By Ross Courtney
Yakima Herald-Republic
SUNNYSIDE, Wash. — A man arrested in August for videotaping the police SWAT team has received an $8,000 settlement from the city’s insurance company.
The company paid a total of $13,000, which Thomas Warren, 29, shared with his attorney. “I’m content with that,” Warren said Monday.
Warren originally filed a wrongful arrest claim of $250,000 after he was detained for filming the SWAT team search of a Sunnyside home. Later, after Warren posted a video of his arrest to his YouTube account, police requested the charges be dropped, calling the arrest a mistake.
“We felt like the officer frankly did mess up a little bit,” said City Manager Don Day.
Under state law, police are allowed to set up and enforce a barrier around the scene of a crime or a search to prevent bystanders from getting in the way or injured.
However, people are allowed to film and take pictures in a public area.
Day said the police department has taken training on the issue since the incident, while the city’s insurance company, Washington Cities Insurance Authority, plans to make the same recommendation to other cities it represents, he said.
Warren has a history of videotaping police interaction with the public and has filmed officers asking him questions on the street.
Copyright 2014 Yakima Herald-Republic