In a chaotic video out of Maryland, a horde of cops were struggling to arrest two suspects in the middle of a road for unknown reasons when an officer storms up to the videographer standing on the side of the road and tells him, “get out of my face.”
The videographer asserts his rights to record, so a police sergeant then storms up to him and starts shoving him, telling him to “get the hell out of here” and “leave” and accusing him of “diverting my attention” from piling on the two suspects who were not resisting – even though there were countless other people standing around watching, none of them, however, holding a camera.
The videographer starts walking away, but keeps pointing out that he had not broken any law, which prompts the sergeant to storm up to him again and say the following:
“Look at me, do you see the police presence here? Do you see us all. We’re not fucking around, do you understand? Do not, do not disrespect us. Do not, not listen to us. Walk away and shut your fucking mouth or you’re going to jail. Do you understand.”
The sergeant walks away and the videographer asks if he had committed a crime, prompting the sergeant to walk back to him, grab him arm and twist it behind his back.
“Don’t open your mouth,” the cop barks.
“I thought I had freedom of speech,” the videographer responds.
“You don’t, you just lost it,” the cop says.
Call the following number to remind the sergeant that, yes, we do have freedom of speech, and it includes the right to petition the government for redress of grievances – especially when he can clearly see he singled out a single citizen from a crowd, solely on the basis that he was recording police activity in public.
UPDATE: At first, it was believed the sergeant from the Towson University Police Department, but now it appears as if he is from the Baltimore County Police Department, which can be reached at (410) 887-2361.