![Demonstrators shot video of police on their phones during a protest in downtown Columbus in June 2020. [Statehouse News Bureau]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/292847c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1280x720+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fimages%2Fnews%2Fnpr%2F2021%2F05%2F993590958_1760404462.jpg)
One of the four bills under consideration at the Ohio Statehouse that would address the interaction between police and people on the streets, including protestors, could have stopped what’s become a common practice: videotaping cops on the job.
Among other new charges, House Bill 22 would allow bystanders to be charged with obstruction of justice if they don't follow a "lawful order" while interfering with a police officer during an arrest. But there have already been some changes to the bill’s language.
State Rep. Stephanie Howse (R-Cleveland) said as proposed, the legislation could potentially prevent people from recording video if an officer felt he was being taunted.
“They took out the taunting language as well as put an amendment in to say that you wouldn't be charged now with increased penalties for the obstruction of justice for using the recording," Howse said.
Howse said the change came after criticism of the bill that she thinks its supporters might not have been expecting.
Videos from eyewitnesses were key evidence in the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in last year’s killing of George Floyd.
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