Recording Police Action: When Push Comes To Shove

When attorney Shaun Jacobs arrived home from work one evening in March 2019, he could not have imagined he would soon be spending 26 hours detained in a jail cell.
On the evening in question, police had set up a roadblock outside his house in Kempton Park. Jacobs approached the officers, complaining that the roadblock was causing an unreasonable disturbance. He asked if they could relocate it to a spot in front of some vacant land a little further down the road.
They ignored him.

He then asked for their details, which is when things started to escalate.

An officer, later identified as Koahela George, put both hands on Jacobs’ chest and pushed him, telling him to go inside his house or risk arrest.

Jacobs did as he was asked, but only long enough to put down his things before heading back out, cellphone in hand. He planned to record the roadblock so he could lay a complaint to the authorities about its location.

He stayed within the boundaries of his property and wasn’t rude or aggressive to the officers. But as soon as they noticed he was recording the scene - particularly their vehicle - he was arrested, without his rights being explained or any explanation given as to the offence he had allegedly committed.
He spent the next 26 hours in detention.

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