Amagansett Press Files A MASSIVE LAWSUIT Against 'TYRANT' Cops In Vegas (Lawyer Explains)

[00:00:00]Uh, at the end of the day, you're just Okay, but we don't have to show you actual documentation. I'm a law enforcement officer and I'm telling you Okay.

[00:00:09]Okay, once >> A father and his son drove to an airport to take pictures of airplanes.

[00:00:13]20 minutes later, they were surrounded by a security director, a marketing manager, and a wall of police officers ordered out of a publicly accessible terminal for, quote, not having a bonafide purpose. Now, there's a $1.7 million federal lawsuit on the table.

[00:00:30]And here's the part that matters.

[00:00:32]Almost everyone reacting to this footage online got the law exactly backwards.

[00:00:37]I'm George Graves. I'm a criminal defense attorney, and my whole career runs along one line, the line between what a camera is allowed to capture and what a badge is allowed to stop. Before I show you which side of that line this case actually falls on, there's something I have to deal with first.

[00:00:56]Before I break down this lawsuit, one small thing. There's a channel reacting to this footage, First Amendment Guardians, whose own video made a point to call me a fraud, Smoke & Mirrors.

[00:01:07]So, let's talk about Smoke & Mirrors.

[00:01:09]I put my face and my name on every video I make. I stand behind every word, right here, where you can see me. His whole case against me is that I steal his content. So, why don't we look at what his content really is. Every frame of that airport footage was shot by Amagansett Press, not him. He wasn't there.

[00:01:27]He never held that camera.

[00:01:29]He took another man's footage, dropped an anonymous voice on top of it, and called it his.

[00:01:34]But, laying a voiceover over someone else's raw video doesn't make it yours.

[00:01:38]What makes it is transformation, real analysis, and real commentary, some actual novelty on top of the raw material.

[00:01:47]When I use footage, I take it apart with the actual law, the real cases, your actual rights. He takes the same footage and just reads a script over it. One of us transforms it, the other often misses key legal details. And the voice doing the talking, he admits it's artificial.

[00:02:03]Says so himself.

[00:02:04]>> I don't have a problem with an AI narration. I am using one myself.

[00:02:08]>> But his is fine, he tells you, because it protects his anonymity from the tyrants. Faceless and artificial is now suddenly noble the second it's him. The only person in this whole story who is admitted to being artificial is the one pointing the finger.

[00:02:23]When I tell you what the law is, my name is on it and I hand you the case so you can check me.

[00:02:29]When that anonymous voice calls something an obvious slam dunk, there's no name, no face, no citation.

[00:02:35]One of us answers for what he says, and it isn't him.

[00:02:39]And that slam dunk on this airport case, it isn't one.

[00:02:42]Watch me show you, with the actual law, exactly where he got it wrong. That's the part the anonymous voice left out.

[00:02:51]>> Last call.

[00:02:52]>> I appreciate it.

[00:02:54]>> Hello.

[00:02:56]>> Hello.

[00:03:00]>> Guys, you just have to be authorized to film at the airport.

[00:03:03]>> I'm sorry?

[00:03:03]>> You have to be authorized to film at the airport.

[00:03:06]>> Have to be authorized to film at the airport? Why's that?

[00:03:09]>> Rules.

[00:03:11]>> Authorized to film at the airport?

[00:03:12]>> sir.

[00:03:14]>> Really? I just got here probably 20 minutes ago and I've seen 100 people taking pictures.

[00:03:18]>> not like preaching or anything.

[00:03:19]>> What do you mean?

[00:03:20]>> Hold on. Hold on.

[00:03:21]>> I'm going to go over.

[00:03:23]I don't even know what that means.

[00:03:25]>> Why?

[00:03:29]Why is it closed?

[00:03:31]>> Can I just ask your name so I know who told me?

[00:03:33]>> Yeah, hold on. My boss is coming. He'll come right over.

[00:03:35]>> Your name is hold on my boss is coming?

[00:03:37]You just You just gave me a directive.

[00:03:40]>> Yeah, my name's Donna.

[00:03:41]>> Okay, Donna. Thank you.

[00:03:42]>> difficult.

[00:03:43]>> Why are you guys so cheery?

[00:03:45]Like smile, man. Relax. What do you guys are all like uh uh >> We've been here since 3:30 this morning, so >> Well, that's a that's a life choice, right?

[00:03:53]No reason to take it out on me.

[00:03:55]>> I'm not taking anything out on you, sir.

