Opinion ID: 2707
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Videotape and Photographs

Text: The video camera did not record any part of Zellner's interaction with Major Weber. It was located to the north of the driveway and was pointed south at a short stretch of St. Andrew's Road. The videotape shows sparse vehicular traffic on the road, some pedestrian cross-traffic, and a congregation of people at the west edge of the road, north of the driveway. The driveway itselfwhich still photographs show as no more than a somewhat beaten-down grass-and-dirt path leading through a field of brush and bushes ( see, e.g., PX 26C)is not visible on the videotape. For some 10 minutes, according to the time-of-day display on the videotape, Zellner is shown at the edge of the road talking to demonstrators; a zoom shot during this period shows Zellner holding a coffee mug. At 13:19:00, the videotape shows a pickup truck arriving, signaling for a left turn into the Parrish Pond development. A trooper goes into the road to the truck, which begins a left turn but stops as people appear to congregate around it. At about the same time Zellner walks away from the road and into another crowd of people, away from the camera, moving closer to the driveway. The videotape shows Zellner, partially obscured, bending forward from the waist at 13:19:20, straightening up at 13:19:22, bending forward again at 13:19:25, and straightening up again at 13:19:26. Zellner then all but disappears into the crowd, and for most of the next-approximately four minutes, only his hat is visible on the tape. A still photograph, PX 19A, which by all accounts depicts the scene inside that crowd moments before. Zellner began speaking with Major Weber ( see, e.g., Tr. 219, 317, 342, 648), shows Zellner (coffee mug in hand) standing with Gumbs, Wright, and two other protestors, surrounded by Summerlin, Parker, and two other (unidentified) troopers. No one appears to be saying anything; Major Weber, his side turned toward this group, is standing a few, feet away from Zellner. At about 13:23 on the videotape, Zellner's hat disappears from view, and he is not seen again on the tape for some 20-25 seconds. A still photograph, however, PX 19D, was taken in the interim. It shows Zellner tilted backward at about a 45-degree angle, with Summerlin holding his left arm, Parker holding his right arm, Drew with a hand on the back side of Zellner's jacket ( see Tr. 678), and Major Weber leaning forward with his left arm outstretched, his hand on Zellner's right shoulder ( see, e.g., id. at 404). The postures of Troopers Summerlin and Parker indicate that they are pulling Zellner backwards. Major Weber testified that PX 19D shows the troopers escorting Zellner away after he sat down in the driveway. (Tr. 138, 187.) Zellner, in contrast, testified that PX 19D shows the exact moment when [he was] unexpectedly pulled from behind and taken to the ground. (Tr. 404.) Reverend Davis similarly testified that, in PX 19D, the[ troopers] were pulling [Zellner] to the ground. (Tr. 68.) At about 13:23:20, the videotape shows Zellner, upright and walking, being brought out through the crowd by two troopers. A subsequent still photo, PX 19C, shows Zellner prone, spread-eagle, on the ground with Troopers Summerlin and Parker apparently cuffing his hands behind his back, and Trooper Drew watching. When Zellner was asked about the seven-second segment of the videotape at 13:19:20-13:19:26, which showed him twice bending forward at the waist, he testified that he had bent first to put his coffee mug down in order to button his coat or tie its belt, and then had bent again to retrieve the mug. ( See Tr. 377-78.) Major Weber, however, after having been shown that part of the videotape, testified, I'd like to call them practice runs ( id. at 118). Q. I'm sorry, sir? A. I like to call it a practice run. ( Id. ) Shown that segment again, Weber testified that he viewed Zellner as practicing sitting down and showing the demonstrators how to sit down: Q. Sir, we're at 13:19. The truck is there; correct? A. Yes. Q. Mr. Zellner is still standing there? A. Yes, he is. There he is. Q. When you saywe're just at 13:19, and that would have been 21 or 22 seconds. You're saying that was a dry run? A. I believe after seeing this video that was a practice run on how to engage in passive resistance, sitting down. Q. Sir, when he leaned forward as though to go to whatever in [ sic ] front of him, you're saying that that is the equivalent of sitting down? A. I believe Q. Sir? A. that is the equivalent of sitting down. Q. Very well. A. Instructing the demonstrators how to sit down. ( Id. at 120.) The relevant part of the videotape had no sound, and hence provided no evidence that anyone had shouted everybody down. Neither the videotape nor any of the still photographs showed Zellner sitting.