Cops Accused of Forcing Woman to Delete Video of Husband’s Arrest Sparked by ‘Unloaded’

The Blaze ^ | 25 September, 2013 | Jason Howerton

[marktwain]

A man in Crawford County, Mich., was arrested and charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon on Sunday after he called authorities about a trespassing suspect on his property, his wife tells TheBlaze. There are also serious allegations being made about officers demanding that video footage of the incident — taken by the man’s wife — be deleted.

Thomas Donald, a military veteran, was reportedly out hunting with his 11-year-old son and armed with an “unloaded” single-shot .410-gauge shotgun (his son chose to use a crossbow instead) when he confronted a man riding a dirt bike on his 10 acres of land. The man and his son then reportedly escorted the trespasser to the front of his property and told his wife, Heather, to call the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to file a “recreational trespass.”

What happened when the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department arrived shocked them both, though Sheriff Kirk Wakefield tells TheBlaze quite a different story.

In an exclusive interview with TheBlaze, Heather Donald recounted what happened from the couple’s perspective. Her husband, Thomas, declined to speak with us on the advice of his attorney and due to the charges against him. His attorney also declined an interview request.

[Figment]

“unless the video is, shall we say, lost somehow...”

which happens every time the video doesn’t back up their version of an incident

[MtnClimber]

Until the cops are personally responsible they will not really care.

[Utilizer]

I have heard that other LEOs in jurisdictions that already have cameras as part of their Duty Gear simply turn off the cams when they do not want a recording of whatever is occurring to exist.

Better for us non-LEOs to purchase individual wireless webcams to record situations so even if the camera is forcibly turned off by LEOs or "accidentally" rendered inoperable (broken) at any time a record exists that will provide proof of actual occurrences rather than only the LEO's statement as to how events transpired.

[Chode]

100%!

[Chode]

[marktwain]

“A little off subject butI read someplace today those cops in Arizona that shot and killed the Marine in his home in front of wife and child paid 3.4 million to the family.”

Here it is:

AZ:Pima Co. agrees to settle over botched SWAT raid

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3067153/posts

[rottndog]

I have heard that other LEOs in jurisdictions that already have cameras as part of their Duty Gear simply turn off the cams when they do not want a recording of whatever is occurring to exist.

IMHO, this would be far worse for any potential misconduct allegations...it shows intent to commit the misconduct on the part of the officer, in addition to evidence tampering. Any laws broken by the officer after that point would be defacto premeditated.

When cameras become standard gear, it should be policy that those devises are recording any interaction with the public or the conduct of any official business, and video files should be included with any police report.

[VRWCarea51]

So when does the capital murder trial start for the murdering leos? /s

[luvbach1]

Studies on the subject show that cops who have cameras on them are far less likely to get aggressive with law abiding citizens.

I guess that's why cops rarely get out of line on the long-running TV reality show, Cops; in fact, they often come across as good samaritans in their degree of helpfulness.

[luvbach1]

...those cops in Arizona that shot and killed the Marine in his home in front of wife and child paid 3.4 million to the family.

The cops paid it or the taxpayers?

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

The wife had the last laugh.

She used recovery software to do just that.....she recovered the video the cop deleted, according to the article on “The Blaze.”

[RetiredTexasVet]

No, the dumba$$ taxpaying morons who voted in the corrupt sheriff are going to pay.

[Ken H]

Is there a you tube? The vid at the site crashes my player.

[Usagi_yo]

No, the dumba$$ taxpaying morons who voted in the corrupt sheriff are going to pay.

Well, because of the "social contracts" inherent to a democracy, the ones who didn't vote for them are responsible for paying too.

After all you can't ignore the law, unless you 1) make the law, 2) enforce the law. "Some pigs are more equal than others."

[Utilizer]

Perhaps. But when the records are examined and the camera appears to be turning off and on frequently during the duty period can not the argument that the equipment perhaps is faulty somehow be established thereby?

[tbw2]

What is the name of the service that lets you automatically upload to a cloud server when you film police, so that you have the video even if they confiscate your phone?

[JerseyDvl]

I believe it is Instagram from what i have read. Can’t say for sure though, I try to leave as tiny a fingerprint in the Web as possible. It helps that I was never impressed by the narcissistic time suck that they call Facebook or the many copycats that were even more intrusive to privacy and offensive to common sense.

[Rusty0604]

Did the cops pay or did the taxpayers have to pay? Would be nice if they made the cops sign over their pensions.

[Mad Dawg]

One thing that astonishes me, if the article is halfway accurate, is the incompetence of the deputies.

"Um, duh, he's under arr.. no, wait, I mean, uh, forget it."

"We need your camera for, like, um, wait, it's coming to me, evidence," followed by trying, unsuccessfully, to delete the "evidence."

Whadda buncha marOONS!

[Pajamajan]

These cops put the “police” in police state.