County police update guidelines in light of ruling on recording officer activity
Uniontown officer dragged by vehicle
Following a decision last week by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirming that people have a First Amendment right to record public police activities, the Allegheny County Police superintendent Tuesday sent out updated guidelines to his department.
Superintendent Coleman McDonough said his officers underwent mandatory, in-service training in 2015 about the constitutionally protected right to record in a public setting.
But with the opinion by the 3rd Circuit — which encompasses Pennsylvania and joins five other circuit courts across the country — Superintendent McDonough felt obliged to remind his 217 officers and 18 civilian employees of the public’s rights.
“The public has the right to record, photograph, film or audio record police officers conducting official police activity in public under the First Amendment’s right of access to information,” according to the two-page memo distributed Tuesday.
Further, Superintendent McDonough told the department, “The court in this case did not find the right so clearly established up to this point and permitted the officers in this case qualified immunity.” But in light of the court’s July 7 opinion, “Any future argument that they are entitled to qualified immunity, because this was previously unsettled law, is probably no longer valid after this decision.”
Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Sonya Toler said her department has no policies in place. But First Amendment issues are taught in the training academy, she said.
“The First Amendment protects a person’s ability to record a police officer in the line of their duties. We use that, of course, as the first guideline. And beyond that, it’s basically as long as the individual is not disrupting the officer’s ability to conduct an investigation, to process a crime scene, as long as they’re not going inside of a private residence …” officers are instructed not to interfere with public recordings, Ms. Toler said.
“Additionally, whenever there is a situation where an officer may have inappropriately addressed a member of the public who was video recording officers, the right of the public to video officers is addressed during roll
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Police in Uniontown shot a West Virginia man Thursday during a car chase in which he dragged one officer and struck another, authorities said.
Steven Eric Deberry, 59, of Dellslow, W.Va., was flown to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown after the incident. Pennsylvania State Police charged him with attempted homicide, resisting arrest, fleeing and eluding, and other offenses.
About 2 p.m. Thursday, police said, a tipster saw Mr. Deberry in a car in the parking lot of the NAPA Auto Parts store at 325 E. Main St. in Uniontown. The person recognized Mr. Deberry from a newspaper article that said he was wanted on a bench warrant, according to a police affidavit.
The person called 911, police said, and officers responded and ordered Mr. Deberry to get out of the car. When Mr. Deberry didn’t immediately comply, one officer tried to pull him out. Mr. Deberry accelerated, dragging the officer with him, according to state police.
Officers followed Mr. Deberry out of the city on Route 857 and into Fairchance, where Mr. Deberry crashed into another vehicle at the intersection of Route 857 and Church Street. Police said the other driver was injured, but the person’s condition was not released.
After the crash, Uniontown officers approached the car and ordered Mr. Deberry to get out. But he again accelerated, striking an officer and sending him flying through the air, according to the affidavit. The officer suffered injuries to his arm and hand, police said.
Other officers, “in fear of death or bodily injury,” opened fire on Mr. Deberry. He was shot in the chest and left arm, according to the affidavit, but he continued to drive away.
State police troopers then joined the pursuit.
Troopers struck Mr. Deberry’s car in an attempt to spin it out of control, the affidavit said, but he continued driving. Troopers tried the maneuver a second time and Mr. Deberry stopped in the middle of the road, police said.
Troopers and officers converged on Mr. Deberry’s car and pulled him out, though he continued to resist arrest, police said.
Officers finally got Mr. Deberry handcuffed and into a medical helicopter. Mr. Deberry continued to struggle with emergency personnel, so a trooper had to fly withhim to the hospital.
His condition was not released.
Online court records show Mr. Deberry was wanted on a bench warrant because he had failed to appear at a January trial on charges of identity theft and false identification to a law enforcement officer.