Funny and sad at the same time: Cops catch sovereign-citizen literally drunk asleep at the wheel.

[DetlefK]

This guy was so drunk, he fell asleep in his car, at a traffic-light, in the middle of one of the busiest intersections of Cleveland. And he was still drunk when the cops woke him up.
- "So, you are saying that sleeping is now a crime?"
- "Impeding traffic is a crime! You are blocking these cars behind you!"
- "No, I'm not... I don't see any cars..."

Down in the Youtube comment-section, somebody wrote that the cops allowed this situation to go on for that long because he might have refused a breathalyzer-test or might have been under the influence of some drug a field-test might not have found. So the cops let this play out to later use the video as evidence in court that he was under the influence.





Some clarifications for people who are not familiar with sovereign-citizens:

1. They think that traffic-laws only apply to you if you are driving for commercial purposes. (Real-life: Federal traffic laws are for commercial drivers only, state traffic-laws are for everybody.)

2. They think that they don't need to provide ID until it has been established that they committed a crime.

3. They think that it doesn't count as a crime unless somebody has actually been bodily harmed.

4. They think that your LEGAL persona as it exists in the documents ("the person&quot is subject to laws, but your body, your "flesh and bones", is not.

5. They think that if a cop asks you "Do you understand?", and you say "Yes", that means that you entered an oral contract with the cop that you now "stand under" his authority. That's why sovereign-citizens always say No, when you ask them if they understand. That's why this sov-cit says that he "overstands" the cop.

6. They have these scripts. E.g. they think that if they only recite the correct words to a cop, he has to let him go. "I'm not a person, this is not a car, this is my vessel, this vessel is my private property, the right to travel is in the Constitution and means that I don't need drivers-license, vehicle-code is for commercial drivers only..." Sovereign-citizens DO NOT LISTEN. They never stop asking questions and they never stop reciting their script.




It's also really fun to watch sovereign-citizens in court. The script goes like this:

1. Stall the judge by claiming that you are about to plead guilty, but you have a few more questions before you do that.

2. Jurisdiction can be challenged at every point during the trial. (Real-life: That's correct.)

3. They think that the pre-trial hearing is part of the trial. (It isn't. The trial will only happen if you plead "not guilty". If you plead "guilty", you get sentenced without there even being a trial.)

4. The sovereign-citizen thinks that the prosecutor and the judge have to prove TO HIM during the pre-trial-hearing that this court has jurisdiction over the defendant. So the judge only has jurisdiction over the sov-cit if the sov-cit says so.
In real-life, during the pre-trial hearing all the judge needs to establish jurisdiction over you is the allegation that the crime occurred in his jurisdiction. During the trial, the jurisdiction of the court is established by the prosecution by presenting evidence where the crime occurred.

5. And even in instances where the sov-cit could actually challenge jurisdiction, he thinks that merely saying that you do is good enough. Actually you have to file a legal motion, laying out your arguments in writing why this court doesn't have jurisdiction over you.

Also, there is stuff about Common Law, Admirality Law, the Articles of Confederation, the sov-cit attempting a citizens-arrest of the judge because the judge is violating their rights...

I saw a case, where the judge did his administrative stuff during a pre-trial hearing and then left court. The sov-cits REJOICED! One of them promptly declared that the judge had "vacated the ship", declared himself the judge of this court and dismissed his own case! IT'S THAT EASY!

[brewens]

1. I was delivering beer to a local bar one morning, just sitting drinking coffee with the bartender

when this guy walks in. About ten in the morning, orders a beer, and tells us he just got out of jail for DUI.

He and his buddy left the bar and pulled into a convenience store t grab some more beer. While his buddy is inside, this guy passes out at the wheel. A cop spots him and pulls in. He does like these cops, but the dude is half-way normal. The cop tells him he could get him for DUI, but since he didn't see him driving, he was going to let him go, but did not want to see that car move. This was about 1987 when a guy could still get a break like that.

So after the cop leaves and his buddy gets in, they wait a little while, don't see the cop, and he drives off! Of course the cop was hidden watching and nails him! At that point, the bartender and I would have beat the shit out of him, but we didn't want to go to jail!

That was back when a lot of us drank and drove a lot, but I tried to always know I was okay at least. Maybe not under the limit, but good enough to have a good chance if I did get pulled over. These were the last of the days when a cop would give you a break like that, and we thought guys like that were fucking it up for the rest of us.