Popular YouTuber Ran Down Cop During Wild Traffic Stop: Police

If anyone dares try to test my mental. confidence, I will in I will eviscerate. every single person with my intelligence. right now. Eric Conover is known online. for his viral real estate content. But. right now, he's getting the wrong kind. of attention. Police in New Hampshire. say the YouTube star hit an officer with. his car and kept going, leading law. enforcement on a wild chase. But the. YouTuber said in court, "The police have. got the wrong guy." We're taking a look. at the charges he faces and what he has. to say about them. Welcome to Sidebar,

presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. Eric Connover, also known as Eric. Vancover, has nearly 3 million followers. on YouTube with many of his videos. garnering almost a million views. And. one of his most popular videos, in case. you don't know who he is, features him. doing a workout with actor Chris. Hemsworth. Now, the about section of. Conover's channel reads, "Merging. architecture, sacred geometry, and AI. consciousness evolution. This channel.

explores homes built for energetic. resonance and human expansion." Here's. the problem. The popular vlogger, aspiring actor, he is now in some very. hot water in New Hampshire because that. is where Conover is accused of allegedly. trying to kill a police officer. Now, Conover said during his first court. hearing last weekend that this was all a. quote massive misunderstanding, and. we'll get into that a little bit more, but I am joined right now by trial. attorney Adante Pointer. Uh, Adante, so.

good to see you. Thanks so much for. coming here on Sidebar. So, right off. the bat, this is a guy who definitely. has clout online. He has followers. people will know who he is. But. according to WUR, during his first court. appearance, he apparently even claimed. that I'm a public figure, that he's got. these millions of subscribers, and that. this was some sort of sting against him. Why make a statement like that, Adante? Because I wonder if that's going to hurt. him in the long run. Well, you know, I.

can see him at this point grasping for. straws, as it will, to try to win the. court of to try to win in the court of. public opinion. And when you see these. people who have big followings online, often time when they find themselves in. high water, they then claim, well, this. is some type of conspiracy against me. Let me ask you a question. Big status. like this, big follower, we talk about. this with celebrities, not he's not. quite a celebrity, but he he's well. known online. Is that a factor, his.

status online, is that a factor that. could come into this case at all? You go. all the way down. Let's say this goes to. a trial. Could that be used by the. prosecution? Is it something that would. only come in if he were to take the. stand, for example? You know, even jury. selection, you have to wonder if people. will know who he is and if that'll. affect him. Talk to us about his status, how that could affect the case in any. way. His status certainly can affect the. case in a number of different ways from. start to finish. And what I mean by that. is in terms of the way in which it's. investigated and looking at his prior.

statements that he may have made during. his podcast or online. If there's. something that the prosecution deems to. be incriminating as relates to the way. in which he relates to police or doesn't. like police or his feeling that he may. be above the law, that certainly is. something that the prosecution can draw. on. And we've seen them do that with. cases with celebrities who are like. rappers and things like that. They take. their prior statements or their art and. use it against them. Or you can even see. it for example in jury selection. It. could take a very long time if you will.

to find 12 jurors who are not biased or. who are not so familiar with him to. where they think that they cannot sit in. judgment of him and only judge him based. upon the evidence in the court of law. versus what they understand about him. from his podcast. And going further, there I'm sure there's going to be some. sparring between the attorneys, the. prosecution, and the defense as it. relates to what type of evidence. actually comes into the trial as it. relates to statements he's made online. andor the celebrity of who he is. So, this could be one of these cases where. everyone has to buckle up. And we've. seen that where courouses are besieged.

by these influencers followers and. jurors and court staff feel like they're. intimidated by the presence of the. public and their followers. And so, uh, this could be something that really. permeates the trial and can potentially. affect its outcome. I mean, I always ask. the celebrity question because I was in. that courtroom every day for Johnny Depp. Amber Heard and you see the amounts of. supporters that were there for him in. the courtroom. Uh, you know, I heard. them making comments when people were. testifying. Different situation, but I.

always am fascinated by that. Definitely. a crazy situation we're talking about. right here. My gosh. And here, let me. just say this. In general, you got to. think about having the right lawyer in. your camp if something happens. And. that's why I want to call out Morgan and. Morgan, our great sponsor and partner. This is a firm with over a thousand. attorneys. You know why? Because they. win a lot. In the past few months, Morgan and Morgan secured a $9.3 million. verdict for a car crash victim in. Florida, $5.6 million for another car. accident victim in Atlanta, and not to. mention $1.8 million in Kentucky after.

