The first cop that walked up to Robert Weiler acknowledged that he wasn’t committing a crime by video recording in a parking lot, but he still needed to see his identification anyway.
This after he first snapped a photo of Weiler with his own camera, who apparently was protesting against abortion holding up a sign with a picture of a bloodied fetus last June.
Berwyn Heights police officer James Ignowski insisted he needed to run his name for warrants “because you’re recording all the events that are happening here.”
Moments later, Prince George’s County police corporal Allen strode up, provided his name and badge number, then proceeded to assault Weiler with Ignowski joining in.
Weiler was charged with disorderly conduct and 2nd degree assault on a law enforcement officer and goes to trial September 23, according to his Youtube description of the video he posted Monday.
**UPDATE:** Weiler was apparently standing in front of an abortion clinic in the video, which makes sense considering the sign he was holding. And in 2006, he was sentenced to five years in prison for plotting to bomb an abortion clinic.
But if the cops knew who he was, then why would they be so insistent on seeing his identification?
According to a 2006 [__Baltimore Sun__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/0612190145_1_weiler-pipe-bomb-abortion-clinic) article:
> A Prince George’s County man who was so upset by the idea of terminating pregnancies that he plotted to blow up a Maryland abortion clinic and shoot people inside received a five-year prison sentence yesterday in federal court.
> The proceeding in U.S. District Court here marked the end of the case for Robert F. Weiler Jr., 26, of Forestville, whose erratic behavior so alarmed his parents that they tipped off authorities this summer.
> “We must continue to act quickly against anyone who plots to murder doctors or bomb abortion clinics,” Rod J. Rosenstein, the Maryland U.S. attorney, said in a statement.
> According to his attorney, Weiler has suffered from a long history of illness, including childhood cancer. At age 4, he needed to be forcibly restrained to undergo chemotherapy and, in the process, lost one of his kidneys.
> That experience led to post-traumatic stress, said his attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Michael CitaraManis. Weiler also has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity and bipolar disorders.
> The prosecutor in the case and Weiler’s attorney jointly recommended the five-year prison sentence to Judge Deborah K. Chasanow. Weiler had pleaded guilty to possessing a pipe bomb, being a felon in possession of a firearm and attempting to destroy or damage an abortion clinic.
> “This is extremely dangerous behavior,” Chasanow said before imposing the recommended sentence.
