Teen Arrested After Videotaping Police Confrontation

Sarah Wallace
7Online.com
Sep. 28, 2012

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NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- There's a question of constitutional rights that's increasingly being raised around the country.

The family of a New Jersey teenager is suing a local police department claiming officers arrested the boy simply because he was videotaping a confrontation with cops.

15-year-old Austin DeCaro never imagined his habit of taking his camcorder everywhere would come in so handy on an evening several months ago.

"He got out of a car and said, 'All of you get on the curb,' and none of us knew what to do, so I flipped on my camera," said Austin DeCaro, a teenage videographer, "I saw this random guy telling us to sit on the curb and I didn't know if he was a cop or not. I decided I should record it."

DeCaro and a couple of friends had been crossing a park in Hanover Township, New Jersey, just after dusk.

They say they had no idea there was a park curfew, a black car drove up, and a cop in plainclothes confronted them.

"I gave him my name and he realized I had a camera and he said, 'turn that off.'" DeCaro said.

"Turn that video camera off right now or it's going to be mine, forever," the officer said on the video.

"Why?" DeCaro is heard asking.

"And I asked why, and he tackled me to the ground, handcuffed me, threw my camera, and arrested me," DeCaro said.