YouTuber and activist Bryan “Chuck Bronson” Wilkins was briefly detained Wednesday night into Thursday morning by the Hillsborough, Florida, County Sheriff’s department for allegedly violating Florida’s so-called “Halo Law” before a consortium of YouTubers, including Warren Sapp, Jose “Chille” DeCastro and Eyes on the State arranged for his release.
Former NFL Football star Sapp and Eyes on the State were having dinner when Wilkins went to check on police activity. Wilkins came across a scene of multiple police vehicles at an apparently accident scene and was largely ignored before a female voice told him to step back from the scene.
A male officer then reacted to Wilkins, directing him to stay 25 feet away from the police officers. That officer would direct Wilkins away from the scene twice and putting him in an area roughly 25 feet from the nearest police vehicle.
He was arrested, coincidentally, after calling the police officer corrupt after moving slightly forward towards the scene and was charged with “Unlawfully impede, threaten, or harass first responder (MISC1415).
That charge is listed as a level 2 misdemeanor and Wilkins posed a cash bond of $150.00 before being released around 6:36AM Eastern Time.
This was one of the first cases of a Frist Amendment Auditor being charged with violating Florida’s “halo law.”
The Public listing for Florida’s “halo law” describes it as:
843.31 Approaching a first responder with specified intent after a warning.—
(1) As used in this section, the term:
(a) “First responder” includes a law enforcement officer as defined in s. 943.10(1), a correctional probation officer as defined in s. 943.10(3), a firefighter as defined in s. 784.07(1), and an emergency medical care provider as defined in s. 784.07(1).
(b) “Harass” means to willfully engage in a course of conduct directed at a first responder which intentionally causes substantial emotional distress in that first responder and serves no legitimate purpose.
(2)(a) It is unlawful for a person, after receiving a verbal warning not to approach from a person he or she knows or reasonably should know is a first responder, who is engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty, to knowingly and willfully violate such warning and approach or remain within 25 feet of the first responder with the intent to:
1. Impede or interfere with the first responder’s ability to perform such duty;
2. Threaten the first responder with physical harm; or
3. Harass the first responder.
(b) A person who violates this subsection commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
Multiple YouTubers went live in support of Wilkins while he was briefly detained. Most notably, YouTuber Eyes on the State was accompanied by NFL Legend Sapp on a livestream from the facility where Wilkins was being held.
YouTuber Jose “Chille” DeCastro also went live to support Wilkins, raising $386.00 in super chat donations in a vertically formatted stream that peaked at 803 concurrent viewers.
DeCastro stopped actively raising money for Wilkins’s bond when he was informed that Sapp would be covering the bond, later stating that he would use part of the money to repay Sapp for whatever he would expend in getting Wilkins out of jail.
The YouTuber did offer to refund a $300.00 super chat, but that resolved with him telling the person who made the donation that they’d work something out off air.
Eventually Sapp and Eyes on the State made contact with DeCastro on a lively call where they discussed Sapp’s growing presence in Florida’s First Amendment auditing community.
This is a breaking news story.
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