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Associated PressThe arrest spurs a voting rights group to sue the Palm Beach County elections supervisor and Sheriff's Office to allow access.
WEST PALM BEACH - A freelance journalist taking pictures of voters waiting outside Palm Beach County elections headquarters was arrested after ignoring a deputy's orders to stop, sheriff's officials said.
In response, a voting rights group sued to have a court order Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore and the Sheriff's Office to allow reporters access to voters.
"There is no justification for an elections official to seize authority to suspend the First Amendment of the United States Constitution," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way Foundation, the group that brought the lawsuit.
James S. Henry, of Sag Harbor, N.Y., was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence.
Sheriff's Deputy Al Cinque tried to stop Henry and grab his camera as he took pictures of about 600 people standing in line to vote Sunday afternoon. Henry began running away, but Cinque tackled him, the Palm Beach Post reported.
The deputy pinned Henry, 54, to the ground, yelling for him to stop moving, then punched him in the back. Cinque handcuffed Henry's left arm, pulled him to his feet, slammed him against a parked car and punched him again as Henry tried to hand him identification cards, according to the paper.
But Sheriff's Office spokesman Paul Miller said Monday that Henry "tripped over his own feet" as he ran away. He was heading toward the building's front door, and the deputy "has to use whatever reasonable force is necessary under the circumstances," Miller said.
Miller said the deputy had asked Henry to move to another area to snap pictures.
"His actions were compromising the elections process and intimidating people that were attempting to wait to vote," Miller said. "He was in their faces."
LePore was enforcing a law that prohibits reporters from coming within 50 feet of a polling place's front door to interview or photograph voters.
LePore, who lost her re-election bid in August, became known nationally four years ago for designing the infamous "butterfly ballot." Some say its complicated design caused thousands of Palm Beach voters who intended to vote for Vice President Al Gore for president to miscast their ballot.
Assistant Palm Beach County Attorney Leon St. John said LePore began enforcing the 50-foot law because she received "numerous complaints by voters about being photographed and interviewed."
Miller said he did not know of other journalists being stopped.
Henry, who is also an attorney and the managing director of strategy consulting firm Sag Harbor Group, is working on a book about "electoral democracy," according to his Web site.
He was released on $500 bail Monday.