Posted on 06/08/2012 6:37:29 AM PDT by marktwain
Chicago Police Captain Kevin Navarro was driving a marked police car down the wrong way of a busy street when he collided head-on with a motorcycle last year.
The incident just happened to be caught on camera because a group of citizens had been video recording their friend on the motorcycle.
And they continued shooting photos and videos of the aftermath, documenting the police SUV in the wrong lane.
But by the time a multitude of cops showed up to the scene, they began arresting the citizens with cameras and deleting their footage.
The citizens were acquitted and now they are suing:
The following is from the lawsuit, which was posted by Courthouse News.
"Defendant officers observed plaintiffs using their cell phones to record the collision scene, and immediately took plaintiff Perez's cell phone and placed handcuffs on him, taking him into custody even though Perez was not doing anything illegal," the complaint states.
"Defendant officers placed Perez in the back of a police car and demanded that Perez show them how to delete the photographs he had taken with his cell phone."After plaintiff Perez was taken into custody, plaintiff Milton, who had also been using his cell phone to record the scene, was seated on his motorcycle, when defendant [Officers] Frahm and Hernandez approached him.
"Defendants Frahm and Hernandez grabbed plaintiff Milton, forced him off of his motorcycle, and threw him to the ground.
"Defendants Frahm and Hernandez placed plaintiff Milton in handcuffs, and then took him to a police car as well."
At the police station, "Defendant officers demanded that plaintiff Perez provide them with the password to his cell phone, so that they could delete the pictures he had taken at the scene of the collision," the complaint states.
"Defendant officers told plaintiff Perez that if he did not give them the password to his phone, he would be charged with a felony offense.
"Plaintiff Perez gave them the password, and defendant officers then deleted the pictures of the scene of the collision from plaintiff Perez's cellphone.
"While at the station, defendant officers also strip searched plaintiff Perez, in an apparent effort to see if he had any other cameras or recording devices on his person.
"Defendant officers also demanded that plaintiff Milton give them the password for his cellular telephone.
"However, plaintiff Milton refused to do so."
The cops then tried, unsuccessfully, to delete the video on Milton's phone, and falsely accused him of battery and resisting arrest, and accused Perez of assault, according to the complaint.
I spoke with attorney Torreya Hamilton earlier today who said she might send me that video later on today. If she does, I will post it here.
Illinois has attempted to make it illegal to do so. It is being challenged in the courts.
If you’re filming cops:
Leave the area, before they get to you.
SEND the photos to others not in the area.
If questioned, you’re not obligated to “know” how to delete pics.
Police just want to go home safe to their families when their shift is over.
Crooked LEO ping.
He fell for their bluff. A good lawyer with knowledge of the other deletions, would have that cop's ass for lunch.
A desire that has zero to do with what happened here, nor does it justify this.
Everyone who commits a crime wants to supress the evidence and go home afterwards.
Big whoop.
Short of real national security, how could it be illegal to video or photograph anything in public, especially involving persons who work for us?
This photo/video thing along with cops eagerly shooting homeowners dogs and “Black Ops” military style ineptness are the more conspicuous reasons citizens really no longer place much trust LEO.
Horsecrap
Instead of going to prison like many of the officers involved in this case should have. Convictions for destruction of evidence, false imprisonment, perjury and probably more than a handful of RICO offenses should have been passed out to the cops involved. And that's on top of the original traffic offense.
Police are going to have to get used to the idea that their every action will be recorded. More and more people will have recording devices and as memory becomes more and more available I wouldn't be surprised to see some cameras being clothing or head mounted being able to record all day. I do expect the police to start asking manufacturers to install some type of override, so if the police are blinking a certain IR signal the camera will stop recording, but hopefully people will be able to stop that or at least get cameras that will ignore that signal.
Officer safety is the most important thing ... in the world.
What does it take for you to recognize sarcasm?
A neon sign?
I know my daughter can take a picture and send it or post it in what seems like half a second.
As far as I can recall, there has never been a case in which the courts failed to rule against the police in this. It’s a pretty clear-cut 1st Amendment case. These cops haven’t a leg to stand on.
Just the crooked 99% making a bad name for all the rest of the good cops.
There are quite a few of the cop sniffers here on FR who would have said "Police just want to go home safe to their families when their shift is over" without the slightest bit of sarcasm. At least most have them have stopped trying to justify why chihuahuas need to be shot.
As an outside (and hopefully objective) observer to this exchange, I think it’s safe to say there are enough police apologists on this forum to make such a qualifier necessary. I have seen similar statements by folks who actually meant what they posted. :)
Can’t tell you how many times those sniffers have come after me in here. I’m no kid. I’m soon to be 58. I can remember when cops were trusted. Now what are they? An arm of the government. Unionistas. In it for themselves. Of course that’s not every officer but it’s way too many.
I would be suspicious if a cop said hello to me. Don’t trust them at all.
Yes, email or post the vids/photos you took online, and if you can, lock the phone with a password before handing it over to a LEO. You are not obligated to give them your password so they can mess around with your phone.
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