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Was the camera obscured - as it appears to be? In which case I can kinda see the issue they have (i.e. unaware of being filmed). That seems different from most
by ErrantX 16y ago
Was the camera obscured - as it appears to be? In which case I can kinda see the issue they have (i.e. unaware of being filmed). That seems different from most of the other cases where the filming was pretty overt.
Still; it is an extremely bad reaction even so.
The thing that shocked me most was.... he drew his gun. Are things really that bad that a traffic stop requires a drawn weapon? Jesus :(
- Groxx 16y agoedit: danhood found a pic of the camera + helmet, and it fits compared to the video (IMO). Not obscured at all (also IMO). Go give them the points :) ----- original comment below ----- Obscured: probably. It's a helmet-camera, so it's likely small, and may not appear as such at first glance. But still. One's behavior should not change when being recorded, especially not a cop.
- danhood 16y agoI saw an interview with with Mr. Graber on the local news - the camera was in clear view of the officer. A pic of the helmet he was wearing at the time can be found in this article... http://carlosmiller.com/2010/04/16/maryland-motorcyclist-spends-26-hours-in-jail-on-wiretapping-charge-for-filming-cop-with-gun/ http://carlosmiller.com/2010/04/16/maryland-motorcyclist-spe...
- ErrantX 16y agoOh blimey :D ok then I retract that comment!
- stonemetal 16y agoMore police are killed during routine traffic stops than during any other activity in the US. So yes things are sadly that bad. The last time I was pulled over for a traffic violation the officer refused to shake my hand because he needed it free to be able to draw his weapon(or so he claimed).
- moxiemk1 16y agoA statistic I'd be much more interested in seeing would be police fatalities by incident type normalized by the number of incidents I feel like traffic stops are also a disproportionately high number of police actions.
- jbooth 16y agoYes, which means if they do something that seems outrageously silly because it only would matter the 0.0001% of the time they pull over a psycho, they're actually protecting themselves. It's like wearing a helmet -- you do it all the time for the one time you crash.
- Groxx 16y agoYou also tend to show your badge, so you don't appear like just an angry person who cut you off and jumped out of their car with a gun. (have not heard audio for it, it's possible they said something, but it didn't look like it, nor was there really time to say anything of consequence prior to the gun coming out) Depending on the area, yes, go for your gun. But don't lead into a situation with it - I'd be willing to bet it makes things worse, and it certainly comes off as hugely off-scale.
- jbooth 16y agoYeah, I watched the video after posting that comment, and yeah, I agree the way he jumped out with a gun made him look like a crazy stickup man or something. I don't agree with this dude getting prosecuted for releasing the video tape, either -- just saying, it's a dangerous job, and cops aren't perfect but sometimes they're right to be careful.
- zmmmmm 16y agoI think this would be a good distinction that we don't have in our current black and white ("private" or "public") perception of the privacy. It is one thing to be knowingly recorded (even if without consent) and quite another to be secretly recorded. The law doesn't seem to care but there are definitely situations where this distinction is important.