Posted on 08/24/2011 8:24:50 PM PDT by Immerito
A Concord man giving away lemonade at a farmer's market was threatened with wiretapping charges last Saturday when he refused to stop filming a police officer and a fellow vendor. Garret Ean didn't have a permit to sell lemonade, which drew the ire of the president of the Concord Farmer's Market. Ean filmed the confrontation, and continued to film when a Concord cop showed up and threatened to arrest him for wiretapping. Photojournalist Carlos Miller (who we interviewed for the November issue of Reason about the war on photography) has the story:
The man, whom Ean identified as Steve Blasdell, ordered Ean to turn off the camera.
Ean instead engaged him in a debate about what constitutes vending.
At 2:48, Blasdell shut down Eans camera, but Ean turns it right back on.
That was when Ean turned from lemonade activist into photography rights activist, claiming he was now a member of the press.
And that was when Blasdell tried to grab the camera from him after first trying to grab his cooler of lemonade.
The two men squared off with Ean accusing him of assault while Blasdell said it was not assault because he was only trying to swipe the camera without touching any part of his body.
Blasdell then ran off to call police while Ean announced he is giving away free lemonade.
You’re kidding, right?
What is going on these days? Some act as though they're on commisssion.
If cops followed procedures, they shouldn’t have a single dam thing to worry about, right?
In fact if they were PLANNING on following procedures, seems to me that to then have it on tape would be a good thing, right?
The ONLY reason for a cop to not want cameras is because he thinks he might accidentally or intentionally do something out of bounds.
What is that saying about people being petty tyrants within their little area of authority? The War on Lemonade Stands continues to spread.
6 Completely Legal Ways The Cops Can Screw You
1. Arrest You For Filming Them
Five More Ways, here:
http://www.cracked.com/article_18620_6-completely-legal-ways-cops-can-screw-you.html
Stoopuhd Citizen...
The non-cop citizen knew the law better than the cop-citizen.
The latter’s insistence that he knew the law, even when wrong was foolish.
***
“Police arrived ten minutes later and wrongly told Ean he is violating the states wiretapping law by recording them on a public sidewalk.
Ean offered to show him the actual law, which he has printed on a little card, but the cop refuses, saying he already familiar with the law.
But then he again threatens to arrest him on wiretapping charges if anybody else on the street complains.”
****
For your convenience, here is New Hampshire’s wiretapping law:
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/NHTOC/NHTOC-LVIII-570-A.htm
bump
Shoot video live on your iPhone, share it in real-time with friends via Qik
Then when you are told to hand over the camera, you can tell the storm troopers
"This is not being recorded in the camera, this is being transmitted live over the internet. If you attempt to assault me for the camera, you can be sure the video will be in my lawyer's in-box by the time you finish grabbing".BTW, there are other similar apps and services.
Really hoping you forgot the /s
Bad cops are making it a more dangerous job for the few good cops left. Somebody’s going to come out of a beatdown convinced there’s a war.
Figures....
Governor John Lynch Dodges Medicinal Cannabis Question
Posted on August 3, 2011 by freeconcord
by Garret Ean
http://freeconcord.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/governor-john-lynch-dodges-medicinal-cannabis-question/
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