ESPECIALLY police. That’s third-world-secret-police-dictatorship stuff.
I can understand why the cop did what he did, and can even somewhat excuse the supposed “aggressiveness” in dealing with a jackass squid like this guy, but the idea that it’s a felony to film something like this is very disconcerting to me.
I’m assuming the cop in the car behind was filming the scene with his onboard camera…I didn’t hear anyone tell the squid that *they’re* filming things.
If anything, government officials (esp. those with the legal power to kill you) need to be MORE subject to transparency requirements like being allowed to film them in performance of their *public* duties…there’s too much potential for abuse with a system where those in authority are trusted to monitor themselves.
I suspect now that this is on the news and making the rounds on the internet, Maryland is going to stop being such a hardass about it. I’m sure the officer himself isn’t pushing this (in my experience, most cops are pretty reasonable, esp. when the heat of the moment from something like this has died down), but rather the lawyers for the state.