28-year old Andrew Henderson from Little Canada was filming Ramsey County deputies arresting a man, when an officer approached him and took his video camera. The deputy was Jacqueline Muellner. “We’ll just take this for evidence. If I end up on YouTube, I’m gonna be upset,” Muellner said. Thankfully, Henderson was able to record their conversion on his phone and has posted them on YouTube. Henderson insisted that what he did was completely legal. A week after the incident, Henderson was charged with obstruction of legal process and disorderly conduct.
In the citation, deputy Muellner wrote, “While handling a medical/check the welfare (call), (Henderson) was filming it. Data privacy HIPAA violation. Refused to identify self. Had to stop dealing with sit(uation) to deal w/Henderson.” Randy Gustafson, the spokesman for the Ramsey County sheriff’s office, has declined to divulge the details of the case saying that investigation is going on. Meanwhile, Jane Kirtley, Professor of Media Ethics and Media Law at the University of Minnesota, said that making video recordings of something that’s happening in public is legal. “I wish the police around the country would get the memo on these situations,” she said.
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