Recording your own traffic stop - a felony?

[Jayhawk]

Story link

Last Wednesday, Anthony Graber spent the night in jail after he was formally charged and booked for illegally recording police during a traffic stop last month.

The official charge is "wiretapping" and carries up to five years in prison. Graber was served a warrant earlier this month but was not arrested because of health issues. He reported to Maryland State Police last week as he was told and was formally booked.

You can watch the video at the upper right of the story link.

So, you have your own video camera running, cop makes a traffic stop (heavy-handed, or not). You post the video. Then, you're booked for a felony once the PD discovers the video. Allegedly, in Maryland you can't take video of someone else without their knowing.

What do you think? Fair?

 

[gamorg02]

wowwwwwwwww... what ever happened to CYA?

 

[FREERIDER]

UNFAIR.
Thats ********, we cant cover our own ***'s with video but the cops can? Its ****** out there.

 

[Thevmaxrider]

What a complete crock of BS!! If someone were to cut me off, jump out of their car, pull a gun..... well that would be as far as they got cause my front wheel would be hitting them in the groin as I ran his *** over! It would be different if the following had occured:

1) the car was a marked police car
2) car was an unmarked car, but had lights & sirens
3) officer would have had a VISIBLE form of identification (ie a Police vest on)


My question is why pull the gun in the first place? Understand that police don't want a high speed chase, especially with a bike which takes away most of their ability to stop you unless they cause you to wipe out, but pulling a gun seems very excessive.

Of course this is a moot point because I never speed:whistlin:

 

[ghostntheshell]

Well, on that note: everyone plays by the same rules.

Why shouldn't the cops be protected by the same laws you are?

I am all for cya, and I bet there are some jerk cops out there - but if that's the law then that's the law, no matter who it's protecting.

It's kind like Canadas charter of rights and freedoms... it usually protects criminals, and does nothing for victims.

We have a case here in Toronto with some allegedly dirty drug cops. There matter took too long to go before the courts, and the charter argument 11 (b) was made - which ensures you are brought to trial in a timely fashion.

The cops got off on the same thing that criminals have been getting away scott free on since the 80's - and suddenly it's viewed as unfair. In fact the public thought it was so unfair, the matter was appealed and they are now proceeding with the trial.

YES, I want to see the cops punished IF they are dirty.

But at the same time, it was a clear case of the cops rights as Canadians not being honoured, as they do every skid, murderer, rapist, thief in Canada.

I do think we should hold law enforcement to higher standard, and have their jobs on the line when they become criminals, but at the same time, they are Canadian citizens too - and deserve the same rights as every Canadian.



This isn't what we were talking about is it?


Anyway, just a slightly different view.



****I know nothing of the case being discussed, I am just commenting on the comments ***

 

[FREERIDER]

OH HELL NO. I remember this. That ******* cop had no right to pull that fire arm. Im not sure of what I would have done but I dont take plain clothed officers who try to butt in lightly. Ive had a run in or two with off duty cops who thought they would be a hero to just end up getting told to **** off and get the **** away from me before I shove his badge up his ***. The plain clothed hero knew damn well he was being recorded with the BIG CAMERA on the riders helmet.

The sight of that pistol is would have been enough for me to take off. Defense being I was scared for my life. With the video of the guy getting out of the car drawing a gun without a badge in hand is enough to justify fleeing for ones life. A good excuse to run like hell and then when you see the cops stop and tell em some guy is trying to kill you. You gotta turn the tables on them.

 

[Thevmaxrider]

Well, on that note: everyone plays by the same rules.

Why shouldn't the cops be protected by the same laws you are?

I am all for cya, and I bet there are some jerk cops out there - but if that's the law then that's the law, no matter who it's protecting.

It's kind like Canadas charter of rights and freedoms... it usually protects criminals, and does nothing for victims.

We have a case here in Toronto with some allegedly dirty drug cops. There matter took too long to go before the courts, and the charter argument 11 (b) was made - which ensures you are brought to trial in a timely fashion.

The cops got off on the same thing that criminals have been getting away scott free on since the 80's - and suddenly it's viewed as unfair. In fact the public thought it was so unfair, the matter was appealed and they are now proceeding with the trial.

YES, I want to see the cops punished IF they are dirty.

But at the same time, it was a clear case of the cops rights as Canadians not being honoured, as they do every skid, murderer, rapist, thief in Canada.

I do think we should hold law enforcement to higher standard, and have their jobs on the line when they become criminals, but at the same time, they are Canadian citizens too - and deserve the same rights as every Canadian.



This isn't what we were talking about is it?


Anyway, just a slightly different view.

