Woman Awarded $1.12M After Being Arrested While Taking Photos Outside a Military Base

http://petapixel.com …os-outside-military-base/

Sorry if this has already been posted. News to me.

terrorist? she's lucky they didn't shoot her.

Got to love the OVER reaction of local police. The city of Baltimore have learned this leasson the hard way a few times.

I am VERY happy to see one of these cases get through the courts with the correct outcome.

The over reach on the part of various enforcement and security personnel being executed against photographers has been way out of hand for over a decade. I am very happy to see some push back, and some success.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #17333925
I am VERY happy to see one of these cases get through the courts with the correct outcome.

The over reach on the part of various enforcement and security personnel being executed against photographers has been way out of hand for over a decade. I am very happy to see some push back, and some success.

Yes. I agree the balance between security responsibilities and citizen rights/freedoms/respon​sibility is worth fighting over so most all of the time both cops and shooters will get it right.

I've several times been questioned by both federal and local officers while shooting near military installations. In every case the encounter was calm, professional and brief. The officers did their work. I accepted responsibility for cooperating with their responsible and pertinent information requests.

To me the 1.2 million court award is what i see as being excessive. What did the police really do that constitutes that kind of money. Let me know because I will go and stand in line for that kind of personal abuse or hurt feelings!

I do agree that the police overreacted, but $1.12M worth of overreaction? Not saying some compensation should be had, 4 days loss of work, maybe some hardship. $10,000 seems a bit excessive but still within reason.

The police and municipalities don't care or take notice when this happens. "Oh yeah we will give you an insane amount of money" but the officer is never even told he was wrong and the city or county dont take a hit, you do. You all do realize that money comes out of your taxes so you are paying this lady for sitting in the poke for 4 days.

I regularly take pictures while ON base and never questioned. I also know what the military minds being photographed and what they could care less about. A static display probably would not have the federal police caring to much but the local police get a lot of federal grant money and always want to make themselves look good to big brother.

Another thing to consider is certain bases are very strict and even have posted no photography signs. Anything to do with training, R&D, intelligence and the like will be like this. I was on a base in the navy that you couldn't have your cellphone out of your pocket except in a few designated areas, and there were places you couldnt have any electronic devices period and they'd body scan you to go in and out of specific buildings (this was in 09 well before airports had them)

gmm213 wrote in post #17352228
I do agree that the police overreacted, but $1.12M worth of overreaction? Not saying some compensation should be had, 4 days loss of work, maybe some hardship. $10,000 seems a bit excessive but still within reason.

The police and municipalities don't care or take notice when this happens. "Oh yeah we will give you an insane amount of money" but the officer is never even told he was wrong and the city or county dont take a hit, you do. You all do realize that money comes out of your taxes so you are paying this lady for sitting in the poke for 4 days.

The award does sound large for just damages, but she did have her personal property stolen by the police and she was improperly detained for four days. I wish more police understood that detention is a serious issue when the charges are bogus. The question isn't how much money this woman lost in income while sitting in jail for four days. The question is, how much do you value your freedom? Would you be imprisoned for a few days for $1M? How about a month? How about a year?

And so from there I will say that I disagree with your supposition that this will not change police behavior. If the woman had been awarded $10,000, the loss in court might have been met (by a small municipal force) with a bit of a shrug. At $1.2M, you can bet there will be a specific meeting for the department officers to review the legal situation and discuss exactly what department policy will be for dealing with photographers. And if the judge really wants to change policy in the department, there will be punitive damages as well. That's what it will take to get the attention of a large city police force. So yes, taxpayer money is what goes to this woman, which is the point. The taxpayers should now be interested to see that their officers take action and fix this in order to not lose judgements in court.

And I will bet other police departments in the state and possibly even other states may review this and issue bulletins to officers clarifying the law and procedure. Police officers are not lawyers and they do not always know the law.

