Posted on 05/29/2007 7:51:31 PM PDT by TaxPayer2000
GARDEN GROVE – Was he a hero? Or was he an over-protective dad?
Mark Dornan saw a man shooting photos of his 5-year-old daughter after the annual Strawberry Festival parade Saturday morning and gave chase.
"I snapped. I was going to get him," Dornan said Monday, still fuming two days after the incident.
Dornan, the son of former Congressman Bob Dornan, was helping his wife run a festival booth selling belts for kids. He said the photographer fled and appeared to be deleting photos from his camera when he noticed Dornan on his trail.
Dornan said he tackled the photographer and wrestled away the camera. He said he saw a handgun fly from the man's pants.
"I go for the gun," Dornan said. "He goes for it. I get the gun. He's laying there deflated, like the air went out of his balloon."
Police detained the man and released him after questioning, but kept the camera.
Dornan said he did not know the photographer's name but said he learned the man was an off-duty Los Angeles police officer.
"No charges were pressed," said Garden Grove Police Sergeant Mike Martin. "We are conducting an investigation."
Martin declined to identify the photographer or discuss the incident further. [SNIP]
Vande Spagg, who ran a jewelry booth at the fair, said she observed the photographer aiming his camera up Dornan's daughter's skirt.
"He was so focused," said Spagg, of Seattle. "He was in this zone, zoning in on the children."
She said Dornan's daughter was one of the cutest kids at the festival.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
“Dornan said he did not know the photographer’s name but said he learned the man was an off-duty Los Angeles police officer.”
Amazing. A citizen arrest of an armed off duty cop. I would think thats kinda hard to do. Way to go dad. Forget about women scorned. Hell hath no fury like an enraged Dad protective of his daughter.
“Back in the hippie days,” I did some amateur B&W photography and once I took some shots on small city playground that was part of my territory at the time. I developed the film, made some prints, and went back to the playground and handed them out to the kids. Never thought a thing of it.
Cop or no cop, he would have got his head kicked in.You cant trust any bastard these days.
I would be most upset if I saw you photographing my grandchildren and I didn’t know you, nor had you asked permission. In this day and age of perverts everywhere you go, added to the availability of people to publish photos on the web, I would caution you to be very careful. Someone may take umbrage at this as B1’s son did. Lawful or not, you just may really Pi$$ someone off enough to harm you.
After what happened to 4 yr old Madeleine McCann who was kidnapped while on vacation with her family in Portugal, no one should let any creep get away with taking pictures of their kids. The pedophile ring that snatched Maddie was taking photos of little girls at several resorts.
But IF the photo constitutes child pornography the intention of the photographer is NOT an issue. Possession is a crime. These photos were being taken up the little girl's skirt. They might qualify.
I have some problem with laws that might turn outdoor photography into a "peeping tom" crime. But in the case of children being photographed for an improper purpose, I would choose to protect the child over any right of the photographer.
Pedo-Pig is lucky Daddy didn’t have a twitchy trigger finger.
Man, check this out!
Until I finally got to that part, all I could think of was, "what a soon to be fleeced moron Dornan's kid is."
There was a time that "journalists" put the most important stuff first, and the less consequential details last.
Times have changed.
It's easier to do landscapes, flowers and birds :-).
I took a series at the same park where the other guy got busted, the kids were feeding the ducks, wanted a quarter to get more corn out of the machine, but I had locked my purse in my car, so they followed me so I could give them a quarter. They were happy to get their pictures taken. I warned them about following strangers. I asked where they lived and burned a cd for them (they were poor kids). When I took it there the next day, there were a bunch of kids and adults outside. I found out which one was the mother, and the little boy who had been so friendly the day before looked dour. Turns out the kids weren't supposed to have been up at the park that day. Oops!
Lots of people are thrilled when I give them photos I take, but I couldn't read her very well, not exactly friendly. They probably thought I was a social worker snooping around when I pulled up and parked :-).
In this instance, it appears to be an agent of the government doing the abusing.
He’s lucky the city didn’t charge him with assaulting an officer. Not saying that it would’ve been “right”, but such things have happened.
Hats off to Mark Dornan!! I love it when I read a story about a father like him! I would still be fuming as well!! I wish Mark and his family all the best as they get past this.
Regardless of the legality of the matter, I’m not letting my child be used to fuel the sick fantasies of someone who deserves a bullet in the head.
And no, I’m not accusing you of anything of the like. Your hobby is most likely perfectly harmless, I just will not take any chances where the safety of my kids is concerned.
No parent deserving of the name would.
I hadn’t heard about any new details re the McCann case, where did you read that? What a sad, horrific story. My thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family. Everyone needs to pray for this little girl and her family. Apparently, the parents are meeting with the Pope tomorrow.
“The only law I’m aware of that applies out in public places is that if the person can be recognized, the photo cannot be sold for profit without a model release.”
There was a court case in NY that challenged that aspect, you don’t need the release.
Read up on Philip Di Corcia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip-Lorca_diCorcia
(may not be a great site but at least it provides an outline of the issues of the case)
It was California remember? Only the bad guys are allowed to be armed.
Would have been tragic if in scrambling to recover the dropped weapon, it went off repeatedly into the sicko shutterbugs forehead.
This was the topic this month in a one of the photography mags (Digital Photographer I think). Some 89 year old granny got busted for taking a photo of her granddaughter in the bathtub (the photo processing lab turned her in). It seemed innocent, but she still lost a lot in a long legal battle.
I would say to search this guys house and see if there's a pattern or if he was just innocently snapping photos at a fair.
I've thought about that, and try to be sensitive about when and when not to take photos. If kids' parents or custodian are around, I would and do ask.
It's a sticky wicket, but I'm not going to let it ruin a hobby I love. You are always going to pi$$ someone off no matter what you do or don't do.
What really makes me sad is I have some adorable photos of a few kids in parades and races and such and think some parents would love prints but don't know about them. One was at a wedding, an adorable little girl whose father had AIDs as it turns out. Two of the best people shots I ever took. If I knew who her mother was, I'd give her an 8X10, that's how I do with my best ones.
A couple weeks ago, it was a baby owl, and a bunch of people got in the act on that. One nice couple brought their kids, and I didn't think to get a shot of their kids with the owl. They were most anxious to have the photos, so I burned 2 cd's for her of all of them I took. She wanted to pay me for the cd's! I wouldn't hear of it.
Yeah, I already pi$$ed somebody off bigtime, an adult, public figure, didn't know who it was when I starting photographing the monstrosity she built with her husband's money from a public road. I put together a photo essay about it but don't dare give out the link but to a select few people. It's about a lot more than just her. She was calling the cops on me when I left. I swapped out my flash card and had my granddaughter keep it for me and hid the photos on my computer. Of course, if anyone looked hard enough, they would find them.
It started with a beautiful flower I found growing wild in a field, never saw anything like it before, thought it was a lily but was of the amaryllis family I found out from some experts. Can't go throug the whole spiel, but went back to see if it was still there and the whole place was buldozed for luxury housing. Luckily I found a place on the internet that sells bulbs for that exact flower so ordered some for this fall, no more expensive than any lily or iris.
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