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the first time i have experienced it in 10 years. there was nothing on the road to explain the behavior (nor down the road--the cruiser wasn't seen again for the remaining 10 miles i drove, nor was there an accident, construction or any other obstruction witnessed), and there was little traffic on the road at that time--again, this was early in the morning.

could there have been a good reason? sure. and i could win the lottery one day too. remains unlikely.

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This is fairly common and is not illegal. They do this to slow down traffic due to an incident up ahead. It could be an accident, road construction, funeral procession, or other reasons.

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Perhaps not, but that wasn't stopping the officer from making the very real threat of arresting the OP and causing him at the very least inconvenience and legal expense; likely damage to an expensive camera (or "what camera?"); and possible physical harm due to him "resisting arrest".

Had he gotten an audio recording of her tirade and verbal refusal to identify herself, can you doubt they'd figure out something to charge him with?

yesterday was driving on route 3 in early am when a cop cruiser pulled on ahead and then slowed down to about 25 mph. the cars around me all slowed down, unsure what was happening. the cruiser's lights were flashing, but no siren, and was driving by straddling two of the three lanes, blocking two cars directly behind it.

one car a bit back eventually moved into the third lane and tried to accelerate past. the cruiser then swerved, hard, directly in front of this car, which had to slam on brakes (while still going about 15 mph less than the posted limit). the cruiser then started swerving back and forth across all three lanes, almost drunkenly. after about 5-10 minutes, it finally sped up and disappeared. no reason presented itself for the behavior. i only wished i could have filmed it or recorded the license plate--was grossly illegal and dangerous behavior by someone on a power trip.

this is the kind of stuff that gives the police a bad name.

Brewster, NJ is a single party consent state. That wouldn't stand here.

I appreciate the feedback. My problem is not with the Police in general; I'm thankful that these professionals protect our persons and our property under the law. My problem is with Officers Melendez and Reyes who are entrusted by the public to uphold the law, but they think they are above the law (or at least acted like it on Sunday). I've filed a formal complaint with the Department and contacted Fulop. The bureaucracy will now do as little or as much as it likes.

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+1

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You may not appreciate it, but it's not illegal or unconstitutional, unlike the officers behavior. You should study the photographs by Weegee, the renowned crime photographer of the 30's and 40's.

There's some amazing recordings out there of officer misbehavior, which is what they're worried about. My favorite is the plainclothed officer in an unmarked, no flashers car who cuts off a motorcyclist on a ramp, leaps out with gun drawn and demands he get of the cycle without identifying himself as police. Had the rider been armed he might have given resistance to this "assault" and someone could have died. The rider who recorded it is now charged with felony wiretapping.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/watch?v=RK5bMSyJCsg

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It's called freedom. You may not like it, but it's 100% your right as an American citizen.

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...until someone is sticking a gun to your head and a cop risks his/her life to save you, that is.

While I really think this officer treated you really badly, I'm not sure if I'd appreciate it if I got into an accident and some random stranger started taking pictures of the accident and me and my family. Maybe you weren't taking picture of the people in the accident, but who is to say you weren't going to until the police officer screamed at you to put away your camera.

^^
I'm certainly not saying that the police are correct. However, like every other monopoly in this country (the RIAA, etc) special-interests like the Police can use government money to crush private citizens who stand up against them. While making a moral stand is admirable, I'll stick to my original advice, make all the more applicable by the ghoast of the Abner Louima case - watch your ass. Cops are no longer the civil servants of the 1950s. They are a state-sanctioned gang of mostly low-intelligence thugs.

Yes they do but they will lose in court (albeit perhaps after much personal cost to the photographer). It is well established law that what people (and people includes police) do in public can be photographed/videotaped. The police were fine with this when it was mostly them monitoring/videotaping people in public but now that everyone has a cell phone camera and many cases of police misconduct that would have been swept under the rug (e.g. the BART shooting) are now out there for the world to see; the worst of them aren't so happy about it.Quote:

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I think we mebbie should have a CBF/Citizens Benevolent Fund for this.

This pretty much explains the disdain the the police have for us.

Why They Hate Us

Too bad you didn't innocuously flip the cam to video and capture the audio track of her tirade. That would have been fun to post.

I agree with your decision to comply eventually. Had you not, you could be facing not just all sorts of trumped up charges but perhaps a significant dental and orthopedic bill.

This is not just the cops running wild. From the buildings inspectors to the parking drones, there are city officials out there making it up on the go and violating our rights as a matter of course. We either have to comply with their nonsense, or be willing to spend thousands on lawyers to protect our constitutional rights, something I had to do recently. I found it money well spent.

Was anyone injuried in the accident? Do you know if the guy you took the picture of told the cops he was driving the car? Did you see whether or not they wrote him a ticket? Leaving the scene of an accident is only an arrestable offense in certain cases. You should check out the stae stautes title 2C for criminal and title 39 for motorvehicle laws.

I checked it out even if the guy left got changed and came back you may not be able to write him a ticket for leaving the scene of an accident.

In some (police) states the cops are invoking wiretapping laws to arrest citizen photographers.

Watch your ass!

This link should be helpful and is a good primer for anyone in this situation:

Photography Law Review

The cops like to use the "disturbing the peace" charge as a lame excuse to arrest people like you. They know they have the upper-hand and no one likes to go to jail. Perhaps the cops knew the driver of the SUV and were trying to cover for him? Some cop's kid or nephew or whatever? Maybe explains why he walked away uncharged?

