A 21 year old Penn State University senior,Neftaly Cruz, was arrested for taking a picture of police.
Cruz said that when he heard a commotion, he walked out of his back door with his cell phone to see what was happening. He said that when he saw
the street lined with police cars, he decided to take a picture of the scene.
So the cops walk into his backyard after seeing him take a picture and throw him into the cop car/van.Then took him down to the police station.
"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.
Wow thats alot of charges for a picture.
So the ACLU was contacted and stated that:
"There is no law that prevents people from taking pictures of what anybody can see on the street," said Larry Frankel of the American Civil
Liberties Union. "I think it's rather scary that in this country you could actually be taken down to police headquarters for taking a picture on
your cell phone of activities that are clearly visible on the street."
also the ACLU stated:
"He was unlawfully seized, which is a violation of the 4th amendment the last time we checked," Frankel said
And also the cop says later in the story that Cruz was lucky that the supervisor was not there.Because if the super was there he would still be locked
up.Sounds like the cop playing him self off as, look im a nice cop so im going to let you go so you better be grateful of how nice I am.
p.s Im truly sorry if I botched on reporting this story. Its my first time reporting a story.If you could U2U me and point out the flaws and how to
fix them would be helpful.
[edit on 28-7-2006 by tilldawn]
