NYPD sued over photographer harassment

In a free country, any public landmark should be fair game to be photographed or filmed by professional or amateur photographers. In New York City, however, it's a different matter, thanks to the right-wing misrule that's plagued the city since the '90s.

Now the New York Civil Liberties Union is suing on behalf of a fellow who was harassed, handcuffed, detained, and interrogated by police for the "crime" of photographing a Manhattan subway station. Although he was held for a half-hour, he was never charged with a crime. Harassment of photographers and filmmakers has become a persistent problem in New York in the past few years.

Even worse, the man who was stopped by police for taking pictures of the subway station claims he was targeted by police because of his ethnicity. (He was born in the U.S. but his mother is from India.)

So that's 2 things the city did wrong: 1) ethnic profiling; and 2) detaining someone for the constitutionally protected act of photographing landmarks.

As far as I'm concerned, a police spokesperson pretty much torpedoed the cops' defense by citing terrorism as an excuse to detain photographers. So it's the city's policy to give real terrorists what they want by taking away people's freedom, I guess. Which of course is treason, but who's counting, right?

I want my country back from the Bushists.

(Source: http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_NY_Police_Department_Sued_for_Harassing_Photographers_11487.html)