On Monday night, Congressman Peter King tagged along on a ride-along for the A&E show Manhunters. He joined the U.S. Marshals' New York/New Jersey Fugitive Task Force as it kicked down the door on a suspected fugitive in Brooklyn. There's one problem, though. Justice Department policy bars anyone who isn't a marshal or a Task Force member from filming inside a private residence. And King apparently knows he stepped in it.
After TPM made inquiries about the video with King’s office, it was marked “private” and no longer available to the public on YouTube. Later, the video was removed from YouTube entirely.
A shorter version, with almost a minute of footage cut out, was posted later in the day, and tweeted from King’s account. Clips of an officer kicking in a door, a joke about how King “got” a suspect and an officer describing to King how he kicked someone, perhaps the suspect, off a ladder were cut out.
But even the new video features shots that appear to have been filmed within the confines of a private residence in violation of federal policy.
TPM managed to get its hands on
the original video before King deleted it, as well as
the edited version.
Before the Branch Davidian raid, a television cameraman who had been tipped off in advance about the raid asked a mailman for directions to the compound. The mailman happened to be David Koresh's brother-in-law--thus eliminating any element of surprise. In response, Justice not only barred anyone who wasn't a marshal or task force member from filming inside a private residence, but also barred advance tips to the press about raids. King is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, so you'd think he'd know about this rule. The marshals are investigating.
Bruce Barket, a defense attorney from King's stomping grounds on Long Island, had a chance to look at both videos, and thinks they could pose more problems other than a violation of DOJ policy.
“It turns out maybe more often than not that the camera is not the policeman’s friend, so I find it curious that agents would say, come along, witness congressman, and bring your video crew so you can observe us engaging in whatever conduct we’re engaging in,” Barket said. “The fact that they’ve edited some raises some questions about what they were doing.”
He also said it’s almost unheard of to have somebody of the congressman’s profile tagging along with a fugitive task force.
“Somebody accompanying them is rare,” Barket said. “Somebody accompanying them with a video camera is very rare.”
Barket also questioned King’s attire. “Why was he wearing a police coat and a badge?” he said. “I’m just searching for a legitimate reason why he’d be wearing a badge and a coat like that. If you did it, you’d be arrested for impersonating a police officer.”
Good questions indeed--questions that might result in an awful lot of cases being tossed out, including that of the fugitive depicted in the video.