'My rights were violated': Everett officer arrests woman filming him

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

EVERETT — On a warm August morning, Molly Wright heard shouting outside her apartment at the Bluffs at Evergreen.

She grabbed her phone and a camera stabilizer around 11 a.m. Aug. 10., then approached an Everett officer’s patrol car parked along a private street at 2 West Casino Road.

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“Can you please step back? Or you’ll be arrested for obstruction,” he warns her, in a 39-minute video of his body camera footage Wright posted to YouTube this month.

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In the footage, she backs up to a curb, roughly 15 feet from the officer. The officer walks across the street and handcuffs her for investigation of obstructing law enforcement, a misdemeanor.

The arrest raises questions about whether Greely violated Wright’s First Amendment right to film police in public, a right that has been affirmed by the state Supreme Court, in cases including Lewis v. State, Dept. of Licensing (2006) and State v. E.J.J. (2015).

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/my-rights-were-violated-everett-officer-arrests-woman-filming-him/

[TheRealNorth]

1. The same assholes that want to have access to video cameras everywhere to monitor us.

Make frivolous charges when someone tapes them. This cop should be fired - he clearly wields the authority he has been given corruptly.

[Old Crank]

2. I thought this had been decided

Citizens can video officers in public. She needs to sue for a years worth of police budget. That may be the only way to get the information out.

[JoseBalow]

3. Support First Amendment audits

First Amendment audits are a largely American social movement that usually involves photographing or filming from a public space. It is often categorized by its practitioners, known as auditors, as activism and citizen journalism that tests constitutional rights, in particular the right to photograph and video record in a public space (a right normally covered by the First Amendment). Auditors have tended to film or photograph government buildings, equipment, access control points as well as any personnel present.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_audit