Photography is Not a Crime

By Carlos Miller
So I’m reading the latest article on another cop abusing another citizen on another surveillance video. This one is in Florida, as if that’s a surprise.

A Sarasota cop has arrested a 21-year-old man for drunkness. He has him handcuffed and placed in the back of a squad car. He has already pulled into the enclosed sally port area of the jail, which pretty much means the suspect is going nowhere.

The handcuffed suspect then squeezes out the back window and falls flat on his face.

The suspect then manages to get up, but the cop then kicks him twice where he falls down again.

The cop then walks up to him and plants his foot on the man for five minutes. As if he is some type of Herculean warrior.

A couple of other cops stroll over to see what the commotion is, then casually move on with their business. They’ve probably seen it before.

After all, Officer Christopher Childers has had five excessive force complaints against him since joining the force in 2000. None of them stuck but what do you expect when cops investigate cops?

The most recent complaint came in 2006 from a man who said Childers slammed him face down on the floor and kicked him. Ernest Wilson told police in an e-mail that “Childers is a loose cannon just waiting to go off.”

So it’s pretty much the same old, same old as I’m reading this article.

Except for the fact the Sarasota Herald-Tribune decided to interview an “expert on policing issues” for this story. As if they couldn’t make up their own mind what they saw in the video.

And this is what that “expert” told them:

The video did not capture sound, so it is difficult to say whether the officer felt threatened by Perez, or whether Perez was attempting to escape, said Maria “Maki” Haberfeld, a professor at John Jay.

You have to be kidding me.

First of all, who the hell calls themselves “Maki”? Second of all, if Officer Childers felt threatened by a handcuffed man who was unable to stand up, much less fight, then that cop has no business being on the force.

Maki the "police expert"

And attempting to escape?

Since when do cops leave the back windows of their squad cars open when they are transporting prisoners? And he was already in the enclosed sally port. If he was that much of an escape threat, then why did the other two cops walk away?

The suspect, Juan Perez, was pretty much trashed that night. He had a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit.

But he was not violent.

Perez, a native of Guatemala who does not speak English, was arrested that night on charges of disorderly intoxication and obstructing an officer without violence.

In an affidavit on the incident, Childers wrote that he arrived at Second Street and Links Avenue to find Perez waving both arms over his head and “blurting out in Spanish.”

Paramedics had left the area and a security officer was trying to calm down Perez, who was bleeding from the mouth and ears and appeared to be intoxicated, according to Childers’ report.

Childers said he handcuffed Perez when he refused to stop moving, and Perez moved away, so Childers “redirected the defendant to the grass.”

….

Perez admits his memory of that afternoon is hazy, but he says he did not resist. He says the officer started yelling at him, squirted him with pepper spray and took him to the ground.

Perez said Childers stepped on the back of his head, and then its side, causing his nose and lips to bleed and scraping the side of his face. He said he had bruises on both sides of his torso, as well as on several spots on his thighs. The scrapes on his face can be seen in his jail photo.

By Carlos Miller
Just when you thought it was safe to take pictures again in New York City comes this story brought to us by War on Photography.

On the Fourth of July, as spectators prepared to see the fireworks show, a photographer that goes by maisa_nyc on Flickr asked a group of officers if he could set up in an “deserted stretch” on 11th Avenue near 34th Street. I’m astonished that he even found a deserted stretch of anything in Manhattan but I am not a local.

The officers nodded their approval. So set up his tripod, plopped himself down in a chair and realized the sun was setting directly into his face. So he turned his chair, then started snapping photos of the buildings illuminated by the setting sun, which I’ve experienced to be amazing light.

Then a cop walked up to him and starts asking the usual dumb questions as to why is taking pictures of whatever he happens to be taking pictures of. The  photographer answers all his questions, which apparently satisfy the officer. But that didn’t stop the officer from departing with these words.

“Well, if you keep taking pictures in the wrong direction, don’t be surprised if someone else comes by to ask you for your ID.”

Obviously, this officer has not read the newly released operations order from the NYPD that explains that photographers are not terrorists.

If any other photographers have had issues with NYPD, please don’t hesitate to contact attorney Gerald Cohen, who helps sponsor this site and has a proven track record in fighting for photographers’ rights.

Carlos Miller
Packratt over at Injustice Everywhere has been going through some difficult financial times as many people are during this economic crisis and was forced to shut down his Police Misconduct newsfeed.

But considering it is the only such feed that documents these instances so extensively, I called him last night to see what we could do to not only keep the feed alive but his blog alive as well.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it is the continuously updated feed in the left sidebar of this blog under “National Police Misconduct News.”

We decided that it would be best to seek out a handful of volunteers to submit links to the feed. All it would take is to search the internet daily at various times for stories of police misconduct and submit them to the feed.

So if you’re interested, click here for more details.

