FAIRFAX, VA — Although a prosecutor decided not to file criminal charges against a Virginia State Trooper who forcibly removed a noncompliant motorist from his vehicle, the trooper was reportedly fired earlier this year.
The motorist, Derrick Thompson, sued Virginia State Trooper Charles Hewitt and the state for a 2019 incident and won a $20,000 settlement last month.
Thompson’s attorney, Joshua Erlich, confirmed Hewitt was fired for the incident this past February.
Today, we sent a letter to @MarkHerringVA about Virginia State Trooper Charles Hewitt.
In April 2019, Derrick Thompson was driving to work when Hewitt terrorized and assaulted him. pic.twitter.com/YTSCeDLM9j
— Joshua Erlich (@JoshuaErlich) July 13, 2020
NBC News reported that Col. Gary Settle, the Virginia State Police superintendent, said through a statement last July that Hewitt’s conduct was inappropriate:
“The conduct displayed by Trooper Hewitt during the course of the traffic stop is not in agreement with the established standards of conduct required of a Virginia trooper.”
The cop was wrong. Even VA Police Superintendent, Col. Gary T. Settle stated:
“The conduct displayed by Trooper Hewitt during the course of the traffic stop is not in agreement with the established standards of conduct required of a Virginia trooper, “https://t.co/OMq3s40baT— The Owl Is Wise 🦉 (@TheOwlSpeaks) July 18, 2020
In April of 2019, Derrick Thompson was pulled over by state police while driving to work. He began recording his traffic stop, and the video became viral on social media.
The video shows three troopers who are by Thompson’s vehicle.
One of the troopers who requested Thompson to exit his vehicle was Virginia State Trooper Charles Hewitt.
A Virginia State Police trooper who is seen in a viral video telling a Black driver “you are going to get your a– whooped” before violently removing the man from his car in 2019 is no longer with the agency, a spokeswoman said https://t.co/pNToUcWSF1
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 23, 2021
Hewitt had given Thompson several commands to get out of his vehicle, but the driver refused to comply and instead kept recording the incident.
After more commands, Hewitt reached through the car window and unlocked the door so he could open it.
Thompson narrated the video as the actions occurred:
“This officer is trying to unlock my car. This officer is unlocking my car. They just illegally entered my car. And I’m being forcefully removed.”
Hewitt tried to get Thompson’s attention and leaned into his car and is heard on the video saying loudly:
“Take a look at me. I’m a f*king specimen right here buddy.”
Thompson refused to get out of the vehicle, but said, “My hands are up, on camera, I am no threat to these officers.”
With the door open, Hewitt again instructed Thompson to exit the vehicle. After Thompson refused, Hewitt unbuckled the driver’s seatbelt.
Thompson continued his narration:
“My hands are up. I am being threatened. I am being threatened. I am being threatened right now, and I am not doing anything.”
Hewitt told Thompson:
“You can bring that [phone camera] with you. I’ll let you film the whole thing. I’m giving you a chance.”
Virginia State Trooper Charles Hewitt, who was involved in the violent arrest of a Black man named Derrick Thompson on Apr. 20, 2019, is no longer with the Virginia State Police. https://t.co/tarWRmox1o
— Outlaw Report (@outlaw_report) April 28, 2021
Thompson continued to ignore Hewitt, looked at his camera and said:
“I feel unsafe. I feel unsafe. And I am no threat to these three officers.”
The video showed that Hewitt used obscenities and appeared aggressive at times. Before finally dragging Thompson out of his vehicle by the neck, the trooper looked at the camera and said, “Watch the show, folks.”
The phone drops somewhere and no longer captures visually what happens after Thompson is removed from the car, but audio is heard of the driver allegedly yelling, “Get off my neck, sir. You are harming me! You are harming me!”
Thompson claimed he was thrown face down into the pavement and that Hewitt held his neck in place with either his knee or elbow while he handcuffed him, according to a report.
Having suffered multiple cuts and abrasions, Thompson said he requested medical attention several times, but was told “you’re not even hurt,” according to the same report.
