Arrested for recording a Public meeting???

reply to post by SubPop79

That doesn't mean it is ethical to escort a reported out simply because of the size of a camera.

What makes it worse is that they used a phone. Small devices really. Not distracting. *sigh*

Originally posted by drew1749
reply to post by gabby2011

 

The person (leo) in this video did not use excessive force...and he politely asked a number of times.

A cop can arrest me without giving me a good reason?

All the cop said was "Give me your camera and come with me or go to jail" (I think?) he didn't say why he couldn't record the meeting at all.

Perhaps I'm miss informed on my rights...and have an ideal view of the way our laws should work.

I agree..you need to be breaking a law . I also think police officers who put people under arrest without stating the law in violation, should be charged with a violation.

I'm just saying as well these officers obviously were told to go and stop this guy from filming. and we don't see what lead up to the gimme your camera. I'm not saying the officers were in the right , or handled it correctly , just saying I wish I knew what the laws were for filming a public meeting .?

reply to post by gabby2011

I'm not saying the officers were in the right , or handled it correctly , just saying I wish I knew what the laws were for filming a public meeting .?

Well another thing to note is, why arrest him? Take the cameras and let them go. Why make an example out of someone snapping a pic on their iPhone thing.? It's insane when you think about it.

Originally posted by gabby2011

Originally posted by drew1749
reply to post by gabby2011

 

The person (leo) in this video did not use excessive force...and he politely asked a number of times.

A cop can arrest me without giving me a good reason?

All the cop said was "Give me your camera and come with me or go to jail" (I think?) he didn't say why he couldn't record the meeting at all.

Perhaps I'm miss informed on my rights...and have an ideal view of the way our laws should work.

I agree..you need to be breaking a law . I also think police officers who put people under arrest without stating the law in violation, should be charged with a violation.

I'm just saying as well these officers obviously were told to go and stop this guy from filming. and we don't see what lead up to the gimme your camera. I'm not saying the officers were in the right , or handled it correctly , just saying I wish I knew what the laws were for filming a public meeting .?

D.C. Open Meetings Act

reply to post by drew1749

“Unlawful Entry/Remaining” and “Disorderly Conduct.

It was a public meeting! What a bunch of B.S.. It sounds like there's some shady characters in this D.C. Taxicab Commission. They said they had a history of banning reporters from video or audio taping.

The problem I have with the police is they take orders without evaluating whether or not the public has a right to be there. Don't these police have a mind of their own? What concerns me more and more, if these same police were ordered to arrest or shoot innocent civilians, would they? In Nazi Germany soldiers took orders and killed innocent people without even questioning whether it was inhumane, or morally right. If police are just going to follow orders and arrest people who are basically exercising their constitutional rights, than America is no better than communist China.

Yeah almost posted this myself. This is really discusting. The first guy to get cuffed wasn't even taking video. He took one still picture with his iphone 30 minutes into the meeting and the cops go after him.
waiting forward to the lawsuit and official response.

reply to post by gabby2011


I refuse to have your post hidden from me.

Most (if not all) of the States have some sort of Public Information Law and Open Meetings Law since the US Govt passed the Freedom of Information Act. Three of them where I've lived and filmed all specifically allow video and audio taping and attendance by the public in all "open meetings". Governmental/regulatory bodies may meet in private "executive sessions" but the focus of these special sessions is narrow and usually involves either legal advice or personnell matters explicitly stated in the statutes.

That having been said, I have no idea what kinds of laws they enact in the District of Columbia.

ganjoa

reply to post by drew1749


Where do you get any of this as anti-coip? This was a public meeting in DC pertaining to changes concerning taxi cab drivers. Many of them were questioning whether they were going to lose their ability to drive their cabs. Therefore losing their ability to make a living. The reporter was in the front row when he waas approached and was told he could either come with the police or get arrested. Upon questioning what was happening he was promptly arrested. The man who made the video was also arrested for making the video. The article is written concerning the actions of the Counsel not the police. Lets face it the police aare paid goons who are doing what they are being told. This is merely the latest example of what can only be considered an attack on the news media across the country. These two reporters were lucky when comparing what has happened to so many recently. It is a joke when the MSM is constantly reporting reporters being attacked in the MIddle East when what is happeing right in the US is much worse and more often. I have begun to realize why we are not getting any news or pics as to what is going on within our borders. The least attempt to cover the news by legal journalists they end up arrested, some beaten and usually all the video news coverage destroyed.

