Bad Cop: Suit claims police harass journalists and bystanders
New Orleans police officers have engaged in a pattern of unlawfully arresting or harassing journalists and bystanders who tape or photograph them in public, a lawyer for two men suing the city told a federal jury Monday.
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Source: Bad Cop: Suit claims police harass journalists and bystanders
Quote from the article:
A lawsuit, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, claims police officers violated the constitutional rights of plaintiffs Greg Griffith and Noah Learned, who were arrested at a 2007 Carnival parade. The plaintiffs cite 11 other incidents since 2005 in which people were arrested or allegedly threatened while videotaping, photographing or merely observing police officers. The list of potential plaintiffs' witnesses includes Times-Picayune city editor Gordon Russell and Associated Press Television News producer Rich Matthews. "It is a widely accepted and established custom for police officers to arrest or threaten people for filming them," said Brittany Barrient, a student attorney from the Tulane Law Clinic who represents Griffith and Learned. The city's lawyers say Griffith and Learned were interfering with officers breaking up a fight along the parade route. Both men were arrested and charged with crossing a police cordon, but the charges were dismissed about two months later. James Mullaly, city attorney, said the case isn't a "referendum" on the New Orleans Police Department. "This case is about choices, and it's about choices that the plaintiffs made on the night of Feb. 18, 2007," Mullaly said during the trial's opening statements Monday. "They went out there to harass, annoy and interfere with law enforcement." New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley and two officers who arrested the plaintiffs - D'Meecko Hughes and Brian Harrison - are named as defendants. |
Source: Bad Cop: Suit claims police harass journalists and bystanders
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