11-21-2015, 10:09 PM
11-20-2015
Charges dropped against Long Island NY student arrested while taping police
Criminal charges were dropped Friday against a suburban New York college student arrested while taking a video of two friends being arrested.
Charges of resisting arrest, obstruction and drug possession were dismissed against Thomas Demint, a 21-year-old Long Island college student
A spokesman for the Suffolk County district attorney confirmed the case was dropped during a court proceeding Friday morning "in the interest of justice," but declined to comment further.
Police arrested Demint in May 2014 after he recorded video depicting officers slamming the mother of his two friends to the ground because they said she tried to interfere in one of her sons' arrest. Earlier in the video, the woman is hit by a stun gun.
The drug charge stems from Demint's arrest several weeks later when officers pulled him over during a traffic stop and found a painkiller pill in his pocket. Mollins said the painkiller belonged to Demint's mother, and she held a valid prescription for it.
Civil liberties experts say Demint's arrest is part of a growing trend of citizen videographers getting arrested after trying to record police behavior.
Charges dropped against Long Island NY student arrested while taping police
Criminal charges were dropped Friday against a suburban New York college student arrested while taking a video of two friends being arrested.
Charges of resisting arrest, obstruction and drug possession were dismissed against Thomas Demint, a 21-year-old Long Island college student
A spokesman for the Suffolk County district attorney confirmed the case was dropped during a court proceeding Friday morning "in the interest of justice," but declined to comment further.
Police arrested Demint in May 2014 after he recorded video depicting officers slamming the mother of his two friends to the ground because they said she tried to interfere in one of her sons' arrest. Earlier in the video, the woman is hit by a stun gun.
The drug charge stems from Demint's arrest several weeks later when officers pulled him over during a traffic stop and found a painkiller pill in his pocket. Mollins said the painkiller belonged to Demint's mother, and she held a valid prescription for it.
Civil liberties experts say Demint's arrest is part of a growing trend of citizen videographers getting arrested after trying to record police behavior.