Arkansas lawmaker who pushed law protecting right to video police is arrested for videoing an arrest

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/09/30/arkansas-lawmaker-who-passed-l.html

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Man, you know when you do something and you’re not sure if you’re in the right but you really hope you are?

That man did not have that problem.

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…photography is a form of power.

Brilliant.

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Another case of the Ferguson Effect in action. The police were too scared to even shoot John Walker, a known Urban American and possible gang member, who was holding what could have been a gun or a bag of Skittles in an aggressive manner. Luckily, they still managed to arrest him even without shooting or fatally strangling him first, putting a quick end to his [photo] shooting spree.

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" It also shows that photography is a form of power"

I love the smell of fixer in the morning. It smells like . . . freedom!

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Been getting into the stop bath a bit, have ye?

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I wonder if Officer Thompson knows how to spell the word “vindicaticated”?

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I wish I were there to get arrested for video taping the arrest of this guy. It’s freedom-defending photographers, all the way down…

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The police used to think that there were no consequences for men in blue who did this BS, but now they are starting to realize that when they do evil things that make people hate them, that has consequences for them. So sad that it had to come to this.

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Wait, wait, wait, wait.

They arrested someone for taking a video of an arrest and we know about it because we see a video of the arrest from the camera located on the dash of the car?

So one party is filming the interaction and they tell others they can’t film the same interaction? “Put your camera down but come over here in front of my camera when I arrest you?”

No wonder my head hurts when I read about this stuff.

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Meanwhile in the UK since police were fitted with cameras complaints against police interactions with public are apparently down by nearly 94%

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Society has been letting cops break the rules (and laws) and live in their own little fantasy world for too long now. I hear that a lot of cops don’t like all of the public scrutiny that they have been getting lately. Good, that means it’s working. The tables are turning, maybe just a bit.

What gets me is when they arrest someone for “resisting arrest” and nothing else. In order for that charge to stick there must be some other, previous charge - at least, in any sane society with a properly functioning legal system. Judges should automatically treat a solitary charge of resisting arrest as a false arrest and punish the officer (and the prosecutor, too, he/she is trying to press charges).

I’m surprised they didn’t try to charge Mr. Walker here with interfering with their arrests by passing legislation.

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You could say that:

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I had one of those timers in my highschool photo class. Damn I miss those things!

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Why am I swooning like this? Is it envy? Is it admiration? Is it… love?

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This is not a free country. There is no free speech. This is no freedom of religion. There is no right to assemble to petition the government. There is no right from unreasonable search and seizure. The is no right from cruel and unusual punishment, torture or summary execution. The government has granted itself complete and total authority for it’s own sake.

You have 2 rights. You can own a gun and form a corporation.

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You can also buy a politician.

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That’s not true!

You can also vote for your local Coke or Pepsi candidate!

What do you mean, you don’t like colas?

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I have one on a counter at home. They are useful for all manner of things. (The rest of my darkroom supplies are in a box in storage, probably permanently.)

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