An individual who wishes to remain anonymous was visiting a family member at a mental health facility in Queens, New York on April 25th, 2018.
While he sat in the waiting area, he could overhear an exam that was occurring in an adjoining room.
According to this individual, it was determined the young man was not a threat to himself or to others. After being examined, the young man wanted to leave the facility.
At that point, although the young man was not under arrest, security guards at the facility took it upon themselves to make a determination that the young man required treatment and was not free to leave.
In the video, one of the three guards at that scene could be seen and heard asking staff at the facility if someone was going to come out and take the young man inside as it was apparent that the staff at this facility had no interest in this young man.
The young man could be heard telling the three security guards that he did not want to speak with doctors despite their insistence that he talk to them.
The photographer began recording as things escalated.
At one point, the young man sits down and the anonymous photographer interjected on behalf of the young man, stating that there was no court order holding the young man and that the young man was not under arrest.
The young man was audibly and visibly appreciative of the man photographing the encounter and offering support. That is when one of the three guards took it upon himself to seize the cellphone that was recording the incident.
In the video, the young man can be seen standing to object to the guard interfering with the documenting of the event.
According to the photographer, the guard stopped the recording and the young man attempted to run out of the facility but was tackled to the ground by four guards.
It is unclear what fate the young man suffered as the photographer was then forced outside of the facility as guards retained his cellphone.
The photographer states he was made to wait a half hour outside before guards came out to inform him that they were going to search his phone, but were waiting on a superior to arrive.
The photographer informed these guards that he charged $5,000.00 per minute for the rental of his cellphone and that he was willing to hire an attorney to collect that fee.
After being informed of the fee, the guards stated they would return the cellphone only if the photographer agreed to delete the recordings, which the photographer agreed to do.
However, those recordings were sent to a deleted folder where they were easily returned to the photo library.
Corruption and utter incompetence still rules the day, and the war on photography is still ongoing.