Man Arrested for Taking Cell Phone Pic of Cops.
Philadelphia resident Neftaly Cruz says that when he heard a commotion outside his house, he walked out of his back door with his cell phone to see what was happening. When he saw the street lined with police cars, he decided to take a picture of the scene.
“I opened (the phone) and took a shot,” Cruz said.
Moments later, Cruz said he got the shock of his life when an officer came to his back yard gate.
“He opened the gate and took me by my right hand,” Cruz said.
Cruz said the officer threw him onto a police car, cuffed him and took him to jail.
…Cruz said police told him that he broke a new law that prohibits people from taking pictures of police with cell phones.
“They threatened to charge me with conspiracy, impeding an investigation, obstruction of a investigation. … They said, ‘You were impeding this investigation.’ (I asked,) “By doing what?’ (The officer said,) ‘By taking a picture of the police officers with a camera phone,’” Cruz said.–NBC 10
Police say they were in Cruz’s neighborhood that night arresting a drug dealer. So what? How does taking a picture of police activity make Neftaly Cruz a criminal? When citizens are spied upon by the police, they are told, “If you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.” Shouldn’t the same apply to our public servants performing their duties on a public street?
I’m actually surprised that such arrests aren’t more common–the last thing the samurai class wants is a bunch of peasants seeing what they’re up to. I’ve heard it said that cops react to cameras the way vampires do to crosses–while amusing, it’s unfortunately not true.
Notice this part in particular:
Cruz, a Penn State University senior, said that after about an hour police told him he was lucky because there was no supervisor on duty, so they released him.
“They said if the supervisor was there I wouldn’t be a free man and that he is letting me go because he felt that I was a good person,” Cruz said.
Translation: the supervisor who was on duty told the arresting officer that Cruz hadn’t broken any laws and had to be released.
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