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!
They shouldn’t have stopped on the highway. It puts other drivers at risk. There are laws against it.
The cop did overreact, but he was right.
# 24 Paddy-O said,
“I think he was arrested for breaking the law.”
Really? If he breaking the law then why was he immediately released from custody and not charged with any crime when they got back to the station?
Because the cop was on a power trip and clearly over the line.
# 33 gremlinclr said, “Really? If he breaking the law then why was he immediately released from custody and not charged with any crime when they got back to the station?”
Incompetence? Cronyism?
# 15
I am not American so they don’t protect me (although I like most of the noble people in the U.S. army anyway).
Read the news, what I wrote is public knowledge (e.g. Military Times). “Help out at car wrecks / observe policing methods / co-ordinate with local authorities”.
By the way, “conspiracy theorists” is the most moronic insults / clichés. Why not go big and say anti-… or …-denier. Better still, I hear racist seems to cover all the bases these days. “Conspiracy theorists” is so Bush years, spice it up a little. After all it is time for CHANGE.
When I first saw “DU” I thought about Democratic Underground…..and it seems like more than a few people here would feel right at home.
But back to the story, I’ll channel Adam…
“something just doesn’t seem right about the guys in fatigues” and “you ask any cop, and there is NO WAY they would EVER harass reporters unless they were told to and they were scared! These guys are trained on how to handle the press, and they don’t make mistakes. You tell someone his family will disappear if he lets reporters near a roundup for the FEMA camps, and he’ll do it…no mystery here, it’s the secret government at work”
It’s a complicated situation and we don’t know all of the facts. I’m not concerned with the press pulling over and reporting on an accident, that happens all of the time here. He was just doing his job. But I do believe the cop got upset because the reporter was asking rescuers questions as they where assisting the victims. It seems it would make more sense if he began his interviews after all was out of harms way. Wouldn’t you think?
The cop did overreact however and it was only the guy’s press credentials that got him out. This begs the question of how this would have ended had this been an outsourced or “citizen journalist”? The trend in the press of late is to rely on lay persons reporting as a way of cutting costs. Would this guy still be detained if he wasn’t a credentialed TV news reporter?
Funny thing is they never presented both sides like they said. It was their side and then the police public relations trying to calm it down with their spin.
The reporter is probably a part-time ambulance chaser and he was passing out business cards!
Roid Rage strikes again.
I’m sorry.. but that stupid reporter was in the wrong place. He and his crew where out walking around an open freeway, next to the fast lane. They parked their truck illegally. It was just going to be a matter of time before a rubber necker hit then, or someone else.
The stupid reporter running around in traffic trying to get interviews was going to get someone killed. If a rubber necker driver rear ended the van, guess who gets run over? The stupid reporter standing in front of the van.
So the cop had a good reason to demand they get out of there. It was also obvious to me that (a) this reporter though he was above the law and park/work where ever the hell he wanted, and (b) he wasn’t going to leave. He said he was leaving, but it sure didn’t look like it to me.
And yes, the cop over reacted. But I don’t blame him in this case. The reporter was endangering more lives in order to get lots of good footage.
And the whole “But I’m covering American heros from the local army base makes this ok” is bunk. He is trying to wrap himself in the American flag in order to deflect attention away from the fact that he is an idiot who endangers the lives of others.
I seriously hope the local D.A. charges this asshat with traffic violations.
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.
# 59
“For those that don’t understand it” H.R. 5122 has been rescinded (since 2008). The Posse Comitatus Act currently has full legal weight.
Regarding your point about military personnel assisting local authorities (and not the specific incident in the post), it is illegal, it is conspiracy (i.e. conspirare = agree), it may or may not be for sinister reasons (apart from it’s illegality) but that is not the point. You say “assisting local authorities”, if you mean in law enforcement, it is not legal.
By the way, a person that happens to be in the military that randomly helps another individual is not a problem (in fact it is an blessing).