Albuquerque police officer rassles TV cameraman, cites him for failure to obey

A TV cameraman in Albuquerque was attacked, cuffed and cited by a police officer for allegedly not leaving a public street. The KOB-TV cameraman was covering a standoff Thursday and approached a blocked off area of the street. Police told him to go back so he drove back 20 yards. When the police officer was not satisfied with that he came over and restrained the cameraman. See the footage yourself. SPJ President Clint Brewer was quoted in the Albuquerque Journal Saturday as saying "The video is very painful to watch." The police department is investigating the matter. The main issue appears to be whether the police were clear in their directions and whether it is legitimate for police to herd the media into a staging area far from the scene and prohibit people from being in a public street safely away from the action. True, journalists, like anyone else, should follow police orders at crime scenes for the safety of everyone, but after looking at the video and reading the police report (available at the Journal Web site), it seems to me that the young cop overstepped his bounds in wrangling with a TV cameraman when he should have been attending to his job.