Pixiq

Now that the election is over, I can return to documenting violations against photographers, which of course, will continue to happen under the new administration.

pennstateriot1

The most recent incident involves the arrest of a Penn State journalism student who was photographing a riot that broke out after a college football game between Penn State and Ohio State on October 25.

Michael Felletter, 20, who snapped the accompanying photo, was charged with failure to disperse and the old reliable, disorderly conduct, which I will continue to assert is nothing but a standby that police use when they can’t think of an actual law that was broken.

From Penn State’s Daily Collegian newspaper:

According to the criminal complaint, State College Police Officer Nick Argiro saw Felletter taking photographs and told him to leave the area at about midnight. About 20 minutes later, Argiro saw Felletter taking photographs of officers attempting to arrest a subject, and Argiro again ordered Felletter to leave, police said.

About 20 minutes later, Argiro saw Felletter and took his driver’s license from him, police said.

Another officer later told Argiro he saw Felletter taking photographs and also told him twice to leave the area, police said. Police said they told Felletter he “was causing the crowd to become more exhuberant [sic], excited, and destructive.”

Fortunately, it appears that the Daily Collegian will fight the charges against Felletter.