Charges Dropped In PA Video Taping Arrest

Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed has reversed himself completely over the charges against Brian Kelly, arrested for wiretapping after videotaping a police stop. Now let's see if they are good enough to compensate Kelly for the 26 hours he spent in jail and the anguish of the cloud over his future caused by a felony arrest. From the article: "... [DA] Freed said his decision will affect not only Brian Kelly, 18, but also will establish a policy for police departments countywide. 'When police are audio- and video-recording traffic stops with notice to the subjects, similar actions by citizens, even if done in secret, will not result in criminal charges,' Freed said yesterday. 'The law itself might need to be revised.'"

Comments

Re:Cloud over his future caused by a felony arrest

[pytheron]

I can agree with your point 100%. Here in the UK, after being involved in a car crash, in which I was a passenger, the police attended the scene. Since the car my friend was driving was in the process of having the ownership details transferred by the legendary slow DVLA, the police checked up on us to see if there were any warrants out for us.
When it came to check my record, I had none. I'm almost 30, and up until that day, I had never been arrested for anything. I had a bank card in my name, some photo membership etc.. and the police even phoned my landlord to verify my identity, which when verified, his shoulders visibly sagged. After all this, I was arrested. Why ? "We don't believe you are who you say you are, Sir." Great. So I end up sitting in a cell for 5 hours, get my DNA taken, all after a head-on crash which left me nicely bruised and hurting. Eventually, a jovial sergeant came to the cell "You can go now." with a smile. Thanks a f*****g lot.
To have the fact that I was arrested used against me in any way is just plain wrong. Companies should not be allowed to discriminate on information that provides no indication of wrong-doing.