Table of Contents
A routine visit to document Boston city offices turned into an unexpected lesson in constitutional rights when a school department employee called police on journalists, only to watch officers side with the reporters she tried to have arrested.
The incident began when independent journalists entered the publicly accessible school personnel office to film artwork and request records. What should have been a simple documentation visit quickly escalated when employees claimed the reporters were breaking Massachusetts law.
The Confrontation That Started It All
The situation turned physical when a school department employee emerged from behind her desk, demanding the journalists stop filming. "You're not allowed to film without consent in Massachusetts," she declared, despite standing in a government building filled with security cameras.
When the reporters attempted to continue their work, the employee began using the office door as a weapon, repeatedly striking one journalist while demanding they leave. The bizarre confrontation intensified as she insisted filming in public spaces required individual consent from everyone present.
False Claims and Escalating Tensions
The employee's supervisor joined the confrontation, backing up the false legal claims and threatening to call police. "Please leave or we're going to call the police," she warned, apparently confident that officers would arrest the journalists for exercising their First Amendment rights.
The irony was lost on neither the reporters nor the gathering crowd. The same office that educates children about civic rights was demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of constitutional law. One journalist, noting his background as an attorney, calmly requested forms to file open records requests for the employees' information.
When the Police Arrived
The responding officer's reaction was not what the school employees expected. After listening to both sides, the officer confirmed what the journalists had been saying all along: filming in public spaces is completely legal.
"You can film in public, yeah," the officer told the group, deflating the employees' confident assertions about Massachusetts law. The conversation revealed the reporters had been professional throughout, engaging only when approached and never raising their voices or creating disturbances.
The Unexpected Training Session
What followed was an impromptu constitutional law lesson as the officer explained the boundaries of First Amendment activity. The journalists, including one practicing attorney, discussed the legal precedents that protect filming in government buildings.
The officer acknowledged the professionalism of the reporters, noting they hadn't been disorderly despite the confrontations initiated by city employees. The contrast was stark: trained government workers assaulting citizens over legal activity while police officers defended constitutional rights.
The Resolution That Raises Questions
As the encounter wound down, the officer made a gesture that captured the entire situation's absurdity. The final moments, caught on camera, show exactly how this confrontation between citizens exercising their rights and government employees who should know better truly ended.
Watch the full video to see how this constitutional crisis resolved and why these Boston school employees might need their own civics lesson.
