Seattle reporter: Police threatened to arrest me for taking their photo

[Newsjock]

Source: The Stranger
By Dominic Holden

I was riding my bike past Fourth Avenue South and South Jackson Street at about 7:25 p.m. last night when I saw several officers huddled around a young black man sitting down. The cops were speaking loudly at him. As a reporter, when I see a buzz of police activity, I almost always stop to see what's going on. When the officers started barking louder at the man, I took out my phone and snapped this pic:



From 20-25 feet away, I couldn't discern exactly what was happening, but the man eventually stood up to leave. That's when one of the officers eyed me and yelled something like, "He's got a camera!"

... After snapping Saulet's picture, I rode my bike across the street because I didn't want to get arrested, even though standing on the sidewalk and taking photos of police from a reasonable distance seemed legal. I was jotting down a few notes so I'd remember what happened when I saw three officers leaving the scene. I asked them who was the commanding officer at the incident. They explained that they were Seattle cops and they didn't know which county officer was in charge. Then Seattle police officer John Marion asked why I was asking.

... I explained that I'm a reporter and I didn't think I'd broken any laws. He asked what news outlet I worked for. The Stranger, I told him.

Then Officer Marion said this: "I'm going to come into The Stranger and bother you while you're at work." He asked for my business card so he could get the address to come to my office, and, twice more, he threatened to come harass me at work. His point, he said, was that I was "harassing" him.

Read more: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/07/31/police-threatened-to-arrest-me-for-taking-their-photo-last-night

[MADem]

1. Officer Marion is probably getting a talking-to by his superiors right about now...!

This reporter did a very good job of breaking it all down, too. Good article!

Last night and today I followed up with the county and city police departments. Both confirm that taking photos of officers and standing on public property—staying out of their way, like I was—is legal. Although she was not able to comment on this specific incident, King County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Sergeant Cindi West explains, "It's a free country and as long as where you have a legal right to be there, you can take a picture." She elaborated in an e-mail that "in general a person cannot be ordered to stop photographing or to leave property if they have a legal right to be there. Additionally, if a group of people are in an area legally we could not order just one person to leave."

Speaking on behalf of the Seattle Police Department, Sergeant Sean Whitcomb said, "It is our job—it is our job—to politely answer reasonable questions from members of the public when it is safe to do so." He then confirmed that questions regarding the on-scene commanding officer and legality of sidewalk standing are reasonable.

"The public does not expect us to threaten them with a workplace visit for the sole purpose of bothering them," Sergeant Whitcomb added.

Let me be the first say it: This is not a big case. Seattle police have punched, kicked, and killed people in recent years. What happened to me was minor. But I'm writing about it because it's minor. Officers went out of their way to threaten a civilian with arrest and workplace harassment for essentially no reason. Because they could. Because they didn't like being watched.....The county sheriff's office has asked me to file a complaint, and I intend to. Solely based on my questions about the incident, the SPD has already initiated an investigation into SPD officer Marion; I got a call this afternoon from an investigator for the SDP's Office of Professional Accountability. I'm going to write about going through the process—and see if these disciplinary programs mean anything.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/07/31/police-threatened-to-arrest-me-for-taking-their-photo-last-night

[X_Digger]

2. How many times does it need to be said? Police aren't your friends.

Treat every interaction as if you're being sized up for handcuffs; it's true more often than not.

[jimlup]

5. And a good reminder that all the propaganda about "Freedom" is really false

unless you happen to be one of the Koch brothers.

[MrScorpio]

3. Yay, cops! They're the best! mt

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. wow. glad you werent beaten To an inch of your life for daring to take photos

[quinnox]

6. there is no law against filming or taking pictures of the police

The ACLU is very upset about this, and has numerous articles explaining why it is completely legal under the Constitution to do this on their website, and any police who say otherwise are full of it.

Further, the police are not supposed to take any cameras or recording equipment (which they have been doing in many instances)

[awoke_in_2003]

9. Too bad you will usually...

get your ass kicked prior to your court date, when you can bring this up. Goddamned cops.

on edit: changed "to" to "too"- I hate it when I do that.

[Link Speed]

7. With shadows like that and most of them are wearing shades

Bad Boyz! Bad Boyz!

Fucking Idiots.

I wonder if anyone has told them that humans are stronger, sans shades.

[functioning_cog]

8. The funny thing is, the Cop WAS harassing him while working. A reporter doesn't punch in and out so

On or off duty. When the story is happening, a reporter covers it. So by getting all pissy about the photo and berating the reporter, the cop was harassing.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. I'll say it again, they're supposed to keep the peace, not disturb it.

[The Wizard]

11. 1968 was a great year

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. Oh look,...it's a blue meanie.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

13. BTW: 68 SUCKED!!!

MLK and Bobby gunned down.

The only thing good about it was:

[Kennah]

14. Want to see what Swedish cops do when you try to film them?