Las Vegas Police Arrest TikTok Livestreamers and Tell Them ‘You Should’ve Shut Your Mouth’
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) has launched an internal affairs investigation after officers arrested two livestreamers last Thursday in an apparent retaliatory arrest.
LMPD officers arrested TikTok streamer Karlin Martinez and another man in the early hours of Thursday morning for failing to disperse after police declared an unlawful assembly several hours prior in response to a large protest. However, a video shows that the group of officers marching by Martinez and the other man were largely ignoring the duo—except for some mocking comments from the officers—and walking away until the man shouted back, “How about honor your oath, bitch?”
At that point, the group of officers turned back around and violently arrested Martinez and the other man, making comments like “Don’t run your mouth at me” and “This ain’t fucking L.A.”
Recording the police and cursing at the police are both firmly protected free speech under the First Amendment, but despite that, police illegally arrest people for doing both with disturbing frequency.
Watch the video below:
@mikiewatsofficial2 The police walked by with 1 officer getting agitated and even admitting that @itsmztoonz put a camera in his face which is not grounds for an arrest. The other person with her did make a comment responding to the officer instigating it which is still not grounds for arrest. No warnings were given just aresst him. @LVMPD RELEASE THEM!!!!! #lasvegas #viral #news #breakingnews #trumpprotest #kingsday2025 #protest #unlawfularrest #releasefromcustody #lasvegasmetropolitanpolice #lvmpd #freedomofspeech #laprotest #righttoprotest
“When I am doing this, all I see is a bunch of cops, dude, I didn’t even count them, I don’t know how many and they just shove me against the fence,” Martinez told Las Vegas TV news outlet KSNV. “I was cooperative, so what was the reason for so many police officers? For what? To prove a point?”
A LVMPD spokesperson said in a statement to Reason that the incident is being investigated by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau but did not provide the names of the officers involved or any other information.
Martinez’s attorney, Stephen Stubb
Article from Reason.com
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