A public defender in San Francisco was placed under arrest and handcuffed by police as she attempted to stop her client from being questioned and photographed outside a courtroom on Tuesday. The action has been branded “outrageous” and unlawful by fellow San Francisco public defender Jeff Adachi, who is demanding the police apologise.

Video released by the San Francisco public defender’s office shows lawyer Jami Tillotson, who remains calm throughout the event, standing in the way of a plainclothes officer with a camera, who threatens her with arrest as he attempts to photograph two men.

“Look, you can either step aside, he can be released in two minutes, or we can make this … ” says the officer, who appears to be holding a cameraphone.

Tillotson responds: “I’m pretty sure that we’re OK here. We don’t need any pictures taken, thank you.”

The officer, identified by local CBS news as Brian Stansbury, a San Francisco police inspector, then continues: “No, you’re not pretty sure. If you continue with this … I’ll arrest you for resisting arrest.”

“Please do,” Tillotson responds. She is then placed in handcuffs and led down the hallway.

Tillotson, an 18-year veteran of the profession, was subsequently detained for about an hour at the Southern Station in San Francisco before being released. At a press conference on Wednesday a spokesman for the police said the officer had the right to arrest anyone obstructing him from doing his work and that a criminal investigation into the event was ongoing.

“This is not Guantánamo Bay. People have an absolute right to have their attorneys present during questioning,” said a furious Adachi in an earlier press release.

“A uniform does not give you a license to bully innocent people into submission. If this happens to a public defender in front of her client, I can only imagine what is happening on our streets.”

Tillotson told reporters that her client had been present at the Hall of Justice complex on minor charges relating to theft. She said Stansbury had begun questioning him on an unrelated matter.

She had been working on another case in another room when she was told her client was being photographed and interviewed nearby. She then went to intervene.

“It was surreal to be led away in handcuffs for doing my job,” Tillotson said.