The independent journalist, Flux Rostrum, was recently covering a protest outside the Mexican consulate in Manhattan. People were protesting the government’s harsh treatment of the movement in Oaxaca.
While he was recording, the 3 police officers literally stole his camera and the tape inside.
The amazing thing was….everyone was recording what was happening.
So Flux was able to piece together the outrageous theft by the police. It’s pretty incredible.
Watch the video, and read the full story here.
I bet that one policeman had no idea there were so many cameras documenting what he was doing…and that a "crazy mob" could organize to piece together such a powerful document.
Wanting to find out the follow up, I emailed and then called Flux who was at home for the holidays.
The big question I had is this…
Since he has so clearly captured NYC police corruption on tape for all to see…will justice be quick and simple?
Unfortunately, the story isn’t so easy.
Flux got a lawyer, who got the official NYPD response on the incident.
(You ready for this?)
They say the camera was found on the ground and reported lost to them.
All Flux has to do is come to the precinct, show ID, and get the camera.
Flux is unsure if the tape is still in the camera…and this would not do anything to fix the damaged lens.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how Flux and his lawyer can use the video to prove this blatant criminal act by NYPD officers.
The takeway:
It’s sad to see at 30-frames-a-second how people who are supposed to be protecting the public… actually treat the public. Anyone involved in the demonstrations at the 2004 Republican National Convention know that this kind of treatment from the NYPD is par for the course. There is an obvious institutional harassment accepted/promoted within the NYPD towards anyone legally protesting.
It’s great to see how inexpensive digital cameras have now armed each of us to witness reality. And the using the internet…we can spread the info far and wide. We can also archive and organize these pieces of evidence to educate and shape policy. So they can steal one camera….but they can’t steal them all. Here’s a great article detailing another case of how cameras were used in a NYPD harassment cae.
This is shockingly disturbing. This country is heading in dangerous directions. Thanks for posting.
“All Flux has to do is come to the precinct, show ID, and get the camera.”
you left out the part where an officer at the precint informed FluxRostrum’s lawyer in her initial contact with them that if he had come in to claim the property (as he was about to do) that they would have been more than happy to arrest him.
Why? They didn’t say. They hadn’t fabricated that part of the story yet.
They actually expect Flux to go into a Cop Shop where he’s been told they WILL arrest him, present his ID to the Cop that stole the camera from him. Flux should be ID’ing that Cop in a line up, not the other way ’round.
This is just another Protestor Profiling Trick they tryin’ to pull. Steal their property and make them ID themselves to get it back. Clear violations of the 1st & 4th ammendments. SLAM DUNK.
I would love to get more details of the actual case as it unfolds.
We shoudln’t let stories like this die away.
Let’s take it to the end.
thanks for sharing this. we are on the slippery slope now.