Benjamin Austin
The Supreme Court has ruled that citizens have the Constitutional right to record law enforcement– but that message apparently hasn’t reached Lee County, Florida. While being detained but not under arrest at a traffic stop, a driver started to take cell phone video of the police.
One of the officers took the phone from the citizen– and has given a very odd explanation for confiscating the device. According to an e-mail from the Sheriff, the phone was an “officer safety concern.” Yes, the excuse used by the police is that a cell phone is dangerous.
In a message, the Lee County Sheriff wrote: “It is a well documented fact that cell phones… have in fact proven to be firearms… our Deputies were not comfortable with (the driver) pointing his ‘cell phone’ at them as they tried to work through the situation.
You read that right. A cell phone can magically transform into a gun, according to the police.
But, when asked to clarify, the Sheriff could not name an actual instance when his deputies ever saw a “cellphone gun.” Likewise, the Miami-Dade Police Department says they’ve never seen one.
Even more bizarrely, the officer who took the phone used a completely different excuse. At the time, he claimed he was worried that the driver might call someone to come to the scene. “We don’t need you calling people,” stated the deputy on the video. Of course, it was extremely obvious that the driver was not calling anyone. Even if he was, making a phone call while pulled over and detained is not illegal.
The legal representative of the driver summed up the frustrations nicely. “He wasn’t doing anything to threaten the officer, and he wasn’t doing anything to interfere with their investigation,” he stated.