By Carlos Miller
A New Mexico police chief said he was only trying to protect a 14-year-old girl when he used his Taser gun on her last week, leaving a huge gash on her head that required 18 staples and six stitches.

One of the Taser’s prongs penetrated her skull, sending 50,000 volts of electric current into her brain.

The girl, who has epilepsy, now has trouble walking up stairs and keeping her balance.

Tucumcari Police Chief Roger Hatcher said he had no choice because the girl was about to run into traffic.

But that was before the dash cam video was released which shows there was no traffic when he chased her into the street. And he didn’t even pull the trigger until they were on the other side of the street.

Now he is saying that he had to Tase her because he “didn’t know where she was going to go.”

Thanks to his valiant efforts, Kailee Martinez now might have permanent brain damage.

The incident started when Kailee and her mother were having an argument over explicit messages and photos the girl was sending to older men through her cell phone.

Police say Kailee assaulted her mother. Her mother then took Kailee to the police department in an attempt to control the girl or talk some sense into her or maybe just to scare her.

Big mistake.

Kailee took off running like the stubborn teen that she is. Chief Hatcher chased her into a local park.

She continued to walk away. He pulled out his Taser and threatened to shoot her. She started running. He shot her.

I guess that will teach her not to send explicit messages and photos to older men. Or maybe that will just teach her not to trust police.

On the bright side, the incident smoothed things over between Kailee and her mother. Now mom is more upset at the chief than at her daughter.

Hatcher is currently on paid administrative leave.

The incident makes you wonder whether or not police need more training in dealing with teens. We’ve all seen the video of the King County Sheriff’s deputy savagely attacking a 15-year-old for flipping a sneaker at him.

It makes you wonder how they treat their own kids.

Well here’s an indicator. In Florida, more than 40 children were zapped with stun guns while visiting prisons on “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.”

I guess I should be shocked, but I’m not.

Photo by Alex Turner

By Carlos Miller
Another photographer was arrested under the United Kingdom’s new anti-terrorism law that has turned the simple act of photography into a lethal form of terrorism. At least that is what they’ll have you think.

This time it was Alex Turner, an amateur photographer who drew the attention of authorities after snapping the fish and chip shop in the above photograph.

The men who confronted him said they were from the Medway Council, which is apparently some type of government agency in Kent County. They were not in uniform but they wore badges on their belts that had the logo of Kent Police, according to Turner’s blog post of the incident.

But I guess they were not police either because they ended up flagging down police when he refused to provide his identity.

So as the cops asked the same old dumb questions as to why he was taking pictures, he snapped a photo of them. And that was when he was arrested.

Photo by Alex Turner

Or something like that. The blog post, while very detailed, is a little confusing and cumbersome. Maybe it’s that English vernacular

So he was placed in a police van for 20 minutes until a couple of plainclothes cops spoke to him about the dangers of terrorism and the perils of refusing to identify oneself.

But then he also writes that “at no time did I refuse to give an account for myself and my activities in the High Street” - so it is not clear whether he did or did not identify himself.

To make a long story short, he told them that his identification was in the inside pocket of his jacket, which they retrieved while he was handcuffed.

Then he was further patted down and even made to take off his sneakers, which embarrassed him considering he had become a spectacle to the gathering pedestrians.

Then after all was said and done, they released him and even offered their hands, but not before handing him a citation that confirmed he was searched on the grounds of “prevention of terrorism.”

So now he is pissed off and has fired a lengthy letter to the Professional Standards Department recounting his experience.

But he is also careful not to name any of the cops who harassed him because from what I understand, that would also be considered a savage act of terrorism. Notice how he also blurred their faces in the photo.

This is what he wants:

With regards to redress I seek a written apology in relation to any shortfalls identified with regards to the involved officer’s conduct and consideration of compensation to be made to me for the upset, embarrassment and psychological trauma caused. I would also like Kent and Medway Police to liaise with Medway Council in order to identify the two unidentified men that initially stopped and questioned me. I seek for their conduct to also be fully investigated, the process and outcomes of which I request to be shared with me.

The way things are going in the UK, those demands will probably be considered a barbaric act of terrorism as well.

(AP Photo/Susan Willems)

By Carlos Miller
Vito Congine Jr. fought in Iraq as a Marine in 2004 because as we were constantly reminded by our former president, “they hate us for our freedoms.”

But now the 46-year-old Wisconsin resident is learning the Iraqis are not the only ones who hate us for our freedoms.

The people who run the village of Crivitz do as well.

Congine had been flying the American flag upside in front of his restaurant since last June to protest against village officials for not granting him a liquor license. Flying the American flag upside down has long been an accepted form of distress.

Congine’s distress is that he is headed for bankruptcy after spending nearly $200,000 to buy and remodel a downtown building for an Italian supper club.

