Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

trisquel.info

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 284 posts

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#111

Post by jMyles »

lohengramm wrote: post #81

Seems like the guy calls himself a "copchaser" and is used to actuallly chase police officers, annoyingly record their action and make sure to insult them while teaching them a lesson about how to do their job. And he calls all that "standing his ground". I am sure police officers can be jerks or even completely criminals, but this guy really seems to be crossing the line of common sense. Source: the YT channel himse…

> actuallly chase police officers, annoyingly record their action and make sure to insult them

As for the insulting part - sure, that's always a shame.

But what's wrong with following bearers of state power and recording their actions? That's precisely in the spirit of the first amendment.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#112

Post by oblio »

ythn wrote: post #91
icebraining wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excusable in a war zone, not in a policing action. Then again a man firing 100 machine gun rounds would be almost unheard of in any other developed country, so maybe the US does qualify as a war zone.

> so maybe the US does qualify as a war zone. It sure does. We are constantly at war against tyranny and citizen owned guns are one of our best weapons. I don't think any other "developed country" has been democratic as long as we have without lapsing back into tyranny every other century.

1. Are you sure about the correlation between the two?

2. Off the top of my head, the UK, France, Sweden, etc. have been democratic since at least the end of the 19th century.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#113

Post by nickpsecurity »

throwaway999b wrote: post #30
draugadrotten wrote: post #13

This sounds very much like one side of the story. "I was essentially arrested for filming a police checkpoint in Manchester, New Hampshire" I don't want to defend the police, but that sounds like there is a lot of information missing here. Why was he filming the police? What did other people do at/to/near the checkpoint? Was he alone or part of a group or even a mob?

> I don't want to defend the police Why not? Is it now politically incorrect to give the benefit of the doubt to people who literally put their lives on the line to serve the community and keep people safe?

"people who literally put their lives on the line to serve the community"

They don't. Most I've met did it for the money, power, and prestige. Or it was a family thing. Whereas, those three things aren't given to convenience store clerks in high-risk areas ensuring people (including cops) get gas or food in the middle of the night. The respect you give certainly isn't a merit thing since it just goes to a few positions in the workforce that operate at high risk.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#114

Post by JustSomeNobody »

> You can legally get as close as a foot to an officer provided there is no interference. So for instance one can get a few feet from a scene as a member of the press where an officer is ticketing somebody for an offence.

Does the person being ticketed have no rights in this situation? I think I'd be pretty upset at the reporter if they got all up in my business like this.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#115

Post by enraged_camel »

ithought wrote: post #107
lohengramm wrote: post #81

Seems like the guy calls himself a "copchaser" and is used to actuallly chase police officers, annoyingly record their action and make sure to insult them while teaching them a lesson about how to do their job. And he calls all that "standing his ground". I am sure police officers can be jerks or even completely criminals, but this guy really seems to be crossing the line of common sense. Source: the YT channel himse…

And why shouldn't they? Police departments and city officials across the US routinely lie, obsfucate and remove any sense of accountability for police officers who commit crimes or make mistakes. Look at the case of the murder of Laquan McDonald in Chicago. The lying and stonewalling is a common occurrence. It's not just a few bad apples, it's a bad system that promotes escalation and grants power without accountabil…

>>Being annoying or insulting to governmet employees isn't a crime.

Sure, but distracting and harassing law enforcement officers while they are trying to do their job can be grounds for obstruction of justice. It's one thing to record them from a distance, another thing to constantly hurl insults and condescending remarks.

Don't get me wrong, the police in America have serious problems. But this guy seems to be approaching the issue in a bizarrely antagonistic way. I don't know if his arrest is justified but it's definitely not surprising given his behavior.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#116

Post by WaxProlix »

guiomie wrote: post #61
draugadrotten wrote: post #13

This sounds very much like one side of the story. "I was essentially arrested for filming a police checkpoint in Manchester, New Hampshire" I don't want to defend the police, but that sounds like there is a lot of information missing here. Why was he filming the police? What did other people do at/to/near the checkpoint? Was he alone or part of a group or even a mob?

