When Cops Have To Arrest Their Family | Forensic Files

Cops have to deal with all sorts of violent and dangerous criminals every day, but what happens when it's their
very own family they have to arrest? DADDY, WHY ARE YOU HURTING ME? CAITLIN, KNOCK IT OFF.
THIS IS OFFICER KOVAC, a policeman who didn't approve of his daughter's relationship with 18-year-old McKay
Coleman. After tracing his daughter's laptop to the residence, he spotted McKay's car driving by and decided to
pull it over. You can get out. For what? You're going to jail. For what? Get out.
For what? Let's see if my car We'll make [ __ ] up as we go. It's immediately clear that this isn't a
normal police interaction. That last phrase, "We'll make it up as we go," is obviously unprofessional and quite
scary, too. Officer Kovac has a personal and emotional connection to this case and has even made an unlawful traffic
stop because of it. Even if he did have a valid reason to pull McKay over, he should have radioed for another officer
to handle the stop, but instead, he's taking things into his own hands. Any guns, knives, weed on you?
What's that? Uh, obviously it's not. Don't get smart before I can do something to you, even more.
The passenger side door opening means someone is still in the vehicle and it turns out to be another of his
daughter's friends, but she's still nowhere to be seen. I told you to get out of the car.
I said I told you to get out of the car. I'm on a road of 12. I'm advising a white female in a blue
shirt in front of my house. Did dad know my my daughter's in your house? Conveniently, Kovac managed to pull them
over right next to the friend's house, so he decided to have a chat with the mother after remembering his daughter's
laptop also showed her inside of this house. Why is her computer there? Why would your daughter be in my house?
I don't know. You know, so if I check and you're lying to me, you're going to jail.
You can check and I'm not lying to you. She's getting a ticket cuz she wasn't wearing her seatbelt, so that's going to
cost you $20. Can you write me a warning? search my house. That's fine. I will. The woman politely invites Kovac to
search her home despite having no legal obligation to. He tells her that because
her daughter wasn't wearing a seatbelt, he's going to write them a ticket for $200, causing the woman to revoke her
consent to search. It's becoming clear just how much he's willing to abuse his power to solve his own personal issues.
So, the woman decides to speak up. Sir, you're making this personal. it How am I being disrespectful? I was
wearing my seatbelt. You're making this personal. You want to ticket my daughter because you think
your daughter is in my car. You're making this personal. You want to ticket my daughter because you think your
daughter is in my car. No, she wasn't wearing her seatbelt. I'm going to call 911.
Realizing exactly what's going on, the girl's mother reminds Officer Kovac that what he's doing is both unprofessional
and illegal. But, in a scramble to prevent the woman from calling his colleagues to the scene, he decides to
let her daughter go without a ticket before discovering something nobody could predict.
I didn't even see you. Get out of the car. Get in my car. But, why? All right, you guys are good. Ma'am, you
can They can go with you. The officer's daughter, Caitlyn, had been hiding inside McKay's car the
entire time, obviously terrified of what her father might do to her and her friends. It turns out her fear wasn't
unfounded as he proceeds to essentially kidnap his own daughter by forcing her into his vehicle.
Get in my car. Goodnight. You can't. You can't take me. I am 18. You have to give me a reason. BY LAW,
YOU HAVE TO WHY ARE YOU PUTTING ME? CAITLYN. KNOCK IT OFF. YEAH, SHE DID NOTHING.
GET IN THE CAR. YOU'RE GOING TO THE HOSPITAL cuz she She said she was You're to kill herself
right you? NO, I DIDN'T! NO! CAITLIN IS ESSENTIALLY BEING KIDNAPPED HERE. She's broken no laws and is
legally an adult, meaning she can stay or go with anyone she wants. But despite that, he tells her that she has to come
with him to the hospital as she needs a psychological evaluation. There's no need to point out just how badly Officer
Kovac handled the entire situation. Internal Affairs did that for us. It was quickly concluded that Kovac acted
illegally and irresponsibly. During the entire interaction, Kovac was listed as an available unit and was called to a
domestic abuse case, but he never responded. Officer John Kovac was later fired from the police department for his
unprofessional behavior, but it's not only police officers that can be protective parents, though. Take this
example from Vermont when a 52-year-old father tried using an excavator to attack the officers that were arresting
his own kid. What you're watching is essentially two people threatening each other with
deadly weapons. The cops are in an extremely tough position here. They have to keep control of the detained suspect
while also talking down his father, all while in a life-or-death situation. All available units, I've got 343 and
254 in a 10-10. Unfortunately, this is where the footage ends. However, you can make out the
radio dispatcher informing other officers of a 10-10 at the address. A 10-10 is a fight in progress and more
units are quickly dispatched to help these two officers take control of the situation and take the entire family
