Motorcyclist faces jail for YouTube video of traffic stop

By Carol Costello, CNN

(CNN) – The American Civil Liberties Union is calling the case surrounding Maryland’s Anthony Graber an "extremely dangerous act of police retaliation." One that could send Graber to prison for five years.

It boils down to this: do you have the right to use your personal camera to record audio and video of someone, in this case a police officer, without his consent? What if he asks you to stop recording him? What if you don't? And, what if you then posted the recording on YouTube?

Last month, a Maryland State Trooper, in plain clothes, and driving an unmarked car, stopped Graber’s motorcycle. Police say he was driving 100 mph and “doing wheelies” on I-95 in Harford County, Maryland.

The trooper approached Graber, gun drawn. After five seconds, the officer identified himself as a police officer and put his gun away. He cited Graber for traffic violations and drove away.

Here’s where the story gets complicated.

Graber had a camera mounted on his helmet. It recorded the entire incident. Graber did not turn the camera off during the traffic stop because he was upset the trooper had drawn his gun. He posted the incident on YouTube.

It wasn’t long before police showed up at Graber’s house, served him a warrant and threatened to arrest him. “They came in and they took all of my computers and my laptop and my camera. They were going to arrest me,” said Graber.

State police did charge him with another crime: illegal wiretapping. Maryland is a two-party consent state, which means if one party asks you not to record his voice then you can't record his voice. The trooper did not give Graber permission to tape his voice, so the Harford County States Attorney said he “had no choice,” Graber “broke the law.”

“I suspect Graber had that camera on his helmet to capture himself "inciting" a police officer to post a "gotcha" on YouTube,” said States Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly.

The American Civil Liberties Union sees it another way. It calls the states attorney’s action "malicious prosecution." ACLU attorney David Rocah says, “Graber was on a public street. The officer could clearly see the camera mounted on his helmet. As a citizen, Graber has a right to record video and audio of anything he wants – if he's on a public street.”

Initial court proceedings begin June 1st.