What do I do with this video?

August 5, 2015 12:02 PM

Yesterday I recorded a man being arrested in NYC. What do I do now?

After work yesterday, I saw a man being arrested (for, in my opinion, yelling at a cop in a police car and not apologizing for it). I stopped and recorded it. I got what I think is his name, and I thought his wife's name (whom he said works at a local media organization). I tried calling there, but she was not in their directory. I tried calling 311 to find information about his arrest, but they had no record of it. What else should I do?

Side question: someone wearing an FDNY t-shirt ran up while the cop was holding this guy's arm, and turned him around to be more-easily hand cuffed. Is that legal? I was under the impression that only police officers are allowed to physically restrain people.

posted by Phredward to Law & Government (15 answers total)

Why do you want to do something? What is your goal?
posted by something something at 12:07 PM on August 5, 2015 [11 favorites]

Poke around on copwatchnyc.org for contact info and see if they have any suggestions?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 12:08 PM on August 5, 2015

Honestly, for the privacy of the person detained I think you delete the footage and forget about it. If you witnessed nothing that would call into question the legitimacy of the arrest or the conduct of the involved parties, anything you might do has the potential of further embarrassing the arreestee or making the arresting officer (whom you've not described as doing anything untoward) the subject of unwarranted scrutiny. From the information presented here, I say just nuke it and move on.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 12:09 PM on August 5, 2015 [5 favorites]

Contact the New York affiliate of the ACLU. They'll know what's best to do with the footage, if anything.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:09 PM on August 5, 2015 [10 favorites]

Why would you do anything about this? It seems like a kind of weird thing to even have recorded it unless you think there was something egregiously wrong with the arrest.

If you do have a problem with the way the police acted, maybe try tracking down the arresting officer by badge, name, car number?

But honestly, forgetting about it and moving on with your life seems like the best course of action here.
posted by yogalemon at 12:10 PM on August 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

It's great that you recorded this. All sorts of things happen when people get arrested, and video evidence is very valuable if something does happen.

In this case, however, it doesn't sound like anything egregious did happen. So, you either delete the video footage, or you keep in file in case something comes up in the future that makes it relevant.
posted by alms at 12:13 PM on August 5, 2015

The FDNY t-shirt guy was very likely a plainclothes cop. But yeah, not sure why you'd want to do anything with the footage. You don't suggest there was anything especially wrong going on here, other than that you believe the person was arrested for a minor reason. Seems like a fairly standard arrest, from what you say, and the guy might have just gotten a desk appearance ticket or something. Sounds like there's really nothing to see here.
posted by holborne at 12:15 PM on August 5, 2015

From your question, it sounds as though the guy wanted you to record the interaction but you have no way of getting in touch with him? Why not shoot an email over to CopWatch? If he gets out of jail, he might conceivably check in there, for one thing.

Good on you, though - you certainly have the right reflexes. I'm not always very good at it, and I think it's easy to assume that once you start observing cops it's going to be non-stop excitement and Obvious Social Justice Issues, when it actually seems to be about creating a climate where the cops know they're being observed and that deters them from violence in the first place.
posted by Frowner at 12:24 PM on August 5, 2015 [9 favorites]

Mod note: Folks, please focus on the question asked and not on the "you should have/shouldn't have recorded this" angle.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:29 PM on August 5, 2015 [6 favorites]

NYCLU has an app that's designed to record and report police stops. They're the best people to contact if you witness something that seems off.
posted by three_red_balloons at 12:35 PM on August 5, 2015 [5 favorites]

If you can't give it to the person involved and let them make a decision, you can't do anything ethical with this video.
posted by oceanjesse at 12:47 PM on August 5, 2015

Being arrested for yelling at a cop and not a apologizing doesn't sound to me like being arrested for a minor reason--it sounds like an illegal arrest. At a minimum, I would encourage you to preserve the footage until you can determine whether the arrestee wants a copy, or would like it publicly posted.

If you called 311 immediately after the incident, it would be worth calling again, as it can take several hours to process an arrest. If I understand nyc.gov correctly, it might be as much as 48 hours before the information is available there.
posted by layceepee at 12:48 PM on August 5, 2015 [14 favorites]

Yeah, arresting someone for exercising the first amendment is not a thing that is legal. Email copwatch, they're probably the most available step you can take. If it's something that needs steam, the ACLU can be pinged later.
posted by rhizome at 1:35 PM on August 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

It is entirely possible the person was arrested for outstanding warrants, by the way.
posted by davidmsc at 7:11 AM on August 7, 2015

The officer would have no reason to ask for the person's ID if they were only exercising the first amendment, even in "stop and identify" states.
posted by rhizome at 10:05 AM on August 7, 2015