Police assault woman with cellphone

If you film the police in Austin, Texas, or anywhere else for that matter, should you have to be 50 feet away? Also, should everyone be 50, or even 60 feet away, or just those filming the police? Can other bystanders be closer? Also, if the filming is at a crowded event with a lot of people, is a rule requiring 50 feet distance for those who film police, reasonable in the least? The Austin Police Department, after the latest arrest of an individual named Anthony Bueheler, for filming them, is thinking about making this rule.

Back in January, Mr. Bueheler filmed what seems to be unnecessary use of force on the part of an Austin cop. The cop obviously didn't like Bueheler filming from at least 25 feet away. Frankly, I don't think that cop would have liked him filming from 250 feet away. Mr. Bueheler was dragged to the ground. Amazingly, he still faces charges even with video showing the illegal arrest by the officer.

Indeed, while he is facing these charges he cannot even view the internal affairs investigation report on the actions of the officers, so so much for due process and discovery. By the way, police in the U.S. do an excellent job of hiding and censoring information so the public cannot view it, especially when officers are accused of civil rights violations.

So, because of Mr. Bueheler's expression of his First Amendment rights, Austin Police seem to be trying to regulate freedom of the press and speech out Austin city limits. Finally, is this rule of 50 to 60 feet distance, proposed by the APD, in order to ensure that the quality of video and audio is poor by the filmers? They would never admit to it, but I think it might be.

You by the way can polite contact the Austin Police Department and ask them to drop the criminal charges, especially for the January arrest, of Mr. Bueheler. Also, ask them to ensure that the First Amendment isn't suspended by this arbitrary 50 foot filming rule.

Lastly, in Los Angeles, a woman who was stopped by police for talking on a cell phone while driving. After being pulled over, she got out of her car and started arguing with an officer. Immediately she was body slammed by him. She was then bodyslammed again after being handcuffed.

Luckily for her, there was a security cam video by a local business. If there wasn't, this woman might have faced years in prison. If this video was captured by a local photographer though, he would have been arrested also, with his video erased. That has literally happened dozens, if not hundreds of times around the country by police.

Now, her name was released, but why not the cops? Why do cops who do violence, not have their names released? What are they afraid of? Criminal suspects names are released. Heck, being arrested for prostitution means your name is not only released but splashed on a newspaper. Why is our government protecting rotten cops, in L.A. and throughout the nation? What are they afraid of, exactly?