Man Arrested for Filming Cops, Apparently They "Felt Threatened" by the Presence of a Cell Phone
"You're gonna be arrested for..uh...for...uh..uh..."
April 29, 2014
Struggling to find a reason for arresting Lazaro Estrada, Miami-Dade Ofc. Michael Valdez, tries to quickly make up a charge, "uh...uh...Obstruction of Justice!"
Apparently Officer Valdez, despite being surrounded by a half dozen of his armed friends, in bullet proof vests, "felt threatened" by a man with a cell phone.
According to CBS Miami, Valdez arrived at the store to arrest owner Andre Trigiano on outstanding misdemeanor traffic charges.
Estrada says he began recording the episode with his iPhone only after the officer removed Trigiano from the store and threw the handcuffed man to the ground.
The cell phone video begins with the officer standing on the sidewalk about twenty feet from Estrada, holding a handcuffed Trigiano by the arm. The cop tells two women who are much closer to him to back away, one of the women tells Estrada to move back. The officer then turns to Estrada and says something unintelligible, gesturing at him to get away. The video shows Estrada immediately beginning to back pedal up the walk and into the store where he remains – until pulled out by other arriving officers.
“I backed off into the building and I stayed behind the glass doors,” Estrada told CBS4′s Gary Nelson. “Obviously, all I had was my phone in my hands in clear sight…and he only told me once. I did what he told me.”
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Ofc. Valdez can be heard telling Estrada, “You’re going to be arrested.”
“For what?” Estrada counters.
“For, for, uh…” the officer’s voice trails off.
In the end, Valdez charged the cell phone-wielding man with obstruction of justice and resisting arrest without violence, both misdemeanors.
Estrada is represented by attorneys Frank Gaviria and Jonathan Perazzo who have taken his case pro bono.
Here is the special report from our friends at We Are Change.org:
