Photography Is Not A Crime of the Day: Another day, another American citizen is arrested for filming police activity.
28-year-old Emily Good of Rochester, New York, was arrested last month while standing in her own front yard. Her crime? Officially: Obstructing governmental administration; unofficially: Capturing footage of police officers searching a man’s car.
“The video’s going to speak for itself,” her lawyer Stephanie Stare told I-Team 10. “People can watch it and draw their own conclusions.” Stare filed a motion to have the misdemeanor charge dropped, but Rochester Police Union President Mike Mazzeo says the video shows an officer “using great restraint, maintaining composure, acting professional, clearly giving very clear and concise orders to an individual who just simply didn’t comply.”
Stare agrees that lawful orders should be obeyed, but says “the question is whether or not it was a lawful order.”
The police will conduct an internal investigation of the incident, and Mayor Tom Richards said he was confident it will be fair and full.
Earlier: Mitchell Crooks; Narces Benoit.
