P.E.I. photographer handcuffed, fined after taking pictures of Quebec City's iconic Château Frontenac | CBC
P.E.I. photographer handcuffed, fined after taking pictures of Quebec City's iconic Château Frontenac | CBC
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How do you fine somebody without telling them what they're being fined for‽
Yeah, that's the polite version of being arrested for resisting arrest.
John Morris says he was standing on a sidewalk opposite the U.S. consulate near the famed hotel around noon on Tuesday, waiting for some clouds to arrive to get the perfect shot...
He then goes on to say that officers told him that he can't be standing there for a half hour, and was fined for loitering.
To be honest, if he was, by his own admittance, standing on a public sidewalk for 30 minutes with his gear, then he earned that loitering fine. This was also explained to him and it written on his ticket, so he's contradicting himself by saying they never explained what law was broken.
Being a professional photographer doesn't give someone the right to take ownership of the public space.
He could snap a photo and move on, but he decided to block a public sidewalk for as long as he wanted to get a shot... if they didn't stop him after 30 minutes, he could have been there for hours. Who knows? Either way, he's acting entitled.
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To be honest, if he was, by his own admittance, standing on a public sidewalk for 30 minutes with his gear, then he earned that loitering fine.
According to this very article, with emphasis added,
Quebec City's municipal bylaw says that is "prohibited for a person, without a reasonable motive … to loiter, wander or sleep in a street or a public space."
[Criminal defence lawyer Florence Boucher Cossette] said Morris likely has a good shot at winning his case, as people accused of loitering when they were sunbathing or drinking coffee on a bench were acquitted in previous cases.
Say "I didn't read the article's actual words" without using those words.
Here's how it should have gone:
photographer waiting for good lighting
Embassy doesn't feel nervous because they have at least one iota of experience observing humans
Another pretty good scenario:
photographer waiting for good lighting
Embassy: Hey why are you hanging around out there?
Photographer: oh I'm just writing for the light to good for this very common tourist photo opportunity
Embassy: okay, but please don't take photos of us
Here's another situation:
photographer waiting for good lighting
Police: Hey we got a call that you're loitering here, and it's making people nervous. What are you up to?
Photographer: I don't think I need to explain myself, it's pretty obvious I'm trying to get a good photo of the very common tourist photo opportunity.
Police: okay just make sure you're not blocking the sidewalk.
Here's a thought: if the Americans feel so insecure they can fuck off back to the USA where they can be secure.
If they have enough police (not by-law officers) to be patrolling the area for loiterers, then they have too many police. Someone obviously called this in. So who was it, and why were they so uncomfortable with a photographer's presence? (My bet is, US consulate intelligence attaché acting paranoid.)
They were not patrolling, they were called to the scene.
It's still stupid though.
From the article, someone called 911. Presumably personnel from the US consulate, but they should have used their discretion when a professional photographer explained they were waiting for the correct lighting for their photo. That's perfectly reasonable.
He wasn't taking pictures in the windows of the consulate or loitering, which explicitly requires there to be "no purpose" to being there, which he clearly demonstrated.
I'm not a lawyer, but I don't believe the police have the right to demand ID when you're not suspected of breaking any laws, either.
How about the cops focus on the thousands of cars being stolen instead of some guy with a camera. Oh, wait, that's hard work and they wouldn't get to harass anybody.
How about the cops comes in when we call them ?? Oh wait, that's what just happened.
That’s not something they can go after
Better anti-thief is what you are looking for; like removing the computer from cars
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A professional photographer from Charlottetown, P.E.I., has been fined $230 for "loitering" while he was taking pictures of Quebec City's iconic Château Frontenac hotel.
John Morris says he was standing on a sidewalk opposite the U.S. consulate near the famed hotel around noon on Tuesday, waiting for some clouds to arrive to get the perfect shot, when police officers approached him and told him to leave.
He said the officers only explained that he was loitering and issued the fine for it after he was put in the back of a police cruiser.
She said when the police officers arrived, they determined that the individual was breaking a municipal bylaw and asked him to provide his identity, but he refused, so they arrested him.
Quebec City's municipal bylaw says that is "prohibited for a person, without a reasonable motive … to loiter, wander or sleep in a street or a public space."
Florence Boucher Cossette, a criminal defence lawyer who has worked on loitering cases before, says the legal definition of the offence is unclear and is used arbitrarily by law enforcement.
The original article contains 699 words, the summary contains 179 words. Saved 74%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Oh my god
I think some of us USAers should go to there and take some pictures of the USA consulate. Still waiting on my passport to come in plus I'm lazy and probably won't do it. But some of you should. 😘
Ugh, also it's a 9 hour drive one way for me.
U.S. Consulate General Quebec City
Foreign consulate in Quebec City, Quebec
Address: 2 Pl. Terr. Dufferin, Québec, QC G1R 4T9, Canada
Hours: Opens 9 AM (Eastern timezone)
Phone: +1 418-692-2095
Yes I had to look it up too. It's Prince Edward Island
If you don't know that P.E.I. is Prince Edward Island and feel compelled to share your brilliant discovery, you probably don't belong in a discussion group about Canada on a Canadian-hosted Lemmy server.
Quebec City is such an ugly city to the point that I struggle to see why it should be photographed - that being said, I hope he takes legal action. It's a rude and xenophobic city that deserves a little negative attention.
Show me on the doll where Quebec touched you.
If you search for most beautiful city in the world, québec will appear. I'm not sure why you think it's xenophobic.