His protest had gone ignored until the Fourth of July when four cops stepped onto his property and removed the flag - under the advice of Marinette County District Attorney Allen Brey, who obviously doesn’t specialize in First Amendment law.

The cops returned the flag the following day. And Brey has refused to comment on his decision.

Marinette County Sheriff Jim Kanikula said it was not illegal to fly the flag upside down but people were upset and it was the Fourth of July.

“It is illegal to cause a disruption,” he said.

Then perhaps Brey should be jailed.

Village President John Deschane, 60, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, said many people in town believe it’s disrespectful to fly the flag upside down.

“If he wants to protest, let him protest but find a different way to do it,” Deschane said.

Nobody ever said protesting had to be respectful. As long as it remains within the legal boundaries, a disrespectful act is very subjective.

Congine, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq in 2004, said he intends to keep flying the flag upside down.

“It is pretty bad when I go and fight a tyrannical government somewhere else,” Congine said, “and then I come home to find it right here at my front door.”

As it is right now, the ACLU is considering legal action against Crivitz, which had a population of 998 in 2000.

Perhaps a $200,000 lawsuit could save him from the distress of bankruptcy.

By Carlos Miller
This is getting to be big; the story of the Miami Beach cop who killed two unarmed men in a span of four days.

Today, The New York Times has an article on the situation. That’s big time. You know they don’t write about every officer-involved shooting in the country. They wouldn’t have enough space.

Today, I wrote an article for NBCMiami about newly surfaced audio clips from the moments after the first shooting. They were recorded by the cell phone of the surviving brother. So far, I’m the only one who has the story although I know the rest of the media has the audio clips. So I’m sure they’ll be more articles on this soon.

In one of the clips, you can clearly hear a cop say “we didn’t find anything” as if referring to not finding any weapons or bottles on Husien Shehada, the 29-year-old Virginia tourist they had just killed.

But police had been saying he was packing a bottle or a coat hanger, which is why he was shot.

They also said the second man they shot had shot at them first, but it later turned out, he was unarmed when they killed him. Police say they found a gun in the waters below the bridge, which may or may not be his.

It doesn’t look too good for the Miami Beach Police Department right now.

Here are the other stories I’ve written on this subject.

One Officer Involved in 2 Shooting Deaths in 4 Days

Unarmed Tourist Shot Dead By Police; Family Wants Answers

Cop Behind 2 Shootings Once Accused of Domestic Violence

New Details Murk the Waters of 2nd Cop Shooting

By Carlos Miller
The Michael Jackson hysteria in Los Angleles sparked a confrontation between an ignorant security guard and an assertive photographer earlier this week.

The security guard works for Andrews International and is named Vasquez (#782). He was standing on Hollywood Blvd ordering some other guy to get off the sidewalk, who apparently was heckling reporters but claims he was protesting something or another.

The photographer, wearing a video camera around his neck, was standing a few feet from the two and snapped a photo with a still camera.

This, of course, prompted Vasquez to turn his attention on the photographer, telling him to “stop taking pictures.”

The photographer asserted his rights which led to the security guard to order him off the sidewalk - which he has no authority to do.

Photographer: “I’m going to stay here and take as many photos as I want.”
Security guard: “You’re not going to with me.”
Photographer: “Yes, I will. If you’re in public, I will.”
Security guard: “No, you will not.”
Photographer: “I know the law, you can bark all you want …”
Security guard: “It doesn’t matter, don’t take another photo of me.”
Photographer: “What’s going to happen?”
Security guard: “You’ll see.”

Vasquez then grabs the camera and pushes it into the photographer’s face.

They continue arguing with Vasquez claiming that “you can’t take a picture of me.”

Vasquez calls his supervisor and the photographer calls the cops.

Vasquez, if you’re reading this, not only can he take a photo of you. He can videotape you as well.

Vasquez should be fired and Andrews International should be sued.

Click on the photographer’s website for a list of email addresses to local politicians and Andrews International bigwigs to file a complaint.

-30-

I am a multimedia journalist who has been fighting a lengthy legal battle after having photographed Miami police against their wishes in Feb. 2007. Please help the fight by donating to my Legal Defense Fund in the top left sidebar, which helps pay for the thousands of dollars I’ve acrued in debt since my arrest. To keep updated on the latest articles, join my networks at Facebook, Twitter and Friendfeed.

By Carlos Miller
Every reporter has been harassed at one point or another for doing their job, but rarely is it so comical as in this incident in Las Vegas when KTNV reporter Steve Ryan was doing the “man on the street” coverage of the death of Michael Jackson.

Apparently, there were still a few minutes of airwaves left that had not been filled with Michael Jackson stories, so they went out and sought drunks for their opinions.

What’s funny is not necessarily the drunk that ends up on video nor the way Ryan pushes him away, but the looks of shock on the faces of the anchors after Ryan slaps the drunk in the face.

