The aphorism is “once bitten, twice shy.” Apparently, that’s not part of the instruction at the police academy in Gresham, Oregon, of Officer Taylor Letsis might have chosen not to flex his muscle. Again.  The first time, a video recorded Letsis and some pals  beating and tasing a 68-year-old man for not having a ticket on the transit system. Don’t scoff. It’s a gateway crime.

This happened last November, 2012, and naturally resulted in a significant investigation and repercussions for the needlessly violent conduct of police officers nothing, which could contribute to the absence of pain from having been once bitten.  Nonetheless, Letsis decided to double down when he saw Carrie Medina taking video of a bust.  And Carrie Medina caught it on video. How cool is that?  Via  Carlos Miller at Photography is Not a Crime :



To his credit, Letsis doesn’t pull out his taser, apply a chokehold or even throw Medina to the ground, then ram his boot into the small of her back. You know, for his safety because he was in fear.  Rather, he is merely insistent that he’s going to do as he pleases because, well, he is in a uniform, has a gun strapped to his hip and can, if he was so inclined, beat the living daylights out of Medina.  

Keeping her cool as well, Carrie Medina asks why Letsis thinks he has the authority to order her to let him see, or have, her cellphone.  This is an important lesson as well, as one of the frequent problems that arise from such interactions is that the person doing the recording gets nervous, behaves poorly and provides an excuse, regardless of whether it’s sound, but subsequent police conduct.  While it may not be of legal consequence, to the extent videos serve to make people understand better the impropriety of police exceeding their authority and violating people’s constitutional rights, they will look for any excuse to dismiss the victim as having asked for it. Carrie Medina gives Letsis nothing.

But doesn’t the police officer have the right to seize “evidence”?

A spokesperson for the Gresham Police Department told KATU News officers are not supposed to seize phones used on public property but declined further comment Wednesday night.

There was no basis for Letsis to believe that the video either contained evidence or, if it did, was at risk of being destroyed.  Notably, Letsis’ view was that he was entitled to see the video, whether because Medina willingly showed it to him or, as turned out to be the case, he forcibly seized it, to determine whether it showed anything that interested him.  As it turned out, the video was completely benign, aside from Letsis’ own douchery, which he apparently didn’t perceive to be sufficiently problematic to accidently throw the phone into a storm drain.

The video is instructive in another respect. Notice how Carrie Medina calmly, rationally, questions Letsis’ authority to demand that she turn over her cellphone?  Notice how Taylor Letsis ignores her point, and replies in a nonresponsive manner?

“Ma’am, do you want to hand me the phone or would you like to show it to me?” the officer asks.

“I don’t want to show you …,” Medina begins to respond. At that point the officer snatches the phone from her while it is still recording.

This isn’t an accident, or a reflection of his difficulties with the English language. This is training, While a police officer may engage in “reasoning” for the purpose of overcoming resistance to his demand, he will not engage in a debate over his authority to do as he pleases. Medina’s effort to argue her right not to relinquish her cellphone is met with a brick wall. Give it up or show it to me. There is no alternative under discussion.

In other words, the effort to explain the law to Officer Letsis is doomed from the outset. He’s not interested in whether he has the authority to seize the camera. His only interest is in whether she will submit to the shield voluntarily or by force.

To close the loop, Carrie Medina provides a post-seizure narrative of her rough handling, further assertions of power that have no basis in law, and a demonstration that we remain a long way from the police feeling any constraint to their power to do as they please because, well, they please. 


 
As for what happens next, it’s unlikely that any complaint with the Letsis’ superiors will produce anything, and a §1983 over what most judges will perceive to be a trivial dispute won’t offer sufficiently interest anyone to pursue.  And so we’re left with the efforts of guys like Carlos Miller and gals like Carrie Medina to keep bringing such conduct to the attention of the public in the hope that, eventually, police misconduct will no longer be deemed acceptable and police departments will take real action to end it.

On the other hand, if they weren’t sufficiently concerned about the video of Letsis beating some old man, chances of this resulting in consequences are slim to none.  Still, we keep plugging away.