Completely understand what you are saying. I think that the issue here is that the officer got caught on film behaving in a manner that was inappropriate and once that video got out the Police decided to charge the individual. I can almost bet that had the rider reached for his helmet to turn off the camera he would have gotten a 9mm penetration to the chest and been blamed for threatening the officer. The officer was way out of line here and got caught on film, otherwise this would have been ignored by the police and everyone else. All the guy has to do is say he was going to market the video and then his 1st Amendment Rights would kick in as Freedom of the Press.......

 

[FREERIDER]

I meant "NO right to pull that fire arm".

 

[gamorg02]

i fixed it for u.

 

[dannymax]

I seriously doubt an 'undercover' cop is gonna jeopardize his cover by making a routine traffic stop.....especially when there's a marked unit in such close proximity!

I'm betting this is an 'off-duty' officer in his POV and Graber's stunting simply pissed him off! Whether I'm right or wrong is really moot tho....the officer was totally wrong to be heading the rider off and jumping out with a gun drawn, I'd a been scared shitless!! And scared shitless piople do very unpredictable things!

A few years ago an officer in an unmarked car attempted to pull over a woman....she freaked, not knowing who it was and ran. The officer took off after her, she crashed and was killed...young mother with a family!

Same thing could easily have happened in this case!

 

[KJShover]

That **** happened up here a while back, a truck sped off spinning its tires and a off-duty University Cop wearing his bike uniform took off after him in his POV, 6 miles later in a populated subdivision pulled his gun on the guy.

The guy sped off, the off duty bubba opened fire on the truck stating it was going to hit him.

Now being ex LEO and privy to the investigative process. It waas interesting to find out that the bullets entered the back of the truck and not the front. Meaning the threat of getting run over had passed now why was the University cop still shooting randomly in a residential area?

Myself and several other cops were suprised that not only there wasn't any disciplinary action against him, and he was allowed to keep his job.

 

[Dr.n2o]

No need to draw the piece. Draw the badge and hit the kill switch on the bike. He already had him boxed in.....the problem is that cops see rice burners jackin' wheelies all the time and 99% of the time they can't do **** about it. This guy had the opportunity to grab him on the off ramp and did. However, I don't feel the gun was necessary for some power ranger on a crotch rocket blowin off a little steam.

 

[ghostntheshell]

I watched the video. pro's / Con's of the video.

CONS:

1.) The gun wasn't nessesary. Badge out instead of gun would have made more sense.

2.) OFF duty / No marked car/ Uniform. How the heck is the guy supposed to know what's going on?

3.) Video tape charge. Not gonna go far in court.

PRO's:

1.) The guy was driving like a turd, popping wheelies on the freeway. Deserved a ticket.

2.) The gun wasn't pointed at him, and was put away after he was sure he wasn't gonna run him over.

3.) The Marked police cruiser behind (which they show at the end) was kind of a give away of what was really going down.


CONCLUSION:

1.) The charge for videotaping? I don't think it will go to far in court. Weak.

2.) Was the gun nessessary? Nope. Badge would have made more sense.

3.) Could this have gone badly? Oh yes.

4.) I think the motorcyclist knew what was happening, but had dang good video evidence to support a "possible" situation where he was being accosted / robbed, and thus posting to garner support for his side.


Bottom line:

Cop shouldn't have pulled gun.

Motorcycle got served.

 

[RaWarrior]

You can tell the plainclothes guy was just pissed and trying to show everyone how big his nuts were by pulling a gun over a speeding/reckless driving ticket. I'm sure he saw the wheelie/speeding, got on the PB radio and called a marked car in, then set up the trap on the exit ramp.The second I saw the gun I would have hi-tailed it out of there.

The cop was way out of line, plain and simple. The camera was obvious as hell and if the LEO says he didn't see it, he might not be physically fit for duty. He didn't ask for the camera to be turned off.

Here's another famous one about recording your own traffic stop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W4FOht4_EQ&feature=related

The aftermath is the ticket and all charges were dropped long before the court date appeared. Every cop car on the road has a dashboard camera, with the officer usually wearing a "wire" mic to record anything you say. I don't remember the officer ever informing me that I was being recorded. More crap where cops don't have to obey the laws they enforce. This guy gives the cop quite the run-around, engaging in like 20 minutes of essentially pointless chit-chat, but he did score one for the common man by exposing BS police "tactics" to write tickets. At least in NY every radar unit is supposed to be calibrated with a tuning fork before every shift, and about 90% of the time that hasn't been done. Should you get a lawyer and go to court, that's the most common "loophole" traffic lawyers use to bust speeding tickets.

