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Man accused of assault after taking photos of hoodie gang
Danny Brierley, Evening Standard21.07.08
A man who took photographs of hooded youths outside his £1million flat claims he was told he was breaking the law when they called police.
David Green took the pictures after he and his neighbours endured months of anti-social behaviour by youths from a nearby comprehensive school in south London.
He said their headmaster advised him to use a camera so they could be identified.
But when he left his home in Lambeth to take the photographs he says one of the gang, who were aged about 17, threatened to kill him as another called the police on his mobile telephone.
Mr Green, a television cameraman, said that a Police Community Support Officer sent to the scene promptly issued a warning that taking pictures of youths without permission was illegal and could lead to a charge of assault.
He said: "We've had problems with this group shouting abuse and throwing stones for months and were asked to identify them.
"When I went to take photographs of eight of them throwing cans of Coke around, six of them ran away, one threatened to kill me, and another one started phoning the police.
"A couple of hours later a Police Community Support Officer told me I had been accused of assault, though no such thing occurred, and told me I was not allowed to take photographs of teenagers on the street.
" I think it's wrong that when teenagers are running riot and the police are called I'm treated like a criminal. In south London we all know how many stabbings there have been, and I think the police should be busy catching the real bad people."
Mr Green said he handed the photographs to a deputy headmaster at the nearby Nautical School and was told the matter would be investigated.
A Met spokesman said it had no record of the incident.
Reader views (2)
It would seem to me that if someone is being rowdy enough to earn themselves an ASBO, the right solution would be to call the cops when you see them engaging in that kind of behaviour, rather than taking matters into your own hands by stalking specific children to try to get them in trouble.
- Thaumata, Leeds, UK
This is insane - par for the course in ZanuLab's psychotic Britain.
- FF, UK
