Antonio Buehler is an American educator, entrepreneur, and activist known for his work on police accountability and his pursuit of a more widely recognized constitutional right to photograph, film and document the public activities of police.Calvert, Clay, “The First Amendment Right to Record Images of Police in Public Places: The Unreasonable Slipperiness of Reasonableness & Possible Paths Forward” 3 Tex. A&M L. Rev. 131, 140 (2015) (“[F]our federal appellate circuits now recognize a First Amendment right to film police doing their jobs in public places, [but] that right is qualified rather than absolute . . . some federal circuits have rejected the very existence of a clearly established First Amendment right to record police, be it qualified or absolute.”). In 2012, Buehler was arrested in Austin, Texas, for video-recording police after he allegedly witnessed a woman being abused by officers. After the arrest, Buehler co-founded the Peaceful Streets Project, an organization that trains the public to record police activity.The Police And The Right To Photograph. News Photographer. 69 (6): 8. July/August 2014. Buehler has been arrested a total of seven times, has had twelve criminal charges filed against him, and has had dozens of criminal investigations initiated against him.
Early life, education, and experience Antonio Buehler was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1977. He attended Pottsville Area High School in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, where he was an All-Anthracite football player. Buehler graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and later from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Buehler also served in the Iraq War.
Alternative education
Buehler has given numerous talks on college admissions, alternative education, homeschooling and other education topics at schools, libraries, and conferences across the country.
In 2014, Buehler launched Abrome. Initially, Abrome was an online education service, but as of 2016 it is now an alternative, progressive school in Austin, TX, that operates free of teachers, classrooms, testing, homework, or grades. Abrome claims to have gotten approximately 50% of their clients into Harvard and/or Stanford Universities, and 75% of their clients into a top ten college.
New Year's Day 2012 incident
In the early hours of New Year's Day 2012, Buehler, the designated driver that night, pulled into a 7-11 in Austin, TX for gas. While fueling up, he and his passenger observed a DWI stop in progress, with a woman in high heels, the driver of the automobile, being subjected to a field sobriety test being conducted by an Austin police officer; according to Buehler, they then heard a female screaming and turned in time to see officer Robert Snider forcefully pulling another female from the passenger side of the vehicle, throwing her to the ground and pinning her arms behind her back. Buehler yelled out to the police, asking them why they were assaulting her. After twisting her arms behind her back, the officers arrested her. Officer Patrick Oborski then approached Buehler, pushed him forcefully several times in the chest, and arrested him. Oborski later claimed Buehler spat on him, a felony charge that carries up to a 10-year prison sentence. Witness video evidence does not show Buehler spitting, Oborski did not wipe his face, and Austin Police Department (APD) spokesman Corporal Hipolito admitted to KEYE news that he could not see Buehler spitting on the officer.No Spit! No Wipe! Officer Patrick Oborski Lies About Antonio Buehler Spitting In His Face! YouTube
After an online appeal by Buehler to find witnesses to the event, several witnesses came forward and a videorecording of the incident surfaced. APD has yet to release the dashcam videos from Oborski or Snider's vehicles to the public. Nearly 8,200 people have joined the Free Antonio Buehler Facebook page, with supporters flyering the city and organizing rallies in support of Buehler, and posting daily stories of American and international police abuse.
Despite a half dozen witnesses, two videos and audio evidence of what happened on New Year's Day, the District Attorney did not convene a grand jury in 2012. His grand jury date was then postponed numerous times.Antonio Buehler scheduled for court kvue.com Austin The grand jury finally convened on March 5, 6 and 7, 2013. Four weeks later, the District Attorney finally informed the public that the grand jury failed to indict Antonio Buehler on any of the crimes with which he was charged.Antonio Buehler YNN Your News NowAntonio Buehler charged for incidents with APD myfoxaustin.comNo felony indictments for activist Buehler, arresting officer www.statesman.com
They instead indicted him on four Class C misdemeanors. Three for "failure to obey a lawful order" related to his New Year's Day incident, and two follow on arrests. The fourth indictment was for "interfering" in an incident in which he was never arrested. The grand jury also indicted Norma Pizana for resisting arrest. Pizana is the woman that Buehler felt was being abused on New Year's Day 2012.Oborski/Buehler Press Release
October 29, 2014, after an unprecedented four-day Class C Misdemeanor trial that spanned a full calendar week, Buehler was acquitted of charges and found not guilty of failing to comply with the order of a police officer on New Year's Day 2012."Buehler acquitted of failing to comply with officer's order Austin American-StatesmanBuehler acquitted www.austinchronicle.com October 31, 2014Fight justice waged peacefully americans streets njtoday.net, October 29, 2014 The trial was unique not only in its duration, but also in the resources invested into it by the state; the state had eight prosecutors in the courtroom and over a dozen police officers.
Civil rights lawsuits On December 31, 2013, Buehler, while awaiting trial, sued the Austin Police Department, Police Chief Art Acevedo, Officer Patrick Oborski, Officer Robert Snider, SGT Adam Johnson and Officer Justin Berry for allegedly violating his civil rights beginning with his January 1, 2012, arrest and two additional arrests which occurred on August 26 and September 21, 2012.
