Legal to photograph vehicle incident REGARDLESS?

[Timothy]

Hope everyone is as best as can be expected, since I have work early, I just wanted to post this quickly (part of long story), to see if I happened to be missing something, of course besides several hours of time due to what you deal with every shift-lol, God Bless the tolerance of any officer.

Now the question if by chance I’ve missed something-By any stretch of the imagination is it “prohibited” to photograph first and foremost, the PLATE of a vehicle in a possible “accident type” situation where damage may be an issue ? &To proceed to the area in question secondly for obvious reasons.

Keep in mind this is while I was in the act of photographing, they noticed (the passenger, & how quick of them-lol), ”forbid me” & said I can’t take pictures of the plates of their vehicle or their car “and not so nicely put it along the lines of “ I wish for you to stop & why bother because there is no damage” but later the keen eye of a security guard & both people in the other vehicle saw the alleged “damage” (So they decided to pull a CSP Trooper off the road…for this-GENIUS!!! cause he would like to be occupied with such nonsense-of course, a subsequent report to go with the nonsense pictures, I bet he loved it & for the record he never said anything about wanting to see any pictures taken or that it wasn’t allowed)-I digress-

When I was told I couldn’t photograph anything, (uhh, yeah, I don’t have their information & hadn’t checked for damage yet)
Them-"no picture taking of their plate especially since there's no damage" –later they decided their was, unfortunately (for them) they would be the ones at fault if there was, as soon as there was a clear path (hazards were on & vehicles stopped), I snapped a few shots to show clearly, who entered the other’s travel lane & only reason we thought their could have been possible damage, was the sudden braking & vehicle proximity to each other, as it was only a situation where 2 lanes in the same direction had to corner.(Very difficult for some apparently)
Was trying to redirect their wheels initially (to do that to some 20 something year old girls leaving a casino is a rather Herculean task…considering there is left and right, hindsite the dumbest thing I did was start to direct them, LEFT OR RIGHT while the car wasn’t checked to see if it was in park, or the big P to let them tell it. So yes, I was a moron considering I would have been injured &possibly caused (if there was any) vehicle injury or another accident.


-I responded that aside from this being a possible accident, this is something in public view for this specific reason, they had no expectation of privacy of anything, fully within my legal rights to photograph to provide any documentation should anything arise.

That was almost verbatim 5 hours ago, but this next one is classic” documentation in case I happen to wake up with a broken neck in the morning” (Exactly why I show all aspects of mobility squatting down to photograph at 12 am)-And I get this from them, leaving my parents with added stress.

Just to be clear I was only a passenger with parents driving, (why I was able to hop out of back seat so quickly & did not want either one leaving the vehicle).

Well that was certainly a nice ending to the evening, Mother's B-Day of all things,(hopefully the end of the "girls")

Wish I, & parents didn't have to entertain such nonsense but I'll just get the professional take on this & If something I didn't know about regarding photos was put into effect in CT-LOL. As far as I know there are personal property, criminal intent, and expectation of privacy issues for the most part.

Something like this is obviously fair game even when you are told to essentially"stop". Or am I sadly mistaken?

If anything I did was wrong, or generally foolish, Please tell me, god willing I'll never need it but I appreciate it.

-Thanks,
Tim203

[PapaBear]

You may take photos of any vehicle at any time it is on public property as long as you are not using those photos in a commercial venture. If you are involved in a traffic accident/incident, there is no law to prohibit you from taking photos of that incident, the vehicle or its occupants.

[basher52]

This is America...Like PapaBear said, take all the picks you like.

Now after reading your post, I need to take some ADVIL...

[phantasm]

For the same reason we can run any plate that we see on a vehicle, its in PLAIN VIEW. So as long as you're on public property, or private property with permission you can absolutely take photo's of another vehicle.

[Sierra]

That was an atrocious post. I am generally pretty good at following along (I have kids, after all) but this one got me totally lost.

