Stand with Nolan Bates' Family for Justice & Healing FL Keys

Thank you for taking the time to read our GoFundMe page and learn about our story. Our names are Katie and Nolan Bates, and we are the couple from the Florida Keys Traffic Stop video which is circulating on Youtube.

We were shocked to see the videos of our incident with a Florida Keys police officer surface on YouTube, and to have it be addressed by The Civil Rights Lawyer Channel, as well. After the incident, we debated speaking out about the situation in order to raise awareness, but as we are not retaliative people, we decided to let sleeping dogs lie. So, you can imagine our disbelief when a friend sent a link to the original youtube video of the body cam footage.

Seeing the videos posted online without our knowledge brought back the flood of fear, confusion, and uncertainty that we experienced during this immensely overwhelming incident. But, upon reading many of the comments, we are in awe of the outpouring of compassion and support, and are grateful to all those who are stepping in to defend against injustice in our "justice system.”

Although we were strongly hesitant, at the suggestion of many Youtube commenters, as well as friends and family, we have created this GoFundMe page. We have to admit that this situation did put significant financial strain on our family, in addition to mental and emotional distress which has lasted months after the incident, and has been difficult to come to terms with. So, we decided to follow your suggestions in creating this page.

Our main goal is to help make, not only this police department, but all departments, aware of the crucial need for de-escalation training for their officers. We don't want any other family to face the level of aggression and lack of empathy that was displayed during this traffic stop.

Our young children, who we have been raising to respect and appreciate all first responders and military, (especially since Nolan served as both a professional and volunteer firefighter for many years,) are now fearful of anyone in uniform.

We try to reassure them that this was one officer who was maybe having a bad day, and that officers usually do not act like this, but it's hard to undo the damage from this traumatic experience. During prayer time, they often will thank Jesus that "that policeman didn't shoot daddy." (They believe the taser was about to kill their Dad, because they are too young to recognize the difference between taser and gun.) This image has been extremely difficult to help them un-see.

We also had to try to figure out how to explain to them why we lost our Florida State Park work position, as well as our place of living, without making them more wary of police officers. They love getting to work and live at Florida State Parks, and helping to clean up the ocean and environment with us, but we were asked to leave that specific park due to this situation- and may very well not be welcomed back there.

In summary, we truly appreciate the way the public has defended us in the comments of the Youtube videos, and cannot thank you enough for any financial support you help to provide. We are humbled by the suggestion of starting this GoFundMe, and want to ensure transparency for usage of any funds received. Any funds raised would be used toward:

-Alleviation of debt incurred as a result of this incident.

- A civil lawyer to help us follow the legal process required to try to help encourage this officer and department to not treat anyone like this in the future- and ideally to promote awareness about law enforcement interactions with persons with disabilities, de-escalation training, and proactive prevention of further similar incidents.

- Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Nolan, (and/or similar treatments) to aid in his continued recovery from his traumatic brain injury.

- Therapy for our two small children to help them process through, and overcome, their apprehensiveness toward law enforcement as a result of this interaction.

(Our brains cannot fathom donations of the amount to cover these things, much less any more than that. Should we be blessed beyond these amounts, we will do our best to pray for discernment of proper usage.)

As one Youtube commenter stated “I haven't seen any petition or ballot for citizens to protect them from aggressive cops. The judicial system have given police departments almost unlimited powers over the citizens. As long as the public remains silent, it will only get worse.”

So let’s speak up together, and be the change!

Thank you for your time and empathy.

"We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." -Romans 5:3-5

Here is a link to The Civil Rights Lawyer’s first video about the incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy3yOAp1uvA