[00:03:57]>> Okay.

[00:04:02]What she said?

[00:04:03]>> She said you're not allowed to film in the airport.

[00:04:05]>> Not allowed to film in the airport. And she told me you need authorization.

[00:04:09]Interesting. Well, I don't know. Anyway.

[00:04:16]>> The moment this footage hit the internet, the verdict was unanimous in the comments. Public place, absolute right to film.

[00:04:24]Slam dunk First Amendment violation, easy money. I want to be the one who tells you the truth instead of the one who tells you what feels good. That instinct is incomplete, and inside an airport it can be flat wrong. Here is the case that controls this, and the activist channels conveniently skipped it. International Society for Krishna Consciousness versus Lee, decided by the Supreme Court in 1992. The court looked at exactly this kind of place, an airport terminal run by a public authority, and held that it is what the law calls a nonpublic forum, not a public park, not a public sidewalk, a nonpublic forum, and that label changes everything. In a public park, the government basically cannot touch your right to be there with a camera. In a nonpublic forum, the government is allowed to impose restrictions as long as those restrictions are reasonable, and as long as they are viewpoint neutral, meaning they do not target you for what you are saying or who you are.

[00:05:20]So, anyone telling you that an airport terminal is an automatic no questions asked film anything you want zone is selling you a fantasy. Do not invert that holding. If you walk into court swinging the slam dunk argument, the airport's lawyers will hand you the Krishna case, and you will lose the room in about 90 seconds.

[00:05:38]>> Nice glasses.

[00:05:42]Hey.

[00:05:42]>> Hey, my name is Joe.

[00:05:43]>> How you doing, Joe?

[00:05:44]>> I'm on the marketing team here.

[00:05:45]>> Okay.

[00:05:46]>> Uh I see you gentlemen are out here filming.

[00:05:47]>> Yes, sir. May I ask what for?

[00:05:49]>> Just looking for some creative shots and >> Sure. So, are you with an outlet?

[00:05:53]>> No.

[00:05:54]>> Okay. Then, what is this project for?

[00:05:57]>> Just for myself.

[00:05:58]>> Okay. So, unfortunately, we can't have you out here taking photos.

[00:06:02]Um It's not an area that we allow photography without any kind of prior clearance.

[00:06:07]>> What's not allowed?

[00:06:08]>> Sorry?

[00:06:09]>> I don't understand.

[00:06:10]>> So, if we have media coming out, we have a process if it's for commercial So, filming we have a process.

[00:06:16]>> Okay.

[00:06:16]>> Um but I can't have you guys out here taking photos.

[00:06:18]>> a father and son taking pictures.

[00:06:19]>> No, I know, but there's a lot of different areas of lease spacing and operational impacts. So, unfortunately, can't have you guys >> Lease spacing? You have to speak English. I don't understand what that means.

[00:06:29]>> So, some of this property belongs to the airport, some of it doesn't, some of it is leased by these businesses. We have operations that are occurring here and >> and I don't know if you've noticed what I'm doing, uh but didn't cross into your TSA >> No, I understand.

[00:06:42]>> And and I'm not going into any of the private areas.

[00:06:44]>> That's fine. So, what you can do is if you'd like to be in baggage claim, you can take some photos in there and otherwise we can't have you out >> There's nothing interesting in baggage claim.

[00:06:51]>> But I can't have you out here taking photos.

[00:06:53]>> Can you show me where that's in the policy?

[00:06:57]>> Uh I don't have it on me, but we do have a process for people coming out and taking photography.

[00:07:01]>> Well, if it's if they're media, professional, commercial >> Yes, but still >> That's not what I'm doing.

[00:07:06]>> Okay, but still can't have you out here taking photos.

[00:07:08]>> I don't Well, if you show me, I'd be happy to take a look at whatever you have.

[00:07:13]But I mean, anybody could just walk up to tell me I'm not allowed to wear a burgundy shirt here.

[00:07:16]>> Sure, but >> I don't believe that to be the case.

[00:07:19]>> We have a process for people coming in and taking photography.

[00:07:22]>> I have been here for maybe half an hour and I've seen a hundred people taking pictures >> [music] >> and video.

[00:07:26]>> But I'm telling you for this kind of equipment, for this kind of thing, we have a process in place.

[00:07:29]>> of equipment?

[00:07:30]>> With having a big cameras out and >> So, what is it about? Is it about the big cameras or is it about the briefcase?