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over the weekend. So, according to. reporting from the Conway Daily, Conover. was driving in Bartlett, New Hampshire. on Saturday, and a Bartlett police. officer who was apparently dealing with. another traffic stop allegedly estimated. visually that Conover was going between. 55 and 60 m an hour in a 35 mph zone. According to testimony in court, Conover's first hearing, during this. first hearing, the officer, Cameron. EMTT, apparently chased after this Jeep. and managed to get Conover to stop. So,

police sergeant Brian Mafetta told the. judge what allegedly happened next. Quote, "While Officer EMTT exited his. vehicle, he moved around to the rear of. his cruiser, and you, Mr. Conover, then. backed his vehicle rapidly, pointed it. directly at Officer EMTT, and. accelerated at him, striking him at a. reasonably high rate of speed. So, according to the sergeant, the officer. actually was on the hood of this car and. then was thrown in the air, thrown 20 to. 40 feet away. Apparently, he had to go. to the hospital." Now, fortunately, his.

injuries were not life-threatening, and. he's since been released, but quite the. scene. Now, meantime, Conover allegedly. took off, according to WUR, going. another 28 m before other officers were. able to stop him. Apparently, multiple. agencies were called in to help this. situation. And the New Hampshire State. Police apparently had to set up spike. strips to stop him. This is according to. reporting from Conway Daily. So right. now he's charged with attempted murder, firstdegree assault against a police. officer, seconddegree assault, reckless.

conduct with a deadly weapon, disobeying. an officer, and reckless driving. So. Adante, they hit him with so many. different charges here. Talk to me about. attempted murder. Is attempted murder. hard to prove here? Well, if the deputy's recount of what. took place stands and isn't controverted. by some other evidence or testimony, for. example, like body cam or dash cam from. the car, then yes, it's not going to be. terribly hard for them to get an. attempted murder charge. Look, if this. person could clearly see that the.

officer is standing in front of the car, sees officer clinging to the hood, accelerates at him, they say a. reasonable rate of speed, well, clearly. it must have been fast enough to when he. hit the brakes or swerved that the. officer went 20 ft according to what the. fellow officer said. That means that car. was going at an extremely high rate of. speed in my opinion based upon what I've. seen in other incidents. And that in and. of itself shows a reckless disregard and. an idea that you're intentionally. speeding at an officer, putting his life.

in danger, and then you even sent him to. the hospital for those injuries. So, I. think that'll be a pretty good case for. the prosecution, and it'll be a tougher. case for the defendant to try to wiggle. his way out of. I want to ask you about. the different charges that he's facing. Attempted murder, right? could top. charge may be tough to prove beyond a. reasonable doubt. But then do you have. all of these other alleged crimes that. it would be easier for a jury to convict. him on let's say firstdegree assault. against the police officer or second. degree assault. In other words, if we.

can't convince a jury of the murder. charge or the attempted murder charge, these are crimes that are catchalls. They're lesser included. They're easier. to prove. Is that why you see so many. different charges levied against him. right now? You often see prosecutors bring a number. of different charges starting with the. most extreme or the most severe as you. mentioned like in this case an attempted. murder. But they also have what you. termed and what I understand it to be as. an attorney lesser included meaning. charges that are a part or lead up to an.

attempted murder but don't require the. same level of evidence or of certainty. And so it's much easier charge for a. prosecutor to prove than the big. enchilada here, which is attempted. murder. So it allows a jury, if they. aren't willing to go to the extreme of. saying, "Hey, we think that he intended. to try to kill this officer." A jury can. then rest their verdict of saying, "Well, even though we don't think he. tried to kill the officer, he still. acted in a way to assault or batter the. officer, and they'll still carry.

substantial amounts of jail time. Not as. much as attempted murder, but it's still. looking at a prison sentence." I thought. this was interesting. The sergeant also. testified in court, quote, "We're very. fortunate that an amateur drone operator. was in the air when he saw the. interaction and was able to capture it. on video." So, Adante, whether it's. drone footage or dash cam footage or. body cam, that's got to be a critical. piece of evidence. And that can come in, right? That can come in as a piece of. evidence, the drone footage. The drone footage is going to be a.

critical piece of evidence in this case. and perhaps at trial if it should go. that far because video evidence, be it. from a body cam, be it from a dash cam, or be it from a drone of a third party. who wasn't a part of what was taking. place, it doesn't lie. Meaning, it. doesn't have a bias. It's not for the. police. It doesn't have a bias against. our influencer. Instead, it's just going. to show you what took place. It doesn't. mean that there won't be a heavy and. substantial debate as it relates to the. accuracy of the footage and from its.

