Antonio Buehler, 34, a combat veteran of Kosovo and Iraq, West Point graduate, and middle school teacher, was serving as a designated driver shortly after midnight on January 1 when he saw a woman being abused by police outside a 7-11. The costumed assailants were members of the Austin PD, who were conducting what they called a DWI arrest. To Buehler and his friends, the spectacle looked more like a gang assault.
“We hear a loud scream, and we look over, and we see the cop violently yanking the female out of the car onto the ground,” Buehler told local ABC affiliate KVUE. “She is screaming. The other cop ran up and they both sort of grabbed her arms. Her hands were behind her back straight out and they lifted her up by her arms. It looked extremely painful.”
With the help of a friend, Buehler began to document this act of “street justice” with his cell phone. That prompted one of the assailants to peel away and confront Buehler, who was nowhere near the scene of the assault.
According to Buehler, the cop snarled, “What the hell are you taking pictures for?”
“My response was, `I am allowed to. Public official in a public place.’”
As he was trained to, the cop started to lie in an effort to devise a cover charge against Buehler. First he claimed that Buehler was somehow “interfering with the investigation,” which was patently untrue. Then the cop assaulted Buhler by pushing the unresisting man — who would have been more than a match for the donut-grazer, had he chosen to fight back — up against a truck.
“Once he had me pinned up against the back of the truck he kept leaning in,” Buehler continued. “He kept pushing me.”
Eventually the cop got so close that Buehler actually breathed on him — which gave him a pretext to accuse the witness of “spitting” on him. After finally wrestling Buehler (who offered only passive resistance) to the ground, being joined by one of his comrades, and threatening to shoot him with a Taser, the cop took him to a BAT van—- a patently unreliable mobile alcohol testing unit — in the hope of documenting that the witness was intoxicated, which he wasn’t. The cop finally settled on charging him with “harassing a public servant” — a third-degree felony — and “resisting arrest.”
Through Craig’s List, Buehler was able to obtain a second video of the event that corroborates key elements of his story. According to KVUE, “there was a female who witnessed the altercation and offered to give Beuhler’s friend her card,” but was prevented from doing so by the police.
“We need to keep the pressure on the City of Austin,” commented Beuhler in a post to his Facebook page. “There are two criminals on the loose: they are looking to get into fights, they wear blue, they are armed and they wear badges.”
“Second, thanks for words such as `hero,’” he continued. “I appreciate it. But the other heroes are those citizens who stood up, took photos and video, and are writing affidavits. Without them, I might be looking at serious jail time for a fraudulent charge from a crooked, evil, worthless cop.”
For more on this story, go to KVUE.com.
January 8th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
I live in San Antonio, TX but, travel to Austin quite often. Many Austin cops are arrogant and overbearing. One of my husbands best friends was an officer in Austin for many years. He says the level of corruption up there is disconcerting, to say the least. Best wishes to Mr. Beuhler, I hope this ends up in his favor.
January 11th, 2012 at 10:28 am
The cops are making themselves targets and they don’t even realize it. I foresee very soon some serious bloodshed and the first to get damaged will be the corrupt abusive brutalizing police. They have done it to themselves. I have ZERO respect for them. The whole attitude that there are good cops out there trying to do their difficult job ,and we shouldn’t lump those few bad ones in with the whole lot is BS. I am a former Deputy and I wouldn’t trust a single cop for any reason whatsoever. They are all knuckle dragging thugs, criminals that are no better than ones we have locked up. Soon they will be the receipient of the People’s anger and they will know the error of their ways by having to bury several thousand members of the LEO community daily. We shall have peace ,justice and most of all FREEDOM, yes we shal have it!
PAX AUT BELLUM!
January 11th, 2012 at 10:58 am
“Her hands were behind her back straight out and they lifted her up by her arms. It looked extremely painful.” Isn’t this what that border patrol agent was accused of doing to that drug smuggler on the border? So, let’s see if I understand this. These punks (Austin cops) do this and nothing happens to them, but the border patrol agent does this to a drug smuggler and the agent is charged with improper conduct.
So, I guess the moral of the story is: the feds will go out on a limb to accuse one of our own and basically protect the drug smuggler. Gee, ya think there might be an agenda here? These punks treated this woman in the same manner as the border patrol agent was accused of, yet, no charges or complaints. Welcome, America, to the new police state. We have proof, now that our own president has signed the NDAA bill into law! Get ready America, the sh*t about to hit the fan.
January 11th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
We have more domestic enemies than foreign!
January 11th, 2012 at 6:16 pm
I was pulled over after getting bumped INSIDE a carwash. The cop didn’t explain why, never really gave me a reason. I stepped out of the car to talk to him, and it all went to hell from there. He yelled at me to get back in the car, where I sat waiting. I decided to call my husband to let him know I was going to be late and the cop came running up, opened my door and tried to take my phone from me. I refused to give it to him, and he wound up pulling his taser out and threatening to tase me if I didn’t get out of the car. I felt terrorized and brutalized. I wound up handcuffed, sitting on the guardrail next to the road for no reason other than the carwash hookup malfunctioned.
They tried to tell me I failed to “stop and render aid” to the person whose car bumped mine…. it was laughable. INSIDE an automated car wash! I never even thought twice about it…. Needless to say I lost ALL respect for most police after a lifetime of appreciation for all that they do.
January 11th, 2012 at 7:08 pm
Beosaevio — is there any paperwork on this outrage? If so, please contact me — WNGrigg [at] msn [dot] com — with the details. Thanks.
January 14th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
These deliquents from the Shield T.V. show are like the Sons of Anarchy.