Arkansas lawmaker arrested after filming traffic stop [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Arkansas lawmaker arrested after filming traffic stop
Andrew Demillo, Associated Press

Updated 5:50 pm, Monday, September 26, 2016

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas legislator who co-sponsored a law aimed in part at preventing authorities from prohibiting the filming of an arrest was arrested Monday after police said he refused to leave the area of a traffic stop he was recording.

Little Rock police said they arrested Democratic state Rep. John Walker, a civil rights attorney who has represented a group of black families in a long-running school desegregation lawsuit, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing governmental operations.

Walker, 79, was released Monday afternoon from the Pulaski County jail. He did not immediately return a call to his law office or an email seeking comment.

According to the arrest report, Walker was filming police after they had pulled over a driver for not having a license plate whom they later arrested for having active warrants. When the driver asked why Walker was filming him, he replied: "I'm just making sure they don't kill you," the report said. The passenger in the vehicle police had pulled over also was arrested for a failure to appear warrant.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/education/article/Arkansas-lawmaker-arrested-after-filming-traffic-9289367.php

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Three cheers for Democratic state Rep. John Walker!