It would have been interesting to see how far the arrest would have gotten. You could have ignored the cop and kept taking pictures from where you were standing. If the cop started a struggle with you I wonder who the victim would have been, plus it might have made it on the police report with you as a witness, it's happened before. I hope you send this posting in letter form to every authority out there. Perhaps now that this is public information some other people might persue this in a group effort with you. Were you able to keep contact with those other 3 witnesses ? Make a gazillion copies for all to see. Send one to the Jersey Journal and it's parent company the Newark Star Ledger. Also take this up with the state this officer should be held accountable for the actions taken. At least visit this in a state court perhaps in the DMV building on Sip & Summit.

get Fulop involved. There are some good police officers but a lot of D grade talent as well. Sounds like you got stuck dealing with the latter. Call that shame shame guy on Fox, he loves to go after JC for all its incompetence...

Internal affaiirs will likely not do much; I hope you pursue this in courts and try to get the officer/s fired. There is a trend among certain officers too behave as if they are above the law

This is troubling to say the least. I hope you do pursue this.

*Officer Menendez, Badge Number 2102, harasses citizen for taking pictures of traffic accident and threatens to arrest him for no lawful reason*

I heard a loud noise outside my apartment late Saturday evening that sounded like a car collision. Since I?m a photographer, I grabbed my camera and ran outside. Immediately, something didn?t seem right since there was an inordinately large group of teenagers surrounding an SUV that had crashed into a tree on the wrong side of the street at Newark Ave. and Jersey. I saw a young man on the opposite side of the street who looked suspicious. Two girls were talking about how he had just crashed the vehicle and that he was fleeing. I took his picture as he nervously fled down Jersey Ave.

When the police I arrived, I showed one of the officer?s the picture of the boy who had just likely hit the tree and run. He thanked me. I left the scene for several minutes and then returned to keep taking pictures from across the street with a telephoto lens. Since I?m a photographer, I thought these might make good stock images. I noticed that an officer was now interviewing the young man I had photographed across the street.

I continued taking pictures at a substantial distance. There was absolutely no activity in my vicinity; I made a point of being well away from the scene on the other side of the street?s sidewalk. But there weren?t many onlookers, so I was fairly conspicuous.

A female officer saw me and approached me. She asked me who I was and whether I was with a newspaper. I replied that I was a photographer and not affiliated with a newspaper. She did not ask for a government ID or my name. She told me to stop taking pictures. I asked her for a reason and explained that I had a lawful, constitutional right to take pictures on the street. She immediately became aggressive and inappropriate. She screamed, ?I?m in charge here, and you must stop taking pictures.? Again, I asked her to please specify what legal right she had to order me to stop photographing. It?s important to note that she did not ask me to move away at this point but just to stop taking pictures. This is a clear indication that she was in violation of the law since her concern was solely with my camera. I remained cool, I behaved in a cordial way towards her, but I insisted that I had the right to take pictures. She then threatened to arrest me: ?You want me to put you in cuffs?? And she continued to scream and berate me while her male colleague chuckled to himself. Her attitude was vicious and ill considered: when I put my hand on my hip, she ordered me not to move as though I were armed. I was treated like a criminal. She then immediately ordered me away, even though I was on a remote corner at least thirty yards from the police activity (mind you this was not an exigent situation). I complied since I did not want to be unlawfully arrested. But I did ask for her badge number. She refused to give it to me, and then said, ?If I could see her badge in the dark, I could have it.? I asked to speak to her supervisor, but she refused and again screamed at me to leave. When I write, ?scream?, I?m talking about a threatening, angry and contemptuous shrill. Three other citizens witnessed this incident from another corner.

These citizens, strangers to me, commented on how terribly they thought this officer behaved. One of them volunteered his contact information as a witness.

I was shaken and unnerved by this incident. It further eroded my trust in the police. The only reason that could explain this officer?s treatment of me was that she felt challenged when I insisted that I had a legal right to photograph. In response to my assertion of that right in a calm, cordial manner, she threatened to strip me of my freedom and incarcerate me. This was not an emergency situation. Most of her colleagues were loitering at the scene. The dynamic was clear: Nobody dare assert their power as a citizen in the face of a police officer; nobody dare invoke their legal rights and express cognizance of the law; nobody dare ask for accountability on the street when they have neither badge nor gun.

When I arrived home, I called the station to speak with her supervisor, one Sgt. Reyes. Evidently, he was the chuckling colleague at the scene. He explained to me that all Menendez had done was ask me to leave?a gross lie. He had the audacity to deny my first-hand summary of the events. He said Menendez never threatened or harassed me in any way. I expressed my outrage that he would cover her ass by lying to me. He smugly disregarded my concerns and refused to apologize.

Three strangers expressed outrage to what they witnessed. I will take this to Internal Affairs. What happened to me is comparatively minor, but what does it suggest about the manner of policing in this city? Menendez?s behavior is neither civil nor lawful?two absolute requirements for any peace officer. And if Officers Menendez and Reyes are so blithely ignorant of the law, what other rights do they violate on a daily basis?

In the end, the young man who had fled the crash and changed his shirt was let go and walked away hand in hand with one of the young girls.