I dont understand all the downvotes. Just a few comments up someone talked about a cop firing on someone filming, which sounds awful, but when added with context (there had been 100's of rounds shot from a machine gun earlier), seems understandable. I agree this is only one side of the story, and more info would be great.

Except that was a lie - it was rounds fired from a rifle, not a 'machine gun', and that's STILL a pretty flimsy excuse.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#117

Post by Broken_Hippo »

praneshp wrote: post #58
ItendToDisagree wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shoot first! Ask questions later! mirite?!

Absolutely yes, in this case. I'd prefer the officers went home to their families. If you want to go around pointing your phone at everything, you need to stop and think about the consequences.

I'd prefer everyone comes out of such encounters alive.

At the point these folks thought someone might have a weapon, the prudent thing to do is hold back and carefully plan your next moves. One of the first things would be to verify your suspicions - that there was, in fact, a gun.

They knew going in that folks hold things that can be mistaken for guns. Like phones and a myriad of other things - even during normal activities like running. Protocol should reflect that knowledge and err on the safety of everyone. Things change if there are actual shots fired from that direction, but caution before such time.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#118

Post by ithought »

sandworm101 wrote: post #108
lohengramm wrote: post #81

Seems like the guy calls himself a "copchaser" and is used to actuallly chase police officers, annoyingly record their action and make sure to insult them while teaching them a lesson about how to do their job. And he calls all that "standing his ground". I am sure police officers can be jerks or even completely criminals, but this guy really seems to be crossing the line of common sense. Source: the YT channel himse…

There is a mindset amongst many that police should never stop, question or even talk to people without some level of suspecion of wrongdoing. They see most any checkpoint as a threat to basic libery. Such "chasers", rather than the silent watchers who dont scream at officers, are extreemists who take laws and constitutional constructions far to literally.

It's called probable cause and it's recognized by the courts in any other police interaction except for checkpoints.

And it's backed by the 4th Amendment, which is neither a law nor a rule. It's an acknowledgment of an innate natural right that all human beings have which includes the right to be left alone except when there's reasonable suspicion or probable cause.

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#119

Post by watty »

kerkeslager wrote: post #101
musgrove wrote: post #63

Filming police isn't against the law in the US, so that wasn't the charge as the clickbait title states. If the guy wanted to be forthright he could have listed the complaint(s) that are on his summons instead of making up a different scenario. This guy's obviously looking for trouble; filiming police for no good reason; getting himself arrested for no good reason; then going online and being deceptive about it to ge…

He was arrested for disorderly conduct. The only conduct he was conducting according to his account was filming the police, so it seems clear that filming the police was the disorderly conduct for which he was arrested. Filming the police isn't (or shouldn't be) illegal in the US, but catch-all laws which are enforced at police discretion make it de facto illegal where police decide it is. I think of you're accusing…

I think "disorderly conduct" fits some of these videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgnVXppkmzBKfTOwe-KqAJQ/vid...

Re: CEO of ThinkPenguin, Inc arrested for filming police

#120

Post by SomeStupidPoint »

golergka wrote: post #97
ajross wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuinely confused about this morality. Why is it more correct that the officers "went home to their families" than that this innocent guy died in front of his? I mean, I can understand arguing that sometimes protective violence is necessary and accepting that tragedies happen. But you're literally taking a side here and saying that police lives are more important than ours. Why?

You're making this argument with full information. Police acting at the scene didn't have this luxury. It is very easy to tell what others should have done in a situation that they perceive as life and death.

The point is they're scaredy cats who jump at shadows and create deadly situations out of things that aren't.

If they want me to care that they perceive things as life-or-death, they need to adjust their perception. Being scared of your shadow holding a gun and pumping a house full of rounds isn't something I'm going to think is reasonable, even if you were really scared.

Soldiers in literal warzones facing trained adversaries trying to murder them aren't as jumpy as cops in a suburban neighborhood dealing with normal people.

Cops need better trigger discipline.

Post reply on HN