Andrew Henderson

by Andrew Meyer of PINAC

After being charged with two misdemeanors for recording police and being a “buttinsky,” as one police supervisor put it, Andrew Henderson has decided to run for city council in his Minnesota town of Little Canada in an election this November. He runs against two others, including an incumbent.

With Henderson’s trial set for Feb. 17, I had a chance to get the full details on Thursday, and find out exactly what happened, and why he’s decided to run for office.

Henderson was recording the police outside his apartment building in late 2012 when an officer took his camera as “evidence.” After asking for his camera back, he was charged with two misdemeanors. When he finally did receive the camera back, his footage had been deleted.

Meyer: Why did you decide to start recording the police?

Henderson: I grew up in the north end area of St. Paul. A few months before my camera was taken from me, there was in incident in my old neighborhood where a man was arrested. He was kicked in the chest and pepper spayed in his ear. That was my turning point.

Meyer: And what specifically gave you the desire to record the night your camera was confiscated?

Henderson: I saw 2 squad cars outside my apartment, one of which was a K9. When I asked the deputy what was going on all she said was “No crime”. I found it odd that 2 squads were there for “no crime”, so I decided to pull out my camera and film.

Meyer: Why do you feel it’s important to record the police?

Henderson: Well, we see police misconduct all the time in the newspaper, TV, and internet. We see the same police who get caught abusing their authority get away with little or no consequences. Sometimes even promotions. Last year the Minneapolis Police Department had 439 complaints, none of which resulted in any discipline. Something is terribly wrong with a system that allows this kind of behavior to continue. I feel that it is important for the people to expose the misconduct committed by the police, since the police rarely discipline themselves in any way. I strongly believe that the best way to do this is by filming them, and publicly sharing the footage for all to see. If the police know the people are watching them, they will be less inclined to abuse their power.

Meyer: What exactly are they charging you with?

Henderson: I am being charged with Disorderly Conduct and Obstructing Legal Process.

Meyer: Have you considered suing the officer who stole your camera?

Henderson: I’m just focused on the criminal charges right now.

Meyer: Why exactly are you running for city council, and how are you campaigning?

Henderson: I am running because I want to create a more open, transparent, and accountable government in Little Canada. I want to reduce the burden city legislation has on the lives of its residents. I want to create a stronger, more stable community through these practices.

I plan on a grassroots campaign which includes flyering, door-knocking, and meeting with the people to listen to which issues concern them. (I plan to start when it gets warmer, as it is -2 degrees right now).

Meyer: Do you have any support lined up yet?

Henderson: I have had my people ask to volunteer on my campaign, and plan on taking them up on their offers this summer and fall. I do have a few elected officials that have verbally endorsed me, but until I get it in writing, I will not name them.

Meyer: What action would you take as a city council member?

Henderson: I would eliminate laws that restrict the people’s freedom and liberty. There are many outdated laws in the Code of Ordinances that should be amended or repealed. This past summer, with the help of the City Administrator, I was able to get a law repealed that made it a misdemeanor to wear clothing belonging to the opposite sex. There are many more laws such as this that should be amended or repealed. There are laws that I feel limit business owners or entrepreneurs, such as the City has a limit on how many Tobacco licenses they will issue, and what can and can not be sold if a person holds this license. All of which have been issued. This, to me limits the liberty to open a business, or expand one.

Meyer: In your city, does the mayor or the city council hire the chief of police? Would you take any action to review the records of the officers on the force?

Henderson: In Little Canada, we contract the Ramsey County Sheriff as law enforcement. Since it is a contract position, I doubt there would be anything that I could personally do on that issue besides take complaints or compliments about Deputies from the citizens. If enough complaints were brought to my attention, I would ask the sheriff to assign a different officer to the community.

Meyer:  If your goal is to change policing in your area, why not run for a seat on the Ramsey County Commission?

Henderson:  I feel that I do not have enough experience for that elected office yet, but there may be a time in the future that I do. I am very supportive of the commissioner for my district at this time.

Meyer: Is there anything else you want PINAC readers to know?

Henderson:  I would like them to know that I am very grateful of their support. It is the words of encouragement from readers of blogs such as PINAC that have gotten me through this 15+ month ordeal.

Little Canada man must stand trial in videotaping of ambulance crew

Andrew Henderson w/camera in his apartment complex’s parking lot

by Emily Gurnon

Ramsey County, MN — A judge has refused to throw out the case against a Little Canada man who was criminally charged after he videotaped the activities of a sheriff’s deputy and ambulance crew outside his apartment.

Ramsey County District Judge Edward Wilson denied Andrew Joseph Henderson’s request to dismiss the misdemeanor charges against him. Henderson, 29, argued that he was exercising his First Amendment rights to record activities of public officials in a public place and that he didn’t break the law.

