Two Men Sue Chicago Police; Claim They Were Abused And Falsely Charged For Filming Officers
from the shameful dept
In the past year, we applauded two Illinois courts for protecting every citizen's right to record on-duty police, and ruling that a law criminalizing the act is unconstitutional. We similarly pointed to Boston, where a court forced the city to pay someone they arrested for filming the cops. Of course, it's pretty concerning that this was ever in question to begin with—normally, the argument that "you don't need privacy unless you've got something to hide" is fallacious for a number of reasons, but that doesn't extend to people who are empowered and armed, ostensibly with the consent of the citizenry and on the condition that they follow their own strict code of behavior. The fact that there is a clear push to let officers operate without public scrutiny is intolerable on every level.
But, perhaps worse still, there is the fact that police don't always need a law to protect them from the public's lenses—they can just take matters into their own hands. There are plenty of examples of police harassing people who film them, often threatening to arrest them or going ahead and doing it. It's an intimidation tactic, and really just part of a much larger problem, which is that no matter how much a person is in the right (and how much they know it), the police have plenty of ways to make their life hell for a long time before they see justice, if they ever do. This appears to be the case in a recent Chicago lawsuit, where two men allege they were battered, strip-searched and falsely charged for filming a traffic accident caused by a police car.
Benjamin Perez and Bobby Milton sued Chicago and nine police officers in Federal Court.
The men say they were talking outside with some friends in an early morning in August 2011 when a friend rode by on a motorcycle, heading south on Chicago Avenue.
"At the same time, defendant Captain [Kevin Navarro] was driving a marked Chicago Police Department vehicle, an SUV, northbound on South Chicago Avenue in the wrong lane of traffic, heading northbound in the southbound lane," according to the complaint.
"Defendant Captain drove his police vehicle into plaintiffs' friend, who was traveling southbound on his motorcycle, causing plaintiffs' friend to suffer serious injury."
Numerous police officers arrived quickly.
"Defendant officers observed plaintiffs using their cell phones to record the collision scene, and immediately took plaintiff Perez's cell phone and placed handcuffs on him, taking him into custody even though Perez was not doing anything illegal," the complaint states.
"Defendant officers placed Perez in the back of a police car and demanded that Perez show them how to delete the photographs he had taken with his cell phone.
"After plaintiff Perez was taken into custody, plaintiff Milton, who had also been using his cell phone to record the scene, was seated on his motorcycle, when defendant [Officers] Frahm and Hernandez approached him.
"Defendants Frahm and Hernandez grabbed plaintiff Milton, forced him off of his motorcycle, and threw him to the ground.
The suit continues, claiming that the men were taken to the police station and threatened with felony charges if they didn't help officers delete the recording, and one was strip-searched to check for "other cameras and recording devices" (because most people keep a spare iPhone taped to their inner thigh, of course). They are seeking damages for "false arrest, excessive force, unlawful search, conspiracy, false imprisonment, battery, and malicious prosecution".
Now, we don't have the officers' side of the story yet, but the allegations certainly look bad—and it's not hard to find plenty of instances of similar actions by the police. Assuming the complaint is even close to true, hopefully the court recognizes the affront to justice that this kind of police behavior represents, and joins the growing ranks of courts that are affirming the right to record the police and hold them accountable for their actions.
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That is ridiculous, of course. People tape a spare Android to their inner thighs.
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The men [Benjamin Perez and Bobby Milton] say they were talking outside with some friends in an early morning in August 2011 when a friend rode by on a motorcycle, heading south on Chicago Avenue.
...
Milton, who had also been using his cell phone to record the scene, was seated on his motorcycle
Seems to me like Milton was sitting on a parked motorcycle, talking to Perez, and they watched their buddy get run over by a cop, so they whipped out their phones to record it.
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I normally have some respect for cops, but the more I read these stories of blatant disrespect of the law/Constitution by LEOs I'm losing what respect I have for them. I realize these bad eggs (ie: these LEOs) are somewhat of a minority (I HOPE) but I'm to the point where I see a cop doing cop-things, I comment to the wife, "looks like Porky the Pig is out working"....
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"The men say they were talking outside with some friends in an early morning in August 2011 when a friend rode by on a motorcycle, heading south on Chicago Avenue."
""After plaintiff Perez was taken into custody, plaintiff Milton, who had also been using his cell phone to record the scene, was seated on his motorcycle, when defendant [Officers] Frahm and Hernandez approached him.
"Defendants Frahm and Hernandez grabbed plaintiff Milton, forced him off of his motorcycle, and threw him to the ground."
Now, can you show me where in the important parts I quoted that it says that the "guys were riding motorcycles and operating a cell phone as a camera at the same time"?
Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with your comment at all. Minus of course the whole reading comprehension fail.
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Was it deleted?
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Re: Was it deleted?
First guy they harassed:
"Defendant officers told plaintiff Perez that if he did not give them the password to his phone, he would be charged with a felony offense.
"Plaintiff Perez gave them the password, and defendant officers then deleted the pictures of the scene of the collision from plaintiff Perez's cellphone.
Second guy they harassed:
"Defendant officers also demanded that plaintiff Milton give them the password for his cellular telephone.
"However, plaintiff Milton refused to do so."
I wouldn't roll over for the cops no matter what offenses were being "threatened"
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Re: Re: Was it deleted?
Tough guy.
“State torture panel faces an abrupt ending” by Steve Mills, Chicago Tribune, June 04, 2012|
So you won't roll over the cops no matter what. You're a real tough cookie.
