Waukesha Police Officer Stalks Videographer
Walking up Arcadian St. in Waukesha I saw 2 cop cars. I filmed one going through the intersection. She drove by and I decided to film the other. Once he saw me with the camera he stopped cold in the gas station parking lot and starred me down for several minutes. He then adjusted his dash cam to fixate on me. I stood there for a bit and decided to approach this man with most likely, multiple guns, starring me down. I walked down to the crosswalk and the cop pulled out. I got a profile picture of him though he refused to look at me at close range.
The reason I film police is to protect myself and others. Waukesha police have a recent history of beating a 51 year old man with no record trying to comfort his daughter after a bad accident. After repeated requests for the video from the prosecution and defense, the police destroyed the 2 videos. They assure us it was a legit beating but a civil lawsuit is pending. They charged the beating victim but the judge dismissed it after seeing that the Waukesha police bosses and others accessed/showed the 2 videos at least 20 times then deleted them. She stated the custodian of those records acted in, “bad faith” insinuating a coverup.
My concern is that the first amendment to the Constitution is the first for a reason. What I mean is that it isn’t the 5th, the 18th, or even the 21st. Gathering information on government then disseminating it is the core right in this society and that in itself is substantial. People understood 240 years ago that the government will grow and will attempt to repress the natural rights of humans.
With the relative ease of reaching a wide audience with video, citizens now have the ability, and in many cases, the determination to expose the many injustices and violations of rights that occur on a regular basis within the police community. The fact that currently my state to the south threatens to imprison a middle aged man for life for simply recording the actions of police is certainly relevant.
Although my camera which I wear around my neck everywhere I go doesn’t properly capture the look on this cop’s face, the look on my wife’s face told me she was thoroughly fearful. We’re homeowners and have never been convicted of any crimes. We should suffer no more scrutiny by filming police than a child riding her bike. That is not the case in Waukesha WI, though we will try to change that.
-WaukeshaCopWatch
InjusticeEverywhere.com Police Misconduct – The government doesn’t track police misconduct but this site does.
Freekeene.com – Liberty Activism (videos) at it’s best
