The Denver Police Department released body-camera footage Tuesday of a July 5 incident between two police officers and the editor of The Colorado Independent. In the video, Officers James Brooks and Adam Paulsen tell the editor, Susan Greene, that she can't photograph a naked, handcuffed black man on the sidewalk, and when she takes out her smartphone to photograph one officer's badge, Paulsen tells Greene, "Stand up straight, let's act like a lady." "Stand up and act like a lady," Brooks adds. Greene asked the officers if they are "f--king kidding me — 'act like a lady'?" And Brooks replies: “There you go, now you can go to jail."
Greene did not go to jail — the officers released her after 12 minutes in a police cruiser. But it appears the cops were in the wrong.
They argued that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) superseded Greene's First Amendment right to photograph the police in action. In July 10 and Aug. 16 internal bulletins, the Denver Police Department reminded officers that the First Amendment gives private individuals the right to record police activity as long as they are legally in a public place, aren't endangering themselves or others, and don't "materially interfere" with the police conduct — and police can't "threaten, intimidate, or otherwise discourage from recording," or "detain or arrest the individual."
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Mari Newman, a lawyer for Greene and the Independent, called the HIPAA excuse "ridiculous," explaining that HIPAA is "designed to protect private medical information" and "does not impose any obligations on a private individual walking around on the street." The Denver district attorney declined to press charges against Paulsen and Brooks, and the Denver Police Department says it has an ongoing internal affairs investigation. Greene says she'll sue the city if it doesn't hold the officers accountable, asking: "How exactly should a lady act when being wrongly detained on a public sidewalk for exercising First Amendment rights?"
