A story in today’s Philadelphia Daily News shows why it’s so important that citizens be allowed to videotape cops – it can be citizens’ only way to fight back against police abuse of power.
This incident happened several weeks ago in Philadelphia to Mark Fiorino, a 25-year-old IT worker who carries a gun on his hip at all times for self defense. He got the gun after several friends were mugged.
But he didn’t count on attacks by police:
On a mild February afternoon, Fiorino, 25, decided to walk to an AutoZone on Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philly with the .40-caliber Glock he legally owns holstered in plain view on his left hip. His stroll ended when someone called out from behind: “Yo, Junior, what are you doing?”
Fiorino wheeled and saw Sgt. Michael Dougherty aiming a handgun at him.
What happened next would be hard to believe, except that Fiorino audio-recorded all of it: a tense, profanity-laced, 40-minute encounter with cops who told him that what he was doing – openly carrying a gun on the city’s streets – was against the law.
“Do you know you can’t openly carry here in Philadelphia?” Dougherty asked, according to the YouTube clip.
“Yes, you can, if you have a license to carry firearms,” Fiorino said. “It’s Directive 137. It’s your own internal directive.”
Fiorino was right. It was perfectly legal to carry the gun. But that didn’t matter to the cop:
Fiorino offered to show Dougherty his driver’s and firearms licenses. The cop told him to get on his knees.
“Excuse me?” Fiorino said.
“Get down on your knees. Just obey what I’m saying,” Dougherty said.
“Sir,” Fiorino replied, “I’m more than happy to stand here -“
“If you make a move, I’m going to f—— shoot you,” Dougherty snapped. “I’m telling you right now, you make a move, and you’re going down!”
“Is this necessary?” Fiorino said.
It went on like that for a little while, until other officers responded to Dougherty’s calls for backup.
Fiorino was forced to the ground and shouted at as he tried to explain that he had a firearms license and was legally allowed to openly carry his weapon.
“You f—— come here looking for f—— problems? Where do you live?” yelled one officer.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen,” Fiorino said. “If I’m under arrest, I have nothing left to say.”
“F—— a——, shut the f— up!” the cop hollered.
The cops discovered his recorder as they searched his pockets, and unleashed another string of expletives.
Fiorino said he sat handcuffed in a police wagon while the officers made numerous phone calls to supervisors, trying to find out if they could lock him up.
When they learned that they were in the wrong, they let him go.
But only temporarily. Fiorino posted the audio recordings on youtube, and now they are harassing him again:
A new investigation was launched, and last month the District Attorney’s Office decided to charge Fiorino with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct because, a spokeswoman said, he refused to cooperate with police… He’s scheduled for trial in July.
If one listens to the audiotapes, it’s hard to imagine how a reasonable person could charge Fiorino (and not the cops) for disorderly conduct.
Man claims online audio posting prompted charges
PHILADELPHIA – May 16, 2011 (WPVI) — The Philadelphia police department has re-educated its officers on the law regarding the open carrying of handguns after an audiotaped altercation between several officers and a man carrying a gun on his hip went viral on YouTube, a spokesman said Monday.
Mark Fiorino, a 25-year-old IT worker from suburban Montgomery County, was walking on the street in northeast Philadelphia on Feb. 13 with his handgun exposed on his hip – and an audio recorder in his pocket. A police officer driving by in a cruiser, Sgt. Michael Dougherty, stopped and called out to him, prompting a tense, 40-minute encounter.
“Do you know you can’t openly carry here in Philadelphia?” Dougherty asks, according to the YouTube clip. Fiorino responds, “Yes, you can, if you have a license to carry firearms. … It’s Directive 137. It’s your own internal directive.”
After some profanity-laced back-and-forth, other officers responded to Dougherty’s calls for backup. Fiorino was forced to the ground as he tried to explain that he had a firearms license and was legally allowed to carry his gun openly. He had his permit on him, along with his driver’s license.
Police found the recorder while searching Fiorino’s pockets. He was eventually released after officers contacted supervisors.
Gun-owners can carry openly if they have a permit, said Lt. Raymond Evers, a police spokesman.
“There was some misinformation within the police department that was corrected in regards to open carrying,” said Evers, adding that officers have been made aware of the law at roll call and also re-educated in other ways.
Several weeks after the altercation, after it was posted on YouTube, Commissioner Charles Ramsey had detectives look into the case, Evers said. On April 21, Evers said, Fiorino was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and recklessly endangering another person. The confrontation could have led to Fiorino getting shot and officers racing to the scene also could have been injured in an accident, police said.
On Saturday, several dozen gun-owners turned out at City Hall to protest Fiorino’s arrest. A message left by The Associated Press with Fiorino’s attorney, Joseph Valvo, was not immediately returned Monday.
Fiorino told the Philadelphia Daily News that he wasn’t trying to lay a trap for police, saying he regularly carries a recorder with him in case he ever has to use his gun and then offer proof of what happened.
“I’m not trying to set anyone up,” he told the newspaper.
Read More: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news%2Flocal&id=8133516
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