When Photographs Become Evidence - The New York Times.pdf

2/13/2016 When Photographs Become Evidence - The New York Times

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WhenPhotographsBecomeEvidenceNov. 5, 2015

The decision to drop charges against Robert Stolarik for interfering with an arrest he hadbeen photographing in the Bronx in 2012 and instead to prosecute an arresting officer cameafter prosecutors scrutinized the physical evidence: Mr. Stolariks digital images.

On Aug. 4, 2012, Mr. Stolarik, a freelance photographer for The New York Times since2000, was on assignment with reporters, investigating stop-and-frisk tactics in the SouthBronx, when he spotted officers arresting a teenage girl at the intersection of McClellanStreet and Sheridan Avenue. Identifying himself as a journalist and holding up his presscard, he kept taking pictures, even as one officer tried to cover his lens with her hand.

Throughout the whole thing, I never stopped shooting, he said.

Mr. Stolarik said that was when a lieutenant slammed his camera into his face and he wastackled to the ground. They knew I was a member of the media and they beat me up, hesaid.

A video recorded by a Times reporter captured about a half-dozen officers on top of Mr.Stolarik before he was led away. He was held overnight and charged with obstructinggovernmental administration, disorderly conduct, harassment and resisting arrest.

What Mr. Stolarik did not realize then was that a sequence of 60 photographs he tookleading up to his arrest would provide crucial evidence that not only resulted in havingprosecutors drop the charges against him, but also charge one of the arresting officersinstead. Last month, Officer Michael Ackermann was convicted of falsifying a record tojustify the arrest of Mr. Stolarik.



Photos played a major role in the prosecution, said Pishoy Yacoub, a Bronx assistantdistrict attorney. The stills, one after the other, show the action like a cartoon flip book.

The case was further helped by something most people never see: the image metadata,which records exposure information. According to Officer Ackermann, Mr. Stolarikrepeatedly fired a flash into his eyes at close range and struck him in the face with hiscamera. Although the use of a flash was never detailed or inventoried in the initial arrestreport, Officer Ackermann testified to its existence later in court documents, which led to hisindictment in 2013 as well as charges being dropped against Mr. Stolarik.

Officer Ackermanns lawyer, Michael A. Martinez, argued that his client confused thecamera flash with a squad cars lights and other ambient light during a hostile and chaoticarrest. But when on the stand, Officer Ackermann was shown picture after picture thatcontradicted his claims, including of the arrested teenager being walked away in handcuffsbefore Officer Ackermann first approached the camera.

Lindsay Silverman, a Nikon senior product manager, testified about the metadata in thephotos, which, among information on the camera model, aperture and exposure, showed nouse of a flash. The series of images showed that Mr. Stolarik complied with officers orders tostep back. (I was interviewed as a potential witness because I was working on the late photoassignment desk when Mr. Stolarik, handcuffed in the back of a squad car, managed to getSiri to dial The Times, but I was never called to testify.)

In my closing arguments, I told the judge to forget about witness testimony and look at thephotos and compare them to the document that he signed, Mr. Yacoub said.

The New York Police Department declined to comment on the conviction but said OfficerAckermann, who is awaiting sentencing, had been suspended. He faces up to four years inprison.

Many journalists, who have experienced strained relations with the New York PoliceDepartment through Occupy Wall Street and protests surrounding the Eric Garner case,welcomed this decision. About a dozen photojournalists and reporters lined the hallway withMr. Stolarik and stood in silence as Officer Ackermann left the courtroom after being readthe verdict in State Supreme Court.

Many of them had faced similar situations.

Nobody gets arrested for taking pictures because there is no such charge, said MickeyOsterreicher, who is general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association.Photography is not a crime, so the charges we normally see are disturbing the peace,



disorderly conduct, obstruction of governmental administration, loitering, trespassing and

resisting arrest.

Mr. Osterreicher, who has educated police officers across the country on First and Fourth

Amendment rights, and met with the former New York Police commissioner Raymond W.

Kelly regarding arrests of journalists, said that the city had good policies, but that training

might be a problem.

If police officers dont know or dont care what those rights are, its not going to make any

difference as we saw in this case, and, when push comes to shove, youre going to get

arrested, Mr. Osterreicher said.

Indeed, on Thee Rant, a message board described as New York City cops speaking their

minds, one commenter, dominop, responded to a post about Officer Ackermanns

conviction: Lock up everyone in or connected with the press that you can, every chance you

get! Know your enemy!

FollownikokoppelonInstagram.

Follow@RStolarik,@[email protected]

FacebookandInstagram.

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When Photographs Become Evidence - The New York Times.pdf

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