Two Cops One Donut
Two Cops One Donut is where policing, criminal justice, accountability, and public safety get discussed without the usual echo chamber. Hosted by Erik Lavigne, a working police sergeant with 20 years of law enforcement experience, TCOD brings together cops, attorneys, criminal justice professionals, critics, content creators, and people with firsthand experience to have the conversations that don't fit into a 30-second clip. We talk police accountability, use of force, constitutional rights, police technology, training, criminal justice reform, court decisions, controversial encounters, and the policies shaping modern law enforcement. The goal isn't to defend cops at all costs, and it isn't to bash them either. When police get it right, we'll say so. When they get it wrong, we'll talk about that too. And when an issue lives somewhere in the gray area, that's usually where the best conversation begins. You don't have to agree with the host or the guests to have a seat at the table. Two Cops One Donut exists to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the communities they serve through honest conversation, transparency, accountability, and perspectives you don't normally hear together. New interviews, discussions, and livestream conversations explore the issues affecting policing and the criminal justice system today. Listen. Challenge us. Join the conversation. Views expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not represent their respective employers or organizations.
Episodes
The deputy who arrested her has been fired. For Natasha Lopez, the fight is far from over.
Natasha joins Sgt. Erik Lavigne on Two Cops One Donut following news that Cherokee County, Georgia, deputy Charles Mills was terminated. In this candid conversation, she recounts the home entry, her obstruction arrest, and the alleged online targeting that followed her decision to speak publicly.
Lopez alleges that an anonymous Facebook page ta...
Who is checking the person who can look you up?
In this solo episode of Two Cops One Donut, Erik Lavigne examines two separate Pinellas County cases involving former deputies accused of misusing law-enforcement databases for personal reasons.
The discussion begins with allegations against Travis Stanton involving a 17-year-old high school student, repeated personal attention, and searches for information about her and her family. Eri...
He thought she was 12. He wore a badge. Is ten years enough?
Former Texas DPS trooper Christian Estrada pleaded guilty after attempting to entice someone he believed was a 12-year-old girl into sexual activity. The supposed child was an undercover decoy. His sentence: ten years in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release. Read the DOJ case summary.
In this solo episode of Two Cops One Donut, Erik Lavigne examines the i...
Qualified immunity is one of the most misunderstood and controversial doctrines in American policing. Does it actually protect good officers making reasonable decisions, or has it become a barrier that keeps legitimate civil-rights claims from ever reaching a jury?
In this episode of Two Cops One Donut, Sgt. Erik Lavigne sits down with civil-rights attorney Brandon Grable of Clearly Established for an in-depth discussion on what qua...
A disputed home entry. An obstruction arrest. Then allegations that the arresting deputy targeted the homeowner online.
What happened to Natasha Lopez, and what should police accountability look like when a citizen’s complaint becomes personal?
Sgt. Erik Lavigne examines the Cherokee County, Georgia, case through the reported timeline, the sheriff’s explanation, Lopez’s account, and questions from the live audience....
Police thought he was fleeing. His Tesla footage helped tell a different story. Could the situation have been sorted out before it became a nearly two-year criminal case?
On this solo episode of Two Cops One Donut, Erik Lavigne examines Kevin Finley’s Winter Springs, Florida, arrest and acquittal. Erik explains why he can understand the officer’s initial interpretation while questioning the assumptions behind it—an...
Patrick Carr of The Patrick Carr Show joins Two Cops One Donut for a long-form conversation about police, media, accountability, transparency, and how the public decides which version of a story to trust. Lance Fisher of Thin Blue Lie Audits joins as guest co-host alongside regular co-hosts Zoel Murphy and Banning Sweatland.
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What happens when the government takes complete control over someone's basic needs and the safeguards meant to protect that person fail?
In this episode of Two Cops One Donut, Sgt. Erik Lavigne examines the death of Gary “Bubba” Blair, who died while being held at the Chesterfield County Detention Center in South Carolina. Blair had been found incompetent to stand trial and was awaiting competency-restoration treatment w...
