Suffolk Cops Arrest TV Cameraman at Crime Scene

[Ares]

Suffolk County police arrested a cameraman for Stringer News Service in Bohemia on Friday night after he was told repeatedly by an officer to “go away” and stop recording the scene of a police chase.

Stringer—a company that chases news in Nassau and Suffolk counties and sells photos and videos to local news organizations—posted the video on YouTube Friday night after the incident.

The cameraman, Phil Datz, was standing on the sidewalk of Sycamore Avenue in Bohemia, video taping the end of a police chase, when a Fifth Precinct police officer told him to “just go away.”

“Where do you want me to go?” asked Datz.

“I don’t care where you go, go away,” said the officer, who later warned Datz that he would “get locked up” if he continued to argue with him.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI38MnpAlW4

The cameraman asked the officer if he should call Suffolk County police’s public information office, and the officer responded by saying: “You can call the commissioner for all I care, you’re going away.”

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” the officer said, “there’s nothing you can hold over my head or anybody out there, go away.”

Datz called Suffolk police and walked one block away from the scene, where he was later arrested, the owner of Stringer News Service, Tony Ryan, told the Press.

Suffolk County police confirmed that Datz was arrested and said he was charged with obstruction of governmental administration. He was taken to the Fifth Precinct stationhouse in Patchogue where he was fingerprinted and had a mugshot taken. He was later released.

“We are reviewing the circumstances surrounding the arrest” of Datz, a police spokesman said. Datz can be heard referring to the cop as a “Sergeant” but the name and rank of the arresting officer was not released.

Ryan said a police officer apologized to him at the precinct, but told him nothing could be done about the arrest because Datz had already been booked.

Ryan said cops approach his staff occasionally when they cover the scene of an investigation but “not on this level.”

“Every cop is different,” he said.

Ryan described Datz as a “clean guy” who doesn’t have a record. He said they are considering filing a lawsuit, but haven’t made any decisions yet. This was the third arrest in three years of one of his employees, he said. Two arrests were made by Suffolk police and the other was by New York State police, Ryan said.

http://www.longislandpress.com/2011/07/30/suffolk-cops-arrest-tv-cameraman-at-crime-scene-video/comment-page-1/#comments

[mick silver]

dam . before long you will go to jail for owning a camera .

[crazychicken]

That is crap!

CC

[willie pete]

I think cops use this tactic a Lot, they arrest you knowing it's not going to stick, BUT that's not why they arrested you, it was to get you IN the system and start a file on you, now this reporter will have to answer yes if a cop ever asks him if he's been arrested...it's a MAJOR pencil screwing

I blame the courts almost as much as I blame the cops, IF the courts would step in and control these rogue bastards, you'd see a lot less of this......filming something a half-block away isn't interferring in THIS type of invesigation, it's like the woman recently who was filming a traffic stop in front of her home, told to go inside her home....I just don't get it, IF you're on your property, and you're not obstructing anything, how the hell can it be legal for a cop to arrest you for not going back inside your house? ....IF it's all about video recording in public, then why aren't the cops trying to shut down ALL the video surviellance cameras?

[Spectrism]

One dysfuntional bastard after another on these police forces. That idiot needs an early retirment (after his 30 years of abusing citizens) WITHOUT PAY and WITHOUT PENSION.

There is no reason such things can't be filmed. For a hot-head cop to get abusive like that is good grounds for law suits. If the courts don't stop this kind of thing, the people will rise up against these beasts.

[Joe King]

The instant the cop started telling him to go, he should have started asking for the specific Title, Code, Section, of law that he was violating by standing on a public sidewalk.
...and then just keep asking that same question over and over and over until the cop either arrested him or decided to just go away. After getting arrested, it would make for good evidence in a Title 42 lawsuit. Should he choose to pursue one, of course.

[solid]

The instant the cop started telling him to go, he should have started asking for the specific Title, Code, Section, of law that he was violating by standing on a public sidewalk.
.

