Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police

[heehee]

That Anthony Graber broke the law in early March is indisputable. He raced his Honda motorcycle down Interstate 95 in Maryland at 80 mph, popping a wheelie, roaring past cars and swerving across traffic lanes.

But it wasn't his daredevil stunt that has the 25-year-old staff sergeant for the Maryland Air National Guard facing the possibility of 16 years in prison. For that, he was issued a speeding ticket. It was the video that Graber posted on YouTube one week later -- taken with his helmet camera -- of a plainclothes state trooper cutting him off and drawing a gun during the traffic stop near Baltimore.

Linky

 

[ucfgrad93]

I think this quote sums it up nicely for me.

"Police and governmental recording of citizens is becoming more pervasive and to say that government can record you but you can't record, it speaks volumes about the mentality of people in government," Rocah said. "It's supposed to be the other way around: They work for us; we don't work for them."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/TheLaw/videotaping-cops-arrest/story?id=11179076&page=4

 

[CorvusCamenarum]

Public embarrassment usually doesn't go over well with bullies.

It is interesting to note that apparently it's acceptable for the police to use cameras to protect themselves but us little guys can't do the same.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I have a feeling there is a lot of info that is being left out.

The Cop doing the cut off and what I saw in the video of the cop he did nothing wrong. They can pull people over off duty, and write tickets.
Assume the guy was show boating like the article stated then it was fine for the cop to do what he did.
Now question is how he posted it. I think the DA and everyone else is over reacting but no one likes to be slander and I have feeling this guy was doing slander.

 

[bmb012]

I've almost killed far to many jerks on motorcycles to have any sympathy for this idiot. He wasn't even pointing out anything that the cop did wrong (there was another fully marked car behind him, if you want to say that he just looked like a random guy with a gun), he was just bragging about the situation. Why would you expect to have a right to expression (record) while putting others' lives in danger?

This is just the whole freedom of expression thing taken too far.

Up to 16 years? Yeah, he's not going to get that many, don't throw around that number for shock value.

Public embarrassment usually doesn't go over well with bullies.

It is interesting to note that apparently it's acceptable for the police to use cameras to protect themselves but us little guys can't do the same.

Was he protecting himself? Watch the video, most of it is the jerk bragging about wheelies and the speeds he was hitting. No comments on the video when the cop actually approached him. The cop did nothing wrong, the poster didn't insist that he was doing anything wrong.

 

[Erendiox]

Why would you expect to have a right to expression (record) while putting others' lives in danger?

This is just the whole freedom of expression thing taken too far.

Completely disagree. That doesn't make any sense to me. Yes, he was being an idiot and risking people's lives. For that he definitely deserves some sort of punishment. But that context has nothing to do with freedom of expression. The fact of the matter is that he was arrested for posting a video of a police officer on youtube, which is wrong, even in this circumstance.

 

[MattSepeta]

I'll stop

I'll stop recording gov't agents when the gov't stops recording me!