By John P. Martin
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The case, brought on behalf of a Temple University journalism student arrested two years ago, highlights a decidedly 21st century pitfall for police: Their every public move can be instantaneously captured and aired worldwide by almost any passerby with a phone.
On January 23, 2011, Chris Mongtomery was that passerby.
According to his lawsuit, Montgomery, then 22, was with a friend at 15th and Market streets when they noticed an argument break out between a group of young men and an older man. A crowd gathered as the fracas moved one block south, and the young men filed into a Wendy's restaurant.
Minutes later, a half-dozen police cars swarmed on the scene. The older man began directing the police toward the younger men who he said had robbed him. The officers entered the restaurant to remove them, the suit says.
Montgomery, sensing something might happen, pulled out his iPhone and began recording.
His camera was running when one of the young men began arguing with an officer and, according to Montgomery, the cop told the suspect he was being arrested "for being a (expletive)."
Montgomery said he had never before videotaped police officers, but he sensed the footage might be significant.
"I was planning on uploading it to YouTube or something like that," he explained in an interview Wednesday.
Instead, he said, he was approached by an officer who first ordered him to stop recording, then grabbed his hands, walked him to his police car and placed him under arrest.
Montgomery later sat in a police holding cell, the suit says, while the officer, David Killingsworth and others erased the video from his iPhone.
Montgomery was released but cited for disorderly conduct.
He fought the charges in municipal court a month later, but Judge Kenneth Powell Jr. found him guilty and ordered him to perform 20 hours of community service and pay court costs.
Powell said Montgomery had invaded the officer's privacy.
"I mean, how (are) police officers going to do their jobs if they are afraid to do anything because someone is out there with a camera?" the judge told Montgomery, according to a transcript of the hearing. "Go tape people walking under the Clothespin statue if you want to get a journalism award, but not cops."
With help from the ACLU, Montgomery appealed the conviction. It was overturned when Killingsworth failed to show up for the appeal hearing, he said.
His lawsuit says that the arrest was more of a practice than an isolated incident. It cites six other cases in the past three years where Philadelphia police allegedly investigated or arrested citizens who had photographed officers on the job.
In Sept. 2011, after news reports on some of the incidents, Commissioner Charles Ramsey issued a department memorandum reminding officers that they can be photographed while doing their jobs. Lawyers for Montgomery and the ACLU say the policy has been ignored.
"What is extremely discouraging to us, is that since that directive was issued by Commissioner Ramsey we've continued to see similar cases come up," said one of the lawyers, Jonathan Feinberg.
Mark McDonald, a spokesman for the Nutter administration, said it would have no comment on pending litigation.
Montgomery's lawsuit accuses the officer and police department of violating his First Amendment rights, false arrest, malicious prosecution and an illegal search and seizure. He is asking for compensatory and punitive damages.
Now the web editor for the Temple News, Montgomery said he's used his iPhone to record officers only once in the past two years, during the Occupy movement.
"I would say I am a bit more wary of recording police," he said, "especially in a situation where there aren't witnesses."
rick santorum ozzie guillen castro comments phish gluten free diet barry zito mac virus santorum drops out
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন