PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT A CRIME: Video vigilante said he was ‘rude,’ but not breaking the law recording at MGH.
A video vigilante charged with trespassing at Massachusetts General Hospital said he agrees he may have been “rude,” but he doesn’t want to be tossed in jail where fears of coronavirus are running rampant.
John L. McCullough told the Herald Tuesday evening he is a First Amendment crusader who takes videos of police and posts them to YouTube. That’s what got him a June 2 arraignment date.
“I understand how people may feel, but that doesn’t mean I should be locked up,” McCullough said, adding he posts his work to “The Resistance” channel on the video platform.
“Did I break the law? No. I may have been rude,” he added. “I understand people may feel jittery, but where peoples’ feelings start my rights don’t stop.”
McCullough, 41, was charged with trespassing, disturbing the peace and threats to do bodily harm after police say he refused to stop recording Sunday evening, as the Herald reported.
He’s accused of recording video at MGH of a ramp where “hundreds of nurses, doctors, physician assistants, and other medical staff arriving and leaving the hospital after a 12 hour shift during the COVID-19 Pandemic” could be seen leaving, according to a police report. . . .
McCullough said “20 other cameras” were probably rolling at the same time as he was — alluding to security cameras in the area.
Yes, but those are approved by Authority. Plus:
Cambridge civil-rights attorney Harvey Silverglate said McCullough will probably have his case tossed, even if what he was doing is seen as crass.
“There’s no amendment in the Constitution called the humanity amendment,” said Silverglate. “It’s a free country and you have a right to be a jerk.”
But taking video outside a hospital during a pandemic and as people try to social distance — and first responders, including the police, face all-too-real health risks — is “pretty distasteful,” Silverglate added.
Still, he added the judge will “have to throw it out.” He added it’s “punishement itself” to go to court in this climate.
McCullough, records state, does not have an attorney yet. He did say he’s ready to plead his case.
“Don’t be brainwashed,” he added, “and it shouldn’t be a problem when a black man has a camera.”
The First Circuit has held that taking photos and video in public is a right that is sufficiently “clearly established” that those who violated it can’t claim qualified immunity.