If you've ever wondered why the Detroit Police Department remains under federal supervision, consider this recent incident involving Free Press photographer Mandi Wright.
Wright was filming the arrest of a man on a public street when a plainclothes officer ordered her to stop filming things happening on a public sidewalk and appeared to assault her. She was then arrested and police confiscated her iPhone.
Detroit Free Press: Wright, 47, was arrested Thursday after she and a reporter came upon an arrest scene near Woodbridge and Riopelle, east of downtown. Police at the scene said Wright tussled with an officer after he had confiscated her iPhone; Wright said that she was concentrating on taking her video and did not realize the man who grabbed her phone was a police officer. Wright was handcuffed and later, she said, put in an interrogation room with the suspect.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig confirmed Monday that an internal affairs investigation is being conducted. Deputy Chief James Tolbert said no conclusions have been drawn, but if that investigation verifies that she was put into a room with the suspect and then left alone, “that could be a serious breach of department policy.”
Wright was eventually released without being charged. Her phone was also returned, reportedly missing its memory card. Fortunately, the DPD isn't all that technologically savvy because the video in question was recorded to the internal memory.
UPDATE: The Free Press has updated their story to specify that the type of memory card confiscated from the phone was a SIM card. Based on feedback through social media, his detail is apparently quite important to many of you.
