David Jones is 70 years old. He is an independent journalist in Temple, Texas, and for years he has done one simple thing: he films police officers doing their jobs in public so the rest of us can see how public power is used.
In 2023, that got him arrested. Twice.
The "crime scene" only appeared after the camera did. On July 19, 2023, David stood quietly near a concrete slab about 50 feet from Temple officers who were interviewing a man near a wooded area where a body had been found. The body was more than 75 feet away, hidden behind heavy brush. He filmed for several minutes without anyone objecting, while other people walked right through the area. Then officers noticed his camera. According to his lawsuit, their first words were: "You can't be filming our crime scene or we're going to take your phone." An officer then pointed to a distant tree, announced that he was "going to put up our tape" there, and ordered David back behind it. David said he wasn't interfering, and he was arrested for "interference." No tape ever went up. The charge was later dropped.
The question that got him thrown to the ground. Two months later, David was doing his laundry when officers began searching a man's bag outside the laundromat. David started recording and asked one question: did the man consent to the search? According to his lawsuit, an officer ordered him to "get your laundry and leave." When he refused, the officer handcuffed him and threw him to the concrete twice. The fall was hard enough to crack his phone. He was locked in a patrol car until a sergeant arrived, photographed his injuries, and let him go back to his laundry. Other customers came and went the whole time without a word from the officers.
Why this matters to you. The Fifth Circuit has recognized that Americans have a First Amendment right to record police in public. But a federal district court dismissed David's case, ruling that the officers get qualified immunity because they "could have believed" David was interfering by not moving when told. If that ruling stands, any officer who doesn't want to be filmed can declare wherever you're standing a "crime scene," order you out of range, and arrest you when you say no. A right that disappears whenever an officer says so isn't a right at all.
David is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. A win would put the brakes on using "interference" to shut down cameras in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
What your donation covers. Your gift pays the hard costs of the appeal: court filing fees, preparing the record, printing and filing the briefs, and travel to New Orleans for oral argument. Our main argument is to ask whether cops can invent a crime based on a broadly worded statute to prevent or criminalize filming police.
Every recording of police misconduct you've ever seen exists because someone stood their ground with a camera. David stood his. Please stand with him.
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