Man arrested for videotaping on federal property sues Homeland Security
In a typical show of lies and intimidation, federal officers arrested Antonio Musumeci for videotaping in front of a federal courthouse in Manhattan last November.
Now the 29-year-old man is suing the Department of Homeland Security for false arrest.
Considering he was able to videotape the arrest with a pinhole spy camera – after they confiscated his main camera – he has a strong chance of winning because it shows he was not breaking the law when he was arrested.
He describes the arrest on his blog, Blog of Bile. The video, which is posted above, was shot with what he calls a “gumshoe cam.”
It shows how he was videotaping the arrest of activist Julian Heicklen, whom I wrote about recently in the Philadelphia incident, when a pair of Federal Protective Service officers turned on him.
First they told him that he was not allowed to videotape on federal property.
Then, when he refused to identify himself, they said that he is legally required to do so because he was on federal property.
In other words, the Constitution does not apply on federal property.
He was arrested for supposedly violating the following federal law.
Code of Federal Regulations
Title 41
Subpart C — Conduct on Federal Property
Photographs for News, Advertising or Commercial Purposes
§ 102-74.420 What is the policy concerning photographs for news, advertising or commercial purposes?
Except where security regulations, rules, orders, or directives apply or a Federal court order or rule prohibits it, persons entering in or on Federal property may take photographs of–
(a) Space occupied by a tenant agency for non-commercial purposes only with the permission of the occupying agency concerned;
(b) Space occupied by a tenant agency for commercial purposes only with written permission of an authorized official of the occupying agency concerned; and
(c) Building entrances, lobbies, foyers, corridors, or auditoriums for news purposes.
The officers were trying to convince him that because he was shooting for an independent news site, Free Talk Live, that he was shooting for “commercial purposes” and therefore needed to have written permission.
Clearly, they don’t understand the difference between “editorial” and “commercial.” The law even states that photography is permitted in “building entrances, lobbies, foyers, corridors, or auditoriums for news purposes.”
In fact, the charges against him were eventually dropped. However, the feds have yet to return his memory card to him.
It must kill them to learn that he still managed to get a video of the arrest online. I really need to get me one of those spy cameras.
The New York Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on his behalf on Thursday.
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Comments
Why don’t we just give one of these asshats a big black felt marker and turn him loos in the Bill of Rights?
“I really need to get me one of those spy cameras.”
The real shame is that you need one.
Rusty: Isn’t that exactly what they’ve done?
Pretty much so, JR.
It’s sad that a site like this always manages to have fresh material. It’s worse when most of the incidents are from the US.
Some of your relatively inexpensive hidden options include a video camera/mike in:
Bluetooth earpiece
pen
woman’s broach
man’s tie
fake car remote
cigaret lighter
sunglasses
some of these items can be found at
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A CT State cop stopped me and told me he had me on radar slowing from 55 to 50 as I entered a 45mph consturction zone, then he wrote up a ticket for 65. By coincidence, in CT 20 mph over doubles a ticket, and a construction zone also doubles a ticket. He must have figured one bogus ticket would meet his quota with the multiplier effect. The ticket got tossed, however it made me start looking into something like this.
Carlos, once again I find myself persuaded of three conclusions.
First: I need to quit getting angry and start thinking about rational ways of getting even.
Second: The best way to get even with the nonesense unilaterally imposed by officers such as the ones ‘caught’ in the spycam is by making them personally pay. (Recall that this possibility made Johnny Law sufficiently fearful that he said he’d change his preemptive ways.)
Third: The best means of getting frequent accomplishment of that result is making suing them a cottage industry. Eg, suppose that people who do freelance work (not always the richest folks around) realized they could significantly supplement their income setting up situations where LEOs violated the law. Then they could treat the inconveniences as nothing more than hours spent at work (which would go a long way to make them personally disintersted and not likely to overreact). Maybe they could not always make the LEOs personally responsible. But if their percentage of success rises in extracting money from various agencies, that would eventually have nearly the same result.
Getting that ball rolling needs only a ‘How To’ manual, especially easily done with present technology enabling sharing via the internet. (PINAC ‘s record already does provide some hints as to how to proceed.)
Spy camera, great idea.
The Straw Buyer´s last blog ..Fraud? That’s an understatement, more on the Maria Teresa Lopez story and introducing the "Mortgage Fraud Troll"…
I hope what comes out of the court case amounts to a large settlement and a repeal of that unconstitutional law that they arrested them on.
Uh, that law doesn’t need to be repealed, just followed.
The individual woman is required... a thousand times a day to choose either to accept her appointed role and thereby rescue her good disposition out of the wreckage of her self-respect, or else follow an independent line of behavior and rescue her self-respect out of the wreckage of her good disposition.It is well observed by Rankin.
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Okay, spell this out for me. It was along day. Isn’t Federal property public property?
These have become popular, but like all small pinhole cameras they don’t work well in low lighting, and the audio is adequate but not great.
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Also the cops have started getting wise to them.
I think that distinction is lost on a lot of people. The law is clear enough.
I’m also looking at getting a hidden video camera, probably the pen. They’re not expensive.
How did they not find the hidden camera when they arrested him? It must be one heck of a WELL hidden camera.
Damn! I like the way you think regarding item #3!
If the ACLU (or some similar organization with similar resources) wanted to set up operations of the type you describe, I think I’d sign up in a minute.
The cameras discussed are a little to conspicuous, any links to more easily disguised cameras?
The Straw Buyer´s last blog ..Possibly the most bizarre police report that we’ve ever come across…
I’ve heard of baseball caps with the camera lens in the little button on top. As a matter of fact I looked one up on the I-net a couple of years ago.
The NYCLU filed the lawsuit … that’s a good sign, because they’re choosy about cases they take IMO.
My old friend Joel Kupferman was on the scene – he’s a top-notch NYC attorney, member of the NLG.
This is an important case.
Straight thuggery.
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