Texas law enforcement seizes cameras, equipment from TV crew

Law enforcement officials in Austin, Texas, briefly seized equipment belonging to the crew of reality TV show “Live PD” after the crew filmed the death of a man in custody on March 28, 2019, according to news reports and court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

“Live PD” parent company Big Fish Entertainment sued the City of Austin, Williamson County and 11 police officers on March 26, 2021, alleging violations of the First, Fourth and 14th amendments and the Privacy Protection Act in connection with the incident.

The reality show followed the activities of police officers across the U.S., with camera crews and producers embedded with patrols and riding along in police vehicles.

On that day in 2019, producers and camera operators Jeff Moriarty and Colin Mika, along with associate producer Ruby Garson Tarzian, were riding in two separate squad cars — with GoPro cameras mounted on the windshields of each — when the Williamson County sheriff’s deputies began chasing Javier Ambler II after he allegedly failed to dim his headlights.

After more than 20 minutes, Ambler’s car became disabled and officers tried to handcuff him, shocking him with Tasers four times. Mika and Moriarty got out of the squad cars and filmed the encounter with handheld cameras.

Ambler, who was Black, repeatedly told officers he had congestive heart failure and could not breathe. He eventually became unconscious and was pronounced dead about an hour later.

In an amended complaint filed on April 23, 2021, the production company said that the crew stopped filming when Ambler became nonresponsive. Soon after, it added, officers from the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and the Austin Police Department “took the extraordinary step of jointly seizing the production crew’s cameras and footage of the incident that the crew had left in WCSO squad cars.”

Moriarty placed his handheld camera along with his other equipment in a sheriff’s vehicle after officers began their investigation, according to the complaint, and they were seized along with his GoPro. Mika’s GoPro and camera equipment were also seized, along with Tarzian’s personal belongings.

The seizure took place in the absence of “a warrant, a subpoena, or even probable cause to believe that any of the Live PD crew had committed or was committing a criminal offense,” according to the complaint.

The production company said that officers prevented the crew from retrieving their cameras from the squad cars because they considered the footage “to be evidence secured in the police custody.”

After more than an hour, the crew was allowed to recover their equipment from the squad cars, and then they left the scene.

The next day, the crew sent the recordings to Big Fish’s editorial office in New York, which reviewed the footage and decided not to air it. The company noted in the complaint that it had anticipated that Texas officials would issue a court order for the video as part of a probe into Ambler’s death — and that they were prepared to provide it — but no one ever asked for it.

The complaint said the footage was destroyed after 30 days in accordance with a clause in the show’s contract with Williamson County, reportedly added after Ambler’s death.

In June 2020, the Austin American-Statesman and TV station KVUE published an investigation into Ambler’s death that made public the police body camera footage and other documents. That report came in the wake of widespread protests after the May 2020 killing in police custody of another Black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis.

Amid renewed scrutiny of the Ambler case, “Live PD” was accused by Texas officials of failing to cooperate with an official probe into the incident, including refusing to turn over the footage.

In the suit, Big Fish alleged that investigators made those allegations to cover up the fact that they failed to undertake a meaningful investigation into Ambler’s killing until June 2020. It also noted that the entire incident was captured on the officers’ body cameras and dashcams, duplicating the “Live PD” footage.

The case was dismissed on Aug. 22, 2023, after the parties agreed in June 2021 to stay and abate the proceedings in light of “other pending proceedings related to the same subject matter.”

It was not immediately clear what proceedings they were referring to. However, two former Williamson County officials went on trial in August 2024 on charges of evidence tampering in the Ambler case; they were accused of taking steps to ensure that the “Live PD” footage was destroyed. The case was stayed for an indefinite period later that month.

Williamson County’s Public Affairs Department declined to comment. The Austin Police Department, in an emailed statement, noted: “Litigation was dismissed without any findings or wrongdoing against the City or any settlement by the City.”

Big Fish and its attorneys Elizabeth McNamara and David Gonzalez did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include responses from Williamson County and the Austin Police Department.