Arkansas State Rep. John Walker was arrested in Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 26 for filming police as they stopped a motorist but the charge given to him was “obstructing governmental operations.” The arrest came after Walker was approached by two Little Rock police officers who had arrested a motorist on outstanding warrants. Walker co-sponsored a bill in 2015 which made it a crime for law enforcement officers to attempt to stop people from photographing or recording them; deleting footage or other electronic data; and seizing or confiscating recording devices unless they are being used in the commission of a crime.
On September 26 Walker and an associate, Omavi Kushukuru, stopped to observe police detaining a motorist. Dash cam footage, available below the fold, shows one officer approaching Walker who appears to be across the street where the arrest is taking place, asking him what he is doing, and if he knows why the motorist was stopped. He begins to explain that the motorist had open warrants when another officer walks over and joins the conversation. As you will see in the video, the first officer acknowledges Walker’s right to record the police officers, yet he and the other officer remain obviously offended that Walker is recording them. The conversation then becomes one of accusations by the officers, stating that Walker is a race-baiter and looking for trouble because he is filming them. One of the officers asks Walker if he would have stopped and recorded them if the person being detained was not African American. Walker replies that he “doesn’t know.” The officer replies “that’s what I thought.” Obviously, the recent rash of questionable police shootings of black men by police and thus the need for an observer to record police interactions was lost on the two police officers. According to the police report that was filed on Walker’s arrest, the officers “attempted to speak with Walker, but he kept talking over us in an antagonistic and provocative manner.” Yeah. Right.
Anyway, Walker and his associate eventually cross the street and attempt to observe the police from the proximity of the front and rear of the stopped vehicle. That is when they were arrested for obstruction.
The charges against Walker were dropped the next day and a letter of apology was sent by the chief of police, which Walker promptly rejected, by the way. The charges against Walker’s associate, Omavi Kushukuru, still stand. After viewing the footage, the chief concluded that Walker should not have been arrested because he was on the sidewalk, at the front of the vehicle. Kushukuru, however, walked in-between the stopped vehicle and the police car, which is why his charges remain.