Florida Man Arrested for Resisting Arrest, Suing Cop for Seizing His iPhone
An Orlando police officer seized a man's iPhone for recording an arrest and then arrested him for resisting arrest, according to a lawsuit filed by the man, Alberto Troche, who prosecutors declined to try on the charge of resisting arrest without violence. Troche was recording a late night arrest he thought seemed excessive when police asked bystanders to stop recording and give up their phones. The Orlando Sun-Sentinel reports:
One woman complied, the suit alleges, but Troche kept recording, he said.
The video he shot appears to show an officer walking up and pulling it from his hand.
"They saw me recording," Troche said. "He came and said, 'Good. I'll be taking that,' and took my cell phone. To me that didn't seem right."
Troche was handcuffed and jailed for 15 hours, accused of resisting arrest without violence.
Troche got his phone back three weeks later, with the footage still on it. In his report, the arresting officer, Peter Delio, accused Troche of shoving him. The officer said he needed the phone because it had evidence of a crime, and insisted he didn't seize it until arresting Troche and putting him in a police car.
Troche's attorney says the aim of the lawsuit is to "fix OPD and train police," and the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the violation of Troche's constitutional rights.