Originally posted by drew1749
reply to post by gabby2011

 

I refuse to have your post hidden from me.

(smiles) I deleted it ,because I realized someone else posted pretty much the same, and it just seemed rhetorical.

On the lines that there obviously was some shady stuff going on within the upper ranks of this taxi union , and it almost seemed like they were trying to hide something, by posting notices,as well as having this meetings' security be police officers.

I haven't looked at the vid, but it occurs to me - having worked at a world-class corporation and travelling often - that most of the taxi drivers nowadays are foreigners. Now, if this meeting took place in D.C., and it was exposed that the taxi companies are hiring undocumented foreign nationals, that would be, um, a scandal, no??

There is rampant hiring of undocumented foreign nationals in this country, using false identification, and this is blatantly OVERLOOKED by the hiring entities. One chap I knew was in HR for some reason, being interviewed, and was asked if he was legally authorized to work in the US. He said "no," and even though he'd been working there for years, he was summarily let go.

I know for a FACT that H.R departments routinely hire staff who are NOT legally authorized to live and work in the US. (I don't work in the corporate world anymore, but it's because of how the corporatoin treated people - authorized or not - who called them out on clear immoral and inexcusable EXPLOITATION of the staff on whom they counted for their business to stay solvent and operational). I have also had the opportunity to access how one goes about obtaining fake documents, which are manufactured in garages and basements, for a mere $10. I don't begrudge any person trying to support their families, I DO begrudge the blatant hypocrisy of those who hire them anyway, and just "pretend" they don't know.

It's ludicrous.
NOTE: I am a natural-born citizen of the United States, born in a suburb of Chicago.

BOTH EDITS: To clarify and also be more vague. Not intending to ruin anyone's livelihood who is hardworking and has a family to support. Many foreign nationals in this country came here under dangerous circumstances and paid exorbitant amounts of money to get to where they are now trying only to make a meager living, and are better off here than they were in their native countries under ANY circumstances. In my opinion, it is the GREED of the wealthy that keeps people oppressed. And why? Because they can. And then behave as though they're being benevolent, when they are actually paying slave wages to persons who desperately want work and whose feet they can hold to the fire. It's a form of blackmail or extortion, I think.

I just feel like this is TPTB turning the heat up on the stove a tiny bit more. With each one of these tiny increases in temp us bullfrogs just sit there quietly... until we boil.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the reporters
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a reporter

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Bump

reply to post by xavi1000


Thanks. Sorry I didn't reply to your post I just didn't know what to say. It is bad in this country. Or I feel like it is. I shouldn't...but I do.

Who was this Parks officer?
What is his relationship to the taxi commission?
What was so terrible that this meeting could not be recorded?
Who were all the people responsible I cannot seem to find any of the names of those involved but those who were arrested. I could only find this pic of the arresting officer.
These people are paid to uphold the law and when they break it they must be named shamed and held accountable for their unconstitutional actions. Freedom is not free.

The DC taxicab commission is currently headed by an interim director. The hotbutton issue is a "medallion system" where the city basically sells the right to run a taxi. Other big cities where the system has been implemented have destroyed competition from owner/operators as the big companies buy up a limited number of medallions (it's still a frickin' license, however you want to name it).
More on it here - thefightback.org...

reply to post by Asktheanimals


This is a good find. thanks for posting the info. So the people who did not want this recorded potentially could be receiving kickbacks and such to sell medallions to the big companies or not but methinks the fact that they don't want the proceedings publicized shows there is something stinky afoot.
If it was all above board then there should be no problem. More evidence of large cartels pushing small business out.

So basically it is another case of corporatism taking over another aspect of our lives.

I weep for the country we used to have.