NYPD Cop Arrests Man for Photographing Police Station from Public Sidewalk

by Carlos Miller
PINAC
Jun. 19, 2013

A New York City police officer grabbed a man off a public sidewalk for photographing a police department after the man refused to disclose why he was taking photos.

Randall Thomas told Photography is Not a Crime he was taking photos to prepare for an upcoming trial stemming from a January arrest in which police deleted his footage after he had recorded them making an abusive arrest.

Not that any of that was the cop’s business who harassed him Saturday for taking photos outside the Police Service Area 3 Housing Bureau in Brooklyn.

Thomas was placed in a cell and held for almost an hour before he was released with two citations for disorderly conduct, one for blocking traffic, the other for obscene language – as if that is not protected by the First Amendment.

Regardless, the video Thomas recorded with his smartphone shows he did not block traffic nor use obscene language in his interaction with Officer Soto, which begins at 4:30.

Soto obviously had no idea Thomas was video recording with his handheld smartphone as he was taking photos with his DSLR because he most likely would have deleted the footage considering it proves he is a liar.

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