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April 11, 2013

Cops tell man recording them on his phone that his phone is a weapon. He doesn't stop filming, so they beat and arrest him



San Diego police slapped a cell phone camera out of a man’s hands Saturday, claiming it could be a weapon, before pouncing on him and handcuffing him, lacerating his chin in the process.

Adam Pringle ended up jailed overnight on charges of obstruction because he refused to hand the phone over when the cop ordered him to do so.

But it’s already been established by numerous court cases as well as the U.S. Department of Justice that police do not have the right to take your camera unless it is being used in a commission of a crime.

In this case, Pringle’s only crime was smoking a cigarette on a Mission Beach boardwalk, a violation for which he was already getting cited.

“It is against the law to smoke cigarettes on the boardwalk, so I admit I was breaking the law,” Pringle said in a telephone interview with Photography is Not a Crime Tuesday.

The incident took place at 7 p.m. Saturday evening as Pringle and two buddies were walking on the boardwalk and came across two cops on bicycles who stopped them and started writing Pringle a citation.

Pringle pulled out his Samsung Galaxy smartphone and began recording, which as you can see below, can easily be confused for a weapon – if you find yourself starring in a futuristic science fiction drama.



It all seemed pretty civil until the cop writing the citation told him to stop recording, which Pringle refused to do.

“Phones can be converted into weapons …. look it up online,” the cop told him.

Last month, a South Florida cop confiscated a man’s phone citing the same reason, so maybe this is a new trend.

When Pringle tried to talk sense into the cop, the cop slapped the phone out of his hand where it fell onto the boardwalk and broke apart.

The other cop then pounced on him, slamming him down on the boardwalk where he ended up with a laceration on his chin.

“Blood was everywhere,” Pringle said. “I was laying on my stomach and he had one knee on my back and the other knee on the side of my face.

“They kept telling me ‘to calm down,’ that ‘you’re making this worse for yourself,’ that ‘you have no right to record us.’”

They hauled him up and marched him to the patrol car, telling his two friends that they would be arrested if they chose to follow.

His friends picked up his phone, which was damaged but not to the point where it was unsable, which is why the video survived.

Once out of sight, the officer who tackled him elbowed him to the face.

Because he had several wounds on his body, including his knees, hands and face, an ambulance was called.

An internal affairs officer, Lt. Misty Cedrun, was also called, who spoke to him in the back of the ambulance, but who didn’t seem to think the officers did anything wrong because she allowed the two officers to transport him to jail, even though he told her he fear them.

Unfortunately, Pringle was not provided with their names and it’s difficult to make out the cop’s nametag in the video.

He wasn’t released from jail until 4 a.m. His first hearing will be on May 23 where he hopes to have obtained an attorney. He said he has reached out to the ACLU but hasn’t heard back.

However, this incident is still very fresh and this is a case that is ripe for them.

Pringle said he is an Eagle Scout who is actively involved in his community. He doesn’t mean to be a troublemaker but he is just not afraid to stand up for his rights.

And that obviously makes him a criminal in the eyes of the law.

But because the video survived the assault, we are able to see whom the real criminals are in this matter.

16 comments:

  1. I wish this would happen to me because I would shove a lawsuit up their ass so hard, their mothers would feel it!

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    1. I'd simply go hunting. It would be a better scenario/outcome, and less expensive to me, and the taxpayers.
      You can't really think that the very system that condones this, would give you a fair hearing do you?
      So there are some people who 'win' lawsuits of this type(after months and months of 'hearings' and such). They get some amount of compensation(mostly out-of-court so no 'real' justice can ever be gotten).
      How does that make it a 'win'? Noone gets justice...not you, not me, not anyone else.
      If you're going to file a lawsuit..make the conditions be that you don't want an atronomical amount of money...but make it to where the actual perpetrators (in this case the punk cops)get the brunt of the justice served to them.
      Otherwise, you're just a poor(or rich, however the hearing goes) pitiful, selfish idiot fool who just did the same thing that happened to you, to everyone else.
      Therefore, I should be able to sue you for reckless endangerment.

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  2. because the job of a police officer involves "danger", i am assuming that cops are organ donors, yes? therefore, the cop would be more useful dead than alive, so....get a clue.

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  3. Never ever trust the pigs. They are the bitches of the corrupt Zionist system.

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  4. that's what you get for smoking !!!

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  5. Time and again courts have ruled that citizens are within their rights to videotape police provided they're not interfering.

    This is a powertripping cop. How quickly they turn violent. Broke his phone, pinned him on the ground, hauled his ass off to jail. I SMELL LAWSUIT. And it would be ideal if it came out of the cop's paycheck.

    HURR DURR MIGHT BE A WEAPON Why would angry citizens try and kill you for writing a TICKET? That's ridiculous.

    The cops, as is often the case, are dead wrong in this instance.

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  6. It would be interesting to see how it goes in court. A weapon?

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  7. I just KNOW the cops have gone out of control!

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  8. Is it a "law," or just some ordinance or code? Where's the implementing regulation?

    Sooner or later, what happened to the French government in 1789 is going to happen to these pig thugs. And not a moment too soon.

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  9. No 'Citizens' witnessing the crime came to Pringle's defense so they deserve the same or worse. The cops involved should have been tazed or beaten into a coma (or worse). Our ADL 'directed' police forces should be disbanded or destroyed by the populace.

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    1. The cops involved should have been tazed or beaten into a coma (or worse).
      i'm not very clever but i can see how you are feeling and where you want to go.....We all hate Bullies! and the truth is these cops were more than likely bullied themselves, but now they have the Power, and everything that moves is fair game. Lack y boys then and lacky boys now!
      wouldn't it be funny if people started making Citizens Arrests on Power tripping assholes like this, turning the tables!!!

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  10. set phazer to stun

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  11. These pigs will pay for their actions, just as all pigs will pay for their actions. One way or the other. The person with the most athority in the land is and should be the law abiding citizen, noone else; especially a no good, dirty, worthless, weak, self ego serving, mommas boy, PIG....

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  12. It is a known fact that the police cannot stop you from filming them or taking photos of them as long as you are not in their way of stopping a crime. I have a feeling there will be a lawsuit about this, or should be.

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  13. are police officers like these a menace to society?

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  14. On 6/28/12 two SDPD came into my workplace due to a false police report filed by a coworker. After approaching me at my cubicle and talking to me for less than 2 minutes, they grabbed both my arms and wrestled a pen and a cellphone out of my hand, causing injury and numbness to one hand for over a month. In the police report, it was written that I was trying to make a call on my phone. I was not making a call and my phone doesn't even have video. When I resisted I was pushed face down over my desk and handcuffed. They had not witnessed me doing anything illegal, inappropriate, or disruptive. They did not ask me screening questions for a 5150 hold, I was not allowed to explain my part of the story. I was jumped violently for no reason other than the lies my coworkers fed them. The resulting extreme panic attack I then had gave them reason to take me to the hospital for a 5150 psych eval. which resulted in 8 days in a locked psych ward at Sharp and months of outpatient therapy for post traumatic stress which I am still suffering. Police are COMPLETELY out of control and trampling our rights. This is Cointelpro style harassment revived form the 1960's which includes workplace mobbing, psychological abuse, and abuse of the mental health system.

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