He was charged with disorderly conduct and interfering with an ambulance crew.

The judge ruled Monday that Henderson’s conduct “cannot be shielded under the cloak of the First Amendment.”

Henderson’s attorneys, Teresa Nelson of the American Civil Liberties Union and Kevin Riach of Minneapolis, said Tuesday that they were disappointed in the judge’s ruling.

“We strongly believe Andrew didn’t do anything wrong, and we will take this to trial,” Riach said.

A new court date has not been set.

Henderson was sitting on a bench outside his apartment building in the 200 block of East County Road B2 shortly before midnight on Oct. 30 when he saw sheriff’s deputies frisk a fellow resident. Paramedics then began to load the man, whose face was injured, into an ambulance.

The man was intoxicated, with a blood-alcohol level of 0.32, Riach said. The man’s sister had called police to ask them to check on him. He said the bruises on his face were from a traffic accident.

Deputy Jacqueline Muellner approached Henderson, telling him to put the camera down. “If I end up on YouTube, I’m gonna be upset,” she said. Her words were recorded on Henderson’s cellphone.

When Henderson refused, saying he wasn’t doing anything illegal, Muellner seized the camera.

Muellner retired from the sheriff’s office in July after 33 years with the office.

The state alleged that Henderson was within 3 to 5 feet of the ambulance. The bench Henderson said he was sitting on was about 30 feet from the driveway where the ambulance would have been parked. He said he should not be charged with interfering with the crew when he did not physically obstruct them.

Wilson, the judge, wrote in his order that “it is not necessary that one engage in a physical act to interfere or obstruct.”

“It is sufficient if the defendant’s actions or conduct had the effect of physically obstructing or interfering with a member of an ambulance crew,” he wrote.

The other charge Henderson faces, disorderly conduct, is defined in the law as “offensive, obscene, abusive, boisterous, or noisy conduct” that the actor knows or has reason to know would “tend to alarm, anger or disturb others or provoke an assault or breach of the peace.”

A jury will decide whether Henderson’s conduct “was so offensive as to alarm, anger, or disturb others,” the judge wrote.

Wilson also ruled that the recording of a medical assessment by paramedics in Henderson’s case is not constitutionally protected speech. That is different, Wilson said, from other cases in which a defendant videotapes police carrying out their duties.

Order Denying Motion to Dismiss

Little Canada man was ‘intrusive’ in videotaping medical call, city argues

by Emily Gurnon

Ramsey County, MN — A 29-year-old man was “extremely intrusive” when he videotaped a medical call outside his apartment, an attorney for the city of Little Canada argued in court Wednesday.

Andrew Joseph Henderson recorded the actions of a sheriff’s deputy and an ambulance crew as they prepared to take a highly intoxicated man to the hospital the night of Oct. 30.

“This was a medical assessment for a mental health evaluation,” leading to a possible civil commitment, attorney Kevin Beck said in Ramsey County District Court. The man assessed, who was referred to in court as “M.V.,” became alarmed when he noticed Henderson was recording the scene and asked a paramedic to put a stop to it, Beck said.

Henderson was charged with interfering with an ambulance crew and disorderly conduct. A sheriff’s deputy confiscated his camera after he refused to shut it off.

Henderson argued that he was exercising his First Amendment rights to record the activities of public officials in a public place. He was sitting “peaceably” on a bench outside his apartment building in the 200 block of East County Road B2, his attorney said.

He had just as much right to record the activity as TV crews do during a news event, said defense attorney Kevin Riach, a Minneapolis lawyer volunteering his services to the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Henderson.

“It’s clear that people have a right to do that under the First Amendment,” Riach said.

During Wednesday’s court hearing, Judge Edward Wilson heard from the attorneys on Henderson’s motion to dismiss the charges against him.

Wilson said he would take the matter under advisement.

Beck said that if Henderson had been merely present while the deputies and ambulance crew were working, there would have been no problem. If he had been filming but put away the camera when asked to, there would not have been a problem, he said.

But he interfered with emergency personnel, and that’s against the law, Beck said.

Henderson did “physically” obstruct the personnel, contrary to defense claims, because case law has defined physical obstruction as “substantially frustrating or hindering the officer in the performance of his duties,” Beck wrote in a court memorandum.

The deputies were called to the apartment building on a “welfare check,” a request by a relative of the man to make sure he was OK, the criminal complaint said. When they arrived at his apartment, the man had a blood-alcohol level of 0.32, Riach said, and told them he was into his second liter of vodka. He had a bruised face, which he said was from a traffic accident.

Henderson was sitting three to five feet from the ambulance when the man was being loaded into it, the state alleged.

The paramedics “had to stop the medical assessment to ask Henderson to stop videotaping,” the complaint alleged. “When Henderson refused to stop, (paramedics) had to leave the area of the ambulance to notify the deputies,” the complaint said.