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Carlos Miller is "Shining a Light on First Amendment, Media and Police Issues." His blog is a compendium of police vs. camera wielding citizens, his own experience made him a crusader.
"My name is Carlos Miller and I am a Miami multimedia journalist with more than ten years of professional experience who was arrested by Miami police after photographing them against their wishes.
The incident occurred on February 20th, 2007 just after 7 p.m. at Biscayne Blvd and 67th Street. The five officers were standing inside a construction zone that was closed off to traffic because of an ongoing road construction project. I was standing inside the same construction zone, about a half-block from the officers.
When the officers spotted me, they ordered me to keep walking as this was a “private matter”. When I reminded them that this was “public road”, the officers abandoned the investigation to deal with me.
After one of them escorted me across the street, they ordered me to continue walking away from the scene of the investigation. When I refused and continued to take their photo, they tackled me and bashed my head against the pavement, breaking a $400 camera flash and threatening to shoot me with a taser gun.
I ended up spending 16 hours in the county jail on nine misdemeanor counts, the main charge being that I was standing in the middle of the street taking photos obstructing traffic.
However, if you look at the picture I took seconds before they arrested me, the one in the header of this blog, you can the street behind the officers.
I pleaded not guilty and after 16 months of delays, cancellations and false starts, I finally went to trial. After two days, the jury found me not guilty of disobeying a police officer and not guilty of disorderly conduct. However, they found me guilty of resisting arresting without violence.
After three years, all charges have now been dropped"
The Christian Science Monitor has a pretty good article on the subject of cops and the First Amendment.
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