Jeremiah Payne’s most recent video saw something that viewers of the Tennessee based YouTuber do in quite some time as he would admit that he was wrong about a law after the events of the video played out.
Payne was in Clarksville, Tennessee, doing a first amendment audit of traffic stop in the parking area of a FredsOne gas station and convenience store. He observed as a Clarksville Police officer had a woman pulled over in a sports car.
He stayed less than ten feet away from the scene for most of the video, interacting with the driver to ascertain that she was speeding. When the Clarksville police officer directed Payne to stay 25 feet from the scene, Payne refused to do so and began to argue that the Supreme Court said it was ten feet.
When he was again directed to stand 25 feet from the active area, Payne went on a profanity laced tirade against the officer. He complained that 25 feet would prevent him from picking up audio from the scene and that the officer had nothing to fear with him at the scene since the officer was armed.
Payne continued to swear at the officer and hurl insults until the officer drove off.
Tennessee enacted HB0055 earlier this year, which, according to its online summary, “creates a Class B misdemeanor for a person to intentionally approach, within 25 feet, a law enforcement officer who is lawfully engaged in the execution of the officer’s official duties after the officer has ordered the person to stop approaching or to retreat.”
The bill also makes it illegal for a suspect to refuse to provide their name or give false name to a police officer if the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the person has violated or is violating a state law or local ordinance.
HB0055 also makes it illegal to place a sign, signal or marking over a highway or to affix a sign, signal or marking to a bridge, overpass or tunnel without written authorization from the entity that maintains the structure.
Strangely, the bill also outlaws littering and trespassing on real or personal property of another person, “with the intent to unlawfully intimidate another from the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured by the constitution or laws of the state of Tennessee.”
Payne would later continue to express his outrage at the law in the comments area of the video, “I did Google it. There is a 25 foot thing\n By Tennessee State law, but if you stand 25 feet away, you’re not going to hear nothing that is going on, and that is the whole point of recording it to make sure that cops isnt ying to them or trying to violate their rights. These f****** p**** cops in Clarksville, Tennessee, they know who I am, and they know I’m not going to do anything to them, but yet they’re so big of p******, even the one man they know isn’t going to do nothing to them. They’re scared of. so, my question is, if you’re that f****** scared even of a man. You know, for a fact, has never assaulted a cop. And will never assault a cop. Because I’m not willing to use any amount of violence necessary to get them to submit to my will like they are. Why become a cop if you’re that big of a p****”
HB0055 went into effect statewide on July 1, 2025.
