The Crime of Photography: Rewarded!

Amateur photographer Bogdan Mohora was jailed in Seattle last year when he snapped a few photos of police officers arresting a man.

Mohora was released after an hour and reportedly told that he could have been charged with disturbing the peace or provoking a riot. 

"Being arrested for simply being a witness to police activity was frightening and humiliating," Mohora wrote in a claim he later filed against the city. "It bothers me to think that police can abuse their authority by arresting innocent witnesses.”

(Photo Bogdan Mohora was arrested for taking)

The American Civil Liberties Union intervened on Mohora's behalf, and the police Office of Public Accountability investigated the officers' actions and found that they acted inappropriately. The city's claim department agreed to pay Mohora an $8,000 settlement this month. (via the Seattle Times)
—Kathleen Davis
Assistant Editor

Comments

[Tom]

Who knew kidnapping, perjury, false arrest and imprisonment, and the myriad other crimes that these police committed were only worth an $8000 damage settlement?

Maybe the next time a policemans family is kidnapped the offender will also be treated just as leniently. You think?

[anonymous coward]

why do the victims keep settling? i really don't get it.

[Jerry]

Unless you have money you can't win. Which is a shame, if you can't photograph police who have the power to ruin lives, there is something wrong.

[Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka]

Good luck to Bogdan Mohora, Photography is NOT a crime.

Keep on snapping!!

Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka

[Nick]

The reason the victims keep settling is that it is very difficult to get a criminal or civil case to against police to stick. Qualified immunity means that unless the police officers knew they were violating the his constitutional rights they are immune to prosecution ( and civil damages unless I'm mistaken. ) Due to the difference the courts show police officers, it can be better to be ignorant in these kinds of cases. It is still possible to go after the police department as a whole, but that too is very difficult.

[Thebes]

Settling for 8 grand, imho, was way too low. Even in an out of court settlement he should have gotten at least 50k. He was arrested, handcuffed, had his property and liberty taken soley because some thugs with badges were afraid he might obtain evidence of their own wrong doing. That those same thugs are still with the police department is unconscionable.

[Terry]

A University police officer approached me in December of last year while I was photographing (from a distance) vandalism that had been done to an army recruiting display on campus. The police officer demanded that I stop taking photos and leave the area even though a local news camera crew was also on-scene.

I placed my camera in video mode and recorded the encounter. The video and a writeup of the incident is available at:

http://checkpointusa.org/blog/index.php/2007/12/12/p74

[Fascist Nation]

In Arizona the Supreme Court recommends $25,000 for a false arrest where the subject is jailed. Of course they will try to give you as little as possible, make the process as burdensome and prolonged as possible. It is a bitch to get legal help. It is a bitch to get a supeana served on cops. In no small part because cops IDs and addresses are protected (yours aren't) so it is difficult for a process server to track them down.

[Darren Pollard]

The police have no right to harass someone for taking pictures or filming them. This happens to me quite regular. I have four cases against the police. Type my name, Darren Pollard, into Youtube to watch the police try to stop me filming them!

[Thomas]

"why do the victims keep settling? i really don't get it."

The victims in this case are the taxpayers footing the $8k.