EL PASO, Texas — An ABC-7 crew covering a crash on I-10 on Monday unwillingly became part of the story.
Motorists stuck in traffic witnessed veteran journalist Darren Hunt and photojournalist Ric Dupont being handcuffed and detained.
Just after 1:30 p.m., the two arrived to report on a flipped semi-truck on I-10 West near the Sunland Park exit. They parked on the left shoulder of the eastbound lanes of I-10 as witnesses ran toward victims to offer help.
A pregnant woman sat on the side of the freeway, sobbing, and, according to a witness, several men in military fatigues helped pull the driver of the semi-truck out of the cab.
As emergency crews tended to the driver, police Sgt. Raul Ramirez told the ABC-7 crew from across the barrier to leave. Several people and half a dozen cars were also stopped on the eastbound shoulder.
Darren continued to try to get information from the men in fatigues when the situation began to escalate. The sergeant jumped the barrier and told Darren to get in the truck (an ABC-7 news unit) and leave, then held Darren with his hands behind his back to the side of the truck belonging to a witness that was parked on the shoulder.
OBEY! Resistance is futile!
Stop using the term “hero” for every person doing something good. It’s a worn out term.
The media guy should have left because they were creating a hazard. The cop was right to tell them to leave. I’m sure he told others to leave as well.
The media guy did mouth off if you noticed but the cop over reacted which in that line of work is a bad thing.
Always assume you are on video.
Nothing to see here. Mya.
I, too, find it interesting that the arrests were limited to the videographing press and not to all the other bystanders directly in front of and behind the cameraman and reporter.
Posse Comitatus? Yes, the military is barred from performing police duties without congressional approval. I have a strong suspicion that the military personnel present at the accident scene may have mentioned this to the cop and the cop freaked out.
I have little to zero doubt that, in the wake of 9/11 and Katrina, all active duty police officers are briefed on the Posse Comitatus Act. This may not have been an over-reaction but an act of mitigating any video evidence.
Years ago in Milwaukee, police routinely ordered the press to leave the scene of car accidents or crimes. The chief at the time didn’t like the press having their own opinion on anything, as only the police report was considered the truth.
I am a news photographer. I know exactly what happened. The news crew stopped somewhere they should not have stopped, just as did the RESCUERS! There were cars all along the median, all illegally parked. The cop started flexing his AU-THOR-II-TEE, and was happily recorded during his entire tirade. Now everyone can see what fun I have doing my job when a fucked up cop goes ape shit. Shoot the fucking cop.
Boy, did I call it, or did I call it? lol.
People who defend this idiot cop should be ashamed of themselves. The guys were leaving as ordered then he rushes back after he was “offended” by some remark. You saw all you needed to see. There is no back story that has anything to do with this.
I love the comments of this idiot:
“I honestly believe that the incident involving the police officer and crew team could’ve been avoided if the crew team would’ve listened to the officer in the first place. For one, the officer was doing his job of keeping anyone out of harm’s way around the roll over accident . When the reporter said “he can shoot if he wants to…”, was a very childish remark on his behalf, and the officer did take extreme measures in mishandling both the camera man and Mr. Hunt. As citizens, we must just obey the authorities no matter what, news teams and all.”
- David, Lower Valley
It seems that David doesn’t understand the fundamentals of a free society. You cannot have a free society if you “just obey the authorities no matter what.” That’s a police state, not a republic. The police are public servants. They are granted authority by the public. If they abuse said authority, then the authority must be removed from them.
Unfortunately with the laws on the books now, the news crew broke the law, and we no longer have a free society. Most likely charges will not be levied against the news crew, but don’t plan on that if this happens to you.
BAD COP! No donut.
Back in the sixties, some friends of mine used to say the only answer to police brutality is a civilian funeral.
It looks like we are working up to that with our current fascist police presence.
I also cover these things. The crew was in a bad spot but that may have been the only spot. I wonder if the officer issued polite requests to move because they were attracting a crowd and potentially another accident or dead pedestrian and then went off but there was clever editing. I’d like to see the raw tape. In any event, the cop was obviously an a**hole and should be fired for bad attitude and the stupidity of doing it on camera. I’ve seen police officers violate the rights of citizens like this before. It is handled “internally” and usually nothing is done. That said, this guy is not a typical cop. Most we encounter are friendly and professional to us.
Freedom of the press includes the ability of press representatives to go places that the general public might not. For purposes of discovering and revealing stories of public interest.
CLEARLY that cop didn’t read the memos from civics class forward. At no time did he give a REASON for his inflamed action. His attitude was self-evidently “Do what I say and do not DARE to question my saying it.”
Intolerant ass.
Did anyone fail to notice that he wasn’t the only one stopped? First it says in the article that others stopped too. Also, the arrested him against another stopped car. So this should have either been many more arrests for the witnesses and rescuers as well for illegally stopping or something.
The officer was probably pissed at the press for something they did recently and vented his anger incorrectly.
the knee-jerk reaction would be “abusive cops” and “violation of freedom of the press”.
on the other hand, cops are mandated to maintain the public’s safety and that work involves giving a lot of lawful orders; detention can be expected when failing to comply with lawful orders.
keeping an accident site secure and clearing a thoroughfare is part of their job.
Many police cops are just overmuscled armed thugs. They get mad with power.
Same old BS from the PD.
# 47 Commander in Chief
Massachusetts National Guard Supports Boston Marathon
“Guardsmen from the 126th Combat Support Battalion were positioned at the starting line to assist the Hopkinton Police in keeping the race route clear for more than 26,000 runners.”
defense link .mil / news etc.
There seems to be a pattern developing. Not saying it is necessarily bad but it seems to be illegal. If it is what you want you should change the law and goose-step on.
P.S. Maybe you should blog this.
Don’t we all have constitutional rights to freely park our cars anywhere and be pricks? What the hell is happening to our country with these cops that want order? I’m sorry, it’s real clear who was the complete ass hole here. Reporter could have simply drove away as told. The drama queen trying to be on EveryTube was clearly trying to get the story on film like Michael Moore, Katie, etc.. Clearly a democrat who has a history as a student caught smoking in the boys room in high school numerous times always saying to the principal “I’m not doing anything”.
For those who don’t understand it, the Posse Comitatus Act has been largely supplanted by other laws. While still on the books, it is irrelevant. There is nothing illegal, sinister, conspirator, or otherwise about military personnel assisting local authorities.
To those defending the cop, he was clearly out of line. He has no defense as he was only after the news crew even though there were several other witnesses in the vicinity. All his actions were directed to the news crew. That makes his arrest discriminatory and thus illegal.
An illegal arrest is a tort and the Supreme Court has said police are not immune from tort action for clear illegal behavior. It is too bad that it takes the DA to decide if criminal charges are warranted.
# 59 Mr. Fusion said, “That makes his arrest discriminatory and thus illegal.”
ROFL!
Too funny. Thanks for the humor.