind your back. Hands behind your back. Hands behind your back.

[00:05:16]>> Want to play games now? You're under arrest.

[00:05:20]>> You guys are sued as all.

[00:05:22]>> Yeah, that's fine.

[00:05:26]>> When Ms. Roger refuses to step out of her vehicle. Officers break her windows and pull her out before taking her to the ground and handcuffing her. As we have discussed many times here on ATA, the Supreme Court established in the 1977 case of Pennsylvania v. Mims that officers are permitted to order a driver out of the car as a matter of course during a lawful traffic stop. How much physical force an officer can employ to force compliance with such an order, however, is a separate question. The Supreme Court held in the 1989 case of Graham v. Connor that the fourth amendment requires any use of force to be reasonable under the circumstances in consideration of factors including the seriousness of the offense, whether the individual is an immediate threat, and whether they are actively resisting or trying to flee. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Florida, applied that standard to the removal of a driver from a vehicle in the 2023 case of Senko v. Jackson, where it held that officers did not use excessive force when they physically pulled a driver out of his car after he repeatedly ignored commands to exit.

[00:06:26]Reasoning that the authority to make an arrest carries with it the authority to use some degree of force to accomplish it. Now here, Ms. Roger refused repeated commands to step out, rolled up her window, and closed and locked her door, which is the kind of active resistance that the 11th Circuit has determined authorizes officers to escalate to the use of physical force. Although the underlying offense was minor and Ms. Roger never struck or threatened the officers, she was not compliant and the officers could not see inside the vehicle in order to rule out a weapon.

[00:06:56]Because the force was used to overcome her resistance and then it stopped once she was restrained. An 11th Circuit Court could certainly conclude that breaking the window and removing Miss Roger from the vehicle was a reasonable use of force under the established president.

[00:07:15]What do you think? Let me just >> simple as hell. You should have just complied.

[00:07:22]>> No, you guys are screwed.

[00:07:24]>> All right, ma'am.

[00:07:25]>> I'm going to help you.

[00:07:26]>> This is your last day.

[00:07:27]>> I'm going to have you step up here, sir.

[00:07:32]>> Clear our tent.

[00:07:39]Brand new >> car flight start me 1071 >> white female conscious breathing operations >> huh >> no that's one >> I thought you had some somewhere I saw it your finger female. Was there RO?

[00:08:13]>> It's a male RORO.

[00:08:14]>> This is what she's got here is I'm running her on four right now.

[00:08:17]>> Okay.

[00:08:17]>> But that's that's >> She wouldn't give me license or nothing.

[00:08:20]So >> And she was like, >> I don't contract with you. I don't answer questions. All right. Well, >> they do have Was she trying to record or something? Just her phone was talking.

[00:08:48]>> I don't know.

[00:08:51]>> I think she was trying to call her lawyer.

[00:08:54]>> I really don't know.

[00:09:02]All right.

[00:09:12]All right. You're under arrest for resisting and whatever else. I can see what's left on the vehicle. Um, your vehicle is going to get towed. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk to an attorney and have him and her present with you before doing questioning. If you cannot afford to hire an attorney, one will be appointed to represent you on no cause before enduring questioning.

[00:09:36]If you wish, you can decide at any time to exercise these rights and not answer any questions or make any statements. Do you understand each other's rights that I explained to you?

[00:09:47]All right.

[00:09:54]Got rescue coming to check your cuts. Then after that, going to jail.

[00:10:03]Officer Montinez informs Miss Roger that she's under arrest for resisting and then reads her Miranda rights. Under section 843.02 of the Florida statutes, it is a firstdegree misdemeanor to resist, obstruct, or oppose an officer in the lawful execution of a legal duty without the use of violence or a threat. Courts have determined that a citizen can violate this statute by refusing to follow an officer's lawful command. In fact, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reached that conclusion in the Senko case, which we discussed earlier in this episode, where it held not only that officers did not use excessive force in physically removing a non-compliant driver from a vehicle, but also that they had grounds to arrest him for resisting without violence because he ignored repeated orders to exit the vehicle. Accordingly, it is likely that a court would conclude that Miss Rogers conduct constituted resisting if Officer Montinees was lawfully carrying out his duties when he ordered her to exit the vehicle. However, if the underlying stop was illegal, officer Montinez did not have the lawful authority to command Miss. Roger to exit the vehicle, and therefore, her actions would not violate the resisting statute.

