Pixiq

It’s great that the sheriff actually knows the legalities of video in public. Yay for that! It’s still a shame he feels so homophobic that he says it fine to taze a clearly unarmed naked man causing him to faceplant in the asphalt. They keep lowering the bar as to when it’s okay to taze people. “He might be sweaty” is all we need now?

Carlos, thanks for adding the article about Sheriff McMahon’s response in this case. The video of him speaking should be forwarded to law enforcement organizations all over the country. This is an email I sent to the Sheriff:

Dear Sir,

I am a photographer who is very concerned about the positions taken by many law enforcement organizations in this country that have taken adversarial positions against photographers. In many cases photographers have been assaulted, arrested, jailed and bullied by officers or departments who do not understand or support the law or the constitution. I congratulate you on the public position you have expressed in support of the rights of photographers. You are a man among men and you have my deepest respect. Thank you!

Congratulations to the sheriff for taking the proper corrective steps. (It was funny seeing the deputy arguing with the videographer, while right behind the deputy was a whole row of people recording the scene.

I do take issue with the idea that the deputy had “no choice” but to either taze or tackle the streaker. By stopping him, it created a spectacle, and more people saw this naked guy in the street than if he’d just booked it on down the block and around the corner.

Maybe he needs to check into how the Portsmouth NH police handled a pair of streakers in a May 17 incident this year.

URL doesn’t seem to work, try this:

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=62a82098-a9b8-4719-aa5...

wow – a great cop. Seems to be one of the few who became a cop for the right reasons.

Now that’s a good cop…

WOW! Whatta breath of fresh air!!

Please post an email address so we all can let this guy know how much we appreciate him.

The email address for Sheriff McMahon listed on the county’s web site is: emcmahon@nhcgov.com. Please let me know if anyone finds that the address is incorrect.

My email to Sheriff McMahon: “As a photographer, and as a U.S. citizen, I want to thank you for your mature and professional response to a recent incident where one of your deputies tried to intimidate a videographer on a public street. You probably know we are experiencing a serious outbreak of such behavior all across the country. Your way of handling the situation is a real breath of fresh air and is deep appreciated by photographers everywhere. “

I reread it three times and still missed that typo!!

Here is Sheriff McMahon’s reply to my email (above):

Tom,

Thanks for the email and the positive comments. It’s never hard when
you do the right thing.

Thanks again,

Sheriff Ed

Sheriff Ed McMahon
New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office
3950 Juvenile Center Road
Castle Hayne, NC 28429

(910) 798-4206 Office
(910) 798-4212 Fax
emcmahon@nhcgov.com

Boy he sure hit the nail on the head, whatta great cop!

I’m sure some will take issue that the sheriff defended the deputy who tazed the naked man, but I’ll let him slide on that one because I wouldn’t want to struggle with a naked man either.

Correct, in noting that someone will “take issue” with it.

What you need to understand is that tasering someone is a form of torture. Being slightly uncomfortable with touching someone who is naked does not give the cop an excuse to torture him. Torture is never acceptable under any circumstances (and I’m still dismayed that I have to remind people of that).

“What you need to understand is that tasering someone is a form of torture.”

Horse feathers.

On another forum discussion of this story, someone pointed out the “in the old days” they would have subdued the streaker with a billy club.

Or simply shot him, if they thought there was real danger of him injuring someone.

Ouch.

Good on Sheriff McMahon.

If only more officers could be so reasonable.
Michaelk42´s last blog ..LAPD learned nothing from Patrick Pogan, I guess

Homophobic? Because he doesn’t want to tackle a random sweaty, drunk, possibly diseased man who’s ignoring requests from the police? I think it’s reasonable.

Kudos Sheriff Mcmahon.

1. Not falling in behind the blue line and thoughlessly defending a fellow cop who was clearly wrong.
2. Calmly explaining to the photogarpher that he and others should stay out of the way, and
3. ‘counseling’ his mistaken officer.

As said above, this officer is a breath of fresh air.

I know that this gonna happen.