Vancouver police seize journalist’s camera
Vancouver police roughed up a photographer with the Province newspaper and briefly confiscated his camera ….
Vancouver police roughed up a photographer with the Province newspaper
and briefly confiscated his camera on the weekend. Jason Payne had been
photographing the police take-down — and non-fatal shooting — of an
alleged auto thief. The newspaper reported that as Payne took photos ““a constable pushed me away. Another officer ran up and pushed me back into the street.”
“Payne
said he identified himself as a news photographer, but the police
demanded his camera. “They said I was obstructing justice and they were
going to confiscate my camera as evidence. They ended up taking my
camera from me. It was either that or be arrested,” he said.”
Police
returned Payne’s camera after about an hour and apologized, saying it
was not police policy to confiscate cameras from the media.
The
Province story quoted a film crew worker who saw the police altercation
with Payne: ““He was assaulted by the police. They had him in a
lockhold and [Payne] had his foot on his camera,” trying to stop it
from being taken.”
The Province site has photos of a policeman talking to Payne and later carrying Payne’s camera.
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