Under the Bridge Redux

20040401-IMG_0104
Originally uploaded by David Sommars - (thorhammer67)

Another shot at this wonderful bridge that leads to the Queen Mary.

Los Angeles Police Coerce Photographers off Public Sidewalk

On 5/23 around 7:30-7:45 PM, myself and 2 other photographers , one unnamed and one Branin Johnson arrived at Henry Ford Blvd and Anaheim Street (MAP) to photograph the amazingly beautiful and interesting industrial area. See the pics below.


View Larger Map


Here are street view pics of the bridge in both directions







We noticed as we walked along the sidewalk with our cameras that we were being followed by an obscure and suspicious looking guy in a SUV. I took some pictures in case he was casing our car or our gear, which in fact it seemed like he was doing.









Apparently He is Officer Weiss from the LAPD serial # R2676, and his license plate is 5UPK086, He parked along the street illegally blocking traffic and called us into HQ, apparently photographers who stand obviously with tripods on public sidewalks cant be trusted to exercise their constitutional rights without giving away whats freely available already on Google maps (And in better detail) to terrorists.
During our encounter we tried to engage him in conversation but he refused to acknowledge us as humans and just stood there looking like he wanted to rob us.

Shortly after being surveyed, we were converged upon by one of many police cruisers




According to the LAPD Online, Thomas Malloy was an OFFICER III in 2003. I would expect someone of this level of training to be able to cite a law when giving a lawful order, and not resort to coercion and threats based in no legality whatsoever. He denied repeated requests to offer details of ANY law we were breaking. Worse, he stated we could not record him in public audibly, and told me to stop taking pictures of him, to which I snapped a few more then stopped as he repeatedly told me to stop or he would put me away.

When asked what law I was violating other then just his bullying opinion as he has no legal expectation of privacy from a public sidewalk, he had no response but to shift weight from his gun hand to his hip. I'm actually getting very used to being "Lied" to by police officers. This is not a good thing, and its not legal. But hey, they have guns and we don't, so deal with it.


OFFICER THOMAS MALLOY, Badge # 8641(from the picture) Serial #22934




His boss SGT Chacoh serial #22030 was just as bad if not worse, he said we had to leave the city and go to another one to shoot pictures. Again, no law was given even after many many requests. I asked him if they would arrest us for not complying, he said "They were not saying that" I asked what they were saying then? He just said we had to leave the area, and if not we would get a trip to the station. I asked again what the charge would be (If any) and no answer again. I explained this is a textbook definition of coercion. They were not willing to cite any law, or talk any further about it, since the SGT had forbidden me from taking pictures of him and they told us we could not audio record them or else they would put us in jail we had no hard evidence of what they had said. I am probably going to have to legally sequester the dash-cams as evidence if I ever want to get hard evidence.

The names and serial numbers written on the card I requested are almost unreadable, and there is one extra serial serial number with no name attached to it, making me wonder if any of them are correct.

I had called the number on the card to see if I could appeal to a higher power only to be told by whomever answered the phone @ 310 726-7700 that I could be put in a federal prison for 10-15 years for taking pictures of refineries. Sounds reasonable to me !

Once again, we obeyed an un-lawful order from guys who are sworn and paid to uphold and enforce guess what: "The Law". I guess the law is whatever the MOOD dictates.
There is no evidence we've seen that shows pictures taken from night with horrible shadow detail to any correlation to past attempts at terrorism, linking hobby art photography to potential terrorism is like saying that terrorists drive cars so we should ban all cars in the city of LB and LA.

Once again, the terrorists already won guys. Is this what we want happening in our country ?


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Want to voice your concern ?
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Los Angeles Police Station
Harbor Area
2175 S John S. Gibson Blvd, San Pedro, CA

Phone 310 726-7700
Fax 310 726-7739

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Office of the Inspector General Los Angeles Police Dept.

Info
http://www.ci.la.ca.us/oig/isgig2a.htm

Contact info
http://www.ci.la.ca.us/oig/isgcu1.htm

There are several ways to contact the Office of the Inspector General. You can visit us in person. We are located downtown at Figueroa Plaza, 201 North Figueroa Street, Suite 610. Validated parking is provided.

Monday-Friday between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm
Phone (213) 202-5866.
Fax (213) 482-1247
Email oigcompl@lapd.lacity.org
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City Council member for that area
District 15 - Janice Hahn

City Hall Office (213)-473-7015
200 N. Spring Street, Rm 435
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Field Offices
Map of District
EMAIL JANICE councilmember.hahn@lacity.org
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Tower of the night

20040317-IMG_0078-05-09-2009
Originally uploaded by David Sommars - (thorhammer67)

Loving the accidental find on this vertical tower. Lots of color. I was told by a security guard that I was violating a non existent law while taking these, I told him to call the police immediately. The cop who got out of the car first (3 squad cars) walked up to me and said, " I know you., "

"Can I get a discount on buying a few prints"

We laughed as the guard sulked away in shame. Do they even train them nowadays ?

Blue Yellow Post Its

IMG_0024
Originally uploaded by David Sommars - (thorhammer67)

I was walking on an overpass and as I was setting up the tripod I noticed this eerie scene below me. Nice spill light and what must have been either a cool white cfl or a quartz with a bluish cover made great contrast with the poles.

I didn't see anything really great on the overpass, usually that's the case, but the journey was worth it.

Steam Plant with Full Moon

IMG_0351
Originally uploaded by David Sommars - (thorhammer67)

Sometimes you find something really interesting walking around.

This steam plant is over in Seal Beach California near PCH, about a mile from the beach. There is a public bike path that goes right between the 2 plants giving excellent views like this when there is a full moon.

This is a long exposure, caught some cloud movement in the middle of the frame. Luckily no security bothered me.

Strangely, security at this location never never never even cares that i am just 200 feet from the plant, but in Long Beach they will confront you a mile away...

A Plumbers Dream

Love the way these were just suspended across the jetty.

While you were sleeping

IT was very cold, but I wanted to take some quick shots anyways, got some hand shake from the cold and I think I bumped the tripod once, LOL what a night...