Court: Reporter can't sue S.F. cops for arrest

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(10-13) 17:08 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A reporter who said he was wrongly seized and roughed up by San Francisco police while filming a protest can't sue for damages because he was standing in the street and could have been arrested for jaywalking, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Mark Burdett was covering a demonstration against the Iraq war in March 2004 for the Indybay news collective and said he stepped into Market Street to videotape police tackling a protester.

While he was standing near the curb, Burdett said, an officer falsely accused him of knocking down a motorcycle and grabbed him.

Other officers threw him to the ground face-first, pummeled him and broke his camera, and one broke his thumb while handcuffing him, Burdett said. After prosecutors decided not to charge him, Burdett sued the officers for false arrest and excessive force.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/13/BADL1FSBCJ.DTL

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Yet another case where the cops batter someone unnecessarily and get away with it.

[Taverner]

1. A badge is a get out of jail free card

Believe me, I know

[Dawson Leery]

2. A badge is a shield that places you above justice.

Stay the HELL away from them.

[DeSwiss]

3. K&R - Police State - n/t

[LiberalFighter]

4. Will Karma bite the scumbag?

[scentopine]

5. Why Obama can just invite them all to a beer summit and its all good, right? -nt

[krispos42]

6. Jaywalking?

Okay, so if I'm a deadbeat dad, and I owe a few thousand dollars in back child support, and I decide to step into the street to get a better view of a traffic accident, and a cop thinks I had just mugged an old lady, beat me, tasers me, and breaks several bones in my body... I can't sue because I *could* be arrested?

:wtf:

[EFerrari]

7. What a steaming pile. n/t

[Aaria]

8. Hows that police state tasting folks? Get used to it, unless.

[No Elephants]

9. Say what? Pummeling and breaking a camera is ok if you're jaywalking?

Don't understand the court's reasoning, at least not as reported here.

[cstanleytech]

10. Oh I believe I understand the courts reasoning easy enough, its

"protect the police when they step out of line and commit a crime with a wink and a nudge"