Oregon Man Arrested for Recording Militarized Police Raid in Neighborhood
In a chilling show of militaristic thuggery, police in Oregon arrested a man for attempting to video record them blasting their way into a neighbor’s home as they served a search warrant.
The Gresham Police Department, which serves a city of just over 100,000, rumbled down a residential street at 4 a.m. Tuesday with several armored vehicles, blasting flash grenades into a home, jolting the entire neighborhood awake. One man, who goes by Skylow Production on Youtube, said he was sleeping in his girlfriend’s apartment when he was awaken by all the ruckus. He grabbed his iPad and ran outside, standing across the street as the cops surrounded the home dressed like soldiers, issuing orders through a megaphone. When they spotted him, they accused him of “interfering” and ordered him back inside. When he asserted his right to be there, he was arrested. He said he was jailed for interfering and resisting arrest, two bogus contempt-of-cop charges.
Update: The man’s name is Fred Marlow and he is a 27-year-old Gresham resident who needs to find an attorney to prepare for his upcoming hearing, which is scheduled for September 30. In a telephone interview with Photography is Not a Crime, Marlow said the officer body slammed him before handcuffing him. The officer, who he identifies as Sgt. McGowan, also insinuated in his report of being drunk. “He wrote in his report that I was probably drunk because I was walking funny,” Marlow said. “But I was walking funny because I have a titanium rod in my leg.” Marlow said the titanium rod stems for a traffic accident at the age of 18. He also said he told the cop to give him a breathalyzer, but the cop refused. After he was thrown in the back of the car, his girlfriend stepped out of the apartment looking for him, but was ordered back inside under threat of arrest. Marlow is not sure what prompted the raid on his neighbors but said he read reports in the local media that the police department had been conducting drug raids during that time. He has launched a fundraiser to raise money for his legal defense fund.