On August 23, 2014, Citizen Journalist Nydia Tisdale was assaulted by a security guard at a Republican Rally for Governor Nathan Deal and Senate Candidate David Perdue at Burt's Pumpkin Farm in Dawson County Georgia.
Ms. Tisdale was video recording the talks by many of the Republican candidates for statewide office when she was asked to stop by Clint Bearden, a local Republican operative. When she refused, she was physically assaulted by a security guard who was an off-duty member of the Dawson Sheriff's Department, Mr. Wooten. Wooten dragged Ms. Tisdale away from the Rally to a nearby building where he bent her over a table and twisted her arm behind her back.
Various of these events where captured on two separate electronic records, one in audio, and the other in video. The full Rally was captured on audio by Brian Pritchard of FetchYourNews.com. The audio recording exists as a "baseline". It is a complete record of the formal rally and is unedited. The second record was captured by Ms. Tisdale with her video recorder. She was able to keep the recorder running while Mr. Wooten was dragging her away from the rally and for a time in the room where he took her.
The audio recording is here. http://vimeo.com/...
The video recording is here. https://www.youtube.com/...
There is a serious discrepancy between these two electronic records.
At one point in the confrontation between Ms Tisdale and Mr. Wooten, Ms Tisdale screamed out for help six times. Her screams can be clearly heard on the audio recording starting at 14:15. The Georgia Labor Commissioner was speaking to the crowd at the time and the crowd responds by laughing at Ms. Tisdale's plight. No one comes to her aid.
However, on the video version of this event, there is no record whatsoever of Ms. Tisdale screaming for help. Mr. Wooten's assault on Ms. Tisdale begins at 14:10 on the video record and ends at 18:42 when the video camera is turned off. The screams should be heard on the video at about 16:00 but they are not there.
It appears that the video record has been edited to delete Ms. Tisdale's six screams for help.
The Sheriff of Dawson County confiscated Ms. Tisdale's camera and held it for six days until the afternoon of August 29 when it was returned to Ms. Tisdale. Ms. Tisdale subsequently uploaded the video to Youtube at 8:30 pm where it exists to this day.
As a result of this confrontation between Ms. Tisdale and Mr. Wooten, Ms. Tisdale has been charged with the crimes of Felony Resisting Arrest and Misdemeanor Trespass. The video is a key piece of evidence with respect to these crimes.
But it appears that the video has been tampered with, possibly by the Dawson Sheriff.
The crime of evidence tampering is described in the Georgia Code as follows:
"O.C.G.A. 16-10-94 (2010)
16-10-94. Tampering with evidence
(a) A person commits the offense of tampering with evidence when, with the intent to prevent the apprehension or cause the wrongful apprehension of any person or to obstruct the prosecution or defense of any person, he knowingly destroys, alters, conceals, or disguises physical evidence or makes, devises, prepares, or plants false evidence. . .
(c) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, any person who violates subsection (a) of this Code section involving the prosecution or defense of a felony and involving another person shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than three years;"
A close scrutiny of the video reveals an abrupt transition at 15:54-15:55. This could be the place where the video was "cut and spliced" so as to remove the six screams for help.
Since the Sheriff of Dawson County had the video under his control from August 23 until August 29, he would have to be a suspect in this matter.
This is a request for assistance from the DailyKos community.
Who knows how to analyze the Youtube video to determine whether or not it has been edited? Was the video cut and spliced at 15:54-15:55 or in any other place. Did the "cut and splice" tool used leave any audit trail of its actions?
Here is a time interval analysis of the two records of events. (FYN identifies the Fetch Your News audio record and NTV identifies the Nydia Tisdale Video record.)
1. Initial assault begins when Wooten puts his hand over the camera lens: FYN: 12:25; NTV: 14:10.
2. Nydia Tisdale cries out six times for help: FYN: 14:15. NTV: no record.
3. Abrupt transition in video which may denote a "cut and splice". NTV: 15:54-15:55.