[00:11:08]>> You got to hold it.

[00:11:09]>> Yeah.

[00:11:14]>> Cut here.

[00:11:15]>> Okay. All right. We'll get that documented >> here.

[00:11:22]One little put some band-aid on this.

[00:11:25]Sorry.

[00:11:32]>> Yeah, they're working on it right now.

[00:11:37]>> I was trying to wait for 94 as much as I could, but I was afraid that she was also going to take off. And >> yeah, when you were going back and forth, >> which if she would have take off, that's fine. What?

[00:11:47]>> I started hauling ass and she started talking >> here >> outside of gathering the information.

[00:11:55]Car is getting towed.

[00:11:56]>> Yes.

[00:11:57]>> See the tag?

[00:11:59]>> Okay. Let me get my >> The documentation says if driver is owner sees tag.

[00:12:08]>> Yeah. So, we can't take it because >> uh I think her husband is, but she's not a the registered owner.

[00:12:14]>> She's not a registered owner. I'm >> uh just run that by Steve, our traffic guru.

[00:12:20]>> Yeah, let me call >> make sure we're compliant with what we need to do as far as the state is concerned.

[00:12:25]>> Yeah.

[00:12:26]>> But have the insurance card?

[00:12:28]>> No, she didn't provide none of that.

[00:12:30]>> So, inventory the car, make sure we have photograph.

[00:12:36]>> Yeah.

[00:12:38]Anyway, >> all right. No injuries.

[00:12:42]>> No, it's just >> throw a band-aid on your stuff and then I'll do uh for you.

[00:12:48]>> Thank you. That way if you get an infection.

[00:12:50]>> I appreciate it.

[00:12:51]>> There's a uh fee for miscellaneous material.

[00:12:57]>> Feed for a fee. A fee. This fe sheet.

[00:13:00]>> This fe sheet positive for law enforcement.

[00:13:14]Officer Montinez mutes his body camera before engaging in conversation with Lieutenant Keith Quick, who arrived at the scene after Ms. Roger had been forced from the vehicle and arrested.

[00:13:23]Officer Montinez then removed his body camera for several minutes before putting it back on. Now, Florida does not set a single statewide rule for how body cameras must be used. Instead, section 943.1718 of the Florida statutes leaves it to each law enforcement agency that uses body cameras to adopt its own written policies governing when officers must wear and activate them. The Venice Police Department's policy is not publicly available, so we cannot say exactly what it required of Officer Montinez during this encounter. As a general matter, however, body camera policies typically require officers to wear and keep their cameras recording throughout law enforcement activity, including stops, detentions, and arrests. And they often limit when an officer may stop recording or mute audio during an active encounter. Whether muting and then removing the camera here departed from the department's policy would depend on the terms of the Venice PD's standard operating procedures.

[00:14:21]>> I got several charges. I got his assistant.

[00:14:24]I got failure to comply with law enforcement plus several citations.

[00:14:28]>> All right. Yeah, we'll handle this.

[00:14:30]>> Thank you guys.

[00:14:37]>> She did have a gun, huh?

[00:14:41]>> Ah, that was my fear right there.

[00:14:45]Can you run to signal zero? Make sure it's not signal 10 >> to your phone.

[00:14:49]>> Yeah.

[00:14:51]take pictures of that, too.

[00:15:05]>> Yeah. If you can get it out and get the cereal for me cuz you have the gloves on, I'll take a picture of that.

[00:15:13]That's a Glock 43, I think.

[00:15:18]Yep. 43.

[00:15:22]and turn it the other way so I can get the serial number.

[00:15:27]Yeah.

[00:15:32]And then if you can run it on four for me, I'm going to go north county. Uh I say seize it because uh it's in the vehicle. You know what I mean?

[00:15:45]>> We can Yeah, we can let it Yeah.

[00:15:51]All right. Your vehicle is being towed by Talon Towing and the firearm that's in the car is going to go to Venice Police. You can recover it after you get out of jail.

[00:16:10]>> Where's my wife? Where did you kidnap her?

[00:16:13]>> What?

[00:16:14]>> Stay in the car and leave the traffic stop, please.

[00:16:17]Back up 25 ft, sir.

[00:16:19]>> We're not We don't have to talk. Just go home.

