Amidst all the horror stories of photographers getting harassed by cops, every once in a while you’ll find a gem.
The latest is being reported by War on Photography – our favorite New York based photographer rights website – a train aficionado who never fails to deliver news from the Big Apple’s subways.
A witness reported seeing a Japanese tourist getting harassed by a black male (didn’t mean to make this racial but this is the way it was reported – and it happens to be the trend this month anyway).
The black man started yelling at him, telling him he was not allowed to take photos in the subway system or in Yankee Stadium – where it was recently ruled that you can even take a piss during the National Anthem.
The Japanese tourist asserted his rights. The black man grew “slightly physical” – whatever that means. The Japanese tourist stood his ground.
They argued a bit until the Japanese tourist walked upstairs and found two NYPD officers who were probably white considering their races weren’t mentioned in the original piece on Subchat.
He asked the cops if photography was legal and was shockingly told that it was legal. In fact, the officers even walked downstairs with him and informed the black man that photography was indeed legal.
The Japanese tourist was allowed to continue taking photos.
Even though I have reported plenty of abuses about NYPD, I’ve personally had good experiences with them. But I don’t think I would ever resort to fetching one if somebody was getting in my face about taking pictures in public. I just wouldn’t think it would help my cause.
I hope to see more instances like this.
