The radio crew played a clip on radio this morning showing a woman being arrested while she was taping police officers doing a traffic stop. Were they abusing their power or were the officers within their rights?
Watch the clip below to see what Glenn saw before giving his reaction:
According to The Blaze, “It should be noted that the officer does cite some things that the woman allegedly said before she started recording as part of the reason he felt unsafe. In his words, the woman seemed ‘very anti-police.’”
The Blaze also notes that she has a history of conflict with police and was previously arrested trying to block a home from foreclosure.
The guys were torn on whether or not the police officer was right to arrest her. While Stu felt that he was justified as police officers need to be able to control the situation around the, Pat felt that the woman was being reasonable and didn’t seem to be presenting a danger.
“ First of all, it's pitch black at night. You can't see what she's doing. At any point she could be a threat. She's standing five feet away from an ongoing police action,” Stu countered.
Glenn said that this should be judged by someone who has all the facts, but its clearly not illegal to videotape police officers.
Glenn even brought in Joe, his right hand and counsel, for his input.
“ Joe, do the police have a right to tell you, you cannot videotape on your own property?” Glenn asked.
“Yes and no. I mean, they afford the law protects them to make judgments for themselves and if the police officers feel that the situation is becoming unsafe because someone is videotaping them, they have the right to say stop,” Joe said.
“I will never second guess a police officer when they feel unsafe. I don't second guess them when they've discharged their weapons. I let it go through the system. You're not the one standing there in danger. You're not the one who has to put a Kevlar vest on every day,” Glenn said.
“With that being said, the first thing you say to protect yourself in a legal world today correct me if I'm wrong, counselor is I feel unsafe. I feel threatened here. You say that immediately because if it's being if it's on tape, you automatically get a whole new range of leeway, correct?”
“You're exactly right and so when the police officers comes out and says, look, I feel threatened or I feel unsafe, he's basically triggering his range of options now. So he's elevated it from this threat level to this level and he has more leeway then to act,” Joe explained.
“And just to be fair here, she's doing the same thing. She keeps saying over and over again about, she keeps stating her rights over and over again, she keeps saying I'm on my own property. It doesn't appear that she is at the beginning. She knows all of her rights as a protestor. She knows all of her rights as you know, I'm adding this context because I think it's important. This is from the MSNBC story: I Team 10 has learned she's no stranger to police. She was arrested in March with a group of others who tried to block a home on Ravenwood avenue from foreclosure. She's seemingly a professional protestor,” Stu said.
Glenn said that while he always would side with a police officer, he does have concerns about this type of action leading to a slippery slope.
“Although I will say this, you know. Apart from the slippery slope that this seems to be, I'd be pissed off if a cop is telling me to get off my own lawn and telling me to go in my house,” Pat said.
“Now let's add six months or a year to the timeline of pensions and unions and civil unrest. And let's now see exactly what we're brewing here. We've got to be very clear on what rights you have. I am a huge supporter of the police. I will stand with my local police every step of the way, as long as they stand with the Constitution. And I they have. I have no problem with any of the activity that has happened so far, but the star field is rolling the other way,” Glenn said.
