SAN DIEGO — A man using a cellphone to record a police
officer giving him a ticket for smoking on a San Diego boardwalk spent a night
in jail after refusing to give up his cellphone, which the officer said could
be used as a weapon.
Adam Pringle pulled out his phone to videotape the officer
writing him the ticket while another officer looked on. When the citing officer
saw Pringle taping him, he asked him to put the phone away, based on footage of
the incident posted to YouTube.
"No thank you," Pringle said. "I am in a
public place. I have the right to film here."
The officer and Pringle argue about whether Pringle has the
right to film him, before the officer says "cellphones can be converted
into weapons" and to "look it up online" when Pringle expressed
his disbelief.
The two continue to argue as the officer approaches Pringle,
who says "No!" just as the video stops.
Pringle posted the video to his Facebook page on Saturday
and said he was "arrested for resisting arrest." He said he was
charged with violating Penal Code Section 148: Resisting, Delaying or
Obstructing an Officer, and that after the 7 p.m. incident, he was in jail
until 4 a.m.
"I am going to fight this," he wrote. "These
cops will be prosecuted for unnecessary use of force, unlawful arrest, not
reading me my rights and verbal/physical harassment."
The San Diego Police Department issued a statement Thursday
in response to the incident.
"Each person involved in this incident is entitled to
due process," said Lt. Kevin Mayer, according to U-T San Diego. "The
best way to ensure this is by completing a thorough, complete and impartial
investigation. We take all complaints seriously."