Florida Police Brutality: Woman Who Records Traffic Stop On Cellphone Physically Injured, Thrown In Jail
The cop insists he knows the law better than she does, insisting it's a felony to record him. It seems she knows the law better than he does. Florida is a two-party consent state for recording conversations, but as the video notes, the courts have upheld the right to record police officers -- as it should be. From Local10:

Steve Silverman explains in reason:

The law in 38 states plainly allows citizens to record police, as long as you don't physically interfere with their work. Police might still unfairly harass you, detain you, or confiscate your camera. They might even arrest you for some catchall misdemeanor such as obstruction of justice or disorderly conduct. But you will not be charged for illegally recording police.

Twelve states--California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington--require the consent of all parties for you to record a conversation.

However, all but 2 of these states--Massachusetts and Illinois--have an "expectation of privacy provision" to their all-party laws that courts have ruled does not apply to on-duty police (or anyone in public). In other words, it's technically legal in those 48 states to openly record on-duty police.

Silverman's piece has some very helpful tips on when and how to record the police.

UPDATE: Law prof Jonathan Turley writes:

Now here are two facts that we have repeatedly seen in these abusive arrest cases. She was never charged with the alleged crime -- which does obviously exist. Second, all charges were later dropped.

It turns out that in July all officers received a briefing sheet that stressed that citizens have the right to film officers in public. O'Brien therefore roughed up and arrested a citizen without cause after misinforming her that she was committing a crime in engaging in a constitutionally protected exercise. While Florida is a two-party consent state, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled that such consent is not needed with regard to filming police in public.

Brandy-BerningBerning now wisely plans a lawsuit for battery, false arrest, and false imprisonment. Florida will end up paying unnecessary (though warranted) damages and litigation costs because of a failure to properly trained and discipline its officers. The question is what will happen with Officer O'Brien.

I would also like to know why O'Brien was not disciplined after the charges were dropped. Clearly supervisors and/or prosecutors were involved in that decision. Did anyone report O'Brien for discipline? In past cases, we have seen no action taken until the media reveals the abuse and even then officers are rarely terminated. Indeed, even in recent decisions dealing with shootings and innocent citizens, officers have not been simply sent to a couple classes on the use of lethal force.

These incidents reveal a sense of dangerous impunity by an officer who believes that he can physically drag citizens from their cars and seize cellphones.

via @instapundit