Posted on 01/09/2013 5:41:40 AM PST by TurboZamboni
Andrew Henderson watched as Ramsey County sheriff's deputies frisked a bloody-faced man outside his Little Canada apartment building. Paramedics then loaded the man, a stranger to Henderson, into an ambulance.
Henderson, 28, took out his small handheld video camera and began recording. It's something he does regularly with law enforcement.
But what happened next was different. The deputy, Jacqueline Muellner, approached him and snatched the camera from his hand, Henderson said.
"We'll just take this for evidence," Muellner said. Their voices were recorded on Henderson's cellphone as they spoke, and Henderson provided a copy of the audio file to the Pioneer Press. "If I end up on YouTube, I'm gonna be upset."
Henderson calmly insisted he was within his rights to do what he was doing. He refused to give his name.
His is the latest in a string of cases nationwide involving citizens who record police activities.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
The courts have been "pretty clear" on the issue, Kirtley said. "Law enforcement has no expectation of privacy when they are carrying out public duties in a public place."
yet the county is still proceeding with prosecution.
Well, the US has it’s well known constitution. I can’t speak to what is constitutional in Canada, but some laws have already been upheld there that would NEVER see the light of day in the US thanks to the first ammendment. So who knows if the cops will prevail in this case?
Never mind. I interpreted “little canada” to be Canada.
...me too..
Why is this man called ‘little’? Have they pants him, to make sure?
Sure, they have lawyers on staff, and no-one has to take money out of their monthly budget to proceed.
The guy that is being prosecuted, though, has to hire a lawyer and blow his monthly budget to defend himself. He's already being punished, even if he gets off of the charges.
/johnny
I live here in the metro, Little Canada is but a small city in the greater St Paul area. The Ramsey County sheriffs dept has been known to overstep the bounds.
I hope this gets enough attention so a decent law firm can provide the guy with some donated help to make an example out of these law enforcement thugs.
The juicy part of this story is that he was charged because he violated Hipaa. :-)
Of course that won’t stick, but it is interesting that they went to those lengths to bring charges.
Little Canada is the town...
should be Little Cuba.
This is LEGISLATION BY INTIMIDATION.
The police ROUTINELY do the BS of “dumping to the judge” as a means of harassment. This person has their life turned upside down, has a permanent bloch on his record because of this police officers EGO.
The only way this will end is when the police officers become personally liable along with prosecutors who pursue this anti-first amendment intimidation. Perhaps even joint and several liablity for attorney fees even though it is criminal.
Canada IS little.
And they talk with half their heads bobbing up and down.
“charged because he violated Hipaa”
ROTFLMAO
I was once run out of a town by a group of sheriff’s deputies years ago because I asked questions about a gal that later turned out to be a prostitute who one of the deputies was cheating on his wife with. She later got a little letter in the mail from an “anonymous source”. They didn’t know I was working undercover on that case. The deputy’s wife later filed for divorce and got taken to the cleaners so I got the last laugh...lol
Oh little town of Canada how still we see police lie?
Above your deep & dreamless sleep your rights now go buh-bye.
Yup, they are throwing away taxpayer dollars simply to intimidate taxpayers.
Then there’s this gem:
“Eggers noted that the incident report said nothing was recorded on the camera.
“I mean, were you just pointing it?” he asked Henderson.
“No. It was deleted,” Henderson surmised.
“You deleted it?”
“No. She must have deleted it,” Henderson said, referring to Muellner.
Not possible, Eggers replied. “There would have been some documentation about that.” “
______________________
Sure, police always file a report when they do something illegal or improper. It’s impossible that they wouldn’t file a report incriminating themselves :P
If you are going to record the police it’s probably best to do it on your phone, and make sure the phone has a password lock on it. Then, lock your phone before you hand it over to the police. They can’t force you to unlock your phone just so they can view/delete the video.
Gubmint sees that as their best investment.
They are aware of it; they threaten not out of ignorance, but out of a desire to intimidate.
Thankfully, there are still peace officers like Lawdog around:
Apparently there has been some Internet kerfuffle involving officers being videotaped by citizens. Seems some officers get their Hanes all up in a half-hitch about it — to the point of pulling some truly feather-legged stunts.
Why?
And I’m asking that question of both sides, by-the-by.
I ask the officers because, well, duh. If you’re not doing anything to be ashamed of, why do you care if someone videotapes you?
http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2012/01/mediations-on-cameras.html
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