Posted on 07/19/2010 4:56:18 PM PDT by Nachum
Prosecutions Draw Attention to Influence of Witness Videos
That Anthony Graber broke the law in early March is indisputable. He raced his Honda motorcycle down Interstate 95 in Maryland at 80 mph, popping a wheelie, roaring past cars and swerving across traffic lanes.
But it wasn't his daredevil stunt that has the 25-year-old staff sergeant for the Maryland Air National Guard facing the possibility of 16 years in prison. For that, he was issued a speeding ticket. It was the video that Graber posted on YouTube one week later -- taken with his helmet camera -- of a plainclothes state trooper cutting him off and drawing a gun during the traffic stop near Baltimore.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Welcome to ratland! Remember to leave your cameras behind when interacting with the ruling junta.
16 years? There is more to this than what is in the article.
All doctors and police should always be recorded during their entire shift.
I say let all video and audio recordings (with or without knowledge of the person being recorded) be Constitutional. No more restrictions (unless you are undressed).
16 years is what he supposedly could get for wiretapping. In reality, I don’t think there is a court in the country that would consider a video that the cops know is being taken as a wiretap.
Big Brother will record your every move, every financial transaction, every purchase, your medical records . . .
Thou shalt not videotape Big Brother.
Video seems to be tolerated legally as long as the subject is in public and no special lenses are used. It's the laws concerning audio that are strict.
However, he actions of police offers should always be considered public and recordable, both audio and video.
They'll let this rock along for a little while and everyone will become accustomed to it and then go for the next step. I hesitate to guess what they will come up with.
It's the insidious plan of incrementalism, and it has the potential to destroy America.
I am not sure the guy in the unmarked car had any type ID on his clothes. If not, then it looked like a potential car jacking(motorcycle in this case). Plainclothes in an unmarked car, no badge visible? A good recipe for shooting the trooper in some places. The second trooper was in uniform and in a marked car. Like no knock warrants, this type of action along with the idea they don’t want to be filmed does give you an idea of their attitudes towards us.
If the ACLU is for videotaping police, I’m against it.
Cops shouldn’t mind being video taped unless they have something to hide. If they do have a problem with it, then they need to be looked at very carefully as they know they are doing something wrong.
I wonder what a Constitutional Lawyer would make of this? Congressman Billybob, what say you?
Mark
I think for myself, and I see nothing wrong with video taping this and putting it on the internet. Cops ARE accountable for their actions. They should have nothing to fear, as they should be doing nothing wrong.
“I say let all video and audio recordings (with or without knowledge of the person being recorded) be Constitutional. No more restrictions (unless you are undressed).”
As long as you are in public, I agree.
Exceptions: if you are being assaulted, or if you are dead. Then it should just be with permission unless used in a court for prosecution purposes.
It must be getting awfully cold in hell. I actually agree with the ACLU in this case.
Exactly...how can there be police video cams and not be “public” video cams...both are camera’s on the dashboard...what’s the difference?
I like the one where a man who had memory problems carried a voice recorder to aid him in recalling conversations. The officer told him it was illegal to tape him, the man explained his condition, the officer still insisted he turn it off, the man refused, was tackled by another officer resulting in injuries to the man. The officers then refused to allow the man to record what his attending physician was telling him about his injuries!? It should not only be legal, it should be required that officers themselves record every official act involving members of the public. They are representing US and what they do is OUR business!
I'd take this a step further. If the majority of your income comes from public tax dollars, you have a camera on you whenever you are earning that money, and the video is recorded and also fed to the web where anyone can watch at any time. School teachers, bus drivers, police, politicians, etc. If I paid for it, I have a right to know what you are doing with it.
Even if they have some kind of expectation of privacy (which is a HUGE 'if'), it seems clear that they have waived that expectation with the installation of their own dash-cams.
To me, this is a clear violation of the 1st Amendment and I hope the conservative justices see it the exact same way. We should all be fearful when the police are fearful of being recorded while (allegedly) protecting and serving.
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