Warning:
(image courtesy of Robb Allen)Videographer of alleged Melvin Jones beating could be charged with illegal wiretapping
SPRINGFIELD – The amateur videographer with the colorful vocabulary who memorialized the alleged 2009 police beating of Melvin Jones III during a traffic stop may be charged with illegal wiretapping.Un-freaking real. She catches this cop beating the crap out of someone, cop is then fired, so naturally the thing to do is go after her for illegal wiretapping. THAT will teach those proles not to get uppity! Respect mah authoritay! Once again, it's hard to see how this can stand - this was in a public place, somewhere there should be no expectation of privacy by a public employee. MA has screwy laws regarding taping, though, and it's quite possible that Ms. Greene could find herself in a heap of trouble.
One of four police officers disciplined for the incident on Nov. 27, 2009, Michael Sedergren, has filed an application for a criminal complaint against videographer Tyrisha Greene. Sedergren, who was suspended for 45 days, claims it was illegal for Greene to videotape him without his consent.
Let's hope this gets slapped down with extreme prejudice as these cases seem to be...
That is all.
9 comments:
Maybe this'll be the test case that goes all the way to the Supreme Court and establishes, once and for all, that cops can't bar people from recording them as they go about their duties.
I'll roll it into the count when I get home Jay.
Even Rochester, New York knows better than to try to prosecute something like that. A woman here was arrested for taping a traffic stop from her own front yard about a month ago. She was released with no charges (the DA actually has some sense here) but she's planning to sue the city now.
Huh. One more way that Crapachusetts is like The Democratik Rebuplik of Illinois (now known as Madiganistan). In this land of the free and home of the brave it is ILLEGAL to video officers who are in the act of their "duties."
When taping a cop beating the poo poo out of someone never record the sound. That is the real issue here. You can video tape all you want but you cant record his voice without premission. is how it works in most places
File a complaint to make the DA charge the cop with violating civil rights under color of authority.
If only he was fired!! Sedergren, who was suspended for 45 days,
justcook:
Actually, I don't think that is the way it is most places. Check out the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for state laws on the matter.
Even in places where all parties being recorded must be informed, in all but a few places (MA and IL being two), there must be a reasonable expectation of privacy in order for a wiretapping charge to stick.
Cops are not winning in court regarding a reasonable expectation of privacy. In this reason article here is the money quote:
No Maryland court—and from what I can tell no court in the country—has ruled that a police officer has a right to privacy in his on-duty interactions with the public.
Of course, just because cops aren't winning in court doesn't mean they aren't using the process is the punishment principle to deter videographers from documenting their tyranny.
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