In the above video, Shawn Nee was stopped and detained for 25 minutes by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Deputies for taking photos in the subway. The video is cut down under 10 minutes for YouTube time limits, but the full encounter is available here.

Shawn Nee is a photographers’ rights advocate and, while his encounter may have been set up to “bait” the stop since the video was up and running in a covert fashion, the officer clearly overstepped his bounds.  During the encounter, the officer concedes that he doesn’t know whether or not Nee has committed a crime but rather, has stopped him to see if a crime is being committed. [Read more…]