Also just a note on your last paragraph, the woman was not on the military base, she was near it. Posted signs telling people outside the base that they cannot take pictures are meaningless, as those people are out of the control of the base.

JeffreyG wrote in post #17352444
Also just a note on your last paragraph, the woman was not on the military base, she was near it. Posted signs telling people outside the base that they cannot take pictures are meaningless, as those people are out of the control of the base.

This is an important point, and not just with reference to military bases. Some property owners and security guards and so forth believe they can legitimately forbid photography of a property from a public area outside it.

For those of you that feel the amount was unfounded, I would URGE you to watch this documentary (it's been on Netflix)
http://www.thedailybea​st.com …ewers-tort-reformers.html

Watch it with an open mind.

Anyway, if I were put through the indignity of being incarcerated by megalomaniacal out of control system while being completely innocent, you can bet I'd be expecting a sizable compensation. As you mentioned, the officer may not be disciplined, but the system will Notice numerous multi-million lawsuits eventually.

Good for her. She's well within her rights.

I agree the award is a bit high and seems out of line at 1st glance. That said Cyber up there has hit on the crux of the issue. The award is not so much to compensate one for their lost time, at work, or for the indignity of sitting in the clink when there was no reason for it. Its to compensate you for the loss of your reputation that you spend your entire life time building, maintaining, and earning among your peers and with in your community. This incident is a matter of public record and will follow this person around for the rest of their lives. Anytime anyone looks to into their past there is going to be this record staring them in the face, and they are going to question the integrity of this person now.

Even when exonerated, your reputation has been for ever tarnished though NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN, and your reputation among your community and your peers to me is priceless, and worth protecting.

Even still 1+ mill is a bit steep, but this should put some budgetary constraints on this department so its unlikely they will be involved with something like this again............... at least for a little while that is

The $1.2 mil was compensatory damages. She may still get more for punitive damages. Possibly a lot more. Just from reading the linked story, it appears the cop was way out of line. What "terrorist" value is there in taking pics of a static helicopter display? The cop sounds like a moron. But as I said, I've only read this one story. Still, four days in jail and being strip searched for taking pics of a public display is inexcusable. Hopefully the taxpayers who footed the bill will demand the cop be fired.

But this isn't the first time something like this has happened, it actually happens quite regularly. Yet it still happens. So departments and municipalities don't change. It literally has no effect on them operating because it's not like it comes out of there budget.

As for signs pointing outwards saying not to photograph, you should be able to but should is not how government works. Thank the patriot act.

As for 4 days of wrongful imprisonment being worth 1.12 million dollars yes that is insane. I would not expect that account if in was being detained for the wrong reason.

We're the police out of line yes. Does this lady deserve monetary compensation yes. 1.12 million possibly more no. At the expense of the tax payers definitely not.

Look at the police over reactions to them being filmed. Was it out of line. Yes, the supreme court even agreed. What did the departments do? Tell there officers to respect the laws and peoples basic rights, no, they pulled out old wire tapping laws so they could now legally arrest you for filming them.

I'm not saying I don't agree with the lady or the court. Wrongful imprisonment is wrong but the amount is excessive and it will not change anything, it should but it won't.

M_Six wrote in post #17353162
Hopefully the taxpayers who footed the bill will demand the cop be fired.

And hopefully the taxpayers will realize that the plaintiff is the wrong target for their wrath at the waste of their taxes. The officer involved and his managers should be targeted for removal, and I personally would accept nothing less if I lived there.

This is only tangentially related, but in my area a local city sold a piece of property to a developer for a large tract of houses. After the sale, the citizens agitated for a park instead, and then against recommendations from counsel the city council moved to block the development.

The outcome was an $80M judgement against the city, followed by the entire city council being removed in the next election. That is as it should be, taxpayers should exercise their judgement against stupidity. Unfortunately for the taxpayers, they will be paying off bonds for years that the city had to sell to cover the judgement in favor of the developer.