Possibly it could fall under obstruction of justice. Once a scene becomes a scene of a crime, it's no longer considered a public sidewalk (within reason). If there's an active investigation going on, the scene must be secured to keep people out while the investigation goes on.

The cop mentioned this was an active scene, hence any interference could be considered an obstruction of justice. All this has to be taken into account...within reason.

Though, this does look like complete BS, imo.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I_20_73.html

[Spectrism]

Possibly it could fall under obstruction of justice. Once a scene becomes a scene of a crime, it's no longer considered a public sidewalk (within reason). If there's an active investigation going on, the scene must be secured to keep people out while the investigation goes on.

The cop mentioned this was an active scene, hence any interference could be considered an obstruction of justice. All this has to be taken into account...within reason.

Though, this does look like complete BS, imo.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I_20_73.html


I think it was BS. The cameraman was far removed from the scene. The cop was being a total asshole and could have clarified what "away" was. "Go Away." If I tried that attitude on my job ... any job I had.... I would be out on the street in minutes.

[Joe King]

Solid, video shows kids on the same sidewalk after the fact, with no cop in sight, or crime-scene tape blocking the area off.
So they obviously weren't too concerned about anyone other than the guy with the camera.

If the officer can't say what law you are breaking, how does he know if you are even breaking one at all? Title Code Section, please.....is all I would've said as I panned the camera to show I was on a public sidewalk.

[solid]

If the officer can't say what law you are breaking, how does he know if you are even breaking one at all? Title Code Section, please.....is all I would've said as I panned the camera to show I was on a public sidewalk.

I agree with you guys that this sure looks like BS, however there's a time and a place for arguing or discussing codes with a cop. An active crime scene is not one of those times/places. A cops mentality regarding arguing is basically....fine, let's discuss it where it's appropriate, in the court of law. Same goes for traffic stops. Try arguing with a cop and you'll get a ticket. The "ticket" is the cop accepting your request for an argument...in traffic court.

[Joe King]

I agree with you guys that this sure looks like BS, however there's a time and a place for arguing or discussing codes with a cop.
At the time is the best time. Especially if the cop is threatening arrest. Acting under color of law is illegal, but in IMHO if the cop wants to do so, I want to document it.
Play your cards right and it could be worth a lot. Even millions, perhaps.



An active crime scene is not one of those times/places.I'd say the guy was not anywhere close to the investigative scene.


A cops mentality regarding arguing is basically....fine, let's discuss it where it's appropriate, in the court of law. Same goes for traffic stops. Try arguing with a cop and you'll get a ticket. The "ticket" is the cop accepting your request for an argument...in traffic court.
Asking what law you are being accused of breaking is not "arguing".

What the cursing guy at the park was doing is what arguing is. If a cop is going to write a ticket or arrest you, they have a duty to inform you as to why.

[solid]

At the time is the best time. Especially if the cop is threatening arrest. Acting under color of law is illegal, but in IMHO if the cop wants to do so, I want to document it.
Play your cards right and it could be worth a lot. Even millions, perhaps.


I'd say the guy was not anywhere close to the investigative scene.

It's hard to say whether he was too close in the beginning or not, depending upon how 'active' the scene was.

Part of the problem, is everyone these days has cameras and just looking for lawsuits. They push the envelope to try and entrap cops into making mistakes just to catch it on camera. That's not right either. I can recount years ago many times, when a local org would go around video taping traffic stops. Back then, it wasn't a problem, they kept out of our way. We left them alone to tape away as well. There's no problem with catching things on camera, as long as it does not impede justice, imo.

This cop's problem, was he was an asshole from the beginning. All he had to say was "Sir, this an active crime scene, we need you to get back. Please take your camera back about a hundred feet or so..." Problem solved. Treating people with respect goes a long way, and stops ridiculous time wasting incidents like this from happening in the first place. Everyone wins.

[Joe King]

This cop's problem, was he was an asshole from the beginning.Yep. He sure was, and at that point, if he chooses to act under color of law I would say let him dig his hole.


All he had to say was "Sir, this an active crime scene, we need you to get back. Please take your camera back about a hundred feet or so..." Problem solved.
But he didn't do that He didn't define what "away" meant, so one can only infer that he meant away from sight. Which is illegal for him to do as there is no law authorizing him to take that action. ie order someone out of his sight for merely having stood in a public spot.


Treating people with respect goes a long way, and stops ridiculous time wasting incidents like this from happening in the first place. Everyone wins.
Exactly. But the police have to do so first as they are the ones initiating contact.

[keehah]

Guess he should have called the 'public integrity officers'.

NY Attorney General Gives Long Island Residents a Place to Report Government Corruption Without Fear of Political Influence (http://www.longislandlawyerblog.com/ny-attorney-general-gives-long-island-residents-a-place-to-report-government-corruption-without-fear-of-political-influence)

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced this week that he is appointing “public integrity officers” to Nassau and Suffolk County, most likely in response to an alarming number of government corruption and retaliation cases reported to the attorney general’s office recently. If you feel you’ve been the victim of police corruption or government corruption in Nassau County or Suffolk County, you now have a place to report it other than your local police station or DA’s office.

[Spectrism]

One more thing I wanted to point out. That cop sped his cruiser at a high speed right at the guy in the end. I would call that RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT. He came close to hitting the guy and showed clearly his contempt for the citizen. That is ASSAULT. It is a verbal or non-verbal threat of violence.

[Serpo]

“Every cop is different,” he said.

[osoab]

“Every cop is different,” he said.


Some like glazed, others prefer the creme filling.

[Santa]

The thing is the photographer complied with the cops demands and went away... at least as far away as 100ft. down past the end of the block
and yet the pig still came after him, threatened him with his cruiser(as Spectrism pointed out) and arrested him. For nothing! Because he had a boner for the photographer.

No excuse. I hope the photographer has the financial wherewithal and backing to sue and win. Though that is generally the problem with lawsuits against government. $$$

[osoab]

The thing is the photographer complied with the cops demands and went away... at least as far away as 100ft. down past the end of the block
and yet the pig still came after him, threatened him with his cruiser(as Spectrism pointed out) and arrested him. For nothing! Because he had a boner for the photographer.

No excuse. I hope the photographer has the financial wherewithal and backing to sue and win. Though that is generally the problem with lawsuits against government. $$$

Suing only works if the those getting sued bear the impact. The cop won't pay a dime. So it is tax payer money being doled out to either pay for it or paying for higher insurance premiums. And to top it off the cop will get a paid vacation until allegations are proven false. Hooray!

[solid]

Suing only works if the those getting sued bear the impact. The cop won't pay a dime. So it is tax payer money being doled out to either pay for it or paying for higher insurance premiums. And to top it off the cop will get a paid vacation until allegations are proven false. Hooray!

That's a real good point, Osoab. We all pay for this stupidity. Cops need to start being accountable, punitively, until then they seem to be like the banks...rewarded for incompitance and unjust actions.

[Joe King]

I'd say let the dept and the city pay. That way they'll take a better interest in what's being done in their names.
...and Spectrism is right. If you drove your car like that at someone, let alone a cop, they'd call it assault with a deadly weapon and shoot you for it.

[solid]

...and Spectrism is right. If you drove your car like that at someone, let alone a cop, they'd call it assault with a deadly weapon and shoot you for it.

Yeah, but how often does anyone go around chasing bad guys? Cops have to stop the vehicle, and catch the bad guy, before any innocent folks get hurt. If the means vehicle damage, so be it.

We can't have it both ways. If you want turds taken off the street so they don't hurt your families, let the cops do their job. As long as they do it right and just, that is.

[Joe King]

What I'd like is for the police to investigate complaints filed by citizens and leave everyone else alone.

As far as the car, will they not shoot you if you drove your car at them like that? The guy was on public property at all times, from what I could tell. ie a sidewalk.

Let's face it. That cop just didn't want anyone filming the situation.

[po boy]

Yeah, but how often does anyone go around chasing bad guys? Cops have to stop the vehicle, and catch the bad guy, before any innocent folks get hurt. If the means vehicle damage, so be it.