into custody. The son was arrested on charges of burglary and assault, while the father
was also taken into custody and arrested. In both of these cases so far, a cop's family member hasn't been
directly arrested, but this next case shows what happens when a cop has to arrest his own daughter for a DUI.
Dad. You stop with this [ __ ] You're arrested for DUI. On the 28th of December 2022, a witness
had observed a white vehicle strike a traffic light and then quickly drive off. A part of the vehicle's bumper had
fallen off in the road after the hit. Around 15 minutes after the call, police located the suspect's vehicle at a gas
station across the road, but the driver was the last person they expected. Come back from Applebee's?
a drink. Okay. How old are you? 21. My dad is a Wow. He's showing me Listen. Your bumper's in the road over there.
Did you just hit that pole? No, I promise I did not. No? The very thing 21-year-old Teresa says
is that her dad is an officer with the local PD, possibly hoping that he'd come and get her out of the situation, but
the cops at the scene are sure that things are way past that. You left Applebee's?
Yeah, I left Applebee's. You cut through the plaza. You came out by Lowe's and Chick-fil-A.
Yeah. Did you hit the traffic pole that's right there? I did not hit the traffic pole. This
part was hanging off already. I I hit a deer in Pennsylvania cuz I go to school in
Do you smoke marijuana recreationally? I did not smoke marijuana universally. Universally smoking marijuana isn't the
only part of her story that doesn't make any sense. She's saying that her bumper
was already hanging off from an accident in Pennsylvania around 25 miles away, and it just happened to fall off right
as another car identical to hers struck a traffic light. But Teresa has a trick up her sleeve that might just get her
out of this. At At that's what she hopes. They hit a Pennsylvania deer. You see this?
I hit This piece fell off at the traffic light that you hit, that you knocked over.
67, do you have another unit out with you? All right, hang out. Over the course of just a few minutes,
Teresa brings up her dad over five times, obviously praying that he'll be able to find a way for her to get out of
this. But, before he can come to rescue her, the cops are starting to zero in on
what really happened and begin to get at least some of the truth from Teresa. Did you drive away cuz you're scared cuz
you had maybe had one drink and you think you're drunk? And you might get arrested, but you don't seem like you're
drunk. So, you want to just tell the truth? So, when after Applebee's, did you hit a
traffic pole? You can't miss it. It lights up. It's red, green, and yellow. You hit a traffic signal.
Yeah, you went up the curb. You hit the traffic signal. The traffic signal fell down, and you left.
Okay. Well, FOR SECURITY PURPOSES, YOUR DAD the sheriff's office wasn't driving your
vehicle tonight. In just this one short conversation, Teresa admits that she did hit
something, that she's more intoxicated than they realized, and that she was texting while driving. Three driving
faults that can each come with their own punishment. So, now that the truth has come out, the detectives decide to speak
with her father, John. But, it turns out he's not there to help her. Hey John, how are you?
So, your daughter hit a traffic pole. Okay. What's the damage on the car? Okay, you see damage on that car on that
car there? I think it was like the front right bumper. John explains that Teresa did hit a deer
earlier, and that the damage was on the front right bumper. But, it was nowhere near as serious as the damage of was
currently sustaining. Can I come out? Are you guys out there? Uh that's up to you. I'll I'll see if
she wants you to come out. If she wants, you know, you to drive her home. Yeah, I I I appreciate it. I'll let Let
me come out there and I'll and I'll see you guys. Be careful. Thanks. Okay. All right, sounds good.
It looks like Teresa isn't going to be getting the salvation she was hoping for from her dad. And just 5 minutes later,
he arrives at the scene to talk with the cops. What's What's up? So, what she's saying like and where the
damage was there doesn't really make too much sense. So, tried to get some more information out
of her, but and then that piece of bumper there. This is the bumper. So, the other one wasn't just like the
bumper wasn't hanging like that. Yeah, no. So, what it was is basically this was intact.
Okay. Um this piece was missing and the scratches here Those are all from That's all from uh up here that she
She That's who she lost this on. So, right now this is going to be my call. I'm surprised he's coming out.
Okay, got you. to be my boss coming out. Yeah. Okay, who was it you talked to last
time? Sergeant Not that I'm going to. I got I'm just asking. The cops who were first at the scene
almost seem as though they're expecting John to try and make excuses for his daughter and get extra nervous when he
asks who their supervisor is. Obviously, there are countless examples of corruption where officers, especially
those in the higher ranks, are able to use their power to prevent their family from getting into trouble. However, the
officers quickly realize all he's trying to do is gather all the information on the incident so he can make a fair
assessment himself. This quickly becomes evident as he checks his text messages from her to try and create a timeline of
events. I I want to want to show you this so you can see it. You hold 10:39. What do you
