Prosecution of UK News Photographer Collapses After Recording Disproves Police Testimony (wordpress.com)

Slashdot reader Andy Smith writes: Slashdot reported last September how I was arrested while standing in a field near a road accident, as I photographed the scene for a newspaper. I was initially given a police warning for "obstruction", but the warning was then cancelled and I was prosecuted for resisting arrest and breach of the peace. These are serious charges and I was facing a prison sentence. Fortunately we had one very strong piece of evidence: A recording of my arrest. Not only did the recording prove that two police officers' testimony was false, but it caught one of them boasting about how he had conspired with a prosecutor to arrest and prosecute me. Yesterday the case was dropped, and now the two police officers and the prosecutor face a criminal investigation.

Comments

Lucky for you...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you were in the US instead of the UK, you may well be dead right now.

"STOP RESISTING!"

Do not talk to the police.

[Anonymous Coward]

That badge does not make them good people, but it does give them significant power over you.

Re:Do not talk to the police.

[b0s0z0ku]

The badge often makes them worse people. Look at the Stanford Prison Experiment... power and order-following corrupt.

Re:Do not talk to the police.

[Applehu Akbar]

Papers published in the Journal of Internet Manufactured Outrage are not falsifiable, cannot be retracted, and echo back and forth through blogs until the end of time. The Stanford experiment and the Wakefield anti-vax paper are examples.

Excessively Punitive

[mentil]

Resisting Arrest should be a fine, and Breaching the Peace is a catch-all law that should be used for e.g. putting a drunk in a cell overnight. Neither should have prison sentences attached.

Re:Excessively Punitive

[Anonymous Coward]

None of those points address the fundamental issue: the testimony of police is believed without corroborating evidence. If that guy didn't have video evidence to prove his innocence, he would be in prison right now, on nothing but the testimony of two corrupt cops.

Re:Excessively Punitive

[Anonymous Coward]

A police officer caught giving false testimony should be put in prison for the remainder of his life.

Re: Excessively Punitive

[Reverend Green]

Law enforcers lie all day every day. It's their culture, and the kangaroo courts encourage it.

OF COURSE I would believe a random Joe before I believe a law enforcer. Who wouldn't?

Re: Excessively Punitive

[Reverend Green]

Random internet yahoos are random. One doesn't know what to expect. Whereas with law enforcers, one expects duplicity.

Re: Excessively Punitive

[Jesus H Rolle]

When cops lie under oath, you must acquit. Even for murder and child porn, sadly. There can be no justice without truth.

HTF

[Frank Burly]

How does this guy keep getting /. articles based on his uncorroborated, self-published, vaguely overwrought blog posts?

Dude, can you post the video that saved your hide?

The charging documents?

Can you have someone from the union release a statement on what they accomplished?

It sounds like you pissed off an asshole cop, and the prosecutor looked at the evidence and decided to drop the case. It's too bad you had to go through that, but is there a tech angle that I am missing?

Re:1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual.

[ChrisMaple]

Not everyone lies under oath.

It does immediately cast doubt on all other convictions in which these officials were involved, and in those cases the convictions should be re-examined and (if appropriate) further action taken.

Re:The Left thinks Only Police Should have Weapons

[Actually, I do RTFA]

And it's a good thing only the police had weapons in this situation. The photographer went through the legal process and won. If he had started a gun battle, he would have been shot dead and never vindicated.