Man Arrested After Photographing Executive Office Building In D.C.

December 8, 2011 @ 10:44PM

Man Arrested After Photographing Executive Office Building In D.C.

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A man was arrested after photographing the Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington D.C. Sunday.

David Hill ended up being charged with trespassing after he crossed into a restricted area through an opening in the fence.

He spent 24 hours in jail, which is a little overkill considering all they had to do was cite him.

Especially considering the charge against him was dismissed the following morning.

He planned to give the photo to his 85-year-old father, who had spent 40 years working the Dwight Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which houses White House staff and is connected to the White House by a tunnel.

It is not open to the public, according to the Visiting D.C.

According to WJLA:

"I wanted to get a better shot and there was a temporary bicycle fence that had an opening," Hill said.

He moved the fence and walked past to take some pictures. That's when two secret servicemen approached him.

"They wanted to see the pictures on my camera and I showed them," he said. "They wanted to know what made me so special to be in this restricted area. I apologized and said I did not know it was a restricted area."

Hill's wife, Colleen, walked up later to find her husband in handcuffs and being searched by police.

Washington D.C. currently has a law in its books that allows police to arrest photographers who remain in a single area for more than five minutes. The National Press Photographers Association is trying to get them to change that law.

Please send stories, tips and videos to carlosmiller@magiccitymedia.com

Comments

the Bulldog

5 months ago

geezus...

Rich

5 months ago

He trespassed and moved a fence to enter on property connected to the white house. The charges were dismissed. IF a police officer entered your fenced property without a warrant. would you expect him to be charged? I believe most of the readers would not only want him charged they would demand he be fired, jailed. He had no right to move a fence. They let him go. End of story, Justice happened.

Ryan French

5 months ago

Police officers enter fenced properties all the time without warrants. Never heard of a police officer facing a trespassing charge.

Inside is a different story.

vince from NJ

5 months ago

Rich, your analogy is off but I agree with your point. He knew he was messing with the White House. They take this crap seriously. He tresspassed, he got caught, he spent the night in jail.

Elliott

5 months ago

Apparently not very serious, sounds like he put forth very little effort to get where he was found. If he had scaled a fence, broken a lock, something involving actual damage I might be worried..

And where there conspicuous signs saying it was restricted?

Altogether I understand their concern but legally I think they really had no case so it was unlikely to go to trial anyway.

Johnny Law

5 months ago

Seriously? You need a sign saying that a fence surrounding the Executive Office Building is a restricted area?

Frank

5 months ago

Seriously. In my state I still need to post NO TRESPASSING signs to be able to charge someone with trespassing, fence or no fence.

JLTurner

5 months ago

Inconceivable but what eles can you expect from the folks that brought us S 1867.

fluid ambient

5 months ago

This is not related to photography as his arrest has to do with trespassing onto the property.

Ryan French

5 months ago

It does when they ask for your pictures and jail you for a charge most people get a citation for.

Tijuana Joe

5 months ago

I notice there are fewer blatant "You can't
photograph me, I'm a cop" arrests (eg Emily Good, Graber)lately and more grey-area arrests or Occupier-vs-photographer kerfuffles...maybe the Police are finally understanding the 1st Amendment. After all, it's not that difficult.
Also, the stigma of getting branded as a thug, for the whole world to see, can't be much fun.

notliberal

5 months ago

Lets see. The guy knowingly trespassed, at the White House compound (I was a WH photographer from 1995-2000 and know exactly where he trespassed) and got arrested FOR BREAKING THE LAW?

Shocking. What a story. Man arrested for breaking law.

The title is also very misleading. He was arrested after photographing the building, but that insinuates that this was his crime. His crime was trespassing and he'd likely have been arrested for it whether he had a camera or not.

Notliberal

notliberal

5 months ago

Oh, and had this been during Bush's term, I'd imagine Carlos would have mentioned something per Cheney (exec office) or Bush being culpable.

Now that Obama is in, it's simply the Secret Service's "fault" for arresting a trespasser.