Woman Photographs Cop Kicking Handcuffed Man Lying On Ground, Cop Seizes Her Camera, Deletes Evidence, Arrests Her & Files Charges Against Her: Lawsuit

Chris | InformationLiberation
Oct. 09, 2011

An Atlanta cop went against the police's own stated policy prohibiting cops from interfering with citizens filming police in order to steal a woman's camera and delete the evidence she got of him kicking a handcuffed man lying on the ground, according to a recently filed lawsuit. The cop did not stop there, according to the suit, he then decided to arrest the woman and file charges against her "for having no driver's license," "walking in a roadway," and "disorderly conduct."

AJC.com reports:

A former Atlanta woman filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the Atlanta Police Department, contending an officer illegally seized her camera after she took pictures of officers kicking a man who was handcuffed and lying on the ground.

The suit said Felecia Anderson, 24, was living in the West End on Oct. 14, 2009, when she saw APD officers raiding her neighbor's home. When she also saw officers kicking and dragging a man, she went home and got her camera.

As Anderson filmed the incident from the sidewalk, officers ordered her to stop, threatening to arrest her, the suit said. Anderson complied and began walking back to her house.

One of the officers came up behind Anderson and demanded that she turn over her camera, and he seized it when a startled Anderson dropped it on the ground, the lawsuit said.

The officer, identified in the lawsuit as Jeffrey Branum, then deleted close-up photos Anderson had taken of the incident, and Anderson's neighbors witnessed him doing it, the suit said. Officers then placed Anderson under arrest for having no driver's license, walking in a roadway and disorderly conduct. Those charges are still pending against Anderson, who now lives in New York.

The brazenness of police officers to file charges against people trying to hold them accountable for their actions is absolutely stunning. They know there is almost no way they will be held accountable for their actions, so they try to ruin your life with false charges which you're put through hell being forced to defend. Of course, the cops are never charged with filing false charges, an explicit crime which normal citizens are regularly jailed for, they're above the laws they enforce against us plebs. So long as police are a compulsory monopoly devoid of market competition, it's safe to assume the quality of their "service" will diminish and the cost will go up.