A badge can start a conversation, but it can’t end it. We spend this morning digging into two stories that look unrelated on the surface and land in the exact same place: authority without oversight always turns into a trust problem. First, we break down a report out of Bloomington, Illinois where an off-duty assistant police chief allegedly flashes his badge, follows two young men, and tries to steer responding officers towa...
Nearly six months in jail. Charges dismissed. Now a federal lawsuit. How does an investigation get that far without somebody stopping to check the evidence?
On this episode of Two Cops One Donut, Erik Lavigne breaks down Angela Lipps’ lawsuit against Fargo and a detective after a facial recognition lead connected her to a bank fraud investigation. We discuss the reported identification mistake, her alleged alibi, and the check...
hat meaA Facebook post about drinking water leads to a felony arrest. The charge gets dropped. Now the police department is facing a state-ordered shutdown. What went wrong, and does “I was following orders” explain any of it?
On this episode of Two Cops One Donut, Erik Lavigne breaks down the Trinidad, Texas controversy and debates what officers should understand before putting someone in handcuffs. Knowing the elements...
She reported domestic violence. An officer allegedly used police technology to help the relative she accused find her. How do you rebuild trust after something like that?
On this episode of Two Cops One Donut, I break down the reported San Jose Flock misuse case and explain why “we fired him” shouldn’t end the conversation. We discuss the difference between firing an officer, revoking police certification, and purs...
A whistleblower story gets messy fast when the method becomes the headline. We break down the LAPD Daniel Flores case, where an officer reportedly recorded coworkers in a background investigations unit making racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks, then faced criminal charges tied to those recordings. The core question we wrestle with is simple and brutal: if the recordings reveal real misconduct, does that change how we should jud...
What happens when the people enforcing the law are the ones crossing the line?
Sergeant Erik Lavigne joins retired Detective Matt Thornton and retired Atlanta officer Zoel “Red Dog” Murphy for an audience-driven episode of Two Cops One Donut. Together, they review police encounters, challenge questionable decisions, and discuss what meaningful accountability should look like.
The conversation covers officers interfering w...
Can a public library legally trespass you if you haven’t committed a crime? And if the library wants you gone, how far does a responding police officer have to investigate before enforcing that decision?
In this episode of Two Cops One Donut, Sgt. Erik Lavigne breaks down a viral interaction involving Long Island Audit and a public library, separating three issues that constantly get mixed together: First Amendment rights, pub...
Police officers get arrested, fired, and sent to prison. So why do so many people still believe cops get a pass?
In this live episode of Two Cops One Donut, Erik Lavigne examines both sides of the police accountability debate with real cases and questions from the audience. We discuss outcomes that fuel public frustration, cases that resulted in substantial prison sentences, and why punishment alone may not restore trust.
Erik also m...
A cop deliberately goes head-on with a wrong-way driver on the highway. Was he protecting other drivers or taking an unnecessary risk?
I called this officer a hero. In this episode, I explain why, address the strongest criticism of his decision, and consider what realistic alternatives he had in that moment.
These intentionally shorter Two Cops One Donut episodes are designed to run 8–15 minutes and focus on one incident, one q...
A camera, a refusal to answer questions, and an arrest for “criminal loitering.” What justified taking this man’s freedom?
Police Sergeant Erik Lavigne breaks down footage from First Amendment Protection Agency and explains why he believes the officers crossed the line. Drawing on nearly 20 years in policing, Erik examines the encounter through the eyes of a responding officer and a supervisor responsible for holdi...
“Because I wanted to.”
That’s the explanation a Miami police officer gives when asked why he put two men in the back of his patrol car. What began as an exchange over blocking traffic escalated into demands for ID and handcuffs. Was this about enforcing the law, or an officer who couldn’t handle being challenged?
In this episode of Two Cops One Donut, active-duty police sergeant Erik Lavigne breaks down the en...
“Arrested again” is one of those phrases that instantly triggers a hot take. We slow it down and trace the real path from cuffs to court, because the gap between arrest and release is where most people’s assumptions live. I’m a working police sergeant, and I’m not interested in easy villains. I want to know what protects the public, what gives victims a meaningful response, and what protects an accused...
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