 

[Jdk203]

What a bogus charge. That ******** cop deserves to be suspended for pulling a gun over something like that IMO.

 

[RaWarrior]

You can be sure he won't get so much as a stern talking-to at the water cooler, let alone any actual charges. Cops can(and have) gotten away with murder, most of the time it's your word against theirs, and guess who the judge believes. Granted it's a very small percentage of cops who abuse their power and pull crap like that, but they're pretty much invulnerable when it comes to the law. A clever excuse that they felt threatened or thought they saw a gun and they're instantly in the clear. Pisses me off that cops are above the law. I guess that brings up the old adage "who will police the police?"

 

[chainednitromaxx]

cops have become no more than a tax payer pain in the ***. Yes we need them but i feel that they are being driven to bring in much more money with speeding tickets then compared to back in the day.They seem to have nothing better to do then write 5 and 10 mph over tickets to good people in areas where the speed should not be so low to begin with. My father and uncle are both retired cops and they also say there are being made to bring in more revenue from tickets.

 

[RaWarrior]

NY seems to be leading the movement to turn the state troopers into way to milk money out of taxpayers. A friend in the ATF working in NY says that while the "quota" for tickets isn't real per se, "nice guy" cops who just give warnings all the time and don't write at least the average number of tickets get told to step it up, set the radar a little bit lower, give tickets instead of warnings. I have never seen so many cops on I87. Virtually every U-turn now has a cop running radar, and people are getting pulled over for lower speeds. Used to be as long as you weren't over 80 (in a 65), you were fine. I know someone who got busted for a 76 in a 65, so now I keep it under 75. Around town here in Potsdam people are getting tickets for as little as 6 or 7 over, and the "state surcharge" went up again, it's over $100 now, in addition to whatever the actual ticket fine is(which goes to the town). So even a modest "less than 10" ticket will cost you well over $200.

Kinda unfortunate that the cops are being focused on traffic rather than "real" crimes, since traffic brings in money, and crimes cost money. Paterson has run the state bone dry and then some, and he needs any way to milk more cash out of the people to cover his stupid *** legislation.

 

[adolf]

It is totally legal for anyone to record audio and/or video of any traffic stops. Don't let the cops tell you otherwise. The reason why anybody can record audio or video is because there's no expectation of privacy during an enforcement stop. All the info is supposed to be heard in the court of law deciding the outcome of your so called violation. As a citizen you only protect yourself by doing so. Keep in mind, cops suffer from the "I like to lie in court" syndrome.

 

[alexI]

I watched the video. pro's / Con's of the video.

CONS:

1.) The gun wasn't nessesary. Badge out instead of gun would have made more sense.

2.) OFF duty / No marked car/ Uniform. How the heck is the guy supposed to know what's going on?

3.) Video tape charge. Not gonna go far in court.

PRO's:

1.) The guy was driving like a turd, popping wheelies on the freeway. Deserved a ticket.

2.) The gun wasn't pointed at him, and was put away after he was sure he wasn't gonna run him over.

3.) The Marked police cruiser behind (which they show at the end) was kind of a give away of what was really going down.


CONCLUSION:

1.) The charge for videotaping? I don't think it will go to far in court. Weak.

2.) Was the gun nessessary? Nope. Badge would have made more sense.

3.) Could this have gone badly? Oh yes.

4.) I think the motorcyclist knew what was happening, but had dang good video evidence to support a "possible" situation where he was being accosted / robbed, and thus posting to garner support for his side.


Bottom line:

Cop shouldn't have pulled gun.

Motorcycle got served.

I disagree, I feel there aren't two sides to this story. Of course you think the motorcyclist knew what was happening, that was the subliminal message the newstory was trying to pass off on you. They don't show you a full length tape of the situation. They show you what you need to see to believe what they want tot tell you. We don't know how much time passed before the marked car arrived on the scene. And now you never will because you think it's okay to barge into people's houses and steal from them.


It's certainly wrong to pull a firearm on a fellow american if they are just speeding around on a bike...bottom line, don't justify it man, that's totalitarian BS. You know it's totalitarian when it's easily backed up, and easily shot down at the same time. the insanity of it is what allows it to keep going. Cops are turning what used to be fun and games into over the top tactics and egotistical showboating, for the dumbest of things. and they are allowed to video and audio us? come on wake up buddy.

They arm these poor officers to the teeth with all the highest tech stuff and then they dump them in the most boring towns (everywhere, USA) so they wind up making stupid situations into something they aren't. This stuff gets me very frustrated, hear about the poor kid who got tazed for running across a baseball game field? cuz tthe officer was too fat to catch up to him literally 15' away... come on

"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act"