Police in Louisiana continued
to reveal that gangster cop attitude that has become so visible in this country
thanks to the advent of online videos.
It was only a few years ago
that we were forced to take the word of police on the facts that lead up to an
arrest.
Now we’re seeing a systemic
thug-like attitude within the police ranks throughout almost every law
enforcement agency in the country because more and more citizens are asserting
their right to record in public.The latest case comes from Louisiana, as we can
see in a Live Leak video that was posted 14 hours ago at this time although it
is not clear when it was recorded nor when.
It shows that a man sitting in
his own car at least 50 feet away from police officers during a traffic stop
get arrested because he did nothing but video record.
The video is long but worth a
watch because the citizen is very knowledgeable of his rights but he gets
arrested anyway in a disturbing abuse of power.
There is a long lag until 8:15
after the initial encounter with police when police return to harass and
eventually arrest him.
The man tells police he had a
run-in with cops on Christmas Eve in which his rights were violated. He said he
has video evidence of his innocence and will show it in court.
He said ever since that
incident, he’s been pulling over and video recording traffic stops as a
third-party witness, which we know police can’t stand.
It starts off with an officer
with a flashlight walking up towards him accusing him of interfering with the
investigation, threatening to confiscate his phone as “evidence.”
Then they tried to nab him for
refusing to provide identification, even though he wasn’t driving nor was he
doing anything that gave the cop a reasonable suspicion that he had committed a
crime. He had also stated his full name which was Alexander John with what
sounds like a Cajun surname that I don’t know how to spell based on his
pronunciation (I’m sure someone will clarify this part).
But he ended up handing over the
identification “under duress.”
They also threatened him with
loitering.
Finally they just came out and
demanded to know why he was recording, claiming that it unsettled them because
he may know the suspect, asking him if he felt if he was a “self-appointed
witness” to whatever investigation they were conducting.
When he said he was simply an
activist, they arrested him, even going through the farce of reading him his
rights.
UPDATE: PINAC correspondent
Jeff Gray aka HONORYOUROATH determined the arresting deputy wasDaniel Randall
Broussard of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office. Watch the video below to
see and hear his phone conversation with the sheriff’s office.
Other PINAC readers determined
the videographer’s name to be Alexander John Leger Lege.
Louisiana blogger Joshua
Delano, who runs Bayou Perspective, called the sheriff’s office and determined
that Leger was arrested on Thursday and released on Friday.
He was charged with interfering
with a law enforcement investigation, which states the following in Louisiana:
A. Interfering with a law enforcement
investigation is the intentional interference or obstruction of a law
enforcement officer conducting investigative work at the scene of a crime or
the scene of an accident by refusing to move or leave the immediate scene of
the crime or the accident when ordered to do so by the law enforcement officer
when the offender has reasonable grounds to believe the officer is acting in
the performance of his official duties.
B. For the purposes of this Section, “law
enforcement officer” means any commissioned police officer, sheriff, deputy
sheriff, marshal, deputy marshal, correctional officer, constable, wildlife
enforcement agent, state park warden, livestock brand inspector, forestry
officer, or probation and parole officer.
C. Whoever violates the provisions of this
Section shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, imprisoned for not
more than six months, or both.
Acts 2010, No. 349, §1.
The main question here is what
is the definition of an “immediate scene” of a crime or accident. Lege was
standing at least 50 feet away and was not yelling at the deputies when they
approached him.
It is obvious they only
arrested him because he was video recording them otherwise they would have
arrested his wife or girlfriend who was also sitting in the car observing the
investigation.
Mickey Osterreicher, general
counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, stated the following
in a text message Sunday afternoon as he was participating in a workshop where
he was teaching photo students in New York City about copyright, social media
and access:
Interference or obstruction of
governmental administration in most jurisdictions needs to be physical. Being a
“reasonable” distance away while observing and recording would not satisfy the
elements of that crime.
Osterreicher followed the above
text with an email stating the following:
I think 50′ away would be
outside of the “immediate scene of the crime or the accident” but that would be
up to the prosecutor or later the judge
or the jury to decide
But these are the very kind of
“discretionary” charges the US DOJ cautions officers against using when faced
with someone photographing or recording absent physical interference.
Now check out Gray’s video.
UPDATE II: The man’s name is
Alexander John Lege, not Leger. Thanks to Busted in Acadiana for the correction
and photo.
Call the Lafayette Parish
Sheriff’s Office at (337) 232-9211.