LAWRENCE, Indiana — A woman will not be charged after being arrested by Lawrence officers for recording them during an arrest and getting closer than 25 feet.
On Monday, officers with the Lawrence Police Department were making an arrest on North Franklin Road. Mary Nichols saw the police lights from across the street and grabbed her phone.
"I'm like, well let me go take a look and film this," she said. "See what's going on."
During the arrest of a man, Nichols was reported to be filming the incident from at least 25 feet away and was not attempting to get any closer, according to the officer.
While they were moving the person arrested onto an ambulance, Nichols moved up and was filming one foot away from the vehicle when she was advised "to step back at least 25 feet," according to police.
"I'm trying to record in the back of the ambulance, and they told me to step back. I took one step and they grabbed me," Nichols said.
Then, she was put in handcuffs for unlawful encroachment on an investigation, a misdemeanor charge that went into effect in July.
"I think it was wrong. Their police action was over, he was in the ambulance. I was outside the ambulance, unarmed completely," Nichols said. "All I had was my camera."
Police said the new law is for the safety of everyone.
Friday afternoon, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office said they would not be filing charges against Nichols.
The office issued the following statement:
"After reviewing this arrest, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office is not filing charges for Unlawful Encroachment in this matter.
The Unlawful Encroachment statute, which is currently being challenged as unconstitutional in federal court, must be applied judiciously and deliberately to strike a balance between the right of citizens to observe law enforcement and the need for officers to execute their duties free from undue interference.
The Probable Cause Affidavit submitted does not allege that Nichols interfered with a police investigation or the efforts of medics to provide care to an injured individual on scene."
"It's well within a citizen's rights to record those events, it's just a matter of encroaching up and creating the environment where a secondary issue could occur because somebody is so close, creating a secondary concern or a secondary issue," Lawrence Police Department Deputy Chief Gary Woodruff said earlier this week.
The only felony Nichols was arrested for was escape. She slipped one of her hands out of the handcuffs she was wearing because, as she said, they were on too tight.
"But I did not run," Nichols said. "I never took a step, not one."
Nichols said she'll keep recording.
"I think more people should get their cameras out," Nichols said. "I wish somebody had a camera and recorded my arrest."
Police offered a little guidance to abide by the new law.
"If I had some advice to share, I think the advice would be to comply now, complain later if you feel like you need to complain," Woodruff said.
Earlier this year, House Bill 1186 passed, which made it a law that a police officer could ask a bystander to back up 25 feet from where they were questioning someone, making an arrest or conducting any kind of police business. If the bystander disobeyed, they could be charged with a Class C misdemeanor and face a $500 fine and/or 60 days behind bars.