Posted on 10/27/2008 5:09:26 PM PDT by BGHater
Jim Quodomine Arrested, Handcuffed, Put In Squad Car For An Hour After Filming Peaceful Protest Outside Church
Officer To Protesting Reporter: 'I Can Do Whatever I Want'
After a week of bloody shootings in the city of Newark, family members of the victims killed by gun violence marched in front of churches Sunday to ask the clergy for help.
The march ended, however, when a Newark police officer put a CBS 2 photographer in a choke hold, handcuffed him, and put him in the back of a police car.
What started as a peaceful demonstration by parents whose children were murdered on the streets of Newark turned violent.
"Put your hands behind your back," the officer said. "He's going with me. Put your hands behind your back."
When CBS 2 HD's reporter on the scene, Christine Sloan, protested and said he couldn't arrest the cameraman, the officer said, "I can do whatever I want."
The camera kept rolling, as the officer put CBS 2 photographer Jim Quodomine in the choke hold and placed him under arrest.
Witnesses took pictures of the incident and told CBS 2 HD what they saw.
"He went to put the camera down," witness Latrice Smith said. "Before he had the opportunity to [do so], the police officer came and knocked it down.
"[The officer] just started grabbing him, putting handcuffs on him, grabbed him by the neck," Smith said. "It was out of control for no reason."
"I couldn't believe how they grabbed him," another witness said.
The officer left Quodomine in a cruiser for almost an hour.
Bus Councilwoman Mildred Crump, who was there attending church services, pushed for Quodomine's release and spoke to the officer.
"I did show him the picture of your cameraman, who was cuffed and [placed in] what appeared to be a choke hold," Crump said. "[The officer's] side of the story is he had asked him not to do it, and when he persisted that he just wouldn't take it anymore."
CBS 2 HD's photographer was not trespassing, as he was shooting the story on public property.
The Newark Police Department is not commenting.
The officer even threatened to arrest CBS 2 HD's Sloan.
"[This is] none of your business," the officer said. "Stay away or you'll be sitting in the car."
"One of the reasons we said we need to release your cameraman is because you have a constitutional right to videotape what is going on," Crump said.
The Newark Police Department says it won't comment until they look at all the facts.
In the meantime, Councilwoman Crump says she will ask for an investigation.
Quodonine was issued a summons for disorderly conduct, and CBS 2 HD News plans on fighting the summons in court.
Family members of the victims killed by Newark gun violence marched in front of churches Sunday to ask the clergy for help. The march ended, however, when a Newark police officer put a CBS 2 photographer in chokehold, handcuffed him, and arrested him.
This officer will be getting a well-deserved vacation.
Police abuse and brutality was what Tasergate was about. The press needs a wake-up call, hopefully this and threats of station blackmail by the Obama campaign will do the trick.
lawsuit time
Actually, I’d rather know more about it. The “children are being murdered” ghetto march is pretty common, never mentioning that the “children” are killing each other.
The video was so broken up and spliced that I could not tell what originally sparked the situation. More facts and less hysteria would be welcome.
The Newark officer is hoping for a job in the new Obama administration.
Those folks are lucky the cop didn’t shoot their dog.
Imagine for a moment the cameraman was black and the officer was white
Sharpton would be there in less than an hour calling for hate crimes charges against the RACIST cop.
Surely there’s a lot more to this. For one thing the people detained are also the people reporting this.
Paging ambulance chaser lawyer....
Paging ambulance chaser lawyer....
Oh, that’s right...the cop is black....sorry can’t do anything about it.
I flew into and out of Newark twice.
I almost got the travel planner fired.....
What’s up cBS lately...getting banned by politicians...arrested...
No you can't there Officer Sugar Cookie. Unless the camera dweeb was harassing someone, keep your petty tyrant jackboot wanna-be hands off.
GESTAPO
Don't you mean African-Americanmail?
Don’t choke me bro............
Asked him not to do what? Am I missing something or is this story poorly written? What was it the officer asked him not to do?
It may be that he was just not very articulate. A lot of guys who pin a target on their shirt and then go out and look for trouble seem not to be very good with words. But good training could have helped him shut up.
As it is, he's just made life difficult for the good officers as well as the bad ones.
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