Arrested for Street Photography?

Another example of how uninformed police officers can also be a hazard to photographers and their own government. An amateur photographer arrested in Seattle for photographing the arrest of two suspects in public space last year was awarded an $8,000 USD settlement in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. The photographer had stopped briefly to photograph the individuals being taken into custody when a young lady approached him explaining how the individuals were being arrested under false pretenses. After asking the young man if she could have copies of the photographs, the police officers took his camera, bag, and proceeded to drive him to a jail cell in Washington.

He was released an hour later and told that he could be charged with enciting a riot, police officer endangerment or even disturbing the peace. According to this news report, the officers didn't even write up a report (which is in violoation of department policy). Here's a quick excerpt:

"Being arrested for simply being a witness to police activity was frightening and humiliating," Mohora wrote in a claim he later filed against the city. "It bothers me to think that police can abuse their authority by arresting innocent witnesses and then not even make standard police reports to document what happened."

After the ACLU intervened on Mohora's behalf, the city's claim department agreed to pay Mohora $8,000.

The ACLU said the police Office of Public Accountability investigated the officers' actions and sustained the complaint, finding the officers acted inappropriately. Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Deanna Nollette said both officers were disciplined with written reprimands for a lack of professionalism and poor exercise of discretion.

Apparently the police haven't read up on their own laws or even department policies lately.


The interesting thing is that this is nothing new.

I'm unable to find the news article right now, but I remember reading a news article on a young teen who had been photographing (or possibly videotaping) the arrest of a suspect on the street infront of his house. He was standing on his own property when the cops came onto his lawn and began to arrest him for taking photographs of them.

Wish I could find that story...

In any case, such situations can be a nightmare for photographers. If the public witnesses can no longer record public evidence of activity of police/arrests/and authority in general, who will?

In the case of the Seattle man, at least he got some cash out of his one hour ordeal in jail. I think I'd vernture to spend an hour in jail for $8,000. Hah.