Texas man arrested in own home for taking a picture of an univited cop

[MrScorpio]

Francisco Olvera Sues Sealy, Saying He Was Arrested For Taking A Cop's Picture
By Chris Vogel, Wednesday, Jun. 23 2010 @ 7:01AM
Comments (5)

Francisco Olvera says all he did was take a cop's photo with his cell phone. And for that, he claims, he was thrown into the back of a police car, handcuffed at the police station, made the butt of racist jokes by officers, and jailed on false charges.

Olvera, of Sealy, a small town of about 6,000 souls about 50 miles from Houston, is now suing that city, its police chief and the arresting officer in federal court.

As first reported by Courthouse News Service, Olvera says he was at home working on a project out on his patio last October when he turned on some music using his 4-inch computer speakers. Soon after, he jumped in the car to get supplies at a hardware store, but when he returned, a cop appeared on his patio, allegedly there to check-out a complaint about the music.

Olvera says that the officer never asked him to turn the music down, but did want to see an ID. When Olvera walked inside to grab his wallet, which was on the kitchen counter, the officer apparently followed him inside.

That's when the trouble seems to have begun.

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/06/police_cell_phone_arrest_1.php

More "contempt of cop" harassment.

[Orrex]

1. It would be interesting to hear another side of this story.

[havocmom]

2. meh, that isn't gonna be half as interesting as the response here to it

:popcorn:

[Orrex]

3. I've done some quick Googling for the original story on this, with no luck

I'd love to see the police blotter for his arrest, or the record of the court case in which he was acquitted.

However, I checked the first dozen or so links that I found, and all of them ultimately linked back to this same blog post.


Curiously, Mr. Olvera's attorney, Roland Darby, appears to be a somewhat colorful figure whose blog makes no mention of the case.

[nilram]

6. he was acquitted by a jury--I expect they heard both sides

[Orrex]

7. The blog fails to make an important distinction, though.

Even Olvera's own court filing doesn't claim that that he was arrested for "illegal photography." He was arrested for--and acquitted of--"public drunkenness" and "loud music." The comment about "illegal photography," if true as described, seems to be an ill-considered comment by the arresting officer, for which he should be disciplined if, again, the incident is true as described. The cop might or might not be an asshole, but it doesn't appear--based on the current filing--that he arrested Olvera for "illegal photography."

A further bit of Googling this morning returns information that didn't show up when I searched last night:
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-txsdce/case_no-4:2010cv02127/case_id-770658/">Olvera v. Alderete et al

This indicates that the case was filed on June 17, and here's the filing.


I'll be interested to see how this plays out. An acquittal doesn't automatically imply false imprisonment or malicious prosecution, no matter how dubious one party claims those charges to be. Olvera might have a tough time getting damages.

[MrModerate]

4. This "illegal photography" nonsense -- which seems to be popping up as a theme . . .

Is very worrisome. It feeds the worst impulses of bad cops to abuse the public under cover of "doing their duty."

I'd say we need to get a case to the Supreme Court tout de suite, but given the knuckle-draggers occupying 5 of the seats, the outcome probably wouldn't be what I'd hope for.

[Historic NY]

5. Sounds like another beer summit.

[Odin2005]

8. Authoritarian crap!

:grr:

[Swamp Rat]

9. kick

[DailyGrind51]

10. Whatever happened to the Constitutional protection against....

"unwarranted search and seizure"?