15 year felony charge for recording a traffic stop

[Willinois]

This is a horrible Illinois law that needs to be struck down. ABC in Chicago did a good job covering this.

Quote:Frobe calls it the worst experience of his life. He was on his way to a late evening movie on an August night last year when he was stopped for speeding in far north suburban Lindenhurst. He didn't believe he was in a 35-mile-an-hour zone, and he figured if he was going to get ticket he wanted to be able to document his challenge with video evidence, so he got out his flip camera, which he was not very adept at using.

At one point he held it out the window trying to record where he was. When the officer, being recorded on his squad dash cam, walked back to Frobe's car, the officer saw Frobe's camera.

Officer: "That recording? Frobe : "Yes, Yes, I've been... Officer: "Was it recording all of our conversation? Frobe: "Yes. Officer: "Guess what? You were eavesdropping on our conversation. I did not give you permission to do so. Step out of the vehicle."

He was charged with a felony that could have come with a 15 year sentence. Thankfully, they dropped the charge but he's taking it to court to get the law struck down. I hope he wins.

The irony is that the cop's car camera was also recording the conversation. So why isn't that eavesdropping?

[jaxx]

Absolutely it needs to be struck down. It gives the police way too much power.

[Brewman_Jax]

Absolutely ridiculous! The law needs to be struck down!

[nofurylike]

outrageous.
good the court didn't lock him away for 15 years!

thank you for posting that, Willinois.