The San Diego Police Department is in hot water with
photographers and First Amendment rights advocates everywhere this week over
the way two of their officers handled a situation this last Saturday.
The story and the video that goes with it — which went viral
after being shared by the website Photography is Not a Crime — shows one of the
officers violently arresting a man for exercising his right to record the
officer during the course of his duties.
Adam Pringle and two of his friends were walking down a
Mission Beach boardwalk when two bicycle officers stopped to write Pringle a
citation for smoking. Everything was ok until Pringle got out his Samsung
Galaxy and began recording the officer.
After telling Pringle to put away his phone several times,
to which Pringle replied several times that he had a right to record, officer
M. Reinhold slapped the phone out of Pringle’s hand, slammed him onto the
ground, and proceeded to arrest him. Pringle was bleeding so badly afterwards
that an ambulance had to be called.
The officer’s only justification for his actions was when he
told Pringle that “Phones can be converted into weapons … look it up online.”
Cell phone guns, which were originally the subject of an email/video that began
circulating in the early 2000′s, are in fact real.
However, it has been almost a decade since the devices were
in the public eye, and even then a customs spokesperson is quoted on Snopes as
saying that “there’s no indication that these are being mass produced.” It’s
fairly obvious the officer was using the infamous cell phone gun as an excuse
to stop Pringle from recording him.
Pringle and Photography is Not a Crime have both reached out
to the internet for support in this matter, sharing the story/video and asking
people to send San Diego Mayor Bob Filner emails voicing their opinions. So
far, at least one major organization has come to Pringle’s support.
Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel of the National Press
Photographers Association (NPPA), has sent the mayor the following e-mail:
Dear Mayor,
As the general counsel for the National Press Photographers
Association (NPPA) I have been in contact with you police department in an
ongoing attempt to help improve police relations and avoid the type of incident
that occurred yesterday. See:
http://www.photographyisnotacrime.com/2013/04/09/san-diego-police-attack-and-arrest-man-video-recording-them-claiming-phone-could-be-a-weapon/
I spoke at the annual meeting of the IACP held in your city
last September regarding the First Amendment rights of the press and public to
photograph and record. Apparently more is needed. As I have done training with
other police departments around the country I renew my offer to help yours.
Please feel free to contact me.
Thank you for your attention in this matter.
Very truly yours,
Mickey H. Osterreicher
General Counsel
National Press Photographers Association (NPPA)
Pringle wound up spending the night in jail and is set to
appear in court on May 23rd to answer to charges of obstruction.