HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Cameras vs. LAPD: Was A Photographer Interfering or Just Taking Pictures?

Views:1060
@ReasonVids

Shawn Nee is an award winning street and documentary photographer living in Hollywood, California. He says that on June 2, 2013, his right to take photos under the First Amendment was violated when Los Angeles Police Department officers detained him while working in Hollywood. Nee wears multiple body cameras on his person when he shoots photos in public and provided an edited version of June 2nd's events exclusively to Reason TV.

"People have the right to take pictures in a public space and that includes photographing police," says Nee. "People have the right to know what goes on in their communities and in public."

Nee was standing on a residential sidewalk taking pictures of a man he had been photographing for years when LAPD officers showed up about 90 feet away to investigate a domestic dispute. Nee took photos of the dispute from behind two chain link fences when he was approached by an officer. The transcript was as follows:

OFFICER: What's your name?

NEE: Am I being detained, sir?

OFFICER: How am I detaining you if I've got a fence between me? You want me to come around and detain you?

NEE: Why would I be detained, sir?

OFFICER: I'm not detaining you, I'm asking you a question. What's your name?

NEE: I'm not required to answer that question, sir.

Reason TV showed the video to Andy Neiman, the officer-in-charge at the Media Relations Section at the LAPD. He said he could not comment on the video specically but said of individuals taking pictures, "If their physical proximity to the investigating officers becomes interfering where an officer has to stop what they're doing to admonish that individual that they're too close or could you stand back because they are distracting from the officer's business, then that's where it becomes an issue."

But Nee says he was so far away from the investigation that the officers had to walk down a 60 yard driveway, enter their squad car, and drive to the location where he was taking photographs around the corner from the initial investigation just to detaine him. This is the conversation that happened once they got there:

OFFICER: Could you put your camera down for me?

NEE: Am I being detained, sir?

OFFICER: Yes.

NEE: For what purpose, sir?

OFFICER: Put your camer down.

NEE: Why am I being detained, sir?

OFFICER: For interviewing ... interfering with a police investigation.

NEE: How was I doing that, sir?

Later, a supervisor, identified as Sergent Rudy V. Vidal showed up and interacted with Nee:

NEE: My understanding is that I was detained for taking photos in a public space.

VIDAL: When it interferes with the job of police then it becomes a problem. At that point, you no longer have that freedom to go ahead and take your pictures.

Sergent Vidal was named as a "problem officer" by the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department (Christopher Commission) in the early 1990s, as reported by the Los Angeles Times in 1995. The Commission named 44 officers with "six or more complaints of excessive force or improper tactics between 1986 and 1990."

Nee is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department along with two other photographers and is represented in that case by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

Nee has been published by National Public Radio, F8 magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and blogs at boywithagrenade.org.

Produced by Paul Detrick. Shot by Detrick and Zach Weissmuller.

Go to http://www.reason.com for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube Channel to receive automatic notifications when new material goes live.

