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Two years ago, Gregory Bush got tossed in jail because he wouldn't let Lancaster City police take his picture.
Today he's out of jail, a little bit richer - and responsible for a new rule in Lancaster stipulating that if police don't charge you with a crime, you don't have to cooperate if they want to take your photograph.
A settlement was reached last week in the federal lawsuit filed by Bush, 24, of Philadelphia, against the Lancaster City Bureau of Police and Officer Ray M. Corll II, in August 2007. The lawsuit stemmed from an incident that occurred May 17, 2007, when Bush was helping a cousin and his girlfriend move out of a home on the 300 block of Plum Street.
Bush was among six to eight men aiding with the move. One of the movers got into an argument with a neighbor, who called police and said one of the men had a gun.
Police arrived, searched the men and house and discovered no gun. Police asked for identification, and determined they had no probable cause to arrest anyone. Still, police decided they wanted to take everyone's picture.
When it was Bush's turn, he said he didn't want his photo taken and raised his hands to cover his face. Bush was then "subdued" by Officer Corll, which caused Bush to cut his face on the pavement, according to court documents.
Following treatment at Lancaster General Hospital, Bush had his picture taken - after police had placed him under arrest, charged with obstruction of justice.
Bush spent 160 days in jail, in Lancaster and Montgomery counties. When the case finally went to trial, the judge listened to opening arguments, then granted the motion made by Bush's attorney to dismiss the charges.
While excessive-force claims had been part of the case, "we've never maintained that Officer Corll and the others involved are bad actors," said Bush's attorney, David R. Dye, of the Lancaster firm Clymer & Musser P.C. "It's just that they were engaged in a bad practice" that violated Bush's rights by attempting to force him to submit to an unconstitutional search and seizure of his image.
Bush, interviewed Friday morning in Dye's office, declined to specify how much money he got from the settlement. But he said he was happy with the outcome.
"I got them to change the rules," he said.
Technically, the new guidelines weren't a result of the settlement, said Robert G. Hanna, a Harrisburg attorney who represented Lancaster police and Corll. Hanna drafted the "general order" himself, at the suggestion of the city solicitor.
"The taking of photographs is an extremely important investigatory tool," Hanna said. The new policy, he said, merely clarifies the procedures.
It states that "field photographs" of the general public can be taken anywhere the public has no expectation of privacy - such as on a city street or in a shopping mall - and photos may be taken anytime a subject voluntarily gives consent.
However, "Individuals may not be required to remove their hands, or anything they are using to cover their faces so as to avoid being photographed."
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray said he hadn't been aware Lancaster didn't have an explicit policy on police photos. "When the suit was brought to my attention [Police] Chief [Keith] Sadler came in and he said, 'We probably have a policy on that.' He checked, and was shocked to find out we didn't."
The city, said Gray, "wanted to be sure officers have sufficient direction in that situation," so the new policy was drafted even before the lawsuit was settled.
Gray said the suit itself was settled without admission of liability on the city's part.
At the time of the incident, Bush, then 22, was on probation for carrying an unlicensed weapon when he was 19.
Gray said police knew some of the other men they encountered during the incident were "affiliated with criminal organizations in the city." But the police didn't know Bush, he said - which was one reason police wanted to take his picture.
"When they first arrested me, I didn't even know why I was being arrested," Bush said. "I kept thinking the charge would be dropped at the preliminary hearing. It was ridiculous; I didn't commit any crime."
"We're very pleased," Dye said, "that officers will now be able to do their job in a constitutionally correct way."
Concluded Mayor Gray: "It was an expensive lesson to learn."
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Domestic Security Investigations
P.O. Box 4462
Rockville, MD 20849
Tel: 1-800-387-0787
Anti-Moral Majority Club President
"Fear not the unknown, Fear the person who controls the unknown" Gene 7:14
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