Writer Sues LAPD Over Shamir Photos Incident

A writer who said police forced him to expose his film after he took photographs of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir filed suit Tuesday seeking $10 million in damages, claiming a Los Angeles Police Department officer threatened to confiscate his film.

The man described by his attorney as “a well-known editor and writer” who is seeking to file the lawsuit anonymously because he fears retribution, was forced to expose his film during a public ceremony at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in West Los Angeles at which Shamir appeared, according to the federal court lawsuit.

The writer’s attorney, Stephen Yagman said his client is not employed by any mainstream news organizations and was not wearing police press credentials at the time.

Shamir was at the center Thursday to unveil the cornerstone for a new Museum of Tolerance to commemorate victims of the Holocaust.

Secret Service Pin

Yagman said the writer was approached by a man in plainclothes wearing what appeared to be a Secret Service pin. The man identified himself as a Los Angeles police officer, displayed a Police Department badge and ordered the writer to turn over his film or face arrest for violation of a law that prohibits photographing “foreign agents.”

Not wishing the police to see other photos he had taken on the same roll of film, the man exposed the entire roll, Yagman said.

Los Angeles Police Cmdr. William Booth confirmed that department officers assisted in providing security for Shamir’s visit but said he knows of no policy under which an officer would prohibit the taking of photographs at such an event.

“The only time that we would interfere with a journalist would be someone who penetrated the secure area where the public simply was not allowed. If someone penetrated that secure area, we probably would take the camera into custody, and we probably would take the individual into custody as well,” Booth said.

‘Right to Be’

“But anything that takes place in public--wherever you have a right to be--you have a right to see whatever you can see, and whatever you can see from where you have a right to be, you can photograph,” Booth added.

Avra Shapiro, a spokeswoman for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which hosted the event, said officials at the center had received no complaint about the incident and said there were photographers everywhere.

“Everybody and their mother were there taking pictures. Every press (organization) in town was there, because it was Shamir. I don’t understand it at all,” Shapiro said.