los angeles police department (government agency)
,
photography
,
camera (invention)
,
war on photography
,
first amendment
    Thumbnail for Unitarian Church Leads NSA Lawsuit: Q&A with Rev. Rick Hoyt4:38
    Unitarian Church Leads NSA Lawsuit: Q&A with Rev. Rick Hoyt
    ReasonVids
    844 views
    Thumbnail for Should the Coronavirus Lockdowns End Immediately? A Soho Forum Debate1:26:07
    Should the Coronavirus Lockdowns End Immediately? A Soho Forum Debate
    ReasonVids
    910 views
    Thumbnail for What is Libertarian Populism?1:00:35
    What is Libertarian Populism?
    ReasonVids
    799 views
    Thumbnail for Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey! Coming March 15! Trailer 10:53
    Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey! Coming March 15! Trailer 1
    ReasonVids
    910 views
    Thumbnail for Judge Napolitano on the 2012 Election, Obamacare, and The Future of Liberty6:37
    Judge Napolitano on the 2012 Election, Obamacare, and The Future of Liberty
    ReasonVids
    959 views
    Thumbnail for Challenging Affirmative Action and Gerrymandering: AEI's Edward Blum29:09
    Challenging Affirmative Action and Gerrymandering: AEI's Edward Blum
    ReasonVids
    971 views
    Thumbnail for How I Work: Tmux | Antonin Januska12:00
    How I Work: Tmux | Antonin Januska
    invidious
    320 views
    Thumbnail for DIY Biohackers Are Editing Genes in Garages and Kitchens4:57
    DIY Biohackers Are Editing Genes in Garages and Kitchens
    ReasonVids
    1130 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: The Paid Leave Fairy Tale5:30
    Stossel: The Paid Leave Fairy Tale
    ReasonVids
    891 views
    Thumbnail for NASA sharing what the sound of a black hole actually sounds like0:12
    NASA sharing what the sound of a black hole actually sounds like
    voatcatbox
    504 views
    Thumbnail for Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on The Moral Case for Capitalism6:37
    Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on The Moral Case for Capitalism
    ReasonVids
    896 views
    Thumbnail for Stairway To Heaven - In A Parallel Universe with EVH (Featuring Eric Johnson) | Rick Beato11:58
    Stairway To Heaven - In A Parallel Universe with EVH (Featuring Eric Johnson) | Rick Beato
    invidious
    93 views
    Thumbnail for The Tea Party vs. John Boehner6:08
    The Tea Party vs. John Boehner
    ReasonVids
    910 views
    Thumbnail for Advocate for a White USA on Shared Values with Israel3:15
    Advocate for a White USA on Shared Values with Israel
    AmericanRenaissance
    1347 views
    Thumbnail for I like her!0:11
    I like her!
    bestofupgoat
    518 views
    Thumbnail for Today's Anti-Immigration Script Was Written 100 Years Ago by America's Elite36:58
    Today's Anti-Immigration Script Was Written 100 Years Ago by America's Elite
    ReasonVids
    1091 views
    Thumbnail for Captain Kike0:32
    Captain Kike
    bestofvoatxyz
    826 views
    Thumbnail for Nigger dindu nuffin hits elderly women on head with hammer0:39
    Nigger dindu nuffin hits elderly women on head with hammer
    voatcatbox
    527 views
    Thumbnail for Police Shoot, Kill 80-Year-Old Man In His Own Bed, Don't Find the Drugs They Were Looking For7:40
    Police Shoot, Kill 80-Year-Old Man In His Own Bed, Don't Find the Drugs They Were Looking For
    ReasonVids
    997 views
    Thumbnail for We can jump and we can run4:13
    We can jump and we can run
    bestofupgoat
    500 views
    Thumbnail for A doom fact obscure enough even for DOS doomers | mmjp080:57
    A doom fact obscure enough even for DOS doomers | mmjp08
    invidious
    267 views
    Thumbnail for Conferencia de prensa en vivo. Miércoles 29 de noviembre 2023 | Presidente AMLO1:00
    Conferencia de prensa en vivo. Miércoles 29 de noviembre 2023 | Presidente AMLO
    invidious
    352 views
    Thumbnail for Entombed - Wolverine Blues [Official Video] | Earache Records2:23
    Entombed - Wolverine Blues [Official Video] | Earache Records
    invidious
    60 views
    Thumbnail for Can Americans Still Take a Joke? Comedians Say 'No.'4:47
    Can Americans Still Take a Joke? Comedians Say 'No.'
    ReasonVids
    987 views
    Thumbnail for Why U.S. Health Care Costs More Than Canada's: "A Mercedes Costs More than a Corolla"3:22
    Why U.S. Health Care Costs More Than Canada's: "A Mercedes Costs More than a Corolla"
    ReasonVids
    873 views

points

Permalink
Reply
los angeles police department (government agency)
,
photography
,
camera (invention)
,
war on photography
,
first amendment
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle