Cops Draw On Photographers

Having lost the war in court to prohibit citizens from recording them, police are now upping the ante by reaching for their guns to intimidate photographers.

by OccupySFTV

San Francisco, CA (2-14-14) — A Veteran In Distress (VID) almost got shot by SFPD

On the day of the Anti-TPP rally in front of the Federal bldg. I was on my way to Swords To Plowshares (a veterans resource center) to check my mail a few blocks from the protest/demonstration site.

After crossing the road in what has been called Jay-walking, all the while watching the traffic at the STOP light less than half a block away, I see a motorcycle cop, flying my inverted flag high in the middle of the street. I hurry across so as not to block traffic since the light turned green. Two seconds later, as I step onto the curb, the officer on the bike barks at me to stop as he climbs off his bike.

With my back to the officer, I reach for my camera as I always do when confronted by the police. I turned to face him, but he shouts not to reach in the bag after my hand is clearly already in the bag as I pull the camera neck strap out and tell the officer I am pulling out my camera.

I look at his hand, on his pistol ready to draw, as I state that I AM going to pull out my camera. The camera is slowly withdrawn by the neck strap and placed over my head. The officer is clearly frustrated. Still holding his hand on his gun, he asks for my ID. I reply, “its in my pocket, but I’m not going to get it out with your hand on your gun!” I then shout “cameras up” several times as the zombies walk on by. The officer calls for backup as I realize my memory card is NOT in the camera (DOH)! Thank god I have a backup.

Squirming, I think why me?…then it hits me. I have my DROID! I reach for it in my front pocket just as 7 more cops come screaming up in 2 squad cars and 2 more bikes. I start to punch in the code to unlock it. The officer says don’t reach into your pockets again!

Just as I think I’m going to get some good video of police harassment of a homeless veteran, they demand I turn off the camera–in fact, as you can see, forcing me to. They then put me in handcuffs for detainment, sat me on the curb, and ran my info from my veterans ID.

During all this, I’m surrounded by the cops. I lecture them on their wrong doings, even saying, “Whose streets?…OUR STREETS!” Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to record it, but that’s what happened…this time. I have many more stories (videos) I am saving for the documentary…. Thanks for watching.

See more stories photos and video links at #ICM3 – http://independentcitizenmedia.weebly.com

Another cop too fond of touching his gun at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pakcvjC6VoE#t=0

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