Hialeah police officer Fritz Janvier vowed the footage of him and fellow officers arresting a man for recording them would never see the light of day.
In fact, he held on to Eric Faden’s phone for two months as “evidence,” even after a Miami-Dade judge dropped the baseless charges against the Florida International University student, the full story which you can read here.
And the only reason he was forced to return the phone was because the same judge issued a court order demanding the return of the phone.
And much to Janvier’s dismay, he and his fellow officers didn’t have the technical skills to access the video to delete it because Faden stubbornly refused to provide them the code that would unlock his phone.
In the days following his case dismissal, Faden approached Janvier asking for his phone back, but the cop demanded proof that the case was dismissed, then refused to look at the documents when Faden attempted to show him.
“He said, ‘you think I’m scared of you?’,” Faden recounted in a phone interview with Photography is Not a CrimeWednesday night.
“He said, ‘if there is anything in that phone that makes us look bad, I would have IT get rid of it in a second.’”
Well, guess what, Fritz.
There is plenty in that phone that makes you and your fellow officers look bad.
And there is plenty of evidence that you wrongfully arrested Faden, even though both videos add up to less than a minute.
Now you’re going to get sued, Fritz. And there is nothing your IT department can do about it.
