Austin Police Accountability Activist Arrested On Copwatch, Again

Reporter: “How do you feel now?” Antonio Buehler: “I’m just happy to get out. That’s a weird question because I just spent 18 hours in jail.”

Antonio Buehler, Austin-Texas-based police accountability activist, has been arrested for copwatching, again.

Buehler was arrested Saturday while filming the police with Peaceful Streets Project, a group he founded that frequently holds “copwatch” events, and spent about 18 hours in jail. According to a report published yesterday by KVUE Austin, police claimed, yet again, that filming the police somehow interferes with their duties:

An Austin police lieutenant said in a phone conversation Sunday that Buehler faces a misdemeanor charge for interfering with public duties. Later that day, police charged Buehler with resisting arrest after reviewing video filmed by an officer.

Buehler has repeatedly been arrested, alongside other members of his group, only to have the charges dropped time and again. In fact, his interest in police accountability stems from an arrest on New Years Eve, 2011, when a cop accused him of assault for filming a brutal arrest. Since his arrest, Buehler has won several court cases and, according to a February article on Photography Is Not A Crime, may be headed to the country’s highest court over a lawsuit he filed against the Austin Police Department: