Man Made Famous Over 2006 Arrest For Videotaping Police... Arrested Again While Videotaping Police
from the falsifying-evidence? dept
We've discussed multiple times how police have been increasingly abusing wiretapping laws to arrest and charge people who film them in public. The arrests are simply an intimidation technique against those who wish to provide public oversight of law enforcement. One of the first high profile cases of such an arrest came back in 2006 when Michael Gannon was arrested under wiretapping charges for filming police with a security camera. In that case, Gannon was arrested after bringing the tape to the police station to use the footage to file a complaint concerning how detectives acted in coming to get his son. It was clearly a vindictive charge against Gannon for daring to report on the police. Of course, eventually it came out that the complaint Gannon wished to file against the detective was completely justified... and the case against Gannon was dropped.Of course, Gannon likely now has a bit of a reputation with police in Nashua, and Slashdot points us to the news that Gannon's been arrested again, and once again, his videotaping of police has become part of the story.
The details are a bit confusing and involve a lot of disagreements between police and Gannon -- though Gannon has witnesses who appear to back up his claims. As far as I can tell, the events involved: (1) Police drove by Gannon and yelled something about his son. (2) Gannon responded with a definite wisecrack: "There goes corruption at its finest." (3) The police stopped and confronted Gannon. (4) Gannon apparently asked if he was being arrested, and was originally told no, so he turned to walk away. (4) At this point the police tackled him, maced him, handcuffed him, punched him and kicked him. (5) As he was being tackled, he tossed the video camera to someone on the street who was witnessing the whole confrontation, Pamela Reynolds. (6) Reynolds claims she wanted nothing to do with any of this, and immediately tossed the camera that was thrown to her into the bushes right next to her, just as a way of showing she had nothing to with any of it. (7) Police arrested Reynolds (and maced her as well) for (get this) "falsifying evidence," in tossing the camera.
Police, obviously, dispute parts of this chain of events. They claim that Gannon was resisting arrest. They also claim that Reynolds "fled" with the camera and refused to hand over "the evidence" to them when asked. One would hope that the actual video on the camera would confirm which one was right, but it seems pretty bizarre and questionable that the police would immediately seek to seize the camera as "evidence." Why would they do that unless the camera shows them doing something wrong?
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Filed Under: evidence, michael gannon, police, wiretapping
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WARNING: may contain added sarcasm
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I think these guys would also qualify for that as well..
http://jalopnik.com/5823543/cop-threatens-to-execute-driver-over-concealed-weapon-permit
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yikes
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So when is Masnick or "The Maz" going to come to Colorado and build a pizza shop? We'll need a few good pizza shops to appease the (limited) Jewish population. Ground floor opportunity, just call John Hickenlooper's Director of Scheduling at 303-866-6230, and make the pizza chain you've always wanted.
As long as companies focus on FINANCE instead of TREASURY, everything is up in the air.
Also, what happened to resident troll, Dark Helmet? Maybe he should
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What's not difficult - receiving preferential treatment?
"Not that I really know anything."
Self-deprecation does nothing for your credibility.
"I gave up when someone gave me a legitimate hat from a well placed Government Authority. "
Gave up what - attempting to make sense?
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I'm going to use that on the next behatted person I run into, see how they respond.
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When I start hearing the word "legitimate" to mean "awesome" I'll know who to blame←←←←←credit. :)
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All these years I thought I liked [pizza] because it was delicious. Turns out I'm genetically predisposed to liking [pizza].
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Only when the G8 Summit is going on it seems.
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I once saw the Vancouver police beat a homeless person just because he was sitting (peacefully - I was across the street when it began) in the wrong place.
On the other hand, I haven't seen or heard of anyone being beaten for using a camera. That doesn't mean it hasn't happened, just that I'm not aware of it.
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> think about it. it's bigger than Europe
Okay. Not sure what that has to do with anything. Is the size of Europe some sort of objective limitation on how big nations should become?
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Watchdogs
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this is usually followed by several comments missing the fact that it's not in the USA. fun pattern.
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It happens people are distracted his bruises are the after mark of his own actions not police brutality.
The police would never do such a thing, is not like they were going to arrest little girls selling lemonade or enter a house and terrorize a family because they though anonymous was there.
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Not all of it by any means. But I live in a city that has a certain level of violent crime far above the national average. Almost all of this is done within the confines of two particular police wards, out of the many many more wards that cover the city. The court system is over booked, the prisons are overflowing, and it is not uncommon to hear about people with 2 or more armed robbery convictions under their belt and being let off with time served. They didn't hurt anybody. they just threatened to if money or goods did not flow their way, so the crime was stepped down to a lesser charge.
So, I am all in favor of the police beating the absolute **** out of that guy. It's the closest thing to punishment the man will ever get. Is it right, no. But neither is the situation itself.
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Maybe they should not imprison pot smoking hippies for having a roach in their ashtray - just sayin.
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When the police are indistinguishable from criminals it becomes a case of he who has the most guns wins. In my country the poorly-paid police have learnt the hard way that the serious criminals have more money, faster cars and bigger guns. As a result crime is pretty rampant.
When the bad guys expect the police to shoot first and ask questions later, they just get more guns and make sure that they shoot first instead.