[00:16:22]>> What? Nobody gave you permission to search that.

[00:16:24]>> Don't worry about it.

[00:16:26]>> Get scene. That's fine. Get out of the scene and go home.

[00:16:28]>> Hey, I'm out of the scene right now, buddy.

[00:16:30]>> Yep. That's fine. You can record over there across. Whatever you want.

[00:16:33]>> I will.

[00:16:34]>> Just go home.

[00:16:35]>> I don't have to go home. Don't tell me what to do.

[00:16:37]>> Have a good day. Just ignore him.

[00:16:39]>> You want to call out with him, though?

[00:16:41]>> I'll be right here.

[00:16:42]>> Where's the car going is what I'm asking.

[00:16:45]>> Just ignore him. I'll let him know.

[00:16:48]It's going to Talon Towing. We'll give her a copy of it.

[00:16:52]>> Where can I pick her up at?

[00:16:54]>> Sarasota County Jail.

[00:16:56]>> Which one?

[00:16:57]>> In Sarasota County. 20 2020 Main Street.

[00:17:00]>> Right. How long you >> Just give it about 6 hours or so.

[00:17:10]>> Hey, they're going to give you a copy of where the car is going. So if you want to wait real quick when she approaches someone to approach the passenger seat so I go watch him.

[00:17:26]I got a feeling that was her husband cuz he came in hot. I was like either this car doesn't see that we're there or he's family.

[00:17:35]>> Oh, since he's the owner and he's present, we can cease the tag now.

[00:17:42]Hey, your vehicle has a cease tag order.

[00:17:46]>> Excuse me.

[00:17:47]>> Your vehicle has a cease tag order from the state.

[00:17:53]>> So, since you're president and you're the registered owner, I'm taking your tag.

[00:17:58]Just letting you know.

[00:18:03]Put your hands on the steering wheel so we can give you paperwork.

[00:18:06]Thank you very much. Just keep them visible.

[00:18:17]I'm officer mountain of Venice Police Department.

[00:18:19]>> Nice to meet you.

[00:18:21]>> Sorry we're meeting this way. This is not the way I wanted to meet you.

[00:18:24]>> Can you roll down the window so the officer can give you paperwork?

[00:18:27]>> That window doesn't go out.

[00:18:28]>> Window doesn't go down. Can you >> She's just going to give you paperwork.

[00:18:33]We're not interested in nothing that's in the vehicle.

[00:18:35]>> Oh, my vehicle.

[00:18:39]Yes.

[00:18:40]>> So, that is where the vehicle is going to be at. Okay. You have any other questions for us? It's called Talon Towing.

[00:18:46]>> Talon.

[00:18:47]>> Talon.

[00:18:47]>> Talon.

[00:18:48]>> Yep. The address is down there >> at the bottom. Yep.

[00:18:52]>> Right there. Northport.

[00:18:53]>> Paname.

[00:18:54]>> Yep. Pan-American Boulevard.

[00:18:55]>> Um, what you get pulled over for?

[00:18:58]>> Huh?

[00:18:58]>> What you get pulled over for?

[00:18:59]>> I don't have to tell you that information. But >> as long as you comply, I'm good. Okay.

[00:19:06]Expire registration for two years. cease tag order from the state. The only thing she had to do was give me her license. I would have given her a citation and we would have left.

[00:19:17]She decided to make things difficult and I didn't want to go that route. That was her decision, not mine.

[00:19:24]>> Okay. Any other questions?

[00:19:25]>> No.

[00:19:26]>> All right, sir. Appreciate it.

[00:19:34]After the arrest, officers had Miss Rogers's vehicle towed by a private towing company. Her husband arrived on scene as officers were finishing up, and because he was the registered owner of the vehicle, they told him where it was being taken and where he could later retrieve his wife. Miss Roger was transported to the Sarasota County Jail, where by her family's account, she was held for roughly 9 hours before being released on a $2,000 bond. Officer Montineesz issued Miss Roger three citations for driving with expired registration, failing to carry or exhibit her driver's license, and operating an uninsured vehicle. And he charged her with two misdemeanor counts of resisting an officer without violence. However, after her arrest, the Venice PD discovered that Miss Rogers registration was not in fact expired and her registration was current and valid through April of 2026. Accordingly, on August 22nd, 2025, all three citations were dismissed at the request of a department lieutenant who certified in each case that the citation was not supported by sufficient evidence.

