Police forces across the United States have been under extensive scrutiny recently, and while the reasons vary, one thing is unquestionably clear: People are fighting back for their rights.

Just north of Miami, Florida, a group of videographers were trying to film in the tropical paradise when they were met with the heat of Deerfield Sheriff’s deputies who abandoned protocol and deprived the team of Preplex Productions their right to the first amendment.

Larry Paz, Nick Giassi, Pedro Anjos, Michael Martins, and Ace Barros were filming for their personal YouTube channel, Uh Oh Monkey, on an observation deck, which was unmarked as city property. The team was unaware they were trespassing, until two officers approached the men asking for identification.

“Everybody was calm, we didn’t pose as a threat,” Paz said.

Confused and hesitant with the officers’ aggressive demeanor their first instinct was to start filming, fortunately for them.

The situation plummeted from bad to worse as vocal aggression turned physical.

“We couldn’t do anything, We felt hopeless. They were in complete control,” Martins said.

Anjos was picked up by two officers and slammed to the floor, and thousands of dollars of equipment was intentionally damaged.

“I thought I was gonna die,” said Anos. “I tried not to move but they were still being very pushy and I wasn’t gonna fight two police officers.”

An officer said a camera could be used as a weapon, but instead it was used as evidence. Luckily, the altercation was barely caught on camera.

The gentlemen made a video chronicling the event for their Youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/UhOhMonkeyTV

While it was difficult for the men to understand what was going on at the beach, it was even more puzzling to understand why it had been a month and a half and they still couldn’t retrieve their videography equipment.

“I was almost depressed, we couldn’t do anything for two months,” Anjos said.

After being out of work and demanding their property be returned, they would only see pieces of the footage that had been obviously tampered. Clips were deleted or cut out to erase evidence of the violation, and the cameras and lenses were unexplainably damaged, some of it never to work or be seen again.

Perhaps after seeing the footage, and realizing the laws that were broken by the law enforcement, the Sheriff’s Department tried to leave the incident in the sand. After arriving to their court date, the men were informed that they were not in the system.

The case had disappeared like it had never happened, according to Paz. However, the effects were ever lasting.

“Initially everyone was so down. But afterwards it brought everyone together and made everyone work twice as hard. We wanted to prove a point,” Giassi said.

“It made us more powerful,” Anjos added.

The vibrant and determined team recovered the only way they knew how: By creating.

Since the incident, the Uh Oh Monkey channel has skyrocketed in views of their funny videos. Paz has created several catchy songs accompanied by impressive music videos. Through word of mouth, and by letting their hobby speak for themselves, they’ve been approached by Atlantic Records to film personal videos for B.O.B, Trey Songz, and Sean Paul.

“We grew. Now we have newer equipment, we still work with broken equipment but that inspires us to become greater so that we can afford better equipment so that we can become that next level production company,” Giassi said.

While they lost a job due to the lack of their cameras, they now have their hands in several projects involving more music, a potential reality show, and feature films.

“Overall, in general I’m glad it happened. It shaped a little bit of our personalities. Now we know how to deal with cops in those situations.”