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And thinking like that, you deserve the same. You say it's not right, and you are in favor of what is not right. If you live in the US, you don't deserve to. You're part of the problem.
Gannon may be a loudmouthed ass, but he has the right to say what he thinks about the police. If you don't defend his right to speech, you won't have it either. No wonder you live in a city with elevated violent crime -- you deserve it, and "I'm all favor" of that.
"But neither is the situation itself."
What? It's OK that it's not right because the situation isn't right either? Unassailable logic.
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So, I am all in favor of the police beating the absolute **** out of that guy. It's the closest thing to punishment the man will ever get. Is it right, no. But neither is the situation itself.
You seriously think that will solve the problems, or make them worse?
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So to (supposedly) solve the problems you see in two wards of a city, the entire country needs to live in fear of cops?
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I favor citizens shooting those police officers to save his life; It's the closest thing to punishment the cops would ever get.
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If Gannon resisted arrest, what is on the video camera is evidence. The police have every right to seize everything that was on his person at the time as evidence in the crime. This is very much the case with a video camera, as it would be the proof that the events. It would make you wonder if he tossed the camera because he knew what was on it would cause him to be found guilty?
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Typically, law enforcement receives benefit of doubt - taking past occurrences into account, who has more credibility here? Point of interest, were these the same two detectives from the prior case?
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The guy who filed a justified complaint against police officers definitely has more credibility than the police officers who tried to arrest him the first time on unjust claims and had those charges dropped because they were false.
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As for why he tossed the camera- perhaps it was to keep the cops from destroying the video that proves they were overreacting?
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Why toss the camera?
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Re: Re: Anonymous Coward, Jul 21st, 2011 @ 9:23am
the police don't need a warrant to view evidence seized in a legal arrest.
I don't know where you got that quoted statement, but it is wrong.
imagine if they needed a warrant to look in a baggie from your pocket after a pat down? the courts would be completely stopped from just having a judge 'hear' the evidence of why the cops wanted to look in every baggie or knapsack or purse or wallet on each and every criminal they arrest.
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That Mike can't even conceive of this possibility ("Why would they do that unless the camera shows them doing something wrong?") shows his tunnel vision I think.
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I think the problem might be that the cops keep doing this. It's not the first time they have arrest this man for this exact same thing, and last time they where full of it. Also what was he doing for the cops to stop to begin with? They drove by so they could talk crap on his son and then stopped when someone talked back? This does not strike you as unethical behavior right from the start? Add to that the proven unethical behavior from them in the past and you start to assume a little. Not saying the cops where wrong this time, video will let us know (Provided they don't destroy it), but they lost the benefit of trust when they arrested his on trumped up charges the first time.
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> camera because he knew what was on it would
> cause him to be found guilty?
Seems like he tossed it to the woman so she could keep recording the incident while he was being arrested.
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Ftfy
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I was wondering why police have to get a search warrant to watch the video since it is in their custody as evidence. Anyone want to bet if the video/audio will be "corrupted" once the police get access to it?
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Or they could just throw it on the ground, smash it and then deny the whole thing.
"Miami Beach Police Deny Smashing Narces Benoit's Cell Phone"
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2011/06/miami_beach_police_deny_smashi.php
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Stupid Motto
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it is not so bizzare
well they would seize it because it was, you know, evidence, and the integrety of that evidence would be preserved, so it is not so bizzare. That said i agree with the basic conetention that they wanted it to destroy and not preserve the evidence.
just a few Bad cops and judges do tremendous damage to the reputation of the police and the notion that this is a free and fair country. It is really about time we take a more chinese attitude towards these evil doers who abuse their authority.
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WTB: New Camera for Filming Police
Who do they think they are? Really?
You are enforcers of the law... YOU ARE NOT ABOVE THE LAW!
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He still didn't get the video back from 2006
They gave him the camera back but kept the video tapes and refuse to give them back.
The "Photography is not a crime" blog has some additional info and posted in the past about him: http://www.pixiq.com/article/nh-police-once-again-confiscate-mans-camera
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Godwin
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That's what happens...
While there are probably a few honest police officers, most of them are probably as corrupt as any lawyer.
Claims of witnesses do not hold up against police officers anyway, and if the witnesses had a videotape, they would also be charged with wiretapping.
Disorderly conduct is the easy way for ANY cop to arrest ANYONE for ANY reason whatsoever.
Never realized that Nashua NH was full of corrupt cops. Remind me not to visit any malls in Nashua.
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Police scare me to death
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Cop Cams
Anyway, with all the cell phone cameras around, the cops will be under ever increasing scrutiny whether they like it or not.
Just press that upload to Facebook or Youtube button and there it goes!
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Videotaping / Photographing Police
Fascist Germany, Communist Russia, Cuba , China, and all brutal Totalitarian regimes shared similar police tactics.
The USA has 5% of the worlds population and 25% of the worlds prisoners..Eventually the citizen with a video camera may be replaced by a citizen with a gun and this is not where we want to go. It is past time for our erstwhile leaders to gain control of this "anti-freedom / anti-American" police policy and start welcoming & encouraging citizens to videotape arrests.
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