News Crew Ordered to Delete Footage of Suspect's Crash Scene

BBC reporters Franz Strasser and Tara McKelvey were covering the story of the news crew shot and killed at  a Virginia mall. They were also covering the story of the manhunt for the killer Vestor Flanagan. 

The pair pulled up on the scene were Flanagan's car crashed after a short chase with police. 

After the chase, the Virginia State police this statement on their Facebook page: “The suspect vehicle refused to stop and sped away from the trooper. Minutes later, the suspect vehicle ran off the road and crashed. The troopers approached the vehicle and found the male driver suffering from a gunshot wound."

Strasser and McKelvey, were reporting from the crash scene when they were told by police to delete their video footage.

On Wednesday night, Corinne Geller, the statewide public relations manager for the Virginia State Police, tweeted at Strasser.

Unfortunately, this is not a first for reporters in Virginia. Just last year WTVR-TV in Richmond reported on two incidents involving police officers and cellphones in Petersburg and Norfolk.

According to the ACLU of Virginia, their office has documented citizens who have been charged for filming police — usually as a violation of wiretapping laws.

H/T PRI.org