So I heard a commotion outside, turns out SWAT was raiding my neighbors house again. Heard a flashbang then walked down to film it. I was there for a while, maybe 20 minutes with no problems. Then I started talking to a young woman who asked me if I had it on camera when they pointed guns at her infant.
A sgt approached and told me not to film and whatnot, and I actually turned the camera off, turned it around to show him, and THEN he arrested me for obstruction. He noticed my smaller camera and assumed it was on, and then arrested me. The arrest isn’t actually recorded, what let up to it up to the point I stopped recording is.
As they brought me over to the SWAT van he said something on the radio about “grabbed this guy… recording” and I’m fairly certain I heard back “stop him!.” I’ll find out for sure when I get the PRA records. But if that was what was said, that steps it up to another level.
I also found out that they had gone around and threatened a number of other people with arrest if they recorded.
I was handcuffed and told “you are under arrest for obstruction, and taken to hang out with the other gentlemen who were in the house for a while. It may have been around 30 minutes, but time is always screwy when you’re in cuffs. I wasn’t patted down until they were about to take the cuffs off; I’d taken my gun off right before I left my house as I didn’t think it wise to bring.
As far as I know no one was taken to jail, even the guy they had the warrant for and they found what they were looking for.
As it stands right now, I am facing criminal charges of obstruction a law enforcement officer, and have court next week.
Here’s two videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykklc4HIlNw