[00:20:32]According to the account provided by Ms. Rogers family, the resisting charges were likewise not pursued, and the department advised that the arrest would be expuned from her record. The city of Venice opened two separate internal affairs investigations arising from the encounter. The first concerned officer Montinez directly. Investigators sustained a series of allegations against him, including a violation of department rules relating to license plate reader hit confirmation, failing to identify himself and notify Ms. Roger of the reason for the stop, committing unsafe acts, violating the department's arrest and search procedures, failing to photograph injuries, and engaging in unsatisfactory performance and conduct on becoming of an officer. Several other allegations were not sustained. Among them, excessive use of force, untruthfulness, and abuse of power.

[00:21:19]Officer Montinez resigned from his position during the investigation, so no disciplinary action was imposed. The second investigation focused on the two supervisors responsible for reviewing and approving the resulting paperwork.

[00:21:31]Lieutenant Quick and Sergeant Alex Gregoire, both of whom were found to have failed to catch significant problems in the documentation. The chief of police ultimately issued Lieutenant Quick a written reprimand, citing a lapse in supervisory diligence.

[00:21:46]According to the account provided by Ms. Rogers family, they sent the city several letters seeking to be made whole and received no response, after which they served a notice of intent to sue. A law firm representing the city then offered $15,000 to resolve the matter, an amount that the family regarded as inadequate given that Ms. Roger spent roughly 9 hours in custody, was fingerprinted, had her booking photograph taken and published, and was subjected to a strip search. As of the date of writing this episode, no lawsuit had been filed. Overall, Officer Montinez gets an F for initiating a traffic stop that was not supported by probable cause, escalating to a forced arrest without ever identifying himself or stating the reason for the stop, and for removing his body camera during the encounter. An officer needs a lawful basis to stop a vehicle. And the stop here was premised on Ms. Rogers registration being expired when in fact the registration was valid because there was no expired registration. There was no probable cause for the stop and the unlawful stop tainted the arrest and everything else that followed from it.

[00:22:46]The physical force that was used to remove Miss. Roger from the vehicle considered on its own likely fell within what the law permits an officer to use to overcome resistance. And the investigation did not sustain the excessive force allegation against him.

[00:22:59]Rather, the decisive failure came at the outset when he stopped a vehicle without a valid basis and then never identified himself or explained why he had stopped her, leaving M. Roger with no lawful order to obey and accelerating a minor matter into a forced extraction. And then adding to his misconduct, officer Montinez muted and removed his body camera while speaking with another officer, compromising the record of his own conduct at the precise moment that meaningful review would depend on it.

[00:23:28]The result was that a citizen with valid registration and no criminal history spent hours in custody as the product of a stop that should never have occurred.

[00:23:38]Now, Miss Roger gets a C for refusing repeated lawful commands to exit her vehicle, relying on assertions that carry no legal force and for physically resisting in a manner that escalated the encounter into a forcible extraction.

[00:23:51]During a traffic stop, a driver is required to comply with an officer's lawful orders, and the refusal to do so can itself constitute the offense of resisting. Ms. Roger stated that she did not consent, that she would not contract with the officer, and that she would not answer questions before refusing repeated commands to step out of her vehicle. Those assertions have no basis in law and do not relieve a driver of the obligation to comply with a lawful order. Notably, nothing in the encounter suggests that Ms. Roger refused because she believed that the stop lacked a lawful basis, meaning that her refusal did not appear to be a measured response to a stop that she had identified as illegal. The stop did turn out to be unlawful, and because the officer was therefore not executing a lawful duty, her refusal did not amount to the crime of resisting. Had a court found a lawful basis for the detention. However, her conduct in refusing repeated commands to exit, rolling her window up, locking her door, and resisting removal, that would have likely constituted resisting an officer without violence. The safer course for any citizen, even one who believes that a stop is unjustified, is to comply in the moment and then challenge the stop afterward through the courts. This interaction highlights that the lawfulness of a refusal to comply does not depend on the citizen's beliefs, but on whether the officer was lawfully executing a duty, which is a question that cannot be safely and reliably resolved at the roadside. Let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic that you would like us to discuss in the comments below. Thank you for watching and don't forget to check out Audit the Court if you're interested in exploring the legal nuance beyond the body cam.