Memphis police pounced on a man and arrested him for recording them in public despite a written departmental policy introduced in 2013 that made it clear they were not allowed to do that.
But the video shows they did not give that memo a second thought as they ordered him from the street to the sidewalk, then pounced on him when he stood on the sidewalk.
“As a matter of fact, the sidewalk is made to walk, not to stand,” the cop said as he ordered the man to keep walking away from the so-called “crime scene,” even though there was no crime tape establishing a perimeter.
Also, there were at least four other residents standing behind a police car in the street, one of several police cars investigating an alleged burglary at a house.
But those residents were not recording, so they were not harassed.
However, when the cop pounced on the man, appearing to grab him by the neck and spin him around, the man dropped the camera, which was then picked up by one of the bystanders who continued recording the arrest.
The arrested man, who goes by Francesco DaDon Guglielmette on Facebook, stated the following after posting his video on the social platform:
When did simple recording become a crime???
I was assaulted by Memphis Police department just for recording… Arrested on false charges and treated like an pure animal…
#ButBlackLivesMatter Right??
Later in the comments section, he said that his brother’s home had been burglarized and that it was his own family members who called police, only for them to show up and arrest him for recording.
Someone broke in to my lil brother home… I get a phone call to go check on his mom. We the ones who called the police… They were just mad because I was recording them abusing their authority.
When WREG in Memphis reached out to police to inquire about the incident, police told them they had no idea who was on the video or where it was taken or what were the circumstances behind it.
“We are attempting to locate this incident, but can’t find it at this point,” a spokesperson with the department said. “We would need to know the surrounding details before we can respond.”
In 2012, Memphis police made national news after they deleted photos from a reporter’s camera, which led to the department introducing a policy informing officers that they are not legally allowed to interfere with citizens taking photos or reco
Earlier this year, a Memphis officer was captured on video chasing a man down, then beating him, which is the second video posted below.
UPDATE: Memphis police have since released the following statement on its Facebook page:
Tennessee Man Threatened with Gun for Video Recording Nephew’s Arrest (Updated)
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