Matt Agorist | The Libertarian Institute

WATCH: ‘Fashion Police’ Harass Woman for Wearing Short Shorts

by Matt Agorist | May 11, 2021 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

An Oklahoma mother was detained by police and humiliated on her family vacation after an officer accused her of wearing shorts that were too short. A TikTok video of the incident has sparked quite the backlash online and garnered support for the young mother. On April 30, Bailey Breedlove took her children to Frontier City, a Six Flags amusement park in Oklahoma City. For the first couple of hours, she and her family had an amazing time. The good times quickly came to a halt, however, when a uniformed police officer approached her. Breedlove explained that police originally approached her...

Woman Stops To Assist Man Hit By Car, Drunk Cop Hits & Kills Them Both

by Matt Agorist | May 10, 2021 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

A tragedy unfolded in Maryland this month when Berlynn Matthews, 21, stopped to help Joshua Day, 34, who had been struck by a vehicle while crossing the road. Tragically, as Matthews rendered aid to Day, a man whose job consists of locking people up for driving drunk, came by driving drunk, and killed them both. Three days after Matthews and Day were killed on the roadside, Baltimore County Police Department disclosed that Baltimore County Police Officer William Collazo-Brown, 24, was the person responsible for their deaths. Collazo-Brown’s police powers were suspended and he was...

Police Numbers Plummet as Killer Cops Held Accountable

by Matt Agorist | May 6, 2021 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

New reports from across the country show that police departments are unable to keep their numbers up as fewer people are applying to be cops and record numbers of cops are seeking early retirement or simply quitting. There is a police recruitment crisis in America but this should not surprise anyone and can serve as a major opportunity, if we seize it. Though calls for police accountability have been becoming louder over the last few years, the movement sparked by the murder of George Floyd set off a powder keg which has led to historical reform from coast to coast. As a result of the push...

Cop Walks Up, Sucker Punches Random Teen

by Matt Agorist | May 4, 2021 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

On the day he was attacked by those he has been told are their for his protection, high school sophomore, Carlos Rodriguez had committed no crime, was not suspected of committing a crime, and was simply being a kid. However, his innocent, compliance with officer orders, and his young age were no defense against the brutal and despicable actions of Harris County sheriff’s deputy Bert Dillow. The incident originally took place on March 26 and despite video evidence capturing the unprovoked assault on a child, Dillow remained a deputy for over a month and was only just fired last week. He has...

Cops Sic Dog on Sleeping 13 Year Old Boy, Falsely Accuse Him of Stealing Car

by Matt Agorist | May 3, 2021 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

The Cedar Rapids police department was slapped with a lawsuit this week by the mother of a 13-year-old boy who was mauled by a police K-9 as he slept in the backyard. According to the lawsuit, the boy was wrongly accused of being involved in a car theft when he was attacked by the K-9 and arrested “simply by virtue of his race and appearance.” The attack unfolded on August 12, 2020 and was captured on police body camera. The boy’s mother, Tonya Marie Adams filed an open records request in November to get the video and it was released this week. According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the...

Don’t Stop with Chauvin: A List of Unprosecuted Killer Cops

by Matt Agorist | Apr 28, 2021 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

On Tuesday former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin found guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Chauvin was seen on video kneeling on the neck of George Floyd — who was handcuffed and not resisting — for over 8 minutes, until he died. Had video of the incident not existed, the chances of Chauvin even being charged would have been non-existent. Even with the video, Chauvin’s case is extremely rare as cops who kill are almost never held accountable. Finding a police officer facing a murder charge for an on-duty shooting is like...

A Majority of Police Killings in 2020 Began With a Phone Call Mentioning No Crime or Violent Offense

by Matt Agorist | Apr 20, 2021 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

Unless you never turn on the television or go on the internet, then you likely know American police kill hundreds of people every year with impunity. 1,127 — that is the number of lives brought to an end by “peace officers” in the land of the free in 2020. One-thousand, one-hundred, and twenty seven lives taken by the bullets, tasers, vehicles, fists, and knees of American cops. If the governments of other countries were killing their citizens in such large numbers, the United Nations would have declared it a humanitarian crisis. But in the land of the free, it’s policy. Of the 1,127 deaths...

Cops Enter Person’s Yard, Shoot 18 Week Old Puppy That ‘Couldn’t Even Bark Yet’

by Matt Agorist | Apr 14, 2021 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

Since Saturday night, Derek Brown and Julie-Barecki Brown have been morning the loss of their 18-week-old puppy named Apollo. Apollo didn’t die from being hit by a car or from medical complications, however, his life was taken from him by a member of New Orleans’ finest. The couple told 4WWL they had gotten in a verbal argument the night a New Orleans police officer entered their yard and killed their puppy. “Married couples do that,” Derek Brown said of the argument, adding that it shouldn’t have warranted a police response,” We weren’t drawing guns.” Julie told the outlet she heard her...