At the very least this cop deserves a reprimand. And a law suit. Adam Pringle was cited by a San Diego police officer over the weekend for smoking on the sidewalk â an actual violation of the law in the area he was in â but it wasnât so much this violation that he finds upsetting. Pringle was filming his citation with his smartphone and after he refused to stop when asked by police, he claims the officer attacked him. According to Photography is Not a Crime â a weblog frequently covering the right to photograph and film law enforcement activities in public â Pringle was walking on Mission Beach boardwalk on Saturday when two police on bicycles approached him and his friends for the violation. In the video that was posted on YouTube of the encounter, you can see an officer writing up the ticket as Pringle says offscreen that he was getting a citation for smoking on the sidewalk. From there, when the officer is about to explain to Pringle the citation, he asks that Pringle put his phone away. Pringle refused, which led to what appears to be a struggle before the screen goes dark. âI have a right to film this, I am in a public spot,â Pringle said. To which the cop responded, âcellphones can be converted into weapons â¦look it up online.â Pringle repeatedly said his cellphone was not a weapon. Watch the footage taken by Pringle: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qbUvvyXoExI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> In an interview with Photography Is Not a Crime, Pringle said the officer hit the cellphone out of his hand, damaging it on the boardwalk. Pringle was then forced onto his stomach, handcuffed and spent the rest of the night in jail with charges of obstruction. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...lk-cell-phones-can-be-converted-into-weapons/
Wow, getting fined for smoking outside!? And then WOW, getting arrested for filming police. These dudes are out of control and the libs want them to be the only guys who are armed huh?
Libs/Marxists/Communists/Nazis... want the populace to be disarmed so that the government can do any farkin' thing they want to the people without fear of push-back and reprisal. THAT'S WHY THE GENIUS FOUNDERS GAVE US THE 2ND AMENDMENT!! If anyone opposes the 2nd Amendment and its spirit, they should leave the country. Don't we all have empathy for the parents whose children were tragically killed by some durgged-out wacko who should should have been confined to a rubber room? But is that an excuse to "disarm the entire populace against the threat of government oppression"? You have to be a dimwitted fuck-tard Liberal to believe THAT!
These guys should be directing traffic for the rest of their days, or better yet FIRED. The excuse is so ridiculous i can't even bend my head around it. Anytime anyone gets stopped for anything they could be arrested for having a cellphone LOL.. cause it might be a weapon. what a load of shit. Maybe they should just be able to rush your house too if your smoking at home, cause your microwave or toaster might be a weapon. haha.
oh i agree and I think I've made that clear on this board. the whole 'national dialogue' on gun control is a joke imo. It should start with, we already have laws, and criminals by definition DON'T OBEY THEM. The focus should be on punishing those who commit fucking crimes and NOT on the overwhelming majority of legal gun owners who don't.
I guess I'm of two minds about this. Obviously, the cops overreacted and tossed the guy in jail overnight as punishment for not kissing their butts. Still, I can see where they're coming from. They deal with assholes all day who only want to argue and make their lives difficult. Always in the back of their mind is the thought that this guy might be the crazy who pulls a weapon. Can a weapon be disguised as a cellphone? I have no idea, but for some reason the cop thought so. I would have thought the proper procedure then would have been for him to examine it and determine if it was genuine or possibly a threat. What about the propriety of taping police in general? On the one hand, they are public servants doing the public's work in a public place. It seems self-evident that citizens or the media should have the right to record what they are doing, providing there is no legitimate reason for secrecy, eg undercover units. Let's put it another way though. How many of you would be ok with a total stranger videoing you in public, or maybe videoing your wife or children? Let's say you're eating at an outdoor cafe and some idiot stops on the sidewalk and starts pointing his cellphone at you. I wouldn't like it, and I could see how it could get ugly quickly. On balance, I think the public has the right to record the police in most situations. Clearly, states need some legislation to clarify it and avoid this type of incident.
It sounds like a very liberal community if you can't smoke on the sidewalk. Maybe there was a problem with butts littering the beach but I doubt it. The city is probably just filled with a bunch of butthead liberals. That cop had to know filming him was legal after all the cases that have popped up. I think the guy should drag that police department by the neck down to federal court.
I watched the video and the next video that came up was "How to hit longer and straighter - 10 golfing tips"...
Sorry but this is ridiculous. yes if someone was filming a private citizen in public, like the paprazzi, most people are gonna get pissed and maybe attack them if they don't stop. That's completely different than these guys who are in uniform and work for the taxpayers and i don't think they have any choice whether they get filmed or not. That would be like telling a company that they can't track their employees activity at work. Their 'reasoning' is 100% bullshit, why couldn't they stop any random mug on any sidewalk just for talking on their phone then.. maybe its a weapon? please, there needs to be some actual threat in order to respond this way. You would be going apeshit if this was you are your kid.. or at least i would.