viewpoint, what it showed and what it. didn't show, but that'll be up for the. attorneys to spar about. But that will. still nevertheless be a critical item of. evidence in this case. And how it was. handled, how it came into evidence, that's always a critical point for. defense attorneys, right? How was it, you know, authenticated properly, was it. h mishandled, was it altered in any way? That those are conversations that come. up, right? Sure. In a criminal case, when you have uh footage or any type of. physical evidence, you're going to see. the defense attorney pounce at any.

opportunity they have to try to. undermine the credibility of that. evidence. Be it the chain of custody, how do they obtain it? How do they. preserve it? And how has it been altered. in any way in terms of slowing it up, speeding it up, or magnifying it? So, you know, I'd expect that to be ripe. grounds for a lot of challenges from the. defense attorney. Talking about defense, this is where things take a turn. So. during his arraignment, Connover. apparently told the judge that the. police reports about the incident were. falsified, that they're not real, that. they're not accurate. So he tried to.

tell the judge that he was not the Eric. Conover they were looking for because he. was from New York City, while the Eric. Conover that they were hunting was from. Absacon, New Jersey. So according to his. Wikipedia page, Conover was born and. raised in Absacon. Now Dante, first. thing I thought was very my cousin. Vinnie, right? Two different men, same. car, same time. But I mean, look, I'm. just getting to this case the same way. you are. I'm looking at it the same way.

thrown into it. That's an interesting. defense. I'm curious how they'll be a. he'll be able to show that if that's the. way he and his attorney ultimately move. forward with it. Yeah, it appears to me when I heard that. comment, but yet we can just simply do a. Wikipedia search and see that he was. spent some time in the city that he is. now trying to disavow as identifying. him. It appeared to be the type of. comments of someone who is off their. rocker, perhaps is not in the best. mental state. uh it didn't appear like.

he gave that statement with the advice. and consent of his attorney because any. attorney worth their salt would have. hushed their client up and said you're. not going to say anything right now. because you're not going to go against. your fifth amendment rights of against. selfinccrimination. So I I don't think. that was what the advice of council and. frankly the question is going to be can. they admit that to show that he is uh as. an indication of guilt in terms of him. trying to disavow himself from something. that's easily proven. So that could. become a problem for him later on in the.

case. Something you said very critical. about mental health. So Conover was. apparently very vocal during his. arraignment. Uh basically saying that. New Hampshire state troopers quote. brutalized him and that he was being. treated quote like an animal in jail. And then there's this if anyone dares. try to test my mental confidence I will. in I will eviscerate every single person. with my intelligence right now. And. that's not being egotistical. Okay, Adante, that's quite the statement. Um,

mental health issue at play, mental. health, mental health defense possibly. at. play. That's an ill-advised statement in. my opinion. One that probably was not. given with the advice and consent of his. attorney and one that may actually play. towards helping him even though if he. might fight it to show, look, right now. he has some competency issues. He's. going through a mental health crisis and. this is exhibit A of that. In terms of. this statement, it's pretty striden and.

frankly if his attorney thinks that he. is suffering from some type of mental. defect, it's incumbent upon that. attorney and probably has a duty under. the law to make sure that that's. evaluated and investigated because that. could aid in his defense for these. charges. Going back to these charges and. going back to a jury, if you have a uh. victim who is a member of law. enforcement and you have the testimony. of law enforcement, in your sense, your. experience, do you feel that juries will. give more deference to the officers in. this kind of case, their testimony,

their observations? U particularly, let's say the victim, the alleged victim. in this case testifies. Um talk to us. about that. Yeah, I've tried many cases. I've had. cases wherein police claim to be victim. or police are witnesses in those cases. and oftentimes we give an admonition or. an instruction to the jury as relates to. how to evaluate police testimony. You're. not to give an officer more credibility. or to place more weight on their.

testimony simply because they're a. police officer. The reason why those. instructions are often given to the jury. because almost as a natural reflex to. watching and hearing and listening to an. officer on the stand, jurors give. officer testimony a lot of weight. And. it's a hard road to climb for a defense. attorney when they're challenging an. officer's testimony. You have to have. something that's objectively can be. verified to show that the officer was. lying or kind of shading the truth. And.