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Re: Re: Re: Was it deleted?
..with a long history
Of deleting video from my friend and me
So before I put another notch in my cellphone case
You better make sure you put me in my place
Hit me with your best shot
C'mon, hit me with your best shot
Hit me with your best shot
Fire awaaaaaaaaaaay
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Re: Was it deleted?
but yeah. this.
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Cops are just employees
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Re: Cops are just employees
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Re: Re: Cops are just employees
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Re: Re: Re: Cops are just employees
Let me quote from "Eight Keys to Eden" by Mark Clifton, published in 1960:
"Any judge, anybody around the courts, anybody connected with the press, and maybe even some of the public knew that any police officer will swear to any lie to back up another police officer because he might need the favor returned tomorrow."
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Re: Re: Re: Cops are just employees
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The Constitution of the United States is supposed to protect us. It's also supposed to act as the Prime Legal Document in our country and yet police officers all across our country continual to abuse our constitutional rights and they continue to claim that it's against the law to film police officers while they are conducting their jobs.
Rodney King, Amidou Diallo ... you would think that police officers would welcome the fact that Americans want to weed out the bad cops from the good cops but they've been acting more like gestapo and Nazi thugs than the public servants that are paid for with our tax dollars.
Ever since September 11th, our country has deteriorated into a communistic, socialist state and we're moving quicker to becoming a communist state where civil rights are routinely violated by law enforcement because they think their badge gives them immunity from their crimes.
Before long, Americans are going to ignore the fact that they are police officers and everyone is going to start fighting back.
I want to know why President Obama hasn't done anything about this abuse of power by police officers? I want to know why these police officers aren't being fired or prosecuted for violating our civil rights.
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Keyword "Supposed".
It's over in the USA. Bush and Obama have both violated the Constitution and gotten away with it. Bush with the Patriot Act, Obama with repealing Habeas Corpus and assassinating US citizens.
The US Constitution is now meaningless. Game Over.
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none of that has ANYTHING to do with communism.
just saying.
there's a fair case for Fascism (not 100%, quite, but close) but communism? no.
the word you're looking for there is probably 'totalitarianism'
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> exposed the story were the cops
> placed on administrative leave
Three Fullerton city council members just lost their jobs in a recall election over that, too.
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Socialism is a red herring of the Right Wing pundits.
Obama is closer to being a conservative than a socialist. The actual socialists will tell you that much.
An actual socialist wouldn't be in the pocket of the entertainment industry, wouldn't appoint entertainment industry lawyers to DOJ positions, and wouldn't have signed the NDAA.
A conservative would be in the pocket of corporations (maybe not the entertainment industry, but oil companies and defense companies at least) and would have signed the NDAA.
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Yea, right. Your saying socialism never existed or doesn't exist today. See the old USSR, which, just for you, stands for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic.
Also, see the far left-wing liberals.
Obama is closer to being a conservative than a socialist. The actual socialists will tell you that much.
HAHAHAHAHAHA... I needed that laugh. But seriously? Obama is to conservatism as the NRA is to PETA (unless you read PETA as People Eating Tasty Animals.)
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If you think the Russians putting the word 'socialist' in the name of their country makes them socialist, then I guess North Korea and East Germany are/were democratic states since both Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Deutsche Demokratische Republik have the word 'democratic' in their names.
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Communism is the owning of the means of production etc. collectively, where everyopne earns an equal wage, regardless of profession.
Communism and fascism are often, but not always, related.
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> done anything about this abuse of power
> by police officers?
Is that you, Amanda Bynes?
Maybe he hasn't done anything because the president has no legal authority over local police officers.
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lol
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Re: lol
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Hmmm...
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Re: Hmmm...
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Re: Hmmm...
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Re: Hmmm...
Ah, so that was the problem.
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Harsh punishments.
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Re: Harsh punishments.
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Google Glasses
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Re: Google Glasses
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Another example
Another example. This one from New Haven, Connecticut:
“Sgt. Arrests Video-Taker; IA Probe Begins” by Paul Bass, New Haven Independent, Jun 4, 2012
And, a followup on this one, “Rubino: I’ll Be Vindicated” by Paul Bass, New Haven Independent, Jun 7, 2012
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Photographic evidence?
However I suppose the likelehood that the at-fault driver was one of their own alters that!
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Re: Photographic evidence?
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Re: Connect the (GLARING) Dots
when you are a Hammer everything looks like it should be nailed
when you have a badge and an Ego, every (private) camera is interference........... it's so hard to "lose" video recordings that are not under (Police) your control, so of course it is "interference" with the (current corrupt) system.
THIS is the "Chicago" way, look at the Whitehouse......
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Police as vigilantes?
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Smoked pork
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/05/17/g20-officers-discipline.html
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What do you expect?
Beating citizens is just one of the perks of being a Chicago cop. They deal with so many drug dealers, armed robbers, and the like that they don't believe that there are any other people in the city. The chicago cops classify everyone into one of three classes:
1. Us, the cops, in charge.
2. Criminals we've arrested before and will arrest again.
3. criminals we haven't managed to catch yet.
By these definitions, the cops feel justified doing anything to anyone who is not a cop.
I'd sooner deal with a mugger than a cop - give the mugger your phone and wallet and walk away. Cop beats you, throws you into squad car, then jail, then you have a criminal record and an expensive legal fight.
I asked our local Police about their view and they say they assume they are being filmed all the time and accept it and don't worry about it.
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Time to Withdraw
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