Police around the country, and in Los Angeles in particular, continue to seize the cell phones of people who are recording a police stop or incident. The police are then deleting the video that was taken of the police incident even though it is illegal for them, the police, to do so.
The most recent incident has occurred in Los Angeles over the filming of police last April at an incident. In April of last year, LAPD were summoned to the home of Alex Jimenez, 35, who was, apparently having “emotional issues.” By the time the night was over, Jimenez was dead. According to witnesses at the scene, the police handcuffed him and shoved him to the ground. While on the ground with a cop’s knee in his neck, Jimenez was continually Tasered until he was dead. The official cause of death was listed by the coroner’s office as drugs.
The entire incident was captured on cell phone video but the person who taped it was hauled into a police station, had his phone seized and police deleted the video from his phone. Such action by police is illegal as American citizens have the Constitutional right to film police or even to be in the area as observers and witnesses. Police continuing to bully people into moving away and stealing cell phones and deleting video has now become commonplace. The case is headed to trial where it will be determined if the police destroyed the video on purpose, which is not only illegal, but a destruction of evidence.
Peter Bibring, the director of police practices for California’s American Civil Liberties Union stated that, “There’s no question that it’s legal to record an officer in the context of his or her duties if you’re in a place where you’re lawfully allowed to be and otherwise recording it legally. The Constitution protects people’s rights to record police.”
More people have begun to video incidents involving the police and thousands of incidents have made it onto social media and video sites. In many instances, the federal courts have continued to back the right of citizens to video a police officer in the performance of their duties and many neighborhoods are using video in an attempt to combat police brutality.
Bibring added that, “An officer who takes a witnesses cell phone and deletes video footage from it is breaking the law and almost certainly violating their department’s policies. That’s serious misconduct. It’s a due process violation, they’re taking your property, and it’s also a destruction of evidence and violating due process rights.”
PHOTO SOURCES: Eastern Washington University; Flickr