James S. Henry
Posted on 11/01/2004 6:46:21 AM PST by Cultural Jihad
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A freelance journalist taking pictures of voters waiting outside the Palm Beach County elections headquarters was arrested after ignoring a deputy's orders to stop, sheriff's officials said.
James S. Henry, of Sag Harbor, N.Y., was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence.
Sheriff's Deputy Al Cinque tried to stop Henry as he shot pictures of about 600 people standing in line to vote Sunday afternoon. Henry began running away, but Cinque tackled him, the Palm Beach Post reported.
The deputy pinned Henry, 54, to the ground, yelling for him to stop moving, then punched him in the back. Cinque handcuffed Henry's left arm, pulled him to his feet and punched him again as Henry tried to hand him identification cards, according to the paper.
But sheriff's office spokesman Paul Miller said Monday that Henry "tripped over his own feet" as he ran away. He was heading toward the building's front door, and the deputy "has to use whatever reasonable force is necessary under the circumstances," Miller said.
Miller said the deputy had asked Henry to move to another area to snap pictures.
"His actions were compromising the elections process and intimidating people that were attempting to wait to vote," Miller said. "He was in their faces."
Assistant Palm Beach County Attorney Leon St. John said Cinque was enforcing new rules, enacted Friday by elections chief Theresa LePore, that prohibit reporters from talking with or photographing voters waiting outside polling stations.
The restrictions were prompted by "numerous complaints by voters about being photographed and interviewed," St. John said.
Other reporters, who witnessed the arrest, had not been aware of the new restrictions. Miller said he did not know of other journalists being stopped.
Henry, who is also an attorney and the managing director of strategy consulting firm Sag Harbor Group, is working on a book about "electoral democracy," according to his Web site.
He was being held on $500 bond.
After this event, how many of those 600 people will be willing to vote via the internet instead of in person?
Isn't Michael Moore going to be video taping at the polls?
Ms. LePore needs to re-acquaint herself with the 1st Amendment.
I'd hate to be the cop that went to tackle him. Better to use a harpoon.
Dems don't do the law, remember?
James S. Henry
I'd hate to be the cop that went to tackle him. Better to use a harpoon.
Just lure him into squad car with a donut.
Would these people be intimidated if they were waiting in line for a big sale at a department store? Are we intimidated when we go shopping, eat out, or even drive our cars? Right or wrong cameras are everywhere. No one sees who you vote for. If someone feels intimidated at a poll then my question if why? Are they voting twice? An illegal? Felon?
BY what law did this photographer get arrested?
"The Gestapo says so you better do" law ??
The police are beginning to act like BLUE HELMET people - they had best start obeying our (the United States) laws themselves.
"Harvard" is coming increasingly to mean "prissy, pushy, moron".
This is the same chick who designed the butterfly ballot in 2000.
Well, I'm sure we can all be confident that when Michael Moore starts filming at the polls, he'll be stopped too. /sarcasm
My guess is that he was a Dem plant to cause the intimidation story. They would do such a thing, then call it a Republican dirty trick....Glad he was caught if this is so. Why did he try to run away? If he was legit, the he had no reason to.....
let's hope they punch michael too.
Ping
BTW, isn't the photographer at least allowed to take pictures as long as he doesn't publish them without the consent of the people in the pictures?
There are laws which prohibit anyone who is not voting from being within 50-100 feet of a polling place. It is also against the law to impede voters. If he was truly "in their faces" the law would apply. It would also be illegal to film people in line at Walmart, etc. without the store's permission, as even the parking lot is private property.
no way, he will run away. I've watch this smuck for years and he is a coward, if you call the cops he will run away. Don't you think that a political activist who has based his life on harassing people people would have been arrested at least once? Not this a-hole, never. He runs like a little girl.(sorry, no offense to the little girls in the crowd)
Really? You see it on the news all the time. Maybe they had permission. Anyway, I assumed this was past the 100 feet zone. My point was though that if you feel you need to be able to go in without anyone seeing you, why?
Most polling places are public property. And if the line extends away from the non-campaiging zone around the polling place, that part of the line should be fair game. This rule is too broad and oversteps the authority of the commissioner who issued it.
You'll note it said he was running for the front door which would have put him inside the polling area. That's when the officer physically stopped him.
If that was what he was alleged to have done, shouldn't he have been charged with violating one of those laws? However, that is not what he has been charged with. According to the article, "James S. Henry, of Sag Harbor, N.Y., was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence." In other words, it is a made-up, trumped-up charge, and likely a false arrest.
If they ask you to leave and you don't, then you are trespassing. You see it on the news all the time because usually the store owners don't care (free advertising) and they don't ask you to leave.
Say what?
A freelance journalist taking pictures of voters waiting outside the Palm Beach County elections headquarters ... Cinque was enforcing new rules, enacted Friday by elections chief Theresa LePore, that prohibit reporters from talking with or photographing voters waiting outside polling stations.
"Heading toward the front door" does not mean "inside the polling area" or "conducting a prohibited activity within X feet of the polling area".
Okay, I don't have time for this. But check out James S. Henry's web site. It's good to know why he was there and what his viewpoint is about our elections and the procedures.
Don't have time for what - the facts?
Nice try. But I have to go to work. Did you ask why Mr. Henry was really there?
Hmmm... I don't see how that has anything to do with elections officials handing down unconstitutional decrees, or law enforcement personnel making arrests based on false pretenses...
You're the one who said he was inside. But he wasn't. So now you try to change the subject.
Orlando Salinas, in Palm Beach, just had his cameraman pan the line of waiting voters.
If I tell you 'please I do not want you taking pictures of me, my wife or children' and you insist on ignoring my wishes and start taking pictures anyway....
First I am going to take your camera away from you, next expose the film....and then you are not going to like where I am going to shove your camera .......
Capice?
There is a great quote from photographer Diane Arbus who did a lot of portraiture and street photography (like Weegee did before her).
It is along the lines: "Having your picture taken is the risk you face for going out in public."
9 to 1 Michael Moore won't even be running the camera in Florida. He never rolled tape in Iraq, let alone visited the country.
Michael Moore will want to be ON CAMERA in Florida.
The question is will his flunkies be willing to go to jail for him? Sure it is a good headline for his clippings folder to have "Michael Moore crew arrested for filming in Florida (without a permit)" but we know that we will never see a headline "Michael Moore arrested for...".
Why go to jail when ANYONE being arrested will get the same headline without having to actually go to jail.
The World is Watching!
His speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was unsteady on his feet; the suspect was bleeding down his shirt in a small trickle.??
Why don't you go shoot somebody?
????
Case law varies quite a bit from state to state as to what constitutes a public place. Generally, the rules are that it is a place where privacy cannot be assumed, the general public is freely able to visit and is not private property.
However, as a photojournalist, I avoid photographing people who don't want to be photographed unless there is an overriding news reason to photograph them. For example, a random voter who asks not to be photographed won't end up in the paper while a known party activist who is trying to keep somthing hidden will be photographed if that thing is newsworthy.
isn't that how the pollsters get an idea of who is winning the race?
That's what I didn't understand. If he was beyond the 100 feet and on public property wasn't he legal?
Thank you for the clear explanation.
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