Journalist tells story of arrest while filming a mountaintop removal civil disobedience action

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

More tales from the third world of Appalachia - this story gets very disturbing in the second half:
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I was filming a Chain & Tube Lock Down Blockade of the road which leads to Massey Energy Regional Headquarters as the first workers of the day arrived. I was wearing my Press Pass prominently around my neck. The road was an intersection off of a 4 lane road with a 65 mph speed limit and the blockade was about 40-50 yards from the intersection. The road appeared to continue for approximately 1/4 mile. There is nothing at this intersection that marks it any differently than any other road intersecting this 4 lane roadway. This part of West Virginia often has severe fog problems, but not this morning. I interviewed the participants and waited for the cops to show up. The cops arrived quickly. I positioned myself about 30-40 feet from the lockdown and waited for the police interaction with the protesters. Deputy Eric Eversole appeared to be first on the scene. He briefly surveyed the situation at the lock down and then abruptly turned walking quickly toward me and said:

"Turn your camera off you're under arrest for trespassing."

I responded something to the effect that I was a Journalist and I was willing to leave and he responded that I could not, that I was under arrest. I'm not sure if I turned off the camera or not, I was experiencing a level of shock at the time.

He confiscated my camera, cuffed me and instructed me to stand off to the side and I did so. Later he came over and thanked me for being cooperative, to which I said, "Well of course; I'm not here to protest, I'm just here to do my job."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/12/780887/-The-Story-Of-My-Arrest-While-Filming-a-MTR-Civil-Disobedience-Action

[jberryhill]

1. This part seems vague...

"the road which leads to Massey Energy Regional Headquarters"

It seems the author goes out of his way to say that the "road" didn't appear to be different from any other road for a reason one could guess at, but isn't clear from the article.

Was this a public road, or a private road?

[HillbillyBob]

2. If it was 4 lane paved it was likely state road property.

If it was state road he had no right to arrest press.
It has been a very long time since I have been home long enough to explore most 'private' roads are marked as such.
Either way he should not have been arrested, because remember Freedom of The Press? it should have been a warning if anything when the reporter said he was willing to leave most cops would say ok.
There is somehting deeper than just tress passing going on here.
It is fascist (corporate control of government and the law) type intimidation and I use the word correctly.
I grew up in WV and that was usually the case when the press were arrested was because massey or any other mine company wanted things damped and tamped and chilled. Meaning the quieting of the reports about the protest.
Same shit bushco did, except that maybe the main stream press was quiet with less force.
What the cop did was unlawful arresting the press and stealing his camera, which is private property and theft not confiscation.
to add,
It seems the coal companies own my home state lock, stock and barrel.
They had a choke hold and there are too few people who protest the detested bastards the rest are afraid of them. They don't seem to realise you can take back the government if you all band together. that is what the so called Independent spirit gets you disjointed power, divide and conquer.

[jberryhill]

3. That's not what the article says...

No, the protest was not on a four lane paved road.

Read it again:


The road was an intersection off of a 4 lane road with a 65 mph speed limit and the blockade was about 40-50 yards from the intersection. The road appeared to continue for approximately 1/4 mile. There is nothing at this intersection that marks it any differently than any other road intersecting this 4 lane roadway.


If this person is a writer, then this passage is something less than a model of clarity, but I don't see how you get that the blockade was on a four lane road. You actually believe that the protest involved blocking a road "with a 65 mph speed limit"? That would be kinda boneheaded.

Either way he should not have been arrested, because remember Freedom of The Press?

Freedom of the Press is the right to print, publish, broadcast, etc. without government interference. It does not confer the right to enter or perform acts on private property without consent of the owner, no.

If the protest was on private property - and again, the article is not at all clear about that - then, yes, the videotape would be evidence and can be lawfully held as such.

But you seem to be mis-reading the article if you come away with the conclusion that the blockade was on a four lane paved road with a 65 mph speed limit. It seems to be written to convey that impression, by the use of the phrase "The road was an intersection..." No, a road is not an "intersection". A road is a road. The location appears to be "40-50 yards" on some other "road". Yes, pretty much every private driveway intersects with a public road somewhere, otherwise it would be a pretty useless driveway.

So, was he on private property or not?

(On edit: Yep, it was a driveway - http://www.coal-is-dirty.com/intergenerational-blockade-masseys-office-boone-co-wv "Four people, ages 22 to 81, block driveway to Coal Company's Regional Headquarters" )

[FluxRostrum]

4. Yes, it was a side road

I would not call it a driveway because it looked like any other 2 lane public road intersecting the 4 lane.

No, I'm not normally a writer, I'm a videographer & editor. I did the best I could.

There would be absolutely no reason for anyone to have known that this was a private road.

[HillbillyBob]

6. As I said and I mistyped and did not get to go back as I had things to do today

aside from picking on some smallberryhills. good by mr smallberries Ignore list does come in handy at times

[jberryhill]

7. Then why did the organizers call it a "driveway" in their own press release?

Here is the group's own press release:

http://climategroundzero.net/2009/09/blockade-at-massey-regional-headquarters/

"Four people, ages 22 to 81, block driveway to Massey Energy Regional Headquarters"

So whether you would call it a driveway, or whether some random individual would think it was a public road, it is immediately apparent that the persons doing the protest are perfectly aware that it is a driveway, they call it a driveway, and the notion of protesting Massey by blocking some "public road" other than Massey's driveway doesn't even make sense. Blocking the driveway seems to have been the express point here, as opposed to obstructing a public road for the sake of general inconvenience.

So assuming they knew something you didn't, and dragged you along without telling you, then a couple of other questions become relevant. First, some state laws, and this state is worth checking, have substantially different consequences depending on whether the property was marked. Whether or not you saw the marking is not particularly relevant, as it already seems that you and the protestors had significantly different ideas about where you were going.

Second, it is not clear at what time you were informed as to the ownership of the property and what you did next. Having been informed you were trespassing, your next move is to discontinue engaging in any activity not permitted by the owner and to exit the property. But again, given that the protestors seem to know exactly what they were doing, one might be skeptical of a journalist on the scene in a remote area with no apparent clue about the event about which he was reporting.

But it seems odd to say "I wouldn't call it a driveway" when that is precisely what the participants are in fact calling it in their own press release. The other odd thing is that you seem to know where the road goes, and nowhere else, but don't seem to know much else about it.

[bananas]

8. Thanks for covering this.

Hope we get to see your video soon.

[uppityperson]

5. k&r with advice to go read the whole story, incredible. nt