Chicago artist's protest backfires as he faces 15 years in jail--because he recorded his own arrest

Chicago artist's protest backfires as he faces 15 years in jail--because he recorded his own arrest on video

www.dailymail.co .uk

An artist who used a video camera to record being arrested by police is facing up to 15 years in prison.

Chris Drew has been charged with Class 1 felony under the Eavesdropping Act in Chicago, Illinois.

The bemused activist said he did not know anything about the law when he was protesting about restrictions on where artists can sell their work.


Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

(visit the link for the full news article)

And AGAIN, the debate regarding whether it is legal or illegal to film the activities of law enforcement comes into the foray.

And CHICAGO PD, the group that just can't seem to keep out of the spotlight of controversy and bad press, is yet again at the center of ANOTHER highly suspect case.

We know that there is constitutional law protecting freedom of the press, but yet we keep seeing stories such as this, where said law seems to be 'skirted around', and bizzare charges like 'eavesdropping' are instituted, despite the fact we are dealing with an out in the open filming, on a PUBLIC street.

So where does one draw the line here? What constitutes legal and illegal filming, or 'eavesdropping' as this strange impositional charge against this man for filming his own arrest seems to imply.

Is this merely an intimidational tactic, to discourage people from keeping an eye on 'authorities', or is there actually some real basis behind this type of charge?

One thing is for sure, we have been seeing a LOT of these types of cases popping up in recent times, and I suspect we will be seeing a lot more in the coming months.



www.dailymail.co .uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Illinois is one of the states where it's illegal to film or record without consent of all parties, and filming a judge or cop can carry a 15 year sentence.

Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

I am confused though, he got his friend to record the arrest, so shouldn't the person filming the arrest be up for charges, not the person arrested ?

And no, I don't agree with this at all, it's one of the first symptoms of the modern police state.

I think there are 3 states where this is illegal, any others and the guy might get a misdemeanor. Crazy times indeed.

Posted here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

If filming in the police in a public area is illegal then the governement and local councils should also be charged for eavesdropping on people through their CCTV networks.

in Illinois, and i think 2 other states it's illegal to record without consent. these laws also protect YOU from unwarranted wiretaps (before patriot act lol)

CCTV cameras are the exception as they aren't actively recording any particular person, they are a security device. If I'm filming a fountain and you are texting and walking, and fall right in, it's not my fault. Not sure about the UK, but anywhere in the states there are plenty of signs warning you that you are on CCTV.

It's still a load of crap and there's no way the guy will do 15, but such is life.

And yet its ok for the USG and its instruments to use the patriot act to infringe on the privacy of the Public? All in the name of national Security? What if we the public used this photographic evidence to plead our case under the Nations Security against instruments of the Elite or NSAIE. ( Yes I just made that up ).

reply to post by DimensionalDetective

In Illinois, if it is illegal to film if all parties don't consent, then how do news television crews do their job? They surely don't ask everyone for permission to film.

reply to post by lostviking


Its Different when your a member of the Press. The Laws always favors the officer not the Pedestrian.
The only thing I could think to say was,Tell them he was taking Donations For his Art Work.

So has the definition of "eavesdropping" changed? : to listen secretly to what is said in private
I didn't see anything secret about that vid, they all knew they were being recorded and did nothing to stop her. Wouldn't this in a sense be some degree of consent?
I haven't seen a vid recorder in a while that didn't also record audio.

Originally posted by phishybongwaters
Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

It's not ignorance if people aren't made aware of it properly, like so many laws.

So it is illegal to use your own camera to film your own arrest carried out by police officers who your tax dollars are paying the salaries of on a public sidewalk that your tax dollars paid to pave?

Just making sure I understand that correctly. Now that I know my stuff isn't actually my stuff, I will surely be more cautious in my daily activities and I will be sure to mindlessly obey the orders of my elitist overlords from now on.

WOW! That's probably a longer sentence than Jared Loughner's going to get.

15 years? For filming his own arrest? Wow....So much for our constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment... Look, if they want to throw more charges on him... That's their interrogative... But my god anything more than a fine is beyond over kill...

But 15 years? Good god.....

That is so messed up. Videotaping a police officer is illegal? Is that not a dead giveaway that LEOs are doing things that they shouldn't be doing? If they are just doing their job honestly, then they should have no problem with being filmed working. The crooked cops are the ones that probably pushed for this to get passed, I don't see any other explanation for why this would be made a crime.

This is insane. Little things like this will probably continue to get passed, rights will slowly be violated, until one day we wake up and 'Big Brother Is Watching' our every move, and if we so much as think negative thoughts about the government, we get found face down in the water.

OP, thank you for continuing to post about these incidents. It really needs to be made known how prolific this is becoming.

I suggest someone with a a fat wallet, someone with heart, someone who care about freedom pay him a good lawyer so he can find the loophole in this shady system and ultimately, if there is a god somewhere up there have the robocops to pay huge fines "just because". Today it's an artist trying to make a dime, tomorrow it'll be you most likely.

God! Let the artist go! If he doesn't know the laws, so be it! Not too many people know about the laws. There are too many laws. Laws control people. People can NOT be controlled. It's not right!

If he knows about this law, then surely he would NOT have filmed his arrest. Does this particular ignorance qualify for a warning, a slap on the wrist, a misdemeanor and not a friggin' felony?

You know what? I'm getting tired of laws that do NOT make sense. Soon people will be punished for looking funny or smelling bad or making sounds, such as farting or burping.

Many people around the world hate the police and to be honest, can you blame them. This poor bloke put up no resistance what so ever, so what was the need for hand cuffs. I feel that is an assault in the first place.

The police are there to protect people, if they spent more time fighting real crime and not in pacts to deal with street raders.

Just look into this more. How many coppers did you see. All dealing with someone they could of moved on. How much us tax dollars did it cost to deal with this simple problem?

The whole world has gone to poo.