Phoenix Cop Snatches Camera from Man after Being Photographed Jaywalking

By Carlos Miller
PINAC
Aug. 12, 2013

Raymond Michael had just left a court hearing over his previous arrest for photographing the federal courthouse when he spotted a Phoenix police officer jaywalking, so he snapped a photo.

That resulted in the cop snatching his video camera from him, then pulling out his own camera where he photographed Michael, before handing back the video camera ten minutes later and allowing him to be on his way.

Unfortunately, the cop turned off Michael’s camera, so we are unable to hear what took place during those ten minutes, but Michael says they kept demanding his identification and he kept asking if he was being detained.

“They said you are being detained for taking photos,” Michael said in a telephone interview with Photography is Not a Crime Sunday afternoon.

When he wouldn’t give them his identification, they snapped his photo, apparently to add him to him to their database of suspected camera-wielding terrorists, and returned his camera, allowing him to leave.

The fact that they let him go shows they knew all along they didn’t have enough to arrest him.

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