think time do you think that initial call came? Because she probably hit it and was
like, "Dad, what the [ __ ] do I do?" Somewhere between 10:45 and 11:00. Well, I
That's about right. I'm going to talk to her as close to the time as we can all.
I I why would her, She knows that I'm a cop. She knows She knows not to do that.
Well, maybe she didn't even Do you think she Not once. I'm saying she didn't lie.
Yeah. Okay. I want to be very clear about it. But, she might not even looked at the
freaking car. It wouldn't have made any difference. However, despite John's willingness to
help the officers out, the sergeant at the scene asks him not to get involved so to guarantee the integrity of the
investigation. So far, everything other than Teresa's conduct has been perfect and is a great example of proper
policing. So, it's back to focusing on what Teresa had mentioned earlier. She says she'd only had one drink at
Applebee's, but it's starting to seem as though she may be a little more drunk than they realized. Suspicions that were
only confirmed after some field sobriety tests. All right, everything that happened
today, all right, I don't think that you were okay to safely operate a motor vehicle.
Dad! Dad! You got it. Dad! Where's my dad? Oh, your dad's right over here. And then
All right. Come on. You need to stop with this [ __ ] and get in the car. Okay. You're under arrest for DUI.
Got it. Have a seat. After being forced into the police vehicle by her own dad, Teresa was
driven to the police station where her blood alcohol level was tested. It came back as .17%
over twice the legal limit. As of this upload, Teresa is still awaiting her penalty, but has been issued a court
summons for driving under the influence, reckless driving, and failure to report
a car accident. Teresa's dad followed protocol perfectly, but what happens when instead of the dad being called to
handle his daughter, it's the daughter who calls the cops on her own dad? Well, that's exactly what happened on the 24th
of March 2023 when officers were called to a domestic violence case that turned out to be nothing like they expected.
Hello. I'm going I can't Can you put the dog in the room for me? I will. Can you give me
All right. Who called? Me. You did? Yeah, sure did. All right. What's going on? The woman who answered the door tells
the police that she had an argument with her father where he threatened to punch
her and she just wants her parents to listen to her and take responsibility for the issues in her childhood. The
responding officer immediately realizes he's in for a rough one. When did he threaten to punch you?
Well, treat me the way he treated me. Are you talking to me or are you talking to them?
No, I'm not talking. You know I'm talking to her making faces. What I'm saying though is you need to be
talking to me. I have never once called the cops on someone before and this first time and
he deserves it. Okay. Well, he's going to go talk to him separate. about me. Okay, then what do you want us to
conduct an investigation or not? In this time, the cops take her father into a separate room where he explains
that his daughter had been screaming at him all day. Apparently, she was blaming
him and his wife for decisions she made and he was getting tired of the problems
she's causing them. Despite the toxicity of the situation, things stayed calm at
least until the cops found a marijuana pipe in the daughter's bag. You have a pipe in there that's commonly
used to smoke marijuana. you take this? As well as wrapping paper, so Well, still that's not your purse. You
don't have the right to It's in plain view. Plain view. Turn around and Turn around and put your hands BEHIND
YOUR BACK. TURN AROUND AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR YOU'RE GOING TO BE UNDER ARREST for
obstructing if you do not comply. Stop. Give me your hands. Stop resisting. Stop.
Okay. In the scuffle, the woman intentionally kicked one of the officers and resisted
the arrest. The cops also searched her bag and found a myriad of intoxicants and illegal drugs. So, they read her her
rights and took her out to the patrol vehicle. Back inside the house though, things are only getting weirder. The
officer hears a sound coming from the bathroom and decides to investigate further.
It happened back there. Something fell down back there. Probably Christine in the bathroom.
Who's Christine? You okay? friend of Janet's. Is she allowed to be here? Yeah. It's kind of odd that she stayed in the
bathroom the whole time. Does she have warrants? I don't know. Hey Christine. I need you to come out here for a sec.
Unsurprisingly, the mysterious woman hiding from the cops in the bedroom turned out to have warrants out for her
arrest and was also put in cuffs. The woman's parents explained that their daughter has been troubled for a long
time and has serious trauma from when she was younger. They tell the police that she's currently in therapy for it,
which might have brought it to the front of her mind and caused the aggressive nature towards them, but they never
mention what the issues are. Nevertheless, the woman was charged with possession of illegal drugs and
resisting arrest. The parents weren't charged with anything, meaning their daughter's call completely backfired on
her. Drawing from what we know, it seems that the parents were mostly in the right here and had just been dealt a bad
