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Please explain how this would be an eye-opener for some of us.  Given your rep for bashing The Olympian I see it as nothing more than your usual assiduous behavior toward our local paper.

Cops are just like everyone else, which means that some of them are wild jerks.  Some are cool too.

The difference is that cops carry the full power of the State, which is terrifying when put in the hands of a wild jerk. 

The Canaanite's Call

A cop over stepped his authority. Tony did not have his camera taken away or his pictures destroyed and was released within a half hour. This is not to defend the cop's actions. From what I read is sounds like the cop was in the wrong. Dropping the charges, a training/review of press liberties and an apology seems in order. To err is human and cops are of that species.

Yes I see the Olympian's double standard vis a vis the PMR resistors as well but it is the nature of tribes to defend their own. The folks of the Olympian are humans too.

Pointing out the short comings of the Olympian is like shooting fish in a barrel: Way too easy and not much of a sport.

impede traffic needlessly, throw rocks through windows, put children in danger, demand a arrested person's release, hold up government supplies and property or physically assault the detective or his property.

It's no wonder The O wrote the story about Overman the way they did vs. the story they wrote about the protest(s). The man was simply doing his job and trying to stand up for respect for the press, a belief he stands firm in. The protesters were simply wreaking havoc and chaos. The O was correct in all it's editorials about the protestors.

You simply can't equate what the peaceful protesters did with what the handful of rock throwers did, one had nothing to do with the other. One group was engaged in non-violent civil disobedience and the other was capitalizing on an opportunity to use violence as a tactic while hiding in the crowd.

The big point is that Overman staged a protest that day and got arrested in the act of disobediently standing up for the rights of the press. I'm not sure how the court case would pan out, we'll probably never know as most likely the charges will be dropped.

for being hypocritical, but will go out of their way to defend and rationalize their fellow Olybloggers hypocrisy.

"A dog is not 'almost human', and I know of no greater insult to the canine race than to describe it as such." - John Holmes

itchyhitch.blogspot.com

Of course, it would help to have an objective and impartial first-person analysis of the encounter to help understanding of what actually took place.

peace, bert

the National Press Photographer Association. Obviously a group with their own agenda, but it has more details about the incident.

If accurate, the article also clarifies where Tony was standing and when.  He was outside the line when the altercation took place.

Other officers are going to let this Detective go at this one alone.

The Olympian:

Lacey Officer Robert Wilson wrote in his report ... "Due to my need to assist Intercity Transit with a mentally disabled female, I turned away from Det. Miller and the male."

I may be reading between the lines a little too much, but when someone doesn't see something - again, he may not have. Nobody can say but the officer writing the report - you have to wonder whether it's simply being used as a plausible way to remove oneself from a situation.

The main reason it doesn't happen to me is that I never take verbal issue with the unreasonable officer at the moment. Irrational armed anger junkies are unlikely to de-escalate regardless of the argument I might make. Once they have established their dominance I just sit back and let them think they have won. The press always gets the last word anyway, and it's called CopWATCH, not CopSTOP.

Tony has, in my presence, been angry and upset. I know that his reactions can be driven by anger and righteousness, but I also know that using that against someone trained to dominate the conversation and escalate to physical violence when that fails is a losing proposition. My credibility as a Copwatcher depends in part on NOT being the subject of the arrest.

I know that grey areas upset many of those who would prefer right/wrong and good/bad dichotomies, but the simple fact is that "...there are no 'good guys,' there are no 'bad guys,' there's only you and me and we just disagree." Tony was wrong. Detective Miller was much more wrong. But both could have avoided this. Detective could have whispered his order (but did not because it was intended as a threat to Tony) and Tony could have shrugged it off (but didn't because he sensed that it was a threat and decided, stupidly, to argue with an unreasonable man armed with a gun and handcuffs and training and backup). Lacey PD admin is NOT in control of their Agency. Their police guild is. (They literally check with the guild on document releases to Lacey Copwatch). If Detective Miller is part of the guild, no lasting change will happen here.

Nothing of any importance anyway. We can hash this out all day long, but it makes no difference. A reporter was arrested, why? Because he took offense to something a detective shouted. Could the detective have handled it better? Absolutely, but when it all boils down, who cares? NOT THE RIGHT PEOPLE. Hands will be shaked, maybe an apology made, but the detective will keep on working, and the cops will all chuckle about how Mr. Overman is still not allowed behind the tape.

In the future what can be done to prevent this? Reporters should just do what they are told and suck it up. Why? Because the cop isn't going to lose. End of story.

in 1969:

1. Either they softly touched noses or Overman bumped Miller in the nose with his forehead
2. Can't tell if it was accidental or assault

....during a verbal confrontation as Overman stood behind police tape meant to separate the public from firefighters.

...

Overman said earlier that as he stood outside of the tape, Miller continued to approach him, then "put his face literally half an inch from my face. I didn't move. He instigated the contact. He touched his nose to my nose."