Colorado Springs settles with man detained for recording at police station
The city of Colorado Springs has settled a claim with a man who says the police department wrongfully detained him for $41,000.
The incident happened back in November 2017. Terrell Clayton was shooting video on the sidewalk outside the Falcon Division substation when two officers approached him. He captured most of it on video using a recorder and his cell phone.
CSPD said they have no official statement. We reached out to Clayton via email but did not hear back. He posted a YouTube video with a response to the settlement saying, “I’m pretty happy with it. I will say we, as in me and my law firm, [were] ready to litigate it but we feel that this is acceptable.”
That’s where we discovered dozens of videos with Clayton doing the same thing as he did at the Falcon substation: going onto public properties and taking video. In many of the instances, someone comes out and asks what he’s doing.
He and others record the entire conversation, telling the person they are within their right to do so. The more than 40 videos show he’s been successful at places like the El Paso County Sheriff’s office, the post office, and Fort Carson.
What Clayton is doing isn’t illegal or wrong, but he often pokes fun and laughs at the officials who are proven wrong.
As a result of the settlement, CSPD will now have to abide by the rule that says, “taking photographs or recording from a public place in and of itself does not constitute suspicious activity.”
It also states that “by September 15, 2018, the City of Colorado Springs will create and publish a roll-call video addressing the First Amendment right to record police activity, and will require that its officers view the video by December 31, 2018.”
