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.
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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