Please, don't clarify your post. (Shudder)

[Timothy]

I never make excuses, as a man I take full responsibility. It was my fault for not saying excuse the post wording wise.
I imagined all LEO's could place a time line, 05:32 posted, happened at mid night - I'm from the New Haven area this was far closer to the Rhode Island line(casino's in Connecticut?), my parents & myself drive the speed limit, and I thought basic logic dictated that was a warning itself.
I must applaud everyone who is still able to perform a critical job under no rest as a less amount of rest is quite draining. I appreciate that.
I also greatly appreciate the first group of replies. I have some other questions regarding this incident and I work a different schedule than the officers I know at the moment. I would be happy to toss them around for opionions here.
On the topic of opionions, we all have one and I respect honesty. I also respect a obviously seasoned LEO and board veteran. I am asking for whatever you may have to say, but I must be clear, I thought a response had to apply or at least be somewhat relevant.


"That was an atrocious post. I am generally pretty good at following along (I have kids, after all) but this one got me totally lost.

Please, don't clarify your post. (Shudder) "-Sierra

With everything said, please tell me what you hoped that would achieve? I'm the first to admit when I miss something, I just wish to understand you. Simple as that.

Thank you all and PLEASE do not take anything I type to heart because it can always be open to interpretation. If anything please ask me to specify first before any conclusions are made.

-Tim

[basher52]

I never make excuses, as a man I take full responsibility. It was my fault for not saying excuse the post wording wise.
I imagined all LEO's could place a time line, 05:32 posted, happened at mid night - I'm from the New Haven area this was far closer to the Rhode Island line(casino's in Connecticut?), my parents & myself drive the speed limit, and I thought basic logic dictated that was a warning itself.
I must applaud everyone who is still able to perform a critical job under no rest as a less amount of rest is quite draining. I appreciate that.
I also greatly appreciate the first group of replies. I have some other questions regarding this incident and I work a different schedule than the officers I know at the moment. I would be happy to toss them around for opionions here.
On the topic of opionions, we all have one and I respect honesty. I also respect a obviously seasoned LEO and board veteran. I am asking for whatever you may have to say, but I must be clear, I thought a response had to apply or at least be somewhat relevant.


"That was an atrocious post. I am generally pretty good at following along (I have kids, after all) but this one got me totally lost.

Please, don't clarify your post. (Shudder) "-Sierra

With everything said, please tell me what you hoped that would achieve? I'm the first to admit when I miss something, I just wish to understand you. Simple as that.

Thank you all and PLEASE do not take anything I type to heart because it can always be open to interpretation. If anything please ask me to specify first before any conclusions are made.

-Tim

I lied and read the above. My head exploded!

Tim, please do not take this the wrong way...You seem like a nice guy and I see you are a supporting member, but your writing style is KILLING US. I actually got a headache, TWICE. I thought it was me, but it appears others here feel the same way.

[Legoate]

Really...I had to stop reading after the first couple of sentences. Reminded me of a transient I was speaking to in an alley the other day on a call- he spoke continuously during our contact, he had a fairly decent vocabulary, and he spoke clearly. However, during the 15 minutes that I had contact with him I could never make sense of a single sentence that came out of his mouth.

Your post is similar.... you use the right words, but the way you put them together makes your post seem nonsensical.

[Timothy]

I lied and read the above. My head exploded!

Tim, please do not take this the wrong way...You seem like a nice guy and I see you are a supporting member, but your writing style is KILLING US. I actually got a headache, TWICE. I thought it was me, but it appears others here feel the same way.

This time I've gotten it-I will keep it basic, My one time I must make an excuse,- The Casino security truck lights were so bright, I do believe my IQ dropped.

I will sum this up, I did confirm that I can take pictures of whatever the hell I feel regardless of objections -(Just not that end up on the news type photos and I'm good just no selling & I'm golden right?)


My question tonight is it ok to post the photo with their plate in it on any social networking sites, even if I was to say go to the extreme of saying anything about their character.-Or I just kept it simple, this is the car that had us outside the night @ foxwoods after the concert of alicia keys and "screwed up" our evening?

I only ask that hypothetical but one never knows.
-PS Thanks to the locals about the ticket advice earlier back.

[Creeker]

You may take photos of any vehicle at any time it is on public property as long as you are not using those photos in a commercial venture. If you are involved in a traffic accident/incident, there is no law to prohibit you from taking photos of that incident, the vehicle or its occupants.

OP's obtuse postings aside, are you referring to using it as an advertising type medium, or do your laws prohibit "Accident chasing" for profit from insurance companies, by ie. P.I.'s, too? Just wondering...