Man Who Filmed Himself Being Arrested for Jaywalking Facing New Charge

The jaywalking incident prompted two police investigations.

ByABC News
March 7, 2016, 2:47 PM
Charles ‘Chris’ Harrell recorded a video of a police officer arresting him for jaywalking on Feb. 6, 2016 and posted it on his Facebook account on March 1.
Charles ‘Chris’ Harrell recorded a video of a police officer arresting him for jaywalking on Feb. 6, 2016 and posted it on his Facebook account on March 1.
Charles Harrell

— -- A Cincinnati man who filmed his altercation with police which resulted in his being arrested for jaywalking is now facing a new charges stemming from a photo he took of two police officers.

Charles Harrell, 29, is facing a contempt of court charge after taking a photo of two police officers in the Hamilton County Courthouse hallway and posting the photo on Facebook. The courthouse bans photography in certain parts of the building.

Harrell was in court last week for a hearing over the charges he faces from a Feb. 6 jaywalking incident that he recorded on his cellphone. The video, which was posted on Harrell's Facebook account, starts with Harrell talking to the camera about how a white police officer was following him on a bike down the block after Harrell had gotten coffee.

"You were scaring me, sir, I don't know why you're following me," Harrell says at one point.

The officer confronts Harrell, who is black and goes by Chris, and the encounter becomes heated, with the officer telling Harrell to stop resisting while Harrell protests loudly.

"He's violating my constitutional rights, my civil rights, my human rights," Harrell is heard saying.

The video of the Feb. 6 arrest was not posted on Facebook until March 1. As of this morning, it has been shared over 3,000 times.

On Friday, after the video of the jaywalking confrontation was shared online, the Cincinnati police department released a statement saying "all citizen concerns and complaints [are taken] seriously."

"As such, the incident is under investigation by both the Internal Investigations Unit of the Cincinnati Police Department and the Citizen Complaint Authority, which provides a neutral, independent review of the incident," Police Chief Eliot K. Isaac said in the statement.

"We are committed to transparency and will provide further information once we have allowed both the criminal trial and the administrative investigations to run their course," the statement said.

Sgt. Daniel Hils of the city's Fraternal Order of Police said that after watching the video, he does not believe the officer involved did anything wrong.

"I saw Mr. Harrell cross against the light," Hils said after watching the video. "I am also aware Officer Osterman smelled burned Marijuana before Mr. Harrell crossed against the light and that is what caused Officer Osterman’s attention towards Mr. Harrell. Mr. Harrell was heard being belligerent and Officer Osterman remained professional. I did not witness any police misconduct."

Harrell was charged with jaywalking, obstructing official business, resisting arrest and drug possession from the Feb. 6 incident. He entered a guilty plea for the drug possession charge and not guilty pleas to the other three charges. Court records show his lawyer, who did not immediately return ABC News' requests for comment, tried to get those charges dismissed but was denied.

Harrell now faces a charge of indirect contempt after being reported for taking photographs inside the Hamilton County Courthouse on March 1, and that charge, as well as the four others, will be addressed in a March 8 hearing. He is being held without bond until the March 8 hearing.