another crew arrested

I don't think the reporter was being a jerk; he was doing his job. There were plenty of other people on the shoulder. The cop decided to order around the guys toting a camera.

I don't think this is a job-terminating offense, but I certainly hope that cop enjoys desk work.

Edit: first person to generalize cops in a negative fashion because of this video is fired from the Department of Rational Thought.
 
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What ever happened to Freedom of the Press. I always thought if you are on PUBLIC property--there really isn't anything they can do about it. Maybe the cop should have worried more about the accident scene and frinding out what happened instead of harrassing the media for doing their job.
 
I don't think the reporter was being a jerk at all. In fact, I thought he remained quite calm given the circumstances. He may have done a better job of explaining that he is a duly authorized representative of a media organization and what the rights of the media are for shooting on public property. Also, that the officer is violating these constitutional rights and that charges will be filed against the officer and department. Excellent job of the photog to roll on EVERYTHING!!! I hope that I never get arrested while covering a story and I am grateful for every journalist who is willing to stand up for all of our rights.
 
I agree, it was bizarre AND the reporter did nothing wrong. Did the cop order everyone else to leave? No, only the reporter and photog. And the reporter and photog WEREN'T given a lawful order because they had every right to be there. The cop can give you an order, say for insistence "stand on your head and spell your name backwards, just to amuse me", but just because he gave you an order, doesn't mean it's a lawful order.

Kudos for the photog for continuously rolling on it. There's one cop that will soon be getting up at 3am to go to work at Dunkin Donuts. "Time to make the donuts"!

Looks like story is going national, it made it to at least one Baltimore station. And good too, as more cops see this airing around the country, maybe they'll think twice about pulling this kind of crap.

Warren
 
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This is the part I thought was funny:

Darren and Ric were handcuffed, read their Miranda rights and taken to the Westside Regional Command Center. They were released within a few minutes. The entire incident lasted about an hour.
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So the cop went to all the trouble of hauling them off to jail, only to have cooler heads at the police department immediately assess the situation, say, "Oh, sh!t, this is a bad arrest!" and let them go. I can only imagine the sour feeling in the pit of that cop's stomach when the realization hit him how big a mistake he had made, when his department immediately refused to back him up.
 
Wow. I'm glad the cameras was kept recording. I'd have been wearing the silver bracelets too.

But here's an OSHA question... Neither the cop or crew (Reporter anyway) are wearing a safety vest.
 
Where were the safety vests that the latest law says we are supposed to wear when working on or near highways or federally funded roads?
 
I think there should be a job orientation video for cops that shows them how to treat the media or anyone with a camera. Show them the numerous wrongful arrests and how almost every time the cop was in the wrong. The problem is the cops are uniformed, they think this is Nazi Germany where they have the power stop someone and interrogate them just cause they feel like it.

People need to realize we are becoming a police state with stuff like this.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ben Franklin
 
Public Property?

feldy11981 said:
What ever happened to Freedom of the Press. I always thought if you are on PUBLIC property--there really isn't anything they can do about it. Maybe the cop should have worried more about the accident scene and frinding out what happened instead of harrassing the media for doing their job.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I am wrong but at least in my memory I've been told that Interstates are NOT public property. Yes it is a public throughway that anyone can travel on but you cant just stop and videotape whatever you want. We are not allowed to shoot any video on or near an Interstate freeway unless we are accompanied by a State Trooper or Dept. of Transportation rep. Of course if there is a major accident or event we try and cover it anyway and just hope we dont get caught or hassled. I have been threated with arrest several times when I have stopped on the shoulder or even off the freeway to get traffic video, construction video, weather video, etc. even while wearing my OSHA approved safety vest.

Now dont get me wrong - I'm not saying the crew was in the wrong, the state laws may be different than where I am at. The cop went way overboard and as its been said should have been more focused on the accident than the news crew. They did nothing to warrant arrest.
 
There was absolutley no justification for the officer's behavior. He didn't even give them a chance to get in their truck- and it appears that they were leaving!

It's frightening to read one of the "viewers' comments" stating, "As a citizen, we must obey the authorities no matter what". Excuse me, we 'MUST OBEY' them!? Uh, haven't you ever heard of the Constitution? How ignorant. As a U.S. government official, the officer must obey the Constitution.
 
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That officer was completely out of control. Even though the reporter said, "He can shoot you if he wants to", the cop had no right to assault him. I listened to the interview with the chief and even he agrees that it was a very serious incident. I'm glad they are doing a full investigation. When I've sent complaints to my boss about a particular cop situation, I was told, "He is the one with the badge. Like it or not". I seem to have the most incidents with cops at non-police scenes (fires, etc) where there are cops standing around with nothing to do, so they decide to gang up on the media.

The copper clearly didn't care about anyone on the shoulder except for the news crew. He should have been more concerned about the accident instead of the cameraman and reporter.
 
Jonathan said:
People need to realize we are becoming a police state with stuff like this.
Click to expand...

Why is it that someone's always gotta throw in the extreme end of the spectrum in threads like this?

Jonathan said:
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ben Franklin
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Agreed, but it has nothing to do with this thread.

Rack Focus said:
Here is what our friends over at Officer.com have to say about this:
[URL="http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119090"]http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119090[/URL]
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I found it interesting that a few folks on that site mention "lawful order" without actually saying why it's a "lawful order." I'm not interested in listening to a cop who barks commands at me when I know they're wrong. I'll pick my fight, but that "lawful order" better have a damn good lawyer backing it up if I spend any time in handcuffs.

What really caught my attention was this:

Smurfette_76 said:
Though, rack, most of the media that have come here (and subsequently been banned) are jack*sses.
Click to expand...

I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark and guess that most members on that site aren't PIOs. Further, I'm going to guess that most of the media they're talking about are current members at Medialine or TVSpy, neither of which house any worthwhile knowledge.
 
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