As a New York City native, I ride the train often. Sometimes I feel uneasy when there's a sketchy person in the station, the train is nearly empty or when a vagrant asks me for money. But, to feel unsafe when cops show up?
That takes some serious business.
Recall the BART shooting that took place in Oakland, Calif., at a rail station on New Year's Day. Oscar Grant, a young black man, was shot in the back and killed by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle.
You've likely seen at least one of the videos available on YouTube, portraying the shooting with Grant lying facedown on the ground, one cop with his knee to Grant's back, and Mehserle allegedly shooting him dead in the back.
Now Johannes Mehserle is on trial, pleading not guilty to the murder charges. Hopefully, some justice will be served.
When I saw the multiple videos online, I was shocked and appalled. I found myself more and more interested in the shooting, and eventually came upon www.carlosmiller.com, a Web site dedicated to photographers' rights.
The Web site posed a very interesting question-do the police have the right to confiscate your camera?
To my undoubtedly limited knowledge of photography rules, people on private property or government buildings have every right to tell you not to take pictures.
Apart from that, I'm pretty sure it's free reign, as the First Amendment declares the freedom of the press amongst other things. So what's the deal with the BART cops confiscating people's cameras and cellular phones during and after the shooting?
What, exactly, is going on here? Without photography and video, recent history would be a gray area rather than a definitive set of events. We would have to take it at someone's word-and we all know how much that means nowadays.
Imagine if the most famous photo of the Vietnam War, capturing a South Vietnamese general seconds before executing a Viet Cong officer, was destroyed before it could be published. We would then have no idea just how brutal the Vietnam War really was-at least not on such a personal level.
Cops can take the names and addresses of people and even subpoena recording items, but they cannot confiscate them on the spot. Policemen cannot confiscate cameras or media without some sort of court documentation, according to the Web site.
If nothing else, the videos confiscated by the BART police that day could have potentially been used as evidence in court.
Maybe there was one video that showed everything in crystal clear audio and video.
Mehserle could have been incriminated or acquitted based on one video that the authorities don't have. Now the jury has to make a decision based on verbal testimony. Will we ever know the truth? Survey says, doubtful.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
