Man Arrested for Taping Gun-Toting Cop

Anthony Graber is facing 16 years in prison because he had his video camera rolling in the wrong place at the wrong time. Graber was filming on his motorcycle when a cop pulled him over—by cutting him off and waving a gun at him. When Graber put the video on YouTube, police raided his home, took his computers, and slapped him with felony wiretapping charges.

He’s unlikely to be convicted—Maryland’s attorney general issued an opinion that the wiretap law isn’t applicable during traffic stops—but this isn’t an isolated incident. Prosecutors around the country are going after people who tape police, arguing that the audio portion of the tape violates wiretapping laws, reports Adam Cohen of Time. It’s “a stretch, to put it mildly,” he argues. Citizens should have the right to film the cops—if they’re “doing their jobs properly, they should have nothing to worry about.” (More wiretapping stories.)