Hi, you can read it here: @JoshuaErlich: Today, we sent a letter to @MarkHerringVA about Virginia State Trooper Charles Hewitt. In April 2019… https://t.co/jPRH9oqrC6 Enjoy 🙂 🤖
— Thread Reader App (@threadreaderapp) July 16, 2020
Thompson was charged with obstruction of justice, driving on a suspended license and having an expired inspection decal, according to a report by WJLA.
Thompson pleaded guilty to the obstruction charge in August of 2019 and the other charges were dismissed, according to court records. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $250.
#VSP Statement on April 2019 Traffic Stop in #Fairfax County. pic.twitter.com/hZszYmWetL
— VA State Police (@VSPPIO) July 15, 2020
Last October, WTOP News had reported that Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said in a statement that he found Trooper Hewitt’s actions during the 2019 traffic stop distasteful, but legal.
Descano, who was elected in 2019 on promises to hold police accountable for misconduct, said:
“Although this officer could have used a more appropriate demeanor, his actions do not meet the burden of a criminal offense as it currently appears in the Code of Virginia.”
Thank you for taking a stand against police brutality! Derrick Thompson should not have been treated that way. I’m sorry that you are also being harassed for trying to make sure that Trooper Hewitt is held accountable for his behavior. You are doing the right thing!
— Becca Evans Hansen (@BeccaHansen11) July 17, 2020
However, The Washington Post reported that Hewitt was fired this past February and was told by Virginia State Police’s spokeswoman Corinne Geller that state police were prohibited from releasing additional detail about Charles Hewitt.
According to a New York Post report, Thompson’s attorney confirmed his client sued Hewitt and the state last year, and received $20,000 in a settlement reached last month.
Mr. Thompson and I appreciate the renewed interest in Trooper Hewitt’s outrageous behavior.
These “challenge coins” are a disgusting memorial to Hewitt’s behavior and the very fact they exist speaks to the toxic police culture in Virginia. https://t.co/TifVKhwY8D
— Joshua Erlich (@JoshuaErlich) January 9, 2021
NBC News reported that the Virginia Attorney General’s Office confirmed a settlement, but did not offer any other comment.
The Virginia State Police declined to admit wrongdoing, according to New York Post’s report.
UPDATE: “Mr. Thompson is heartened Trooper Hewitt is no longer on the street and thinks Virginia is safer for it” (via @toofab)https://t.co/t4yZ5A5H8w
— TMZ (@TMZ) April 26, 2021
Erlich said:
“Mr. Thompson filed this case because Trooper Hewitt’s behavior was unconscionable, and Mr. Thompson is happy with the outcome.
“He thought he deserved — and received — monetary compensation. And although the Virginia State Police did not admit to any wrongdoing, Mr. Thompson is heartened Trooper Hewitt is no longer on the street and thinks Virginia is safer for it.”
The collapse of law enforcement will usher in the end of America as we know it
Editor note: Late last year, our National Spokesman Kyle Reyes launched an article about the challenges America is facing right now. It exploded. And it’s arguably even more relevant today than it was then.
Many of you have been asking about how you can get involved. We’d invite you to consider joining our membership program – LET Unity. We take the proceeds and reinvest them into capturing more of these stories.
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For the rest of you… simply keep following, keep reading, and keep sharing.
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I, [name], do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
Mortality.
It’s something that you don’t really consider when you’re young. You can do anything. You’re invincible.
But as we grow older, we start considering that mortality.
It’s time we start considering the mortality of America.
I spend a substantial amount of time working in two different arenas – the world of law enforcement and the business world.
By day, I run a marketing agency. Among the areas we work in, we do extensive work in the firearms industry. My travels take me across the country – often to some of the most rural parts of America.
By night, I am the National Spokesman for Law Enforcement Today. I’m not a police officer. I was tapped because I can do one thing cops can’t do. I can give them a voice. I can run my mouth and no agency can fire me.
That travel that I referenced – both in the business world and supporting the LE world – has afforded me countless opportunities to work side by side with some of the greatest patriots in America.
My closest friends are either in law enforcement or either active or retired members of some of the most elite military forces in America. And from our greatest warriors to our everyday citizens… I can tell you the underlying fear that so many are thinking about – and that’s the seemingly inevitable collapse of society if we don’t make some monumental changes.