hand. Things are completely different for Bruce Adams though, a father who decided to take matters into his own
hands when his son was arrested by abusing his power as a county commissioner. Tell me who I call to find out why he's
in jail. You want me to sue the son of a county sheriff? In November 2022, Kenneth Adams was
pulled over for running a stop sign, but as it turns out, Kenneth was in much more trouble than he realized.
How's it going? Good. What did I do wrong? Okay, so the reason I stopped you is you
didn't come to complete stop at the stop sign. I did. And then you didn't have your turn
signal on. I sure did. Okay. a fact I had my turn signal Okay. That's why I was surprised you were
pulling me over, but whatever. The officer then took his license and ran it through the system, where he
would discover Kenneth had a warrant out for burglary and theft of a vehicle. All
of a sudden, Kenneth becomes defensive and refuses to exit the vehicle. All right, can I can I get you to step
out of the vehicle with me? What are you doing? No, what what's going on? Seriously, what's going on?
You have a warrant. How do I have a warrant? I don't know how you're having a warrant, but it's on our system right
now. You have an active warrant out of the 7th District Court here in San Juan. I've gone to No, that's incorrect.
Okay, well, it's on our system right now. Well, you need I'm not going to argue with you about
it. You're going to go to jail tonight on that warrant, okay? No, I'm not. Dude, this this this is absurd.
Mr. Adams, you do have an active warrant for your arrest. And you and well, who who issued the
warrant though? The the courts have issued For for what though? Cuz I've gone to
court for everything. There should not be an active warrant for me anywhere, dude.
Kenneth claims that he's already been to court for his previous crimes, but the warrant still calls for his arrest. For
the majority of smaller cases, the suspect is tasked with turning in the documents that prove that they've been
to court and completing any classes they were made to attend by the judge. Without those documents, the court
cannot confirm they attended anything. So, when Kenneth forgot to turn his in, the warrant remained open and the police
had no way to tell that he had in fact been to court. Issued October 13th. For what?
It has some felony charges, burglary charges. Dude, I've been to court for that. No,
no, I've been to court for that. You want to know the charges? Yeah, I do. Well, it has two burglary charges
listed, a theft charge, and mischief. That's all my old case. Uh three charges of burglary of a
vehicle and criminal trespass. Yeah, what what why is that showing up now? Kenneth was taken away to the station,
but this is when his father, Bruce Adams, turned up, who turned out to be the county commissioner for the local
area. How convenient for Kenneth. Immediately after arriving at the scene, Bruce demanded to know what was going on
and quickly started to show signs of corruption. Where's Kenneth? He's in jail. They took him.
You all right, took him to jail? They took him to jail and I stayed here with the car.
Why? For a warrant. Who do I call to find out why? to find warrant? You're a police officer. Tell me who I
call to find out why he's in jail. I got to be careful with this stuff, Bruce. Do you understand that?
Okay. That's the warrant. Okay, so it says warrant status active, offense burglary,
burglary theft, criminal mischief, burglary of a vehicle, burglary of a vehicle, burglary of a vehicle.
to court over that. It's You saw the warrant right there. I even I showed you the warrant.
He's been charged with that and he has a plea in abeyance on all of it. What do you want me to do?
I want you to turn him loose. I can't turn him loose, Bruce. Who can? Nobody can. He's been arrested for a
warrant. The courts can. And the warrant's false. Huh? The warrant's not false. You want me to sue the son of a [ __ ]
county sheriff because he arrested my kid on a false warrant? The warrant's right there. Bruce is
obviously trying to abuse his position and influence the commissioner to try and save his son from the law. But
luckily, this officer stands his ground and refuses to cave in. Eventually though, Kenneth was released from jail,
the warrant was withdrawn, and no further action was taken against Bruce.

These are times When Police Have To Arrest Their Family?

Brief Summary

Police officers confront personal dilemmas when family members are involved in criminal activities, leading to ethical conflicts and consequences.

Key points

Officer Kovac's Unlawful Stop. Officer Kovac pulls over his daughter's boyfriend, leading to a tense confrontation.
Kovac's Daughter Hides in Car. Caitlyn is discovered hiding in McKay's car, leading to a shocking escalation.
Daughter's DUI Arrest. Officer John Kovac is forced to arrest his own daughter for DUI, revealing family tensions.
Burglary Charges Revealed. Kenneth's past includes multiple burglary charges, raising questions about his current situation.
Bruce's Corruption Uncovered. Bruce Adams, the county commissioner, shows signs of corruption while trying to help his son.
Warrant Status Active. The police confirm that Kenneth's warrant is active, complicating his situation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You're making this personal.

2:23WatchSep 18, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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