[00:07:37]>> Thank you.

[00:07:38]>> Thanks.

[00:07:38]>> Excuse me, sir.

[00:07:40]>> Yes.

[00:07:41]>> Hey, I'm Scott Scherer. I'm the director of security >> Nice to meet you. My name is Jason.

[00:07:45]>> Nice to meet you, Jason.

[00:07:47]>> And you?

[00:07:48]>> Nice to meet you.

[00:07:49]>> What Can I ask what you guys are doing?

[00:07:50]>> Oh, we're just getting some We're first time in the airport here in Vegas.

[00:07:54]>> Okay.

[00:07:55]Are you Are you flying out today?

[00:07:58]>> here in Vegas.

[00:07:59]>> Okay. So, we actually require a permit to do videoing. Do you have a permit with us?

[00:08:07]>> permit to take >> That That is correct.

[00:08:10]Yes.

[00:08:11]>> I've been here for a half an hour. I've seen 100 people taking pictures and video.

[00:08:15]You actually have a static display down here to take pictures.

[00:08:17]>> Can you Do you have your camera on?

[00:08:18]>> I do.

[00:08:19]>> Can you turn it off, please?

[00:08:20]>> Oh.

[00:08:21]I don't think I want to turn it off right now, but you can find it out a whole bunch of different ways.

[00:08:25]>> I don't want I wouldn't want you to video me.

[00:08:27]>> What's the issue with taking pictures?

[00:08:29]>> It's not permitted at the airport if you don't have business at the airport.

[00:08:32]>> Is that like part of the airport >> It's It's part of a law we have on the books here in Nevada. So, you have to have bonafide purposes to be here in the airport. Flying out, coming in, etc. If you don't, you're you're not permitted to be in the airport. Okay?

[00:08:48]>> Is that part Is that like Is that Nevada state law?

[00:08:50]>> It's Nevada Revised Statutes.

[00:08:52]>> It is?

[00:08:52]>> Yes.

[00:08:53]It's called public contact public conduct airport rules.

[00:08:56]>> Public contact I'm completely unaware of that.

[00:08:57]>> Okay. Well, most people aren't, so we're telling you now. So, you have to have official business Correct?

[00:09:03]>> to be in the airport.

[00:09:04]>> That's correct.

[00:09:05]>> I've been at so many airports across the country.

[00:09:06]>> We just have a lot of people who love to loiter in the airport and >> I'm not saying you're doing that, but again, you have to have bonafide purpose to be here at the airport.

[00:09:16]>> Can I just ask for my education what Nevada Revised Statutes >> I don't have the numbers. I could I'll find it. Can you Can you get me the NRS for airport rules, please? You can read it if you want, but >> So, if it is not a slam dunk, why is there a real lawsuit here?

[00:09:31]Because once you take the slam dunk off the table, what is left is actually strong, and these are the points the loud voices online never get to because they spent all their credibility on the easy version. Point one, this was a publicly accessible part of the airport before security, the part of the building any member of the public can walk into, and they were photographing things in plain public view, airplanes.

[00:09:54]That is squarely inside what the law protects as newsgathering. Even in a nonpublic forum, a restriction still has to be reasonable, and quietly photographing planes from a public lobby is about as harmless as human activity gets. Point two, and this is the big one, the officers could not correctly name the law they were enforcing. The rule that actually governs conduct on that property is not a Nevada revised statute, it is a Clark County ordinance, Clark County Code Section 20.04.070, titled simply public conduct, governing conduct on airport property. A county ordinance. The officer on camera called it a state statute. He got the source of his own authority wrong on video while using it to remove a citizen.

[00:10:39]Point three, the line we flagged earlier, we do not have to show you the documentation. When an officer cannot cite the rule, cannot name the rule correctly, and then refuses to even point to it, what you are watching is not law enforcement. It is enforcement with no law attached. Courts have a word for that. They call it arbitrary and standardless, and arbitrary standardless enforcement against someone exercising a First Amendment right exactly the kind of thing that survives a motion to dismiss and gets a city writing a check.

[00:11:10]Point four, yes, airports can require permits for commercial film shoots. A permit scheme like that is generally legal as a time, place, and manner rule, but there is a world of difference between a film crew with lights and a tripod blocking a concourse and one man with a camera taking pictures of planes with his kid. The second you apply a commercial production permit to an individual journalist, and you cannot articulate why you are no longer regulating conduct. You are picking who gets to record, and picking who gets to record based on nothing is how a viewpoint neutral rule becomes a viewpoint problem. So >> Okay, once I show you this, are you going to leave?

