I alluded to this in the "Best/Worst Police Stories" thread and here's the whole story. I posted this on another board and it generated a lot of discussion so rather than hijack that thread, here it is.
If I see that picture on the internet, I'm coming after you.
That's what the state trooper told me this past Sunday morning. Do I have any choice? No, here's the picture
The story goes like this. My wife and sis-n-law take off for the store. Less than a minute later they call and tell me that just around the corner and down the street (maybe a half mile from home) a truck has run into a house and I might want to go take a look.
So I jump in my car and head that way. Sure enough, there's a house with a truck sized hole and a truck being pulled out of the hole onto a flatbed wrecker. As I drive by slowly, I raise my camera with the intent of snapping a pic quickly as I creep by. There's a state trooper parked in front and just as I go to snap the picture, he gives me a big toot with his siren which I take as a clear signal to keep moving. So instead of taking the picture, I park a couple houses down, get out and walk back, and proceed to take a picture.
So, the trooper gets out of his car and wanders over to me. He asks me if I know the homeowners and I say no. He tells me I shouldn't be taking pictures, pulls out a note pad and asks me my name, address, and zip code and if I'm with the press. I answer his questions and don't give him any guff at all (by now my camera is in my back pocket). He asks me how many pictures I took and I tell him I took two (which is the truth).
He goes on about privacy of the homeowners and how now I'm part of the investigation and how I should offer my pictures to the homeowners either as evidence or let them ask me to delete them. I don't see any profit in arguing with him that I'm in public standing on a pedestrian sidewalk looking across the street at this house and am perfectly within my rights to take pictures. I've been around cops enough to know this can only ruin my day, even if I were to be proved right in the end.
I tell him that I hear what he's saying and I understand his position. Clearly he's only just barely satisfied with my noncommittal answer and as he turns to walk back to his car he gives me the parting shot over his shoulder.
"If I see that picture on the internet, I'm coming after you."
WTF? It's one thing to stand there and listen to his bull, after all he is the one with the handcuffs and the gun, but how can I let him say that to me without putting it "on the internet?"
Oh well. Part of me wishes I'd challenged him and continued to take pictures (as you can see, being rushed resulted in a single crappy shot - the other was even worse) and perhaps given him the URL where he'd be able to find the picture. But I had stuff to do that day and god only knows how that would have played out.
Postscript. I watched the local newspaper for a story about this accident and saw nothing, so I called and talked to a reporter. As soon as I mentioned the street and time, the reporter knew exactly what accident I was talking about. They had been there but had received such an unfriendly reception from the homeowner, they'd left. All the reporter could tell me was that it was a drunk driver and the driver was not related or known to the homeowners. I checked the county sheriff's website for drunk driving arrests but found nothing that fit this time & place.
I've got an urge to call the state troopers HQ and ask for information but another part of me says "walk away and forget it". At this point, I don't know what I'll do. The cynic in me thinks the driver might have connections that kept him/her out of the news and out of jail and if that's true, I might be better off not knowing.
If I see that picture on the internet, I'm coming after you.
That's what the state trooper told me this past Sunday morning. Do I have any choice? No, here's the picture
The story goes like this. My wife and sis-n-law take off for the store. Less than a minute later they call and tell me that just around the corner and down the street (maybe a half mile from home) a truck has run into a house and I might want to go take a look.
So I jump in my car and head that way. Sure enough, there's a house with a truck sized hole and a truck being pulled out of the hole onto a flatbed wrecker. As I drive by slowly, I raise my camera with the intent of snapping a pic quickly as I creep by. There's a state trooper parked in front and just as I go to snap the picture, he gives me a big toot with his siren which I take as a clear signal to keep moving. So instead of taking the picture, I park a couple houses down, get out and walk back, and proceed to take a picture.
So, the trooper gets out of his car and wanders over to me. He asks me if I know the homeowners and I say no. He tells me I shouldn't be taking pictures, pulls out a note pad and asks me my name, address, and zip code and if I'm with the press. I answer his questions and don't give him any guff at all (by now my camera is in my back pocket). He asks me how many pictures I took and I tell him I took two (which is the truth).
He goes on about privacy of the homeowners and how now I'm part of the investigation and how I should offer my pictures to the homeowners either as evidence or let them ask me to delete them. I don't see any profit in arguing with him that I'm in public standing on a pedestrian sidewalk looking across the street at this house and am perfectly within my rights to take pictures. I've been around cops enough to know this can only ruin my day, even if I were to be proved right in the end.
I tell him that I hear what he's saying and I understand his position. Clearly he's only just barely satisfied with my noncommittal answer and as he turns to walk back to his car he gives me the parting shot over his shoulder.
"If I see that picture on the internet, I'm coming after you."
WTF? It's one thing to stand there and listen to his bull, after all he is the one with the handcuffs and the gun, but how can I let him say that to me without putting it "on the internet?"
Oh well. Part of me wishes I'd challenged him and continued to take pictures (as you can see, being rushed resulted in a single crappy shot - the other was even worse) and perhaps given him the URL where he'd be able to find the picture. But I had stuff to do that day and god only knows how that would have played out.
Postscript. I watched the local newspaper for a story about this accident and saw nothing, so I called and talked to a reporter. As soon as I mentioned the street and time, the reporter knew exactly what accident I was talking about. They had been there but had received such an unfriendly reception from the homeowner, they'd left. All the reporter could tell me was that it was a drunk driver and the driver was not related or known to the homeowners. I checked the county sheriff's website for drunk driving arrests but found nothing that fit this time & place.
I've got an urge to call the state troopers HQ and ask for information but another part of me says "walk away and forget it". At this point, I don't know what I'll do. The cynic in me thinks the driver might have connections that kept him/her out of the news and out of jail and if that's true, I might be better off not knowing.
See attached pix.
