Rochester Police Arrest Woman For Videotaping On Her Lawn

YouTube ^ | June 21, 2011

[kiryandil]

"The woman was videotaping a traffic stop in front of her house at night. The video speaks for itself."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7ZkFZkejv8

[Moonman62]

The cops have NO authority at all to be interested in her property without a warrant. They will lose. She is lucky she wasn't also walking her dog.

It was her proximity to them. They can order to people to go inside. It's not that unusual and they don't need a warrant.

[kiryandil]

I hope she sues those jerks. Not just the police dept, but the officers personally. What a slimey twit that cop is.

Yes, the three armed officers felt "threatened".

I like a comment from another site:

"Frack the officer. If he doesn't "feel safe" maybe he should get a job modeling women's panties."

[muawiyah]

News to me. They're outside her gate. She's inside her gate. That's an older legal term rarely used separately from considerations of eligibility to receive rural carrier delivery, but it does apply. The cops jurisdiction ENDS at the public easement, and that's probably on the inside of the sidewalk and does not include her lawn.

There are publicly available maps that show where those easements extend.

You're probably thinking of a typical downtown or commercial district where the merchants and other property owners have had the public easement extended to their ENTRANCE so the owners can use the cops as building guards (for all practical purposes).

[crusadersoldier]

So she was charged with “Obstructing government administration” under New York State code that is defined as such:

“A person is guilty of obstructing governmental administration when he
intentionally obstructs, impairs or perverts the administration of law
or other governmental function or prevents or attempts to prevent a
public servant from performing an official function, by means of
intimidation, physical force or interference, or by means of any
independently unlawful act, or by means of interfering, whether or not
physical force is involved, with radio, telephone, television or other
telecommunications systems owned or operated by the state, or a county,
city, town, village, fire district or emergency medical service or by
means of releasing a dangerous animal under circumstances evincing the
actor`s intent that the animal obstruct governmental administration.”

Sorry ... just don’t see it.

[kiryandil]

I feel threatened by your attitude, Jo.

STOP RESISTING!

[Frank_2001]

“where in the world would someone get the crazy idea they could stand in their yard and record something going on in the street? I bet she didn’t have her papers with her either.”

Probably just some counterrevolutionary ruffian;)

[freedumb2003]

I’ll say here what I said there:

This is wrong. If you are on your own property you can record anything, cops, perps, animals, whatever.

Cops think because they enforce the law, they are above the law.

I am glad this is on record — next up: BIG lawsuit

[Moonman62]

She has a hearing on the 27th. Perhaps you can email her your idea of a defense. She was also arrested back in March for blocking a foreclosure. I don’t know if you can help with that one.

[RandallFlagg]

I have experienced only one bad police officer. Every other one has been a good guy just doing his/her (And, yes. She was hot) job.
This jackass needs to get the boot. HARD.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I noticed several things. First was that the officer tried to pretend that something had happened before the video had begun. Then the common trick to shine the flashlight both in the face to blind someone, and to shine it at the camera so that the officer’s face cannot be recorded.

In such a situation, she should have countered his activities by first, when he stepped on her property to immediately state that he is trespassing, has presented no warrant, and must leave immediately.

Second, if his name plate can be read, to use his name repeatedly, to insure that he cannot pretend it wasn’t him, or that it was some other officer. Numbers on police cars are good as well as reading off police car license plate numbers.

Then, come at him from an odd angle, that the police will use sometimes. Ask the officer if he has been drinking, because you “smell alcohol on his breath, your speech sound slurred, and you are walking in an unsteady manner.” You may also say that you smell marijuana smoke on him as well.

Another thing is to mention that other people are video recording him as well right now, that someone is calling 911 because he has gone on to your property as has not left despite being told he is trespassing, and is acting in an aggressive, and *sexually* threatening manner, and that your attorney will be on the scene momentarily, as he has been contacted as well and lives nearby.

Also state that he has his hand on his gun in a menacing manner, and if he brandishes it, the person making the video will regard the action as criminal assault under the color of authority.

The police also use the gambit of repeating statements that are not questions and are not orders. This deserves a quid pro quo stating that he is violating the law and is he aware of this fact? Is this the official policy of his police department? Is he aware that he is exposing the police department and the city to significant civil liability, or does he not care?

Finally, demand the presence of a police supervisor, and that failure to inform his police supervisor is tantamount to admission of guilt for both criminal and civil offenses.

At this point, when all else fails, wild, emotional, and off the wall accusations are about the last chance. “I recognize you. You are that child molester! You are the guy who attacked those kids, and you’re a cop!”

If at all possible, get that recording out of there and somewhere safe, because the most important priority to that police officer will be to destroy it at all cost.

[SeaHawkFan]

She seems to have an excellent reason to be anti-police; at least with the cops in her city.

[Prokopton]

They are not wanting or looking to inspire confidence. They are wanting to instill fear.

As Ross Perot used to say, the government is not working for you, the government is coming at you.

[kiryandil]

And that “I feel threatened” the cop kept saying,,sounded like something they would tell a grade school kid to say.

I got a ticket for failure to yield on a back street a couple of years ago. I pulled over immediately, and the officer pulled over several car lengths ahead of me.

I suddenly realized that I was blocking another peasant's driveway (@ 8:00 in the morning) and eased ahead till the driveway was clear.

The ossifer came up to my window and practically yelled at me: "You drove toward me!"

I was dumbfounded. Luckily, I didn't RESIST, and noted that I was going about .0025 MPH.

Later, I figured out that he probably learned that line in academy.

[ThomasThomas]

The story loses credibility when the headline is a lie. She was not arrested for video taping her lawn.

[Prokopton]

It was her proximity to them. They can order to people to go inside. It's not that unusual and they don't need a warrant.

They can order it, but you do not have to obey. They are just cops, employed by us, not our overlords.

[kiryandil]

She wasn’t arrested for taping. She was arrested for being right behind the officers while they were arresting someone and refusing orders to go inside.

"Frack the officer. If he doesn't "feel safe" maybe he should get a job modeling women's panties."

[shadowcat]

Rochester where?

[kiryandil]

They are just cops, employed by us, not our overlords.

Exactly. They aren't the FR Viking Kittens...

[Prokopton]

They're outside her gate. She's inside her gate. That's an older legal term rarely used separately from considerations of eligibility to receive rural carrier delivery, but it does apply. The cops jurisdiction ENDS at the public easement,

Actually the term is curtelage. The constitutional expectation of privacy extends to the curtelage or property immediately surrounding the house. It is differentiated from the concept of "open fields" where a person does not have an expectation of privacy even if they are the owner.

[Jo Nuvark]

LOL! Yew tockin’ tuh me?