Rochester police arrest a woman on her front lawn because she recorded them.
Update 6/23/11: USA Today published the story:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/06/woman-in-her-front-yard-arrested-while-videotaping-police-at-a-traffic-stop-at-curb/1
NY- The Rochester Police Department is investigating the arrest of a woman who was videotaping police during a traffic stop in front of a home on Aldine Street.
The video has gone viral and city councilman Adam McFadden received a link this morning. McFadden says while the incident lacks context, he questions why the officer needed to engage the woman. "It did not look well for us in terms of how we police and what it is we're attempting to accomplish for public safety."
Emily Good, 28, was arrested about 10 p.m. May 12 and charged with second-degree obstructing governmental administration. She is scheduled to appear in Rochester City Court for a proceeding on Monday, police said.
Rochester Police Chief James Sheppard issued a statement Tuesday saying he has received a video of a woman's arrest by city officers. "I have researched the incident and determined that the case is currently proceeding through the adjudication process," Sheppard said in the statement. "... With the case still pending and my unfamiliarity with the specific details, any assumptions at this time would be premature."
The incident has drawn the attention of the National Press Photographers Association Inc., based in Durham, N.C.
In a letter dated June 21, to Sheppard and Rochester Mayor Tom Richards, NPPA General Counsel Mickey H. Osterreicher of Buffalo wrote: "While it may be understandable that your officers had a heightened sense of awareness that is still no excuse for them to not recognize a citizen's right to take photographs/video of an event occurring on a public street."
Links:
http://www.whec.com/iteam/stories/S2166487.shtml?cat=565
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110622/NEWS01/106220324/Emily-Good-arrested-while-videotaping-city-police?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CNews
http://www.pixiq.com/rochester-police-arrest-woman-for-videotaping-them.html