Jesse Bright is a lawyer who also drives Uber; when Wilmington, North Carolina police Sgt. Kenneth Becker stopped him and insisted that he stop recording the stop because of a "new law," Bright kept on recording and kept on insisting that he was allowed to do so.
The resulting video went viral, and resulted in Becker being censured by his chief, who published a Facebook post affirming that citizens have the right to record officers on duty, and inviting them to do so.
"Taking photographs and videos of people that are in plain sight, including the police, is your legal right," Chief Ralph Evangelous said in a Wednesday statement published on the department’s Facebook page. "As a matter of fact, we invite citizens to do so when they believe it is necessary. We believe that public videos help to protect the police as well as our citizens and provide critical information during police and citizen interaction."The statement concluded: "A copy of this statement will be disseminated to every officer within the Wilmington Police Department."
Lawyer films his traffic stop, even after cop says to stop, citing made-up law
[Cyrus Farivar/Ars Technica]