We can't have it both ways. If you want turds taken off the street so they don't hurt your families, let the cops do their job. As long as they do it right and just, that is.

More than a few times I've been a victim of crime and all but one time were the police ever helpful. Mostly they were arrogant assholes.

When I'm out and about I don't worry about turds unless they are the badge wearing kind.

More and more their interest involves their ego rather than following the constitution. Policy over the public's rights.

Only the blind or foolish cannot see the police are not your friend they are your enemy. People could cut 70 percent of police and train themselves to avoid bad situations and cut property taxes and internal police corruption.

[Santa]

Suing only works if the those getting sued bear the impact. The cop won't pay a dime. So it is tax payer money being doled out to either pay for it or paying for higher insurance premiums. And to top it off the cop will get a paid vacation until allegations are proven false. Hooray!

Too true, but if "all other options besides violence are removed, violence becomes the only choice."

Authority figures behaving like assholes pisses me off and makes me want to say bad things.

Grrrh!!! :mad:

[gunDriller]

dam . before long you will go to jail for owning a camera .

which is why we need to replace our un-hidden cameras with TWICE as many hidden cameras. and keep reporting the cops ... because so many of them are Bad Cops.

[osoab]

I'd say let the dept and the city pay. That way they'll take a better interest in what's being done in their names.
...and Spectrism is right. If you drove your car like that at someone, let alone a cop, they'd call it assault with a deadly weapon and shoot you for it.


They don't care. It's not their money. Where does the city's or dept's dough come from the FRN tree? Force some skin into the game attitudes and "policy" will change in a hurry.

No paid vacations while being investigated too. (Circumstances depending).

[po boy]

They don't care. It's not their money. Where does the city's or dept's dough come from the FRN tree? Force some skin into the game attitudes and "policy" will change in a hurry.

No paid vacations while being investigated too. (Circumstances depending).

The city here was sued a few time for the police dept. actions and those policy that led to the law suits dried up pretty fast. I agree that officers should be sued as well and no paid vacations and if found at fault the office should have to pay back the city as well.
This would lead to hiring officers with an iq over the speed limit. It will never happen as traffic enforcement is a big money generator.

[Joe King]

If they have insurance for such suits, then hopefully their rates will go up enough to put the hurt on the city budget, or if it happens often enough maybe they'll lose their insurance.
Then they can pay it out of local taxes.

Either way, the only way to reign-in illegal behavior on the part of city officials is to hit 'em in the pocketbook.

[solid]

At this point, I think we need to reinvent the wheel.

Get rid of all cops. Every one of them, then have a testing process that brings the good cops back, get's rid of the bad ones, and make sure every damn cop knows the constitution and our rights.

They need to know what they are sworn to do. They need to uphold that duty. That's what being 'sworn' is all about.

This could be done. It should be done. It probably won't ever get done.

[osoab]

At this point, I think we need to reinvent the wheel.

Get rid of all cops. Every one of them, then have a testing process that brings the good cops back, get's rid of the bad ones, and make sure every damn cop knows the constitution and our rights.

They need to know what they are sworn to do. They need to uphold that duty. That's what being 'sworn' is all about.

This could be done. It should be done. It probably won't ever get done.


The day they dump all cops due to "corruption" is the day to head for the hills. In a perfect world your scenario might work. Unfortunately, sleaze seems to always rise to the top.

[Santa]

Intermission

Here's a NICE cop story. ;) A true story too... from the wonderful olden days of film photography.

There was this photographer sitting on a bench in the park. The film in his camera had become jammed so he pulled a light tight film changing bag out from the shoulder bag, placed his coat over the changing bag on his lap, stuck his hands with the camera in the bag and proceeded to remove the film from the camera.

Sitting there with a sort of blank stare while blindly fumbling with the camera and film cartridge beneath his coat; he was suddenly slapped hard across the face by a rather mannish looking woman who after a moment of horrific enraged howling, had grabbed a passing cop to handle the situation.

