Citizen Journalism legitimacy being questioned, grand jury demands video tape of EPD taser attack.
- added July 11, 2008
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Tim Lewis doesn’t want to be the next member of the U.S. media jailed for defying a court order.
But he says he’d rather be locked up than surrender to Lane County prosecutors a video he shot during a May 30 anti-pesticide rally in downtown Eugene marked by the controversial stun-gun arrest of 18-year-old University of Oregon student Ian Van Ornum.
Lewis, a longtime local videographer and activist, has been ordered to relinquish the tape to a grand jury that will decide if Van Ornum or anyone else attending the Kesey Square rally should be charged with a crime.
Lewis says there’s “no way” he’ll give up the tape.
“I don’t have a whole bunch (on the tape) that would interest them,” he said. “But I can’t set a precedent by giving it to them.”
Lewis, 52, who for years videotaped police activities for public-access shows “Cascadia Alive!” and “CopWatch” and who describes himself as an independent journalist, took his camera with him to the May 30 rally to capture footage for his “Picture Eugene” series of online videos.
Lewis said he tried to begin recording when uniformed officers first approached Van Ornum. But he didn’t realize that he had previously protected the tape in his camera from being recorded over.
Lewis said he wasn’t able to slip in a new tape until after a Eugene officer used a Taser stun gun to subdue Van Ornum. Scenes of the teen laying on the ground while handcuffed are included in footage Lewis posted online on YouTube.
But he says he’d rather be locked up than surrender to Lane County prosecutors a video he shot during a May 30 anti-pesticide rally in downtown Eugene marked by the controversial stun-gun arrest of 18-year-old University of Oregon student Ian Van Ornum.
Lewis, a longtime local videographer and activist, has been ordered to relinquish the tape to a grand jury that will decide if Van Ornum or anyone else attending the Kesey Square rally should be charged with a crime.
Lewis says there’s “no way” he’ll give up the tape.
“I don’t have a whole bunch (on the tape) that would interest them,” he said. “But I can’t set a precedent by giving it to them.”
Lewis, 52, who for years videotaped police activities for public-access shows “Cascadia Alive!” and “CopWatch” and who describes himself as an independent journalist, took his camera with him to the May 30 rally to capture footage for his “Picture Eugene” series of online videos.
Lewis said he tried to begin recording when uniformed officers first approached Van Ornum. But he didn’t realize that he had previously protected the tape in his camera from being recorded over.
Lewis said he wasn’t able to slip in a new tape until after a Eugene officer used a Taser stun gun to subdue Van Ornum. Scenes of the teen laying on the ground while handcuffed are included in footage Lewis posted online on YouTube.
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