Gavin Seim’s Anti-Government Antics Get Him Arrested — Again

Seim is an extreme constitutionalist who uses a number of sovereign citizen tactics against police. He has regularly questioned their authority and proudly posted a video of himself trying to make a citizen’s arrest against an officer. Seim, who represented himself, began yelling at the judge presiding over the case. Deputies were forced to drag Seim from the courtroom.

Last week, Seim was at a Walmart in Ephrata, Washington, (population around 7,000) when he saw a police officer speaking to a woman in a truck. Seim perceived the action as harassment by the officer, who he calls “one of the local goons,” and started filming the exchange.

This is the second time that Seim filmed the same officer, Patrick Canady, at work. The first was during a traffic stop in January 2016, which Seim pulled over “to observe.” During this encounter, the officer asked Seim to get back into his car for his own safety and Seim responded “I feel safe, don’t worry, other than from you” before berating the officer for shining a light in his eyes. He then posted the video on his website with the title “Gav Dresses Down This Bully Cop on the Street.”

In Seim’s account of the most recent incident, he told officer Canady to “stop harassing the woman, stop blocking the road, get in your car, go, that’s an order.” The officer refused and continued with the stop in progress. Seim retreated to his vehicle, but did not leave the scene. Instead, he attempted to film a Facebook Live post from the Walmart parking lot.

Canady completed his traffic stop, then went over to Seim’s vehicle with additional officers who had arrived on the scene and arrested Seim for obstruction and harassment. Seim was taken into lockup at the Grant County Sheriffs before being released on a $2,000 bond.

Since then, Seim related his account of the incident on Facebook, besmirching Officer Canady and the Ephrata Police Department (EPD) and asking his fans to call the EPD and the local prosecutor’s office on his behalf. He also deemed the police department “human traffickers” and implied that they are “drug traffickers.” Seim alleges that officer Canady doesn’t protect people or serve the community, and made the accusation that Canady “has a gun and a badge and he’s not afraid to kidnap me.” Seim has also called the officer “a Godless tyrant,” the “guy they send out to rob people,“ the “local extortioner” and “the armed robber of Ephrata.”

Seim said in a post arrest video that his own actions were “bold” and any repercussions from his arrest are just retaliatory. He also pointed to a cast of dubious characters he considers upstanding citizens, such as the Bundys, who are in jail on conspiracy charges, David Fry, one of the last holdouts at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, who regularly advocated for cop killing on his Facebook page, sovereign citizen and Bundy supporter Josh Martinez, who drove without a license, planned to challenge the jurisdiction of the court during his hearing and was sentenced to 15 days in jail and Jon Ritzheimer the anti-Muslim activist who pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and planned to perform citizens’ arrests on Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and every American involved in crafting the Iran nuclear deal.