At this point the photographer couldn't remove his hands from the bag because it would have let light in on his light sensitive film. All he could do was finish the business at hand under his coat as the cop and the unpleasant dyke glared down on him...

Fortunately, this happened during the wonderful olden times when cops we're still reasonable.

The photographer was finally able to pull his hands out of the bag and show the cop the camera underneath his coat and the cop understood right away what had transpired.

The mannish woman was then arrested and jailed for assault, believe it or not, for having slapped and accosted the photographer.

As it turned out, it was a good day for the photographer. He later received $500 as compensation for the personal slander the lovely woman had directed at him that day. ;D

[solid]

The day they dump all cops due to "corruption" is the day to head for the hills. In a perfect world your scenario might work. Unfortunately, sleaze seems to always rise to the top.

It would have to be an across the country dump.

In the small towns, it would work well I think. Like the old west. The majority would pick a man of integrity, say Osoab, here's the badge, you are sheriff. Read up on the Constituion..

In the big cities, it would be chaos at first. Darwinism. Bad folks would eventually get sent up river once the good folks banded together.

Importance, would be placed on bringing in men who could rebuild our old ways. A big bandaid ripped off at once. But the healing would a greater good for everyone once GOOD men were back in the system. My two bits.

[osoab]

It would have to be an across the country dump.

In the small towns, it would work well I think. Like the old west. The majority would pick a man of integrity, say Osoab, here's the badge, you are sheriff. Read up on the Constituion..

In the big cities, it would be chaos at first. Darwinism. Bad folks would eventually get sent up river once the good folks banded together.

Importance, would be placed on bringing in men who could rebuild our old ways. A big bandaid ripped off at once. But the healing would a greater good for everyone once GOOD men where back in the system. My two bits.


You don't get where I was going. If there is an en masse dump, military and mercenaries are moving in. Time to head for the hills.

It just won't happen everywhere at once. Maybe in localized areas. That does happen from time to time.

I live in ILL. Believe me, the corruption runs deep. To a certain extent some of the mindset seems to be directed more in the area of "I deserve". This is from the a floor sweepers to state senators. There is an aura of leechiness that permeates most of society. The mindset can't be undone overnight or even in a decade.

Pipe dream unfortunately.

[solid]

Pipe dream unfortunately.

No, I agree it's a completely idealistic idea. However, there needs to be an accurate checks and balances system in place for cops. You can't rely on bystander videos to "show the truth". Too many times, people put on acts, claim victims, etc. I've seen this firsthand, someone putting on a show for example complaining about how their cuffs are too tight, when they are not.

Put a camera on folks, and they become actors and actresses. You can't base much truth on anything the camera seems to film.

Yet, we do it all the time. There was a guy shot by SF PD, quite the outrage. Turns out he was firing upon police, also managed to die from shooting himself with his own gun. The guy was a turd, raped and killed a 16 year old. Major outrage because some local idiot with a camera caught a portion of what happened.

We really need a fresh start to law enforcement. I agree it will most likely never happen, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't happen.

[Santa]

We need to unwind it. We need to remove the military Federal HLS bottomless purse for it. And we need to stop mollycoddling Law Enforcement.

There is only honor in public service if one actually serves the public. Every bad cop is a filthy disgrace and the Force, the City, the Courts, the Judges and Atts. behind him are equally disgraceful.

At this point in time I am more likely to align myself with outlaws because there is no amount of mischief or damage an individual can get into that can compare to the damage that an entire institution can cause.

An authority figure representing that institution cannot abuse his authority for long before those who have given it, take it back, through
social shaming, and if that doesn't work, then it's guerrilla.

So shame on these filthy cops for behaving like pigs. They taint the uniform(law) with their filth.

No one should ever put up with official abuse from authority figures. We need to slap the assholes down with our voices. Our source of power is in our disgust, our sense of justice, our words, and if we can't convince or cajole, then finally we load our guns.

We shape the fate of our oppressors as much as they shape ours.

Wow, that sounds like propaganda. Lol "POwer To THe pEOplE."