If someone is filming you in public, you tell them to stop, they refuse, then you touch their camera, are you breaking the law?
I was a witness to a major traffic accident, a policeman was taking down my statement when a news crew showed up and started filming me talking to the officer. I told them to stop, no response, then raised my voice to tell them to stop, and the cameraman then said 'no'. I then put my hand over the camera's lens like Hollywood stars do to the paparazzi, and the cameraman went ballistic. He started yelling at me "Don't touch my camera! Don't you dare touch my camera! Don't you ever touch my camera!" He then slapped my arm away w/ force. Would I have broken any law if I did touch his camera? If someone is annoying you by legally filming you in a public place, do you have the right to annoy them back by touching their expensive camera w/o breaking it? Did he violate the law w/ the slap? Thanks
4 attorney answers
Yes.
No.
Probably.
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The least touching of another in anger is battery. Cole v Turner, 87 Eng. Rep. 907 (1704).
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You're in a public place, so to argue an expectation of privacy makes no sense. The fact that you're giving a statement to the police, does not create an expectation of privacy either. Even if your privacy rights were being violated that still does not give license to touching the camera.
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They had the right to film you. You were out in public. You could have been charged with assault, battery, and possibly other criminal acts when you touched his camera.
His slapping your arm away would probably be justified under the circumstances.
You were wrong. The cameraman was merely annoying - which is not a crime.
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