without that type of objective evidence, juries oftentime admit and accept an. officer's testimony with very little. scrutiny. Could the officer sue Conover. for his injuries? I mean, anybody can. sue anybody for anything, but just. because if it's a viable lawsuit if he. does decide to take legal action against. Conover, what would you expect to see? Because at the time of this recording, I. wasn't able to see any pending lawsuit. But do you think that that is a. realistic possibility here? Especially, by the way, I don't know how much he'd. be making on social media, but you know, 3 million subscribers, million views,

you could be making some significant. money and not sure what Conover does uh. for the rest of his time, but you have. to wonder whether or not a lawsuit could. be on the horizon. I certainly expect uh. the police officer victim here to. evaluate all his legal options to figure. out if he could bring a lawsuit against. Conover for his injuries and what took. place. Conover has a substantial social. media following. you'd expect that he's. being paid pretty handsomely for his. YouTube following. And with that being. said, the officer would and could be.

looking at him to compensate him for the. injuries he sustained. Of course, most. states have workers compensation laws. And so, it may be a situation where the. officer is only able to recover or to be. paid and compensated for his injuries. through the state. However, if there is. a legal option for the officer to bring. a lawsuit against Conover for the. injuries sustained, expect that to. happen, especially if there's a. conviction here. It's a good point. By. the way, this apparently based on the.

reporting wasn't Mr. Conover's first. runin with police this month. No, just a. few days before this incident where he. allegedly tried to run over an officer. Conover was arrested for DWI and it. appears he was released after that. arrest because he allegedly posted a. photo on his Instagram page showing. bruises on his wrist with a caption that. said, "Ouch, cuffed up." Didn't provide. any other details, but in court, Conover. denied that he was driving drunk, saying. that he has been sober for more than a. thousand days, but he's still facing.

that DWI charge. Adante, that's a. different element to this story. How do. you think it affects the current charges. he's facing with respect to the officer? I mean, will it is it two separate. cases? It won't have an effect at this. point. The previous case for DWI is just. a charge. He hasn't been convicted. Although, the judge can take that into. consideration when determining whether. or not to set bail or to allow him to. once again go free on his own. recgnissance. However, as it relates to. the criminal prosecution, the DA could. look to that as more evidence of the.

fact that this is a person who was. unhinged or unable to control himself. andor may have been under the influence. of alcohol or drugs in the previous. incident and in the current incident. Of. course, the attorneys are going to spar. over that whether or not that evidence. or that charge should be excluded from. the charge of running over or attempting. to run over this police officer. So, that's going to be hotly contested. during the course of this prosecution. And if by chance the judge allows that. evidence in as it relates to the prior.

DWI, that may be something that weighs. heavily on the jury's mind if this case. should get that far. And by the way, just we don't have evidence of this, but. just want to clear any, you know, moment. of doubt here. If for assumption sake, he was intoxicated when this happened. and let's say he allegedly did did do. this. I know intoxication, voluntary. intoxication is not a defense. However, is it an element that could mitigate the.

attempted murder charge um in any way? I. mean, again, just for assumption sake, we don't know the circumstances of all. this. I'm not saying he was intoxicated, but I just want to theorize this for a. second. If he was intoxicated, could. that mitigate it, reduce it from an. attempted murder charge to, you know, just focus on the assault charges? You. tell me. The idea that he may have. potentially been intoxicated during this. incident would weigh in in terms of how. the prosecution wants to proceed. And I. don't think it necessarily weighs in.

when it gets if it should get to a jury. trial because voluntary intoxication. doesn't negate the activity or the. conduct that he engaged in. However, when it comes down to plea deal. negotiations, a prosecutor can certainly. take that into consideration in terms of. what type of deal is reached between the. defendant and the prosecution because. they could say that's a mitigating. circumstance. Essentially, Convoy. doesn't behave in this manner on most. occasions, but he's going through a. mental health crisis. he may have been. under the influence of something and.

that is something that they can take. into consideration as it relates to. reaching a deal for a lesser included. charge like the battery or assault on an. officer versus the attempted murder. charge as it currently stands. I I. appreciate that. That's an interesting. perspective about that. All right. Well, look, for now, Mr. Conover is being held. on preventative detention. He's due back. in New Hampshire court next week for a. probable cause hearing basically to see. is there enough evidence to move this. case forward. So, interesting. development. Dante Pointer, thanks so. much for coming back here on Sidebar.

Appreciate it. Good seeing you. Always. love being here. Talk to you the ne till. the next time. All right, everybody. That's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for. joining us and as always, come check us. out and please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get. your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].