Hey Ted. I would respond to the bulk of your post by suggesting the risks officers take in the line of duty are why they're honored for their service. They risk their life going to work and they choose the profession. Now. The US supreme court has smashed every single attempt at charging a citizen with videotaping officers in the last three years ruling that people have a right to video tape officers in public. Being the subject of an officers attention has not changed those outcomes. Refusing an officers orders, depending on the order, is not against the law. You, as a cop, can not tell me to step out of my car unless you have probable cause and initiate an arrest I'm going to thank you for your suggestion and decline for my own protection. There is no grey area for police between detainment and arrest. You pull someone over for an infraction of some sort, you notice something suspicious, which meets the criteria of probable cause, you effect a detainment of a suspect which is an arrest. If this person was arrested for the suspicious act of video taping, or reaching for his phone to video tape, or refusing to get out of his car(which requires cause such as the type needed to initiate a field sobriety exam), it was a bad arrest. Citizens have no obligation to avoid moving. "Put the camera down!" "Am I under arrest?" "Put the camera down and step out of the car!" "Am I under arrest officer?" I imagine it went something like that. And I sympathize with your fear of doing the job. It's dangerous. But if an officer dies because of their conduct of respect for the civil rights of American citizens that is a death in absolute service to their country. If you can't handle that risk and you're unwilling to put your life on the line find a country that isn't afforded such freedoms and you'll be safer at work. I hear Mexican police get to threaten to shoot non compliant citizens and say things like "The kid’s lucky he didn’t get shot."
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