Police Handcuff Man Videotaping Investigation From His Own Home

For those of you that know me, you know that I have been an advocate for photographer's rights. I have long thought that the "since 9/11" excuse is being used to trample the rights of the average citizen. I will be posting a series of articles and incidents that seem to show my point




In a blatant disregard for a man's First and Fourth Amendment rights, Vallejo (California) police walked on a man's property as he was videotaping a police investigation from his garage and attempted to confiscate his cell phone camera "as evidence."

Lonnel Duchine instead handed the phone to a friend who walked inside the house with it.

Vallejo police officer Scott Yales handcuffed Duchine and charged him with interfering with a police officer in the performance of his duties.

Duchine ended up posting the video on Youtube (raw video here) and a local TV news station did a segment on the arrest as well.

Now police are backtracking from the arrest, saying they will most llkely not proceed with charges against Duchine.

On the surface of things, we do have some concerns about what we saw," Vallejo police spokesman Jeff Bassett told ABC7. "We are currently conducting an internal inquiry into the incident. We're prepared to take appropriate or collective action if necessary."

Duchine was videotaping police detaining a group of juvenile burglary suspects at gunpoint. The juveniles were released when it was determined they did not commit the crime.