Controversial YouTuber Kevin “The Angry Vet” Soper went live Sunday night with his reaction to Texas’ plans to turn the crime of interference in a crime scene from a misdemeanor offense to a felony offense.
House Bill 3565 seeks to change the penalty for interference with official duties from a class B misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a $2,000.00 fine to a state jail felony with a maximum penalty of two years in jail and a $10,000.00 fine.
The bill would make no changes to the existing law, which currently allows officers to direct people to stand up to 30 feet away from the area they’re working in. Instead, it simply increases the penalty from a misdemeanor to a felony.
HB 3565, which has already passed Texas’ State Senate, is an apparent reaction to the increased pressure put on police in Tarrant County, Texas, by cop watchers and first amendment auditors such as Harvey Freebird, Manuel Mata and Carolina in Fort Worth.
In statements made during the public hearing Soper was watching from his comfortable bed in Maryland, those in support of the bill said that increased activity by cop watchers and auditors have made it more difficult to conduct routine traffic stops.
Supporters of the bill also pointed out that a misdemeanor offense is not strong enough to deter the behavior of those who would interfere with traffic stops as YouTube monetization plays a big role in why cop watchers seem to be filming police.
A video ending in an arrest brings in hundreds of thousands of views and a huge windfall for the person who was arrested. Recutting the video and rereleasing the video as YouTube remixes and shorts brings in more money and the increased exposure rewards them for breaking the law.
Some auditors have made it clear to police that they were willing to go to jail on a misdemeanor offense in order to profit from the arrest. Most recently, Carolina in Fort Worth blatantly strung up a series of arrests earlier in the year while out on bond for a misdemeanor conviction for interference.
Soper stopped the video at this point, yelling at his live audience that the interference is needed because those that cop watch prevent “dirty” cops from abusing the public. He then complained that the existing law’s instructions to stand 30 feet away is “unfair” because “you can’t hear anything from that far away.”
However, YouTuber Soper agreed that the auditors and cop watchers have made statements that the arrest would be worth it as they would protest off of the video of their arrests with little consequence.
Critics of Soper noted that YouTuber Carolina in Fort Worth must stay 25 feet away from police while filming under her current bond conditions. She has had no problems picking up audio from the police or stopping “bad cops” from carrying out their duties.
Soper went on to criticize the Tarrant County auditors for not making statements at the meeting he was watching. He wondered aloud if there was a single Governor of Texas as the state was so big and asked his fans to redress their grievances by brigading the Governor’s office.
The YouTuber then attacked first amendment auditors much like “Chille’s Angels” (Thomas “LetzOTVO” Prowitzky and Matthew “Brick Jonesy” Jones), who go on “snipe hunts” in seeking signed oaths of office rather than actively protesting changes to laws that would make their lives more difficult.
He further criticized “YouTube lawyers and activists” who file lawsuits that attack courts and fail to state claims. He said that telling the court to “stick it up their butt” in an unfriendly manner would never produce the results they were seeking.
Soper himself failed to take the opportunity to promote his own on-going hair cutting campaign, which seeks up to $15,000.00 to cut his hair as part of a Locks of Love donation. He was later joined on panel by someone named “Nickie” who briefly promoted the campaign.
Despite seeking a huge windfall of his own if the campaign is successful, Soper has done little to promote the campaign. Most recently openly laughing on livestreams in celebration of the failure of the first round of funding for the Locks of Love campaign.
YouTuber Clash with Bao took Sunday with another victory with $150.00 in donations to his legal defense fund.
Soper’s The Servicemen and Citizens for American Rights Society (SCARS) GoFundMe campaign has yet to see a donation this year.