As a Christian, I believe we are in the middle of some serious spiritual warfare. But you don’t have to be a Christian to understand that the very soul of America is under attack right now. And the rapid erosion of the Thin Blue Line has us sitting on a powder keg.
Historically, if you look at the collapse of some of the greatest empires in the world, it happened from within. Simply put, it raises the distinct danger that America won’t be conquered by foreign enemies … but rather from domestic ones.
When historians say that an empire fell, it means that the central state no longer exercised its broad power. That happens either because the state itself ceased to exist or because the state’s power was reduced as parts of the empire became independent of its control.
It typically doesn’t happen because of a single cause, but rather a long process. The main factors that historically lead to imperial collapse are:
- Economic issues
- Social and cultural issues
- Environmental issues
- Political issues
Now none of these factors are causes in and of themselves, but rather are ways to categorize causes.
What that means is you wouldn’t make a determination that Rome fell because of politics, but rather you’d explore political factors to understand the collapse. And in those issues are warning signs for us as Americans.
That brings me to the threat we face today.
Have you ever heard of something called the Cloward-Piven strategy? It’s not exactly something the mainstream media talks about… but it’s something you need to be aware of, because it’s what we’re facing in America today.
American sociologists and political activists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven created the political strategy in 1966. The idea behind it is to overload the U.S. public welfare system to create a crisis that would lead to a replacement of the welfare system with a socialist system of “a guaranteed annual income and thus an end to poverty”.
If that doesn’t describe what we’re seeing from Democrats who are running for POTUS right now, I don’t know what does. But it’s a much bigger threat than you might realize. That’s because it’s so incredibly pervasive. It’s poisoning the very roots of America.
And it calls to mind the words of Jefferson:
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.”
We are seeing groups here in America demanding open borders. Demanding the decriminalization of crossing into our country illegally.
At the same time, across our great country, we are seeing the CRIMINALIZATION of law enforcement. It’s gotten so bad in states like the People’s Republic of California and Connecticut that we’re seeing the crash and burn of morale in law enforcement.
We’re seeing agencies desperate for officers, because as more and more retire (or count down the minutes to retirement), we see a deficit in the number of incoming recruits. After all, why would you want to live a life of service when you’re just going to be attacked for that service?
We see political activists masquerading as police chiefs. We see them working hand in hand with liberal politicians to not only attack the rights of law-abiding citizens, but also to destroy the morale of their own departments. We watch as they flat out disrespect the oath of office they took and put officers in no-win situations.
If I were to design a road map for how to collapse America, starting with law enforcement, here’s what it would look like.
Step one: Divide the protectors.
The refusal to allow rank and file patrol officers to cooperate with federal law enforcement to uphold the law. It’s a slap in the face to Americans and it’s a dereliction of duty. It’s also a clear and intentional move to create a divide between local, state and federal law enforcement. Divide the protectors… conquer a society.
Step two: Divide the supporters.
Force officers to choose between enforcing unconstitutional legislation like Red Flag laws, which deny citizens of their right to due process… and providing for their own family.
Make cops the bad guys. Take the people who have historically supported law enforcement and convince them that cops are now the enemy. Divide the supporters… conquer a society.
Step three: Remove their protection
Make cops afraid to be cops. Encourage disrespect on them like water bucket attacks. Don’t go after the criminals who attack them. When officers arrest criminals, let them back out on the street within hours because a liberal judge determined that the violent suspect with a lengthy criminal history isn’t actually a threat.
Then threaten law enforcement officers that if they do their job, they’ll be investigated. That if they have to fight for their lives, they’ll end up being charged. Remove both their desire and their ability to police.
Step four: Flood America
By some estimates, one million people will make illegal entry into America this year.
There are fewer than 850,000 law enforcement officers in America. Do the math.
Now let criminals create havoc in society but instead of deporting them or actually cracking down on crime, let Americans know that the real problem is guns owned by law abiding citizens and pass legislation to take away their rights.
Step five: Destroy our homes
Own the media. Own Hollywood. Force feed Anti-American, socialist and communist policies into our homes and our education system. Convince our children that right is wrong and wrong is right. Take God out of society, destroy the family structure and teach everyone that the solution to your problems is in the form of pills, porn and the government.
Step Six: Bypass Congress for gun control
Have “private businesses” like Dicks and Walmart determine what you can and can’t buy. Allow Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, YouTube, LinkedIn and snap determine what you can see and what you can say… because it’s not a violation of the 1st Amendment if it’s done by private enterprise.
Step Seven: Use “social justice” to vilify love of country
Take every patriotic American who wants to see a better country for their children and call them a racist, etc. if you don’t agree with them. Then mass report them on social media to make sure their accounts are cancelled and their voices are shut down.
Then say you think they’re a threat and have a judge determine that combat veterans and our nation’s greatest warriors need to be disarmed because of post-traumatic stress. Then force officers to go to war with their own brothers and sisters.
The Collapse
It’s happening right in front of our eyes. And it’s starting with a full onslaught against our law enforcement officers in every way, shape and form.
Want to save America? We need to start by understanding the enemy. And sometimes the biggest threat that an empire faces is the enemy within.
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We hope you’ll consider getting in the fight with us. Here’s what Law Enforcement Today – the largest police-owned media outlet in America – is doing.
We at Law Enforcement Today want to make our stance very clear.
We strongly and firmly stand behind the Second Amendment, companies that keep civilians and law enforcement officers safe through products and innovation, and the men and women who serve and protect our communities and our country.
We are launching a new series of options to help our partners and other patriotic businesses to be able to connect with consumers. While we can’t replace Google, Bing or Facebook – we sure can provide options to ensure that these companies and our brothers and sisters have a voice.
We welcome with open arms companies that openly support law enforcement, and we are proud to offer them options to get their products to market.
We started noticing the problems a couple of years ago. Social media was scaling back the reach of content that it didn’t believe people should see.
Not that there was anything offensive about it. We’re talking about pro-police videos, stories about patriotic Americans and more.
And from our perspective, that created a huge problem. We have some of the greatest warriors in the world. Yet their voices and their stories were being buried.
The mainstream media, on the rare occasion that it would tell some of these stories, would give you only a piece of them. They’d cram as much as they could into a 90 second segment, slap their bias on it and that was it.
We needed to fix it. And so we are.
Law Enforcement Today (LET) is proud to announce the launch of LET Unity – a new home focused on bridging the gap between civilians and civil servants. We’ve merged with The Whiskey Patriots to massively expand content, rolling out hundreds of videos to members.
Many of those in our focus groups dubbed it the “Netflix of the law enforcement community”. But the truth is, it’s so much more.
The first officer in the door at the Pulse nightclub shooting.
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The bomb squad that responded to the Aurora movie theater massacre.
Survivors of the Dallas five killings.
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The CIA agent who started a counter human trafficking company.
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And so, so much more.
The membership is less than the cost of two coffees a month, and those who sign up for an annual membership will get some surprise bonuses in the mail. We decided to charge a nominal fee so we could take all of the proceeds and reinvest them into capturing more of these stories. The majority of our content producers for Law Enforcement Today are active, retired or wounded law enforcement officers. The revenue we make helps provide for their families and helps bring a TRUE voice about what’s happening in America.
On top of that, we’re opening up the platform to some well-known podcasters who are going to be joining the team with some incredible content soon.
We have a problem in society. Censorship has created an existential threat to democracy. But even worse is the risk we run that some of these incredible stories of patriotism, hope, faith and our Sheepdogs would be lost.
We’ve launched a series of content with Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) to share the stories of survivors. We will also be dropping a weekly law enforcement focused newscast that addresses some of the most important topics in the country… and helps bridge the gap between those who serve and those whom they serve.
On top of that, we’ll soon be rolling out a series of private discounts and special promotions to members only as a “thank you” for being a part of the family.
You can also download the app to watch the content right from your iPhone.
We hope you’ll join us in this journey, knowing that your membership is going to give a voice to those who have been silenced for so long.
If you are one of the many companies out there that’s being censored – or you’re worried about what’s to come – don’t hesitate to reach out today. I can be reached at [email protected]
We will not be silenced. You shouldn’t be either.
God bless you all, and God bless America.
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