‘We’re gonna have a problem’

YouTuber’s video shows confrontation with state police

In a statement Tuesday morning, state police said they were aware of the video and its internal affairs unit is investigating the incidents at the airport and at the agency’s Middletown headquarters.

A YouTuber from New York — recently arrested in Danbury in connection with what he says was a civil liberties audit — returned to Connecticut last week and was apparently detained at Bradley International Airport and later allegedly pushed away by a state police sergeant.

In an edited video posted on YouTube Sunday that has garnered nearly 100,000 views, SeanPaul Reyes can be seen interacting with Transportation Safety Administration officials and Connecticut State Police at Bradley International Airport and later at state police headquarters where the footage appears to show the sergeant pushing his camera away while he was filming.

In the video, Reyes said he intends to hold public officials accountable, noting he “will not give up.” The incidents occurred last Friday, according to a copy of a complaint Reyes shared with Hearst Connecticut Media.

In a statement Tuesday morning, state police said they were aware of the video and its internal affairs unit is investigating the incidents at the airport and at the agency’s Middletown headquarters.

Hearst Connecticut Media has filed a request under the state’s Freedom of Information Act for the body camera footage and personnel records of the officers who responded to both incidents.

Reyes first gained attention in Connecticut in June when he posted a video on his YouTube channel, Long Island Audit, with footage of his attempt to film inside the Danbury public library and his interaction with police officers who asked him to leave.

Reyes’ YouTube videos are part of a larger trend where social media users capture the reaction of public officials when they attempt to film inside government or public buildings. The so-called auditing of public officials is intended to capture any infringement on the filmmaker’s civil liberties.

The video posted Sunday begins outside Terminal A at Bradley International Airport with Reyes describing how he intends to film in publicly accessible areas.

“I do not have much hope for the law enforcement officers inside as this is Connecticut and I haven’t had much luck here,” Reyes said in the video.

The footage cuts inside where Reyes films the TSA checkpoint before a TSA officer approaches him to ask why he is taking video. Reyes declines to answer any questions, and the officer tells him to stop recording.

TSA officials then call a supervisor who tells Reyes he has the right to film, so long as he doesn’t capture the X-ray screens because they contain sensitive information.

The video then cuts to Reyes being approached by a bicycle-mounted state police trooper, who asks what he is doing in the airport. The trooper asks him for identification, which Reyes refuses to provide, claiming Connecticut “is not a stop-and-ID state.” The trooper tells him he’s being ordered to show his identification, saying he’s “causing alarm” at the airport, and multiple people have asked what Reyes is doing.

After Reyes fails to produce an ID, the trooper orders him to put his hands behind his back.

The video then cuts to Reyes’ point of view walking with two other state police troopers. In a voice-over, Reyes claims he was “unlawfully detained” by state police, and was “put in cuffs by a rogue officer who thought he knew his job.”

State police then leave him inside the terminal after Reyes declines to say how much longer he intends to stay.

The video then shows Reyes filming around the exterior of the building before cutting to Reyes at the Connecticut State Police headquarters in Middletown where the footage shows him informing a state trooper that he wants to speak with a member of the internal affairs unit.

The trooper provides Reyes with a form to file a complaint and offers to speak with him outside where he will be allowed to film. The officer also goes back inside to get his camera and returns wearing his body camera.

Reyes recounts to the state trooper what happened at the airport. After speaking with the trooper, a state police sergeant meets with Reyes, but refuses to speak with him if he’s recording the conversation. The sergeant, who is not wearing a body camera, directs Reyes to file a complaint with internal affairs.

Reyes says he intends to go to the internal affairs office in Meriden, but continues to stand outside and film.

“So you’re gonna stand here with your cellphone on?” the sergeant asks him.

“I thought you were a busy man,” Reyes tells him. “So you should get to work.”

“I should get to work, is that what you’re telling me?” the sergeant says, leaning forward.

“If you’re busy,” Reyes replies. The sergeant appears to reach out and knock the camera aside, telling Reyes, “we’re gonna have a problem.”

The footage cuts to Reyes speaking directly into the camera, claiming he was assaulted by the sergeant, who broke his phone, but he said he was able to recover the footage from it.

Reyes has several pending criminal charges in connection with recent incidents in Connecticut. Reyes was charged with trespassing in Danbury on July 15 after he said he went to City Hall and tried to film himself getting forms to file a Freedom of Information Act request. Reyes said police also seized his phone during the arrest. Waterbury police also charged him with trespassing on May 19, court records show. A June 9 video of a police response to Reyes filming in the Danbury public library also was widely viewed and prompted an internal investigation by the city’s police department.

Reyes led a demonstration inside Danbury City Hall last week after being charged with trespassing and breach of peace. He said he had been filming inside the building days before and was confronted by a security guard twice before his arrest.

Last week, Danbury police released body camera footage from officers who responded to the library and to the incident at City Hall.

In the footage, obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media through Freedom of Information Act requests, one officer can be heard saying, “20 years ago, that [expletive] would be dead,” referring to Reyes.

The Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut called the officer’s statement in the footage “blood curdling,” while a criminal justice expert said it showed the importance for officers to remain professional despite provocation.