Re: Federal court: Videotaping police is OK

On Jun 15, 2:46 pm, RiverMan <scarumcr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The news article below was taken from:http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2005/08/26/federal-court-videotaping-...

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Finally, some good news around here. A federal court judge has ruled
that three police officers violated the First Amendment and Fourth
Amendment rights of a person who was videotaping them as they
inspected trucks along a highway.

The plaintiff in this case, Allen Robinson, believed that the police
were conducting the truck inspections in an unsafe manner and was
videotaping their activities to present to the Pennsylvania General
Assembly. Even though Robinson was 30 feet away from the operation and
not interfering at all, he was arrested twice on harassment charges,
the last of which was thrown out on appeal.

The activities of the police, like those of other public officials,
are subject to public scrutiny. . . . Videotaping is a legitimate
means of gathering information for public dissemination and can often
provide cogent evidence, as it did in this case. In sum, there can be
no doubt that the free speech clause of the Constitution protected
Robinson as he videotaped the defendants on October 23, 2002. . . .
Moreover, to the extent that the troopers were restraining Robinson
from making any future videotapes and from publicizing or publishing
what he had filmed, the defendants’ conduct clearly amounted to an
unlawful prior restraint upon his protected speech. . . . We find that
defendants are liable under [42 USC] § 1983 for violating Robinson’s
Fourth Amendment right to be protected from an unlawful seizure. —
Judge Harvey Bartle III (PDF)

Robinson will receive $41,000 in compensatory and punitive damages
under the ruling. No word yet on whether the police officers will
appeal.

Score one for the good guys. (Via Boing Boing)

thatsa great decision...I think rainbow should read the entire decison
its quite informative...click on the judges name to get the link
.

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