Galveston police jail man after he was found filming them
Detainee charged with refusing to identify himself
Galveston police jailed a 25-year-old man this week on charges of refusing to identify himself after he was observed filming license plates and police movement to and from the city’s Justice Center.
Officers confiscated that video from the man, Phillip Turner, on Wednesday night, authorities said.
An associate of the jailed man since has posted a separate video online that recorded officers arresting Turner, who describes himself as a “video activist” and correspondent for the website photographyisnotacrime.com.
“He never gave us any answer about why he was filming our Galveston station,” said police spokesman Michael Gray, who said the arresting officer feared he might be planning some “future harm.”
On the video, Turner can be heard telling officers that he was trying to film the “fallen officer” memorial and did not think he had recorded any license plates.
Turner was arrested on the misdemeanor charge without a struggle and taken to the Galveston County Jail, where he was processed and released on bail. He could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Gray said the arrest is being reviewed by police administrators.
Turner was filming the police station through a gate in a secure area of the parking lot, Smith said.
The officer “detained the individual and attempted to identify him,” Galveston police said in a news release.
According to the website, Turner has been arrested in similar incidents by other police departments, such as Fort Worth and Round Rock.
He has a lawsuit that contends his constitutional rights were violated by his arrest against Round Rock police, the website says. His YouTube page has more than 100 recorded interactions between him and police from cities around Texas.