Cop Arrests Man for Filming 'Private Cars' From
Public Sidewalk
A Covina police officer named KENNETH COUNT who arrested a Pomona man
filming a reported domestic dispute call and then detaining him for six hours
is under administrative investigation by his superiors.
In 2007,
KENNETH COUNTS Counts was injured in an off-duty motorcycle accident. In
this case, COUNTS was driving his
personal motorcycle to work about 5:30 a.m. in the carpool lane of the
westbound Foothill (210) Freeway in San Dimas when the crash occurred. Police
refuse to release a record of the case.
Cop Arrests Man for Filming 'Private Cars' From
Public Sidewalk
By
Michael Allen, Wed, July 23, 2014
A YouTube user with the handle “Damon Enz” was
arrested by a police officer in Covina, California, on June 30 for filming
“private cars” from a public sidewalk.
Enz posted a video of the incident on YouTube
yesterday, which shows a police officer asking what he is filming.
“I’m on a public sidewalk, sir,” Enz tells the
police officer, who responds, “You’re videotaping private cars."
The police officer refuses to speak his own
name, but says his name is on his uniform, which reads, "N. Counts,” notes
RawStory.com.
The officer then tells Enz that he's conducting
an investigation involving the cars. The officer requests Enz's I.D. multiple
times, but Enz repeatedly tells the officer that he doesn't have any
identification on him. Enz gives his first name, but nothing else.
"Honestly, I’m going to detain you if you
don’t answer my questions because I’m conducting a criminal investigation,”
states the officer. “I have lawful authority to detain you.”
The police officer then pats down and handcuffs
Enz, whose video camera falls on the grass.
“You are obstructing my investigation, you are
under arrest,” states the police officer.
According to PhotographyIsNotACrime.com, Enz's
mom came outside, picked up the video camera and kept recording the scene.
Oddly, she was not arrested or detained for
doing exactly what her son did.
Enz was locked up in jail for six hours, but
the charges were dropped, even though the police officer repeatedly claimed
that he was following procedure and Enz had broken the law.
U.S. courts have ruled that citizens may film
law enforcement as long as they do not obstruct an investigation, noted RT.com.
By
Jason Henry, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
William David Robin, 23, of Pomona, is about to
be taken down by Covina police Officer Ken Counts on June 30, 2014, in a video
that Robin himself filmed. Robin was filming the scene of a reported domestic
dispute call on East Tudor Street wen the incident occurred. (Video image via
YouTube)
A Covina polce officer who arrested a Pomona
man filming a reported domestic dispute call and then detaining him for six hours is under administrative
investigation by his superiors.
In a YouTube video released Tuesday under the
user name Damon Enz, a man later identified as William David Robin, 23, of
Pomona, captured his arrest by Officer Ken Counts on June 30 in the 1900 block
of E. Tudor St.
Robin alleges he was slammed face-first into a police cruiser after his camera
shut off and that the tight handcuffs bruised his wrists. He has not
filed a claim against the city or even spoken to a lawyer, but he indicated he intends to sue the
department for his treatment.
“At first, it was just (to) show people
straight up that they can film the police and not be scared of them,” Robin
said. “(Counts) made the whole video, he was the star. He made himself look
bad, I was just relaying the message.
Robin was arrested for obstructing police
business and providing false identification, but the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute
him when police forwarded the charges, according to Sgt. Rob
Bobkiewicz. Robin was released at 12:15 a.m. on July 1, roughly six hours after
his arrest the previous evening, according to a booking document.
Raney declined to comment on the specifics of
the administrative investigation of Counts, but he noted that the officer
underwent training about a citizen’s right to film in public spaces multiple
times before and after the incident. Counts
remains on duty.
Robin, who was in the neighborhood with his
mother to return a moving truck, said he was required to pay his landlord for
an extra day when he did not finish moving out because of the arrest.
In the video, Robin crosses the street toward
officers while using an expletive about police and films a smashed window on a
street-parked car before an officer identified as Counts by his name tag walks over to him and asks for his
identification. The officer accuses Robin, who is on the sidewalk, of “video
taping private cars” and asks if he is involved in their investigation into a
report of domestic violence.
“When he comes up me, his intent was to harm me
— an unarmed man,” Robin said. “He had his hand on his service weapon, ready to
shoot.”
Robin provides the name “David” and offers to
give his license number, but he refuses to give the officer his last name.
During a patdown, Robin’s camera is knocked to the ground, but it continues to
record audio from their interaction.
Robin is heard getting handcuffed and Counts tells him to sit on the
ground. When he refuses, Counts can
be heard saying “If you don’t sit down, I will sit you down.” In the video, Counts acknowledges Robin’s
right to film, but tells him he is “too late” when Robin tries to identify
himself after being placed under arrest.
Robin said Counts tried to get him to admit to
being involved in the domestic incident after he was placed in the police car.
As of Friday, the video had more than 5,000
views.
Civil Liberties attorney Paul L. Hoffman said
courts have increasingly sided with people filming police and that the First
Amendment gives a person the right to do so, as long as they don’t affect the
police department’s investigation.
“If you stand too close, or you get in the way
with what police are doing, that’s not permissible,” Hoffman said. “If you’re
out of the police’s way and filming what they do, you have the right to do it.”
An officer needs to have “reasonable belief”
that a person committed a crime to conduct a patdown or to detain someone.
“Police officers don’t like being filmed and
when people are filming then sometimes police officers will violate people’s
rights by engaging in phony pat downs and phony detainments,” he said.
