by John Lewis

Created on: January 18, 2011   Last Updated: January 19, 2011

December 20, 2010-Update Lewis/Winn

Smile for the camera: The shades of Benton County. REMEMBER WHEN sunglasses protected you only from the suns glare? These days they can protect a citizen in other ways. Consider the case of officer