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Interfering With Police. A Charge That Doesn’t Even Exist in Massachusetts.

Friday, April 24, 2015 17:50

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(Before It's News)

Police Department: Lawrence PD
Address: 90 Lowell St., Lawrence, Massachusetts 01840
Telephone: (978) 794-5900
Lawrence PD: Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter

On Tuesday, April 14, a man, who was exercising his constitutional rights and filming as he walked down the sidewalk, was grabbed and detained by police in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

John Carattini was walking down a street, when he spotted three people seemingly being detained by two plainclothes police officers. He began recording with his camera and walked past them, giving no indication that he planned to stick around and continue recording. After passing the officers, one of them called out to him and ordered him to come back.

The officer asked if Carattini was recording them and demanded that he turn over his camera as “evidence” (according to the Department of Justice, police generally need a warrant to seize a camera as evidence). The police officer then immediately escalated the situation, by grabbing the camera.

The camera was mostly covered up from this point on, making it difficult to tell what was happening, but the police can be heard saying that they had detained Carattini and taken his camera because he walked down the unsecured sidewalk. The officer told Carattini that he was “interfering” with an investigation (there is no such charge as “interfering with police” in Massachusetts). Carattini tried to explain that he was just walking to the store. Then the video ends abruptly, seemingly cut off by the police.