Saturday, June 25, 2011

Fascism in DC: Two Reporters Arrested For Photographing a Public Meeting

Yesterday, at a DC Taxi Commission meeting, journalist Pete Tucker took a photograph of the proceedings with his camera phone. Tucker was immediately arrested for taking the photo.  Reason TV producer Jim Epstein was also at the meeting, and used his IPhone to videotape Tucker's arrest.  Epstein was then arrested himself for taping Tucker's arrest.

This all happened at a public meeting.  According to Business Insider:
He [Epstein] spent five hours in a basement holding cell, until a Reason.tv attorney posted his bond. He and Tucker are charged with disorderly conduct and unlawful entry and can be sentenced to nine months in jail and $1,250 in fines.
This is strange and disturbing behavior of DC [fascist] cops, arresting journalists for reporting on a public event.  However, in the new America of Barack Obama, anything [bad] appears possible.

I can imagine Tucker's testimony in court:
Tucker:  I'm sorry judge, I didn't know the Constitution had been suspended.
Judge:  Ignorance of the law is no excuse.  Guilty.

Epstein's videotape is embedded below, showing Tucker's arrest.  Read Epstein's account here.

3 comments:

Bartender Cabbie said...

They probably did not want photo evidence of the city about to screw independent businesspeople. As an ex Houston cabbie, I can tell you that a city govt will steal as much as possible from hard working folk.

Anonymous said...

From the video, it looks like the meeting organizers didn't object to the photography, and the cops were the only ones engaged in disorderly conduct. The cops managed to ruin an entire meeting.

I don't understand why they did it. Nor do I understand why the cops aren't charged with disorderly conduct.

Always On Watch said...

DC is a pathetic excuse of self-governance.