# Rapper Afroman uses baseless cop-raid footage in music videos, is sued by cops **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 24, 2023, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594 "2023-03-24T15:15:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/21 "2023-03-24T18:25:56Z")
Certainly breaking down the door was baseless. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/22 "2023-03-24T18:34:47Z")
Can you tell me what evidence the police used to justify their actions? I doubt it, as they have not showed any basis whatsoever for their “probable cause”. I’d say it’s on the police to demonstrate the basis for their actions, not just have it assumed that they had them. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/23 "2023-03-24T19:39:58Z")
iiandiiiii was the one who declared it definitively baseless. I am not assuming they had a basis, but I am also not assuming that they did not. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/24 "2023-03-24T19:43:49Z")
Unless and until they show a basis, I’ll assume they didn’t. They didn’t find anything, and one of the charges on the warrant was kidnapping. I don’t assume good faith when cops violently execute warrants on the property of peaceful black men that find absolutely nothing. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/25 "2023-03-24T19:44:01Z")
As I said, unless they can show that they had a basis for it, then I would assume that it was baseless. ETA: ninja’d by iiandyiiii. They have the option of showing the evidence they had to believe that he was involved in kidnapping and trafficking. That they have not leads me to believe that they didn’t have any. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/26 "2023-03-24T19:45:18Z")
When police act like pigs they should be called pigs. When police act like heroes they should be called heroes. The situation defines the terms, not the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/27 "2023-03-24T20:02:47Z")
More succinctly, the _behavior_ decides the label. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/28 "2023-03-24T20:06:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > When police act like pigs they should be called pigs. What if they act like criminals? Now that I think on it, _is_ it really fair to compare them to pigs? I’ve never met a pig that broke the law. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/29 "2023-03-24T20:06:23Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > What evidence do you have that it was a “baseless search”? The article indicates that it had probable cause but neither provides evidence for that or refutes it. …a few years ago I may have been on your side of the fence here. But not any more. “Probably cause” has come to be as meaningless as “stop resisting” as a catch-all phrases to get the cops out of trouble. I no longer just accept anything the police (in America) say any more. I just assume everything is (charitably) an exaggeration until proven otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/30 "2023-03-24T23:44:30Z")
Which police’s word do you trust, just to ask? I’m always curious if the police situation here in the States is uniquely bad among “advanced” countries. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/31 "2023-03-25T03:46:17Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I’ve never met a pig that broke the law. They commit assault some times. > **[Think you had a rough commute? Japanese salaryman gets jumped by wild boar on...](https://soranews24.com/2018/11/07/think-you-had-a-rough-commute-japanese-salaryman-gets-jumped-by-wild-boar-on-way-to-work%E3%80%90vid%E3%80%91/)** > > After knocking him down, the animal came back to try to finish the job. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/32 "2023-03-25T13:28:06Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I’m always curious if the police situation here in the States is uniquely bad among “advanced” countries. …the United States doesn’t have a police force. It has just under 18,000 different police agencies, ranging from the NYPD with over 30,000 officers, to Sheriffs that get elected by the people. That in itself is something that is uniquely American. And it’s one of the things which stands in the way of serious reform. America locks up more people per capita than anywhere else in the [world](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country).74% haven’t been [convicted](https://www.csmonitor.com/Podcasts/Perception-Gaps/Season-2-Locked-Up/perception_gaps_s2_ep_01). And that _starts_ with the police. They are the ruthless enforcers of a broken system. You can’t get to the point where you are locking up more people than the rest of the world if the police aren’t indiscriminately jailing people that shouldn’t be jailed. You can’t get to that point if the system had effective civilian oversight. And its why I have no reason to trust anything I hear from them. 18,000 different agencies, all with no real effective oversight, infractions documented daily here in the “controversial encounters” thread, we’ve got dopers from all over the world…yet how many stories do you see that don’t come out of the US? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/33 "2023-03-25T13:37:27Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > 18,000 different agencies, all with no real effective oversight, …and the power to destroy you. If you are arrested on bogus charges, and the charges are dropped, there is _still_ a record of it. And it could affect your job prospects for the rest of your life, even though you’re 100% innocent. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/34 "2023-03-25T14:05:39Z")
I’ve posted this before. I was arrested on charges that were so bogus the prosecutor confessed he was aggravated by it. My lawyer was an ex ADA, who said he saw this all the time in that county. Population rapidly diversifying. Police force almost 100% white [and resentful] got their jollies from harassing affluent Black and Asian people moving into the nicer subdivisions. And of course I paid a lawyer $$$ to make sure I didn’t somehow get an actual criminal record if officer racist decided to invent something under oath. And gave up trying to get my $800 bail back. I jumped through all the hoops but they never issued the check. I was also detained under suspicion of driving a stolen car in another state. After a Sergeant arrived the original officer said he must have fat fingered the VIN. Right. I’ve never so much as had a parking ticket. My “crime” in both cases was appearing prosperous while Brown. Nevertheless I had an arrest record that turned up on background checks and a Google search of my name brought up a mug shot as one of the first few results for a decade or more. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/35 "2023-03-25T16:44:27Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I’ve never met a pig that broke the law. Qualified immunity. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/36 "2023-03-25T17:43:38Z")
Here’s where I’m confused. **A lawyer took their case. And cashed their check.** This screams “unethical” to me because it’s patently obvious that these plaintiffs have no case; and at least two lawyers whose videos I’ve watched, one of whom is from Ohio (where the case was filed), lay out in exacting detail how and why these cops have no case. Once a judge throws out the case, is the Ohio Bar Association going to sanction this clown for filing the case? \*It’s possible, though unlikely, that these cops filed _pro se_, in which case my claim that they hired a lawyer is false. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/37 "2023-03-25T17:50:10Z")
Another incident in Ohio has concluded [as seen in this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-onion-gets-serious-about-qualified-immunity/972766). @gnoitall summed it up quite neatly in the last post there. In Ohio, the feelings of rogue police officers must be considered first and above all else. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/38 "2023-03-25T18:25:13Z")
Now, I’ve been to Adams county, I had a few friends that lived there. It’s small, rural, and _very_ white (97.7%). It’s also the poorest county in Ohio. Afroman’s family literally makes up 5% of the Black population there (and probably possesses a substantial portion of the wealth). I’d actually wouldn’t be surprised to see this case go ahead and even find in the plaintiff’s favor. I think it will certainly lose on appeal to any higher court that’s not made of the “salt of the Earth” populace of the county, but as for the initial trial, I wouldn’t expect a fair one. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/39 "2023-03-25T19:56:22Z")
Have you ever been arrested? That’s a question that presupposes guilt even if the charges were idiotic. Employers sometimes ask it nevertheless. > **[Opinion | Have You Ever Been Arrested? Check Here (Published 2016)](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/opinion/have-you-ever-been-arrested-check-here.html)** > > A minor criminal record can interfere with employment, housing and education — for life. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2023, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594/40 "2023-03-26T12:18:10Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Have you ever been arrested? That’s a question that presupposes guilt even if the charges were idiotic. Employers sometimes ask it nevertheless. > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/opinion/have-you-ever-been-arrested-check-here.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/opinion/have-you-ever-been-arrested-check-here.html) Lol, i dont think employers care anymore. Heck, they’ve suspended drug testing. Can’t find warm bodies… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rapper-afroman-uses-baseless-cop-raid-footage-in-music-videos-is-sued-by-cops/981594.md?page=3)