In the video below, an entirely innocent man, doing nothing other than practicing his first amendment right to film in public, was assaulted with a deadly weapon. Because a police officer feared for his life over a camera, he chose to pull his weapon and threaten an innocent man's life.
The man filming was simply walking down the street with a camera when he came upon the officer identified as officer Everett with the Mesa College Police Department. As was his constitutional right to do so, the man filming stopped on the public sidewalk and video recorded the officer in his official duties.
"What are you filming for?" asks the cop, clearly acknowledging that the man was holding a camera and not some other object that he was going to use to cause him harm. However, when the man filming exercised his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, the officer escalated the situation and began to claim he feared for his life.
As illustrated by his original question, the officer knew that this man was holding a camera. However, after the man attempted to assert his rights, the officer then claimed he did not know what the object was being pointed at him.
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