By Carlos Miller
Distraught that his business partner had just committed suicide, Patrick Colligan refused to leave the area when ordered to do so by a Michigan State Trooper.
However, he never once crossed the police line where officers were investigating the suicide of his partner, who was going to be arrested that afternoon for a murder he allegedly committed.
In fact, Colligan, who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon, even handed the Trooper his gun when ordered to do so.
But when he pulled out a video camera and started filming, he refused to hand that over, according MLive.com, a conglomeration of regional newspapers in Michigan.
Colligan then began videotaping from N. Meridian Road. Green told Colligan to hand over the camera and Colligan refused. A short struggle for the camera ensued in a ditch, Green testified.
Moments later, Colligan was placed in handcuffs, which he resisted, Green said.
The prosecution contends Colligan’s failure to follow orders hindered Green from doing his job at the crime scene.
The incident occurred Dec. 17th in Jackson County. Last week, a Michigan judge bound the case over for trial.
Now Colligan is facing up to two years in prison for felony resisting and obstructing an officer.
However, even the arresting officer contends that Colligan never crossed the police line and remained at least 200 feet from the driveway where his partner had committed suicide.
Here is an interesting comment someone left in the comments section of the article:
I was in the courtroom, why does the prosecutor want to suppress the police video (from the police car)? Were the police acting unprofessionally? Does it show that Patrick wasn’t resisting as they claim? What is wrong with video taping from that distance? It wasn’t a long distance lens or anything if it was in his coat pocket and they didn’t notice it until he had it in his hands. I think the police were in the wrong here and it’s hard to believe that the court is willing to spend money on taking this case to court. It should have been dismissed or charges lowered to loitering or something. Is there a law against video taping, picture taking or otherwise recording at a “crime scene”? If there is an actual law then why isn’t it publicly known? Don’t newspaper and television journalists do this on a daily basis? If so, why aren’t they prosecuted? If filming isn’t allowed then how did the picture of the scene get on the news and in the paper? It wasn’t from Patrick’s camera since the office on the stand doesn’t know where that is right now! This entire case is junk and should be dropped.
His business partner, Todd Sanford, was a former State Trooper cop who allegedly shot and killed corrections officer Steven Sampier last November over a woman they were both dating.
I hope she was worth it.
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8 responses so far ↓
1 ClintJCL // Mar 25, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Wow. Living In America….
2 Dallascaper // Mar 25, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Sounds like people did not keep their cool. If a police officer orders me to give up my camera, I will politely ask why. But if push comes to shove, I am not going to fight the officer, rolling down a ditch or whatever, to keep the camera. I will give the camera to the officer and take the matter up with his supervisor later. Sometimes you just have to pick your battles.
3 Michaelk42 // Mar 25, 2009 at 1:35 PM
Maybe officers would be less likely to infringe on citizen’s rights if they knew we could fight back and win.
4 Duane Kerzic // Mar 25, 2009 at 3:48 PM
We can fight back and win.
This guy had to be in a very bad state of mind. His partner just took his life, I can tell you a bit about learning of something like that happening. I don’t kow what I would have done if some cop did that to me at that time. The cops must have been doing something wrong if they went after his camera like that.
5 Kurt // Mar 25, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Where did the suicide take place? Was it on Patrick’s property?
Also: “[he] handed the Trooper his gun when ordered to do so”
What?! I guess they do things differently up there in Michigan. Cops down here cannot require you to give up a handgun unless they are conducting a ‘Terry’ stop or arresting you. And in the event of the former, MUST, return the firearm immediately if they don’t arrest you.
6 genewitch // Mar 26, 2009 at 5:59 AM
you guys can CARRY handguns? son of a… i need to move.
7 BigAl // Apr 5, 2009 at 1:29 AM
There is no law that disallows a citizen from videotaping anything. For criminy sake, this is still America…for now.
What this country needs is more citizen journalists, instead of the lapdog lame media we have today. Just try to take my camera cop.
There is no other reason for a cop to deny being videotaped, other than to cover something up, plain & simple.
8 genebene // Dec 13, 2009 at 8:47 PM
What is left out of the story above is that there was a conspiracy by Sanford and many of his friends to murder Steven Sampier. Not only was Sanford about to be arrested, but he had left a video of his own where he talked about taking down the entire Michigan State Police post when they came to arrest him. Colligan’s role in the Sampier murder was still under investigation at the time. He was not only armed, but he brought his infant child to the scene. Unlike the conjecture brought up earlier, Colligan was not on his own property. This happened in a rural area at Sanford’s property. Colligan was not in a good state of mind and he wasn’t merely videotaping. There was quite a bit of taunting of the officers and many threats being brandished by Colligan. His issue has nothing to do with either the First or Second amendments. His issue is being an armed suspect at the scene of a crime who was endangering his own child, acting irrationally, and interfering with a police investigation at a time when his own role in the crime was at question.
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