Man videotaping police charged - under the HIPPA healthcare law!
Getting arrested for filming police is hardly surprising these days, especially when people are brutally beaten for exercising their right to film police carry out their public duties in a public space.
Indeed, the cases have become so numerous that it has become somewhat expected at this point.
This particular case, however, also involves alleged evidence tampering on the part of police, which is also disturbingly common when police brutality is filmed.
Minnesota Deputy Jackie Muellner claimed Henderson was violating the federal HIPPA law because she was dealing with a mentally ill patient. But there is nothing in the HIPPA law that addresses recording patients being led into ambulances.
The deputy wrote on the citation, "While handling a medical/check the welfare (call), (Henderson) was filming it. Data privacy HIPAA violation. Refused to identify self. Had to stop dealing with sit(uation) to deal w/Henderson."
Andrew Henderson watched as Ramsey County sheriff's deputies frisked a bloody-faced man outside his Little Canada apartment building. Paramedics then loaded the man, a stranger to Henderson, into an ambulance.
Henderson, 28, took out his small handheld video camera and began recording. It's something he does regularly with law enforcement.
But what happened next was different. The deputy, Jacqueline Muellner, approached him and snatched the camera from his hand, Henderson said.
"We'll just take this for evidence," Muellner said. Their voices were recorded on Henderson's cellphone as they spoke, and Henderson provided a copy of the audio file to the Pioneer Press. "If I end up on YouTube, I'm gonna be upset."
The audio of the encounter was captured by Henderson’s smartphone and is provided by the Pioneer Press.
Henderson calmly insisted he was within his rights to do what he was doing. He refused to give his name.
"I wish the police around the country would get the memo on these situations," said Jane Kirtley, professor of media ethics and media law at the University of Minnesota. "Somebody needs to explain to them that under U.S. law, making video recordings of something that's happening in public is legal."
“Police are in a position where they have a certain power that should be watched by the citizens,” Henderson said. If he lived in New York City, he would probably be labeled a “professional agitator” for this type of activity.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_22333563/little-canada-man-videotaped-sheriffs-deputies-and-got
http://endthelie.com/2013/01/09/sheriffs-deputies-claim-hipaa-violation-charge-man-with-two-misdemeanors-for-filming-them-in-public/#axzz2HaXVLjRx
Read more at Photography is not a crime:
http://www.photographyisnotacrime.com/2013/01/09/minnesota-man-says-deputies-deleted-footage-after-confiscating-camera/