By Carlos Miller
Life is filled with improbable moments that can change the course of your intended destiny in a split second.

Take the case of Christopher Long who was participating in a Critical Mass bicycle ride through Times Square last summer. The then-29-year-old New Jersey native doesn’t appear to have ever have stepped into a weight room or a courtroom.

Christopher Long was working at an organic farmer's market at the time of his arrest. Today, he works on a farm in Wisconsin.

In fact, he is probably more comfortable farming organic vegetables than he is framing a legal argument.

It is safe to say that the last thing on his mind that day was that he would be body slammed by a New York City Police Officer, then thrown in jail for 26 hours on charges of assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Then there is Patrick Pogan, the NYPD officer in question. He was 22 years old at the time and had been on the force all of three weeks. As a third-generation NYPD cop, Pogan knew he had a lot of power with that badge. And the former high school football player wasn’t going to waste any time to use it.

Patrick Pogan, third generation NYPD cop, had been on the force just three weeks when he body-slammed Long off his bike. He is now facing prison time.

It is safe to say that the last thing he expected was for someone to be filming the exact spot where he chose to body-slam Long for no apparent reason before conjuring false charges against him.

And as for the videographer, it appears that he was just filming the Critical Mass for his own documenation. It doesn’t appear that he is a member of any activist copwatch group who were out to document abuses by cops against cyclists, as other videographers have done in the past. It doesn’t appear that he is one to rock the boat because he has not even publicly acknowledged documenting the incident.

But it is safe to say that knows right from wrong. Good from bad. Truth from lies. Which is why he chose to upload the video.

Thanks to his video, the charges against Long were dropped. Thanks to his video, Pogan is now the one facing criminal charges. Even prison time.

And thanks to his video, Long is now suing the City of New York for $1.5 million instead of drowning in debt trying to prove his innocence.

It is safe to say that neither one of them pictured this scenario when they woke up that fateful morning.

Update: This incident occurred in 2006 and the officer was suspended for three days after an internal affairs investigation. Here is the transcript of the IA interview and here is memo from the chief explaining the suspension.

By Carlos Miller
As Photography is Not a Crime reader Jay pointed out last week, it’s “like fucking Groundhog Day” because all you need to do is change the venue and the name of the cop and it’s the same story all over again.

This time it is an Austin cop who has pulled over a driver for going five miles over the speed limit. Yes, five measly miles. The car also did not have a license plate on the rear, but had one on the front.

The cop demands the guy’s license and proof of insurance and when the guy doesn’t oblige in a matter of seconds, the cop starts yelling at the driver for his license and proof of insurance.

The driver tells the officer that he is looking for the necessary documents, but he is also taken aback by the cop’s aggressive and unnecessary tone.

The officer then orders him out of the car, still demanding his license and proof of insurance.

The driver steps out and the officer starts yelling at him to step to the back of the vehicle.

The driver is not posing any threat but saying something like “I have no idea …”

The officer starts pushing him, then finally uses his Taser gun on him.

This all happened within 45 seconds.

By Carlos Miller
Anybody who has been to Disney World knows that it’s one of the most photo-friendly places in the country.

After all, isn’t it supposed to be the most magical place in the world or something?

But that wasn’t the way it was early Sunday in the wake of the monorail crash which killed its driver and left other riders injured.

In fact, while Disney patrons were trying to determine if the driver was alive, Disney employees were telling a videographer, “no cameras.”

No cameras?

I would think you would need all the evidence you can get in the incident that has left many questions unanswered.

And I know what some people are thinking. That you shouldn’t film other people’s tragedies because it shows “disrespect” to the families involved.

Well if that was my family member who had been killed, I would want all the information I can get, including video footage. It’s not about sensitivity. It’s about the truth.

Photography is Not a Crime reader Spokker, who was kind enough to send me this video (which is already making the mainstream media rounds), was having a similar debate on a Disney forum. This is what he said.

Somethings are just wrong and that is one of them.”

I wasn’t talking about seeing the gore. I was talking about observing the aftermath, like the procedures followed and who did what. We would have learned a lot more about the Columbia accident (another fatal Disney accident) if someone had been able to get footage of the aftermath. We’d know if Disney really rushed in and cleaned the accident site to cover things up.

While the situation is not exactly the same, I can think of some incidents where footage has helped make clearer an otherwise grisly scene.

A few months ago an unarmed man was shot in the back at a BART station in the East Bay Area. Luckily for the family of the victim multiple passengers were filming with their cell phone cameras. While police confiscated some cameras (they shouldn’t have been allowed to do that), footage from multiple angles reached YouTube and showed the officer murdering the man in cold blood. Without a tape, would the public outcry be as great?

My point is that the camera catches impropriety on the part of officials, be them private or public, whom we trust to do the right thing. The camera is a powerful tool just for that purpose.