Washington Man Arrested for Video Recording SWAT Team from Public Sidewalk

by Carlos Miller
PINAC
Aug. 12, 2013

A Washington man was arrested for video recording police from a public sidewalk after they had raided his neighbor’s home Saturday.

He was charged with obstruction, although as you can see in the video below, all he was doing was interviewing his neighbor about having a gun pointed at her six-month-old daughter.

A militarized cop then walked up to him and told him he was not allowed to record him without his permission as you can see in the video above, which we all know is false – especially considering the cop was the one who walked up to him (but that doesn’t even make a difference).

The man, who goes by 509rifas and lives in Yakima County, posted the videos and story and an open carry forum. Hopefully, we’ll get more details, including the police agency involved.

Here is his story:

So I heard a commotion outside, turns out SWAT was raiding my neighbors house again. Heard a flashbang then walked down to film it. I was there for a while, maybe 20 minutes with no problems.

Then I started talking to a young woman who asked me if I had it on camera when they pointed guns at her infant.

A sgt approached and told me not to film and whatnot, and I actually turned the camera off, turned it around to show him, and THEN he arrested me for obstruction.

He noticed my smaller camera and assumed it was on, and then arrested me. The arrest isn’t actually recorded, what let up to it up to the point I stopped recording is.

As they brought me over to the SWAT van he said something on the radio about “grabbed this guy… recording” and I’m fairly certain I heard back “stop him!.” I’ll find out for sure when I get the PRA records. But if that was what was said, that steps it up to another level.

As it stands right now, I am facing criminal charges of obstruction a law enforcement officer, and have court next week.

Carlos Miller runs the website Photography is Not a Crime