photog arrested for shooting voters

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RW_Reagan

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not that kind of shooting!

Freelance Journalist Arrested After Photographing Voting Lines

POSTED: 6:10 am EST November 1, 2004

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A freelance journalist taking pictures of voters waiting outside the Palm Beach County elections headquarters was arrested after ignoring a deputy's orders to stop, sheriff's officials said.

James S. Henry, of Sag Harbor, N.Y., was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence.

Sheriff's Deputy Al Cinque tried to stop Henry as he shot pictures of about 600 people standing in line to vote Sunday afternoon. Henry began running away, but Cinque tackled him, the Palm Beach Post reported.

The deputy pinned Henry, 54, to the ground, yelling for him to stop moving, then punched him in the back. Cinque handcuffed Henry's left arm, pulled him to his feet and punched him again as Henry tried to hand him identification cards, according to the paper.

But sheriff's office spokesman Paul Miller said Monday that Henry "tripped over his own feet" as he ran away. He was heading toward the building's front door, and the deputy "has to use whatever reasonable force is necessary under the circumstances," Miller said.

Miller said the deputy had asked Henry to move to another area to snap pictures.

"His actions were compromising the elections process and intimidating people that were attempting to wait to vote," Miller said. "He was in their faces."

Assistant Palm Beach County Attorney Leon St. John said Cinque was enforcing new rules, enacted Friday by elections chief Theresa LePore, that prohibit reporters from talking with or photographing voters waiting outside polling stations.

The restrictions were prompted by "numerous complaints by voters about being photographed and interviewed," St. John said.

Other reporters, who witnessed the arrest, had not been aware of the new restrictions. Miller said he did not know of other journalists being stopped.

Henry, who is also an attorney and the managing director of strategy consulting firm Sag Harbor Group, is working on a book about "electoral democracy," according to his Web site.

He was being held on $500 bond.

http://www.local6.com/news/3878057/detail.html
 
. . . new rules, enacted Friday by elections chief Theresa LePore, that prohibit reporters from talking with or photographing voters . . .
I can see how some rules can be enacted inside a polling place, or within a boundary as defined by statute.

Maybe.

But some unelected bureaucrat's RULES mean squat outside of that narrowly-defined boundary.

The story as written raises more questions than it answers.
 
More JBT-style tactics here. Soem cops have no business being cops. Yeah, yeah, two sides to the story and all but what need is there to tackle a guy just because he won't stop taking pics. This country is doomed and we're too stupid to even notice. I am surprised there was no mention of the word 'terrorist' in the article. I'm sure the MO of most terrorists is to photograph the crowd before detonating their bomb belt. :rolleyes:

Greg
 
I don't know the details, but I think that it is an intrusion to photograph and interview people waiting to vote.
Celebs have to put up with such stuff, but the average citizen does not. I am with the cops on this one.

The media and photographers think that they have a right to do anything they please, and it is time that they were educated.

Jerry
 
Well, since the voting was occuring on public property (Palm Beach County elections headquarters), I don't see a problem with a person taking photos of people.

Of course things change if the photographer was interfering with people who were there to attemt to try to get in line so that they might be able to vote, maybe.;)

I'm curious as to what the restrictions were for the press.
 
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