The New York Times mentions my blog in an article

February 18, 2009 @ 3:19AM

The New York Times mentions my blog in an article

By Carlos Miller -...

Jim Dwyer, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The New York Times, penned a column about the recent arrest of MTA worker Robert Taylor for photographing trains in a Bronx subway station.

And he mentioned my blog in the process.

In handcuffs, Mr. Taylor was delivered to the Transit District 12 police station, and a warrant check was run. “They were citing 9/11,” said Mr. Taylor, whose encounter was described on a blog by the photographer Carlos Miller.

Dwyer had come across my blog and noticed I had interviewed Taylor, so he emailed me on Tuesday asking for his contact information, which I quickly provided.

He even got the NYPD to admit they had screwed up.

In the case of Mr. Taylor, the “officers misinterpreted the rules concerning photography,” said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. “The Transit Adjudication Board is being notified that summons was issued in error, resulting in its dismissal.”

And he pointed out that Taylor has an extremely strong case against the NYPD for an unlawful arrest.

“The cop wanted my ID, and I showed it to him,” Mr. Taylor said. “He told me I couldn’t take the pictures. I told him that’s not true, that the rules permitted it. He said I was wrong. I said, ‘I’m willing to bet your paycheck.’ ”

Mr. Taylor was right. The officer was enforcing a nonexistent rule. And if recent experience is any guide, one paycheck won’t come close to covering what a wrongful arrest in this kind of case could cost the taxpayers.

Besides his two Pulitzers, Dwyer has published four books and has even “developed a 50 kW photovoltaic panel system for his cooperative apartment building in Manhattan, the first of its kind in New York City,” according to his Wikipedia page.

So it’s refreshing to see that he doesn’t take the usual mainstream media approach of not acknowledging the blogosphere.

Comments

Anonymous

3 years ago

Congratulations Carlos. Your blog is getting more and more recognition. You deserve it for the hard work you’ve done for it.

Anonymous

3 years ago

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your blog is getting the recognition it deserves. Whatever.

I’m getting real tired of reading again and again about the police abusing civil rights and almost never reading about the resolution in these cases. The most recent example is Duane Kerzic’s utter silence on the outcome of his lawsuit against Amtrak. Instead of standing firm on ethics and principle, he seems to have caved in to a financial windfall.

The ONLY way this is going to stop is when the courts force police departments across the country to train their officers on how to deal with public photography. Another outcome might be a full-page spread in local newspapers detailing the public’s right to photograph anything they want without fear of police reprisals. Couldn’t either of these suggestions be included in a court decision or settlement? Why must everyone’s reaction to a payoff be, “Oh, you’re going to pay me how much? That will be fine. You can trample my rights all day long for that amount!”

Sick of it.

Anonymous

3 years ago

PDBreske,

Resolution in these cases take a very long time, as I can assert having gone on two years in my case.

This, of course, is part of the prosecutor’s legal strategy to wear the defendant out.

There have been many resolutions on the stories I’ve written with the judge usually throwing the case out or the prosecutor dropping the charges.

If Kerzic did receive a settlement, that is a victory because it hits Amtrak where it hurts the most, in their wallet.

And in his case, Amtrak has taken measures to outline their policies regarding photographers because they really don’t want to continue dishing money out.

And the fact that this latest incident was written about in the NY Times is a huge step because they normally ignore these incidents, including the Amtrak incident, which happened in their backyard.

And maybe by continuing to document these incidents, somebody with the money and power might just pay for that full-spread ad.

Changes never come overnight.

Anonymous

3 years ago

I totally do agree with that PDBreske.
Which is why Carlos’s blog is so important. Most of the people in this country, and others as well don’t know of the problem. People need to get outraged, and Carlos’s hard work is leading to that. The financial gain of many of the cases is annoying, and I really wish someone would get cases like these to the Supreme Court for them to rule clearly that indeed, Photography is Not a Crime.
OK that was cheesy I know, just couldn’t help it.

Anonymous

3 years ago

and the NYT article gets boingboing’d… congrats carlos, for staying on top of these important issues…

Anonymous

3 years ago

Thanks Scott!

And thanks Douglas!

Here is the Boing-Boing article he is talking about.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/18/nypds-enforcement-of.html

Anonymous

3 years ago

Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo

Anonymous

2 years ago

Great articles & Nice a site

Anonymous

1 year ago

For one, Carlos, I appreciate what you are trying to do. I see nothing wrong with people whose civil rights have been violated taking the money from a confidential settlement and running with it.

Moreover, it is not the time to take this matter too far up the judicial ladder. Suppose the issue, say from Utah, and made it to a liberal Federal Appeals Court . . . and the plaintif wins. Utah’d probably appeal the decision and I am not sure that this Supreme Court we’d want the issue to land in.