[drac]

I believe the officers may well have been within his rights to confiscate the camera if he had reason to believe it had recorded a crime. There is a procedure for doing this as stated earlier but the officer may temporarily circumvent these procedures due to "exigent" circumstances. (Cops love that word, exigent. It's in all there manuals) The fact that if the officer does not take possession of the evidence now it could too easily be erased/destroyed.

Had he taken the camera and just drove off the evidence would have been suppressed by any judge. But i am pretty sure he could take possession of the evidence and stay "on scene" with the camera owner while radioing in to get a warrant, which he would have gotten.

Do I think this is right? .... That's a tough call due to both parties acting like assholes.