4 December 15-21, 2022 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | ACTIVISM OR ATTENTION-SEEKING? YouTuber Ragomonkey routinely flips off and berates Miami cops for the sake of who knows what. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN L ast month, police-filming provocateur Rafael Antonio Gomez recorded his interaction with Miami police deteriorate — as it often does — into a questionable detainment, sophomoric name- calling, and Gomez giving law enforcement a firm middle finger on camera. The incident starts off innocuously, with Gomez and his partner Joey Lopez ap- proaching a City of Miami patrol officer parked in his police vehicle near NW 47th Avenue and Seventh Street. Gomez, AKA Ragomonkey, tells the officer, a stout, wide- eyed man with a shiny-shaven head, “You’re blocking traffic, sir.” Not amused, the officer demands to see the duo’s IDs before slapping handcuffs on them and placing them in the back of his patrol vehicle. After Gomez and Lopez are released, they question the officer about why they were de- tained, prompting him to quip, “Because I wanted to. Thank you.” Gomez flips off the po- liceman and calls him “Uncle Fester,” a refer- ence to the barrel-shaped, hunched-over bald character from the Addams Family. When he accuses the officer of breaking his phone, the policeman responds by imitating a crying baby. Gomez and Lopez describe themselves as “Miami government accountability activists.” Their footage of the incident, “Unhinged Cop Goes Hands On and Demands ID,” adds to an ever-growing catalogue of videos on their social media channels, where they showcase their testy interactions with Mi- ami-area police from various agencies. The effort is part of the popular First Amendment auditing community, led by activ- ists who record police officers and other gov- ernment employees while testing their knowledge of constitutional rights. Videos of the encounters wind up on YouTube or Tik Tok with titles like “Silly Cop Doesn’t Respect the First Amendment” or “Cops Get Educated.” First Amendment auditors say they are making videos to educate the public, but some have been accused of purposefully pro- voking negative responses for financial gain or to go viral online. The encounters fre- quently turn heated and confrontational, oc- casionally violent. While Carlos Miller, a local photographer and creator of police accountability website Photography Is Not A Crime, does not agree with all of Ragomonkey’s tactics, he appreci- ates what auditors are trying to accomplish. Miller created his site in 2007 after he re- fused to stop filming a group of Miami police officers on Biscayne Boulevard. “They come across a lot more obnoxious than I ever did, and they may even be doing it for views,” Miller tells New Times. “I am not sure what their intent is, but they’re also serv- ing the purpose in educating citizens on their rights. People are using YouTube to police the police.” Many of Gomez’s videos showcase his en- counters with employees in public buildings, including the Dade County Courthouse and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. When staff tells him he cannot walk around and film because of privacy concerns, as in one video at the public defender’s office, Go- mez claims they do not grasp the scope of the First Amendment and that his rights are be- ing disrespected. The videos draw a bevy of online comments criticizing the officials for not understanding the law. FIU College of Law professor Howard Wasserman tells New Times that while there is a general right to film in public spaces, some government offices may be off limits. “It depends on who, what, and where they’re recording,” Wasserman says. “The thing about First Amendment rights in any speech is there’s a certain amount of balancing that goes on. You consider sort of countervail- ing government interests and whether or not those government interests are strong enough to overcome the interest in expression.” Wasserman explains the public defender’s office concerns are legitimate because “hav- ing random people in there with cameras po- tentially could cause them to unintentionally waive or lose attorney-client privilege.” Miller warns that “any miscalculation” on the part of Gomez and Lopez could “get them thrown in jail for a very long time.” He also fears unprofessional tactics may not win people over in understanding the mission behind filming the police. “They are putting their own lives at risk,” Miller says. “It is a very dirty system, unfortu- nately, so we need people like these guys to kind of keep [police] honest. The fact that these guys are in their faces, well, that’s very transparent.” University of Miami School of Law profes- sor Caroline Corbin notes that the auditors’ intentions do not matter even if they are act- ing in bad faith. “Peo- ple use the First Amendment in bad faith all the time,” Corbin says. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have its protections.” Though these vid- eos are meant to cap- ture unprofessional behavior and miscon- duct among police and public employees, Go- mez is often the one hurling insults. In one video, Gomez flips off two female Miami Beach officers while they are working a traffic stop. He then says, “These chicks now on PMS,” in reference to their menstrual cy- cles. Another video shows Gomez flipping off a group of officers on bike patrol in Wynwood. He says in the video, “Eat a dick, you faggot.” After their encounter with the officer lov- ingly dubbed “Uncle Fester,” Gomez and Lo- pez decided to walk to a Miami police station “to peacefully protest the crooked Miami Po- lice Department.” Gomez tells one woman working the desk at the station and a female sergeant that they both have “RBFs,” or “rest- ing bitch faces.” He then tells the sergeant she needs an “attitude adjustment” — and Lopez adds the City of Miami Police Department “has earned the hate.” In some police circles, Gomez and Lopez have been labeled as agitators. A video from November shows an on-duty Miami Beach Police officer telling the pair, “There is a dif- ference between recording and accountabil- ity — that is no problem, but you guys agitate. That’s the issue.” In an order dismissing a federal lawsuit Gomez brought against the Miami-Dade Po- lice Department over a May 2020 traffic stop, the judge stated that Gomez had a “’Law En- forcement Officer agitator alert’ in the Mi- ami-Dade system and an ‘approach with caution’ designation” due to a previous arrest for illegally carrying a concealed firearm. Gomez’s videos have also elicited contro- versy through his derogatory comments in connection with LGBTQ issues. Last year, he called it “fucking weird” that the Miami-Dade School Board was voting on whether to recog- nize LGBTQ history month in county schools. He made another video at the North Miami Po- lice Department’s Pride Event in June, which he called “a waste of government resources.” “The government is not supposed to be supporting Pride. They got the Pride flag right there, but if we put a ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flag, everybody would be going crazy,” he adds. “People playing politics with your money.” He then goes on to ask a cop if his horse is an “LGBT horse” or a “regular horse.” Gomez and Lopez both declined New Times’ requests for an interview. “I’m a civil rights activist,” Lopez said via email. “My video speaks for itself.” [email protected] Rafael Gomez (right) and Joey Lopez film police and government employees on the clock. Screenshot via YouTube | METRO | IN SOME POLICE CIRCLES, GOMEZ AND LOPEZ HAVE BEEN LABELED AS AGITATORS.
