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

Posted by EditorDavid on from the entering-into-evidence dept.

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.

22 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Lucky for you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

    "STOP RESISTING!"

  2. Do not talk to the police. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    1. Re:Do not talk to the police. by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

    2. Re:Do not talk to the police. by ChrisMaple · · Score: 5, Informative

      It appears that it has indeed been invalidated.
      https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201310/why-zimbardo-s-prison-experiment-isn-t-in-my-textbook

      Summary: the players knew the expected results and acted to achieve them.

      --
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    3. Re:Do not talk to the police. by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

  3. Excessively Punitive by mentil · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    1. Re:Excessively Punitive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:Excessively Punitive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    3. Re:Excessively Punitive by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Police or those in related positions (working at a PD) are often excluded from juries for various reasons. Some of it is because they may be too intimately knowledgeable about police procedures, but mostly it's because they will be biased. However it's not necessarily because they will be biased to believe police testimony, but because they're often the most dubious of that testimony.

      I was on a jury once, and we had one guy that absolutely assumed the guy was guilty precisely because he was arrested. 11 other jurors kept trying to explain to him that the evidence didn't hold up, but he didn't want to believe it. The next day he went to the judge and somehow got himself excused, so an alternate juror was called. Scary that people of that sort are out there and get onto juries.

    4. Re:Excessively Punitive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      8 years ago I fought a B.S. resisting arrest charge from some Long Island NY office who'll never make Sgt. for good reason. After the slightest of a tap of the vehicle in front of me in slow moving traffic, I had an extremely angry driver who called the cops. The 1st young officer was doing everything right getting our information, then a 2nd police car with lights and siren blasting screeches onto the scene like some scene from the Dukes of Hazzard tv show. He gets out, points at me yelling, "Stay in your car!!!"
      "This is different.", I said to myself. 2nd cop talks with the other driver & young-cop, comes to me as I'm leaning on my car and says to me, "You're under arrest for assault!" I tell him, "That's his word against mine, I never touched him!" He grabs my wrist and forces my arm down to the 6 O'clock position. I keep an eye lock on him and, just because I was mad at the obvious wrongness bring my arm back up to the 12 O'clock position. He pulls a practiced maneuver on me by twisting my arm and 'walks me forward' while I instinctively try to keep my knees from buckling. I fall onto my stomach, he comes down with his knee full force onto my lower back while yelling, "STOP RESISTING! STOP RESISTING!" I yell back, "I'm not resisting and you know it! STOP OVER-ACTING!!!" "But, I can't get the cuffs on!" "JUST DO IT!" I tell him. Got released in the morning on an ROR by the judge. Told my public attorney, "There's no plea deal on this one. Either the D.A. drops all charges or I want my trial." 11 months of going to court every month until the trials, first was the resisting arrest charge. My lawyer had read a synopsis of my account of what happened and after the cop testified that I was holding onto a fence while kicking at him, she got him to admit that he never actually witnessed any assault. Some conferences between lawyers and judge happen, and 2 weeks later charges were dropped. The 2nd trial from the driver happened and I explained my side of the story which included a few disposable camera pics of the scene which showed an unkempt, angry plaintiff, found not guilty, and I'm done with it all. The D.A. originally wanted me to plea out to a deal that included 3 years probation. A cop friend of mine told me how I should have, "Sue that asshole!" cop, I told him, "I don't sue cops." After a year my back stopped aching.

      That cop smoothly lied and committed perjury so easily, fortunately for me the judge was firm but fair. After I did a fist pump when the "Not Guilty" words came from his mouth, we joked a bit about how my Public Defender and I had a running joke between us after she got the resisting arrest charge dealt with. I told the judge, "Ms. N***r here, she's my Matlock!" I'm blond haired/blue eyed, the whitest white looking guy in a white power structer life in NY, and I know that if I was darker skinned I might've had to take the D.A.'s deal. But damn, if the cop lied so easily on the stand he'd done that for a long time with other arrests. I feel so bad for all darker skinned than I people who get railroaded by immoral police. I've worked on 'good cops' homes here on this island, but if this ever happens to me again you can be damned sure I'll sue for all I can get, won't get fooled again. (Rant over now, I'm glad that I got this experience out of me here, thanks all for reading through my story.)

    5. Re: Excessively Punitive by Reverend+Green · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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?

    6. Re: Excessively Punitive by Reverend+Green · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

    7. Re:Excessively Punitive by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      I read TFA and it's actually bullshit as far as I can see. The guy's prosecution was dropped at the last moment, but he doesn't know why. He speculates that it's because of the recording, but he doesn't know.

      The claim that the police are facing investigation is speculative too. There is no evidence of that. He says he plans to sue them to recover costs.

      Unfortunately the police usually do get away with this kind of thing in the UK. They are pretty much untouchable. Even when there is video of then murdering people they avoid conviction.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:Excessively Punitive by twosat · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There was a case in New Zealand a few years ago where the evidence of two policeman was contradicted by the video recorded by the camera on a taser gun.

      https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-new...

      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/...

    9. Re: Excessively Punitive by Jesus+H+Rolle · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

  4. HTF by Frank+Burly · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

  5. Re:1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual. by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Does anyone here know if English law works that way?

    This is one of those times it is important to distinguish between Britain, England and, in this case Scotland.

    This happened in Scotland and Scotland has a different legal system. You need to ask if Scottish law works that way.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  6. Re:1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual. by Richard_at_work · · Score: 4, Informative

    Plea deals are almost unheard of in the UK - there are rare cases where they are handled, but usually it's an odd case to begin with.

    Anyone convicted using witness statements from these officers can apply to have their conviction overturned at a Court of Appeal, and the appeals court will examine their case and either dismiss the appeal, or overturn the conviction - if overturned, it goes back to the Crown Prosecution Service, who can bring another prosecution or not.

  7. Re:1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual. by ChrisMaple · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  8. Whenever you have the opportunity, record! by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Always record incidents, public or private authority notwithstanding. The Dao dragging incident would have been quietly covered up had it not been for all those nearby passengers snapping away with phonecams.

    If you encounter a ban on recording incidents, record more. Today's tech makes it easier to record surreptitiously than ever before. If there is a threat of officially forced deletion, get your footage onto social media as quickly as possible. Some camera apps have an option to automatically mirror to your Dropbox account.

  9. Re:Great Britain. Ftfy by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Informative

    When correcting someone, it's suggested to make absolutely sure you're right. Otherwise you look like not only an asshole, but also a fool.

    I agree. You do look like a foolish asshole:
    "Since the Union with England Act 1707, Scotland has shared a legislature with England and Wales. Scotland retained a fundamentally different legal system from that south of the border, "
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    not from England, which no longer existed as a country by 1707

    "England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom."
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  10. Re:The Left thinks Only Police Should have Weapons by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

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