Maryland Motorcyclist Faces Jailtime for filming cops............

[3fan4life]

It seems that a motorcyclist in Maryland has been charged with wiretapping after he posted a video (filmed from his helmet cam) of an off duty, gun wielding Maryland State cop stopping him for speeding.  The links lead to a couple of articles about it: 


http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20012732-71.html

http://carlosmiller.com/2010/04/16/maryland-motorcyclist-spends-26-hours-in-jail-on-wiretapping-charge-for-filming-cop-with-gun/

I first read about it in popular mechanics magazine, here is a link to that article:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/how-to/computer-security/taking-photos-in-public-places-is-not-a-crime

This only adds fuel to the fire for my belief that law enforcement in this country has decided that "We The People" are the ENEMY.

What ever happened to, "Serve and Protect"?

[NCGhostrider]

Very scary!  I saw something else about this somewhere.  I think that there is a push to define the wiretapping laws to prevent this kind of abuse against the public. 

We used to have one police officer in my little town (30 years ago).  Our population was bigger then.  But things have changed, there are more laws on the books to enforce, and people are more aggressive (perhaps as a result).  Now we have 12 and more problems than they can handle.  It will continue to escalate on both sides probably. 

[Bobbo]

Lucky for the cop that that person on the bike didn’t decide to use a legally concealed weapon to shoot him as he drew his weapon. 

[Full_Throttle]

While I think that using a wiretapping law for posting a video like this doesn't seem right, If you watch the video in the links at the very end you can clearly see a marked police car has him pulled over and the "unmarked" officer was probably assisting in a high speed chase.  How many videos have we seen on you-tube of crotch-rockets w/ helmet cams running from the cops.....If this is what it appears to be (high-speed chase ending) then this guy needs some serious fines.  Just not so sure about the whole wiretapping thing ???

[Sludge]

Well, the speeding thing aside, he had NO business pulling a gun on the motorcyclist and if as Bobbo mentioned, he had pulled a concealed carry weapon and shot him dead, he would have been in the right. 

This was blown WAY out of proportion only because of an officer who didnt want that particular video made public because it showed him doing something wrong.  If the guy (I wont call him a kid because he is a SSgt in the national guard) was speeding... issue a ticket.  ... AND they raided his home and held his family for THIS?????

All I can say is.... WOW.  I cant believe what I just saw.

Oh and did you notice that the trooper behind him wasnt running lights?

Simply amazing...

[Jabba]

AT least he didn't run the guy over like they do here in Indy.

Jabba