[00:11:48]>> Absolutely.

[00:11:49]>> Okay. This officer's going to show it to you.

[00:11:50]>> Okay.

[00:11:53]May I Can I can look at it?

[00:11:56]>> That's not my problem.

[00:11:58]>> Uh No person use abusive, insulting, obscene language Something's came up on the screen, it's blocking it.

[00:12:10]So, no person use abusive, insulting, obscene, loud voice or assistant in another place or anything, all right?

[00:12:13]Not that. No person shall singly or socially with those by their conduct or congregation seek to obstruct, delay, or unreasonable All right, not doing that. No person remain in or any area, place, or facility at an airport unless such person has a bonafide purpose for being in such area, place, or facility directly related to normal regulations. So, so that's the paragraph that you're referencing.

[00:12:32]Correct.

[00:12:33]>> Okay.

[00:12:34]That's the deal, that's the deal. So, how do I get a permit?

[00:12:37]Is that something I go to >> You can go on >> city hall for?

[00:12:41]>> No, you can go on the website.

[00:12:42]>> Okay. Oh, this is a big response for some guys taking pictures, huh?

[00:12:46]>> Um you can go on the website, and there's should be a link there >> On the airport's website?

[00:12:52]>> to do a permit.

[00:12:54]>> Yep. Okay. And can just Can a father and son that are just not professional get a permit or is it restricted to >> I don't I don't approve them, so you would have to apply and contact with our public affairs, and they would determine what your purpose is, what >> Strip away the noise, and here is the honest question a judge is going to be asking.

[00:13:15]Was this a reasonable, neutrally applied restriction that the airport enforces against everyone the same way? If so, the airport probably wins. Or was this selective, standardless enforcement aimed at a journalist by officers who could not even name the rule.

[00:13:31]If so, Amagansett Press wins and wins big. I am not going to pretend I know which way that comes out because it is genuinely contestable and anyone who tells you they are certain is lying to you or selling you something. That is for a court. But I will tell you the facts on this tape lean a lot harder towards standardless than most airport removal cases I have ever seen. The we do not have to show you documentation line alone is the kind of thing that makes a federal judge lean >> I'm going to leave the airport now. You have a good day, brother.

[00:13:58]>> You as well.

[00:13:59]>> Yeah.

[00:14:02]Thank you. I appreciate it. And can I just get your name and badge number so I know who to put on the complaint there?

[00:14:06]>> Yeah.

[00:14:07]>> Your attitude's unbelievable.

[00:14:09]>> I've been nothing but courteous to you.

[00:14:10]>> Horny? That's your last name, Horny?

[00:14:11]>> Hornyak.

[00:14:12]>> Horn I couldn't say anything. Hornyak.

[00:14:14]>> Very funny.

[00:14:15]>> I really didn't say anything.

[00:14:16]>> badge number, 8407. You guys have a good day.

[00:14:19]>> it. Thanks for the smiles and good wishes and everything. Thank you. I appreciate that.

[00:14:23]Names and badge numbers?

[00:14:25]>> Officer?

[00:14:26]>> Can I get names and badge numbers just so I know who this is?

[00:14:28]>> Officer G. C. Drake, P. number 6846.

[00:14:30]>> Okay.

[00:14:31]>> Officer O'Connell, 9385.

[00:14:32]>> Thank you, sir.

[00:14:33]>> O'Connell, 15087.

[00:14:34]>> Thank you, sir.

[00:14:35]>> Officer Eaton, 15073.

[00:14:36]>> Thank you, sir.

[00:14:37]>> Officer Park, 1001.

[00:14:39]>> Thank you very much. I appreciate you, gentlemen. Have a good day.

[00:14:41]>> You too.

[00:14:46]>> Time for a margarita.

[00:14:47]>> [laughter] >> Have a good day, guys.

[00:14:51]>> Which brings us to the headline.

[00:14:53]$1.7 million.

[00:14:55]I need to be straight with you about that figure.

[00:14:58]Because being straight with you is the only thing I am actually selling on this channel. That number comes from the activist video reacting to this case. I have not seen it confirmed in a filed federal complaint or in any court record, and I went looking. So treat it as the demand, the ask, the opening number, not a verdict, and not a check anyone has written. And let me anchor your expectations honestly because I respect you too much to wave a seven-figure number in your face and walk away. First Amendment removal cases, the ones where someone is wrongly told to leave a public space, do not usually settle in the millions.

[00:15:34]Amagansett Press himself has been here before. A removal case of his against a post office in Silverthorne resolved for around $9,500.

[00:15:43]Other right-to-record fights, like the long litigation out of Lynn Haven, Florida, ran for years for far more modest stakes than seven figures. So, could this case make real money, force a policy change at the airport, and put a published opinion on the books that protects the next photographer?

[00:15:59]Absolutely. And that is the part that actually matters. Will it be a $1.7 million payday? I would not bet your rent on it. The value here is not the lottery number. The value is the principle, and a federal court order is worth more to the next person with a camera than any settlement check.

[00:16:16]>> He's doing this YouTube thing, and uh just trying to have some good clean fun, but evidently here you can't do that type of thing. So, pretty strange.

[00:16:24]Um but you know, we had absolutely no choice but to leave. You can't argue these things out on the street. Uh cops are going to go by the law, sheriffs are going to go by the law.

[00:16:31]And uh the only place that change is going to happen is in a courtroom. We didn't get to take all the pictures we wanted. We were eventually going to go out and get some shots of the planes, uh some video of the planes, maybe some taking off, landing, that kind of thing.

[00:16:42]Uh but it got shut down abruptly by the powers that be. So, let us know what you think.

[00:16:47]Chime in in the comments. Very interested to hear what your take is on this whole thing.

[00:16:51]>> So, let me leave you with the thing you can actually use, because that is the whole point of this channel.

[00:16:56]What does filming at an airport really mean? Think of an airport in three layers. The outside, the curb, the public exterior. That is the most protected. Stand on a public sidewalk and photograph the terminal all day.

[00:17:09]Second layer, the public lobby before the security checkpoint. The ticketing hall, the windows where you watch the planes. You have strong rights there, but they are not unlimited because of the Krishna case. The airport can enforce reasonable neutral rules. Third layer, anything past security or in an operational employees only area. That is a genuine non-public zone and your camera rights shrink fast. And if a staff member or an officer ever approaches you in that second layer, here is the entire encounter in five words.

[00:17:41]Am I being detained? Why? You stay calm.

[00:17:44]You stay still. You ask what specific law you are violating and if they cannot name it, you do exactly what this father did. You gather the badge numbers and you let your lawyer win it in a courtroom, not your temper on the floor.

[00:17:58]That five-word habit and the dozen others like it that decide whether you walk away clean or hand them a case against you is exactly what I put in my book, Know Your Rights, Make Them Pay.

[00:18:07]What to say, when to record, and how to hold police accountable without making it worse for yourself.

[00:18:13]It comes with a 7-day money-back guarantee, so there is no risk in it for you. The link is at the top of the description.

[00:18:20]>> All right, guys. That was crazy. Um interesting uh little experience at the airport there. Uh evidently, it's not okay for a father and son to be out in Las Vegas, Nevada at the airport uh taking some pictures and video. It's a little strange to me because years ago when I was a kid, uh I was in New York and I'm talking about when I was probably 5 to 10 years old. My father used to drive me over to Kennedy Airport, sometimes LaGuardia, uh which was a decent drive. It was probably a little under an hour. And we used to spend the day watching the planes take off. He would teach me all about the uh how you could tell what kind of a plane it was from the engine configuration, like a 727 has two tail engines and uh an L-1011 has two tail engines and or DC-10, I forget now. It's a long time ago. It had another third engine up on the tail.

[00:19:09]Um Um, just I mean, fascinating the memories that I have. And what was really cool was that was back when the Concord was flying and I remember parking up at the chain link fence at the end of the runway and watching the Concord take off over us and taking pictures and photographs. It was really really cool and I have some really cool memories of me and my dad doing that.

[00:19:27]And uh >> description. And if you want to go deeper than a single case, every week I break down one new police accountability story for the members of this channel in the defense brief, the cases the news skips and the exact rights they touch.

[00:19:41]It is the easiest way to support work like this and actually get sharper at protecting yourself while you do it.

[00:19:47]There is a join button right under this video.

[00:19:50]This case is going to be a fight and it should be because the question underneath it is not really about one airport or one camera. It is whether a man with a badge can walk up to a citizen, refuse to name the law and make him leave anyway. The answer to that question is supposed to be no. Now we find out if a court agrees. I'm George Graves. Know your rights.