Friday night’s arrest of Robert “Harvey Freebird” Harvey may have given a significant victory to Texas State Legislatures seeking to change the classification of the crime of interference with police and first responders from a misdemeanor crime to a felony, punishable by two years in jail and a $10,000.00 fine.
The YouTuber and self-proclaimed journalist and civil rights activist Harvey raged on Sunday morning as he made the drive to the Galveston County jail to retrieve Bruce “Galveston Island Transparency” Allen who was being held on charges of failing to show identification to police.
It was the second trip to Galveston over the weekend for Harvey as less than twenty-four hours before, Allen and others retrieved Harvey from jail after he had been arrested Friday night on charges of walking the wrong way on a street by Galveston police.
Harvey and Allen were taking part in protests this weekend by Texas based auditors against what they claim are illegal state authorized driver’s license checkpoints and other crackdowns on public gatherings by Texas police.
Friday’s arrest of Harvey came as he stumbled across a police checkpoint manned by Galveston County police. When Harvey’s group went through the checkpoint, the driver was asked to present identification. The driver refused and was directed to do a U-Turn and go back to where the group came from.
Eventually, the driver showed his identification to the police, and the group was allowed to move down the road. The driver pulled over as Harvey complained that the driver did not follow his plan to refuse to show identification. The pair then walked down the road to confront police officers.
A third member of their group, only identified as John, was spotted by the group in the area that police had set up to search cars. Harvey walked into the area to find John and was stopped by the Galveston County sheriff, who indicated he was standing in a restricted area.
Harvey observed six cars in the process of being searched by police as officers set up crime scene tape to move Harvey’s group out of the scene. Dramatically declaring that the scene was worse than “Nazi Germany,” Harvey complied with police orders and stood behind the tape.
The YouTuber was reunited with “John,” who was dressed in a yellow vest with “press” written on it. Harvey began to scream at the police that police were “losers” and “nazi heroes.” He then demanded names and badge numbers of officers involved in putting up the tape.
Harvey eventually made his way to the actual police checkpoint where he stood on a concrete divider as police approached. He was then arrested for “walking on the wrong the side of the road” and taken into custody.
After the incident, Harvey was transferred to the Galveston County Sheriff’s office where he had an apparent panic attack. He said that he was transferred to an area hospital where he was treated for seven hours before being transferred to the Galveston County jail.
Allen paid Harvey’s $500.00 bond and Harvey was freed Saturday morning.
A similar situation played out Saturday night, where Allen was arrested for refusing to show identification at a checkpoint. Allen was taken into custody for the crime and held overnight at the Galveston County jail. Allen was released on his own recognizance Sunday morning.
Both of Harvey’s phones were confiscated in his Friday arrest. After picking up Allen on Sunday morning, Harvey traveled to the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office to attempt to retrieve his property. He was told that the phones were sized as evidence, and he needed to contact the “ID Department” on Monday morning.
Harvey protested that the department illegally seized a journalist’s phone in the course of his duties and that the officer helping him “admitted a crime.”
Through his weekend activity, Harvey became another example of the reasoning Texas politicians have given for attempting to change Texas’ interference laws from misdemeanor status to felony status.
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 has already been passed by the Texas State Senate and is expected to be called for a vote in the House in June.
Friday night, Harvey hurled insults at police officers and demanded badge numbers while standing inside a crime scene. While he eventually complied with police instructions to leave the restricted area, he provided to be a distraction at the scene and was eventually arrested.
His actions parallel what Texas legislators say is the motivation for changing the punishment level of the crime of interference with police duties. According to Social Blade’s report of his channel, Freebird makes between $225.00 and $3,600.00 per month from YouTube revenue and his monetized channel has 161,000 subscribers.
With a high-end estimate of $46,000.00 in yearly earnings from YouTube advertising alone, Freebird can currently afford to pay any fines associated with arrests for interference as the law stands now. Super chats, super thanks and other YouTube incentives can add thousands of dollars in revenue more to Freebird’s overall revenue from his YouTube channel.
Legislators argue that Freebird, and other First Amendment auditors and cop watchers, profit from breaking the law and say they’re only seeking proper punishment to act as a deterrent to stop the crime.
Harvey and others counter that changing the law would allow Texas police to stifle their activities as journalists. The YouTuber has refused to become an accredited journalist or link himself with an established news outlet, claiming that the constitution affords every American the right to serve as press,
He further argues that insulting and degrading officers is First Amendment protected activities, and that auditors and cop watchers have every right to report from within crime scenes as long as police do not put up crime scene tape to block their access.
This is a continuing news story.