On June 2, 2014, the National Press Photographers Association filed an Amicus BriefBRIEF FOR THE CATO INSTITUTE, NATIONAL PRESS PHOTOGRAPHERS ASSOCIATION, AND FIVE MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER in support of Buehler's civil lawsuit.
On July 24, 2014, Federal Judge Mark Lane denied motions by the City of Austin to dismiss the case, finding that private citizens have the right to record officers in public places as they perform their official duties.MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Lane also said the officers were not personally immune from allegations that they had arrested and searched him without probable cause.
On February 20, 2015, Judge Mark Lane dismissed the lawsuit based on a Fifth Circuit precedent which stated that an indicted defendant lost their standing to sue. In response to the dismissal, Buehler stated, “We have waited three years for justice, and we are willing to wait even longer to expose APD for the crime they have covered up.” He also noted that the Fifth Circuit precedent provided an incentive for prosecutors to protect corrupt and criminal law enforcement officers through the simple expedient of indicting an otherwise innocent defendant. Buehler and his attorney appealed the decision on February 25, 2015.
On June 2, 2016, the Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans upheld Judge Mark Lane's decision to dismiss Buehler's lawsuit against the City of Austin and four Austin Police officers.
On December 2, 2016, Buehler filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to have the case heard by the Supreme Court of the United States.
On January 4, 2017, the National Association for Public Defense, Cato Institute, National Press Photographers Association, and five media organizations filed Amicus briefs in support of Buehler's petition to the Supreme Court.
On February 2, 2017, SCOTUSblog, the leading Supreme Court news site, listed Buehler's lawsuit as the Petition of the Day.
The Supreme Court ultimately did not grant a writ of certiorari for Buehler's suit.
On August 2, 2017, Buehler sued the City of Austin and Austin Police Department employees Randy Dear, Aljoe Garibay, Quint Sebek, Wesley Devries, John Leo Coffey, Monika McCoy, Ryan Adam, Allen Hicks, and Reginald Parker for allegedly violating his civil rights and stemming from his August 2, 2015, arrest in downtown Austin.
Peaceful Streets Project In the months following the incident, a group of activists from a range of backgrounds joined Buehler to start the Peaceful Streets Project, an all-volunteer, nonpartisan, grassroots effort for police accountability.About peacefulstreets.comOccupy Austin | Occupy Wall Street » Blog Archive » Meet Rubiks... May 2012Alleged victim of police brutality launches Project Citizens myfoxaustin.com The group holds free community trainings on knowing your rights during police encounters, and held a day-long Police Accountability Summit in Austin, TX on July 14, 2012, where they handed out 100 handheld video-cameras to trained activists who now actively film police encounters with residents of Austin.Peaceful Streets Project distributes 100 cameras to record police , YNN - Your News NowPeaceful Streets Project is Leading the Way, Cop BlockAntonio Buehler steps up his campaign on APD digitaltexan.net, 2012Peaceful Streets Project is Leading the Way YouTube The Peaceful Streets Project has also stepped up efforts to work with and ally with other community organizations, and have participated in protests in solidarity with victims of police abuse nationally.Watch Rally Against Police Abuse in Solidarity with Anaheim, CA . blip.tv The Peaceful Streets Project has a "Strong" social media presence with over 5,100 YouTubePeaceful Streets YouTube subscribers, over 4,300 followers on TwitterPeacefulStreets Twitter and over 20,400 likes on Facebook.PeacefulStreets facebook
Buehler's efforts to expose what he considers to be police violence and the inherent corruption of the justice systemAntonio Buehler Exposes The APD Internal Affairs Coverup For The Lies Of Oborski And Snider YouTubeAntonio Buehler And Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo On KLBJ "Dudley And Bob Show" YouTube have resulted in numerous bloggers taking up his cause.A Veteran Faces Jail Time for Rising Up Against Injustice, June 26, 2012. dailykos.comAntonio Buehler Wants Peaceful Streets for Everyone americandailyherald.com In addition, numerous cities around the country reached out to Buehler and the Peaceful Streets Project looking to set up local franchises. Peaceful Streets Project chapters were set up in nearly a dozen cities to include Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, New York City, Manchester, Honolulu, San Antonio and Eunice, LA. Buehler and the Peaceful Streets Project decided to stop supporting Peaceful Streets Projects in other cities due to concerns over the politics of the people leading those efforts.
Buehler has continued to wage a public fight against his criminal charges. He has claimed that the city and the Austin Police Department are intentionally engaged in a cover-up and that corruption runs throughout the city government and the police department.
On June 24, 2013, Fox 7 ran a piece on Antonio Buehler wherein the President of the Austin Police Association alluded to possible violence in the future should Buehler continue to escalate his cop watching tactics. [Crimewatch: APA fears group's efforts to keep an eye on police may lead to violence] The Peaceful Streets Project responded by organizing several more public cop watch events, Know Your Rights Trainings and a national police accountability summit in Austin on August 17, 2013.Seal and Balko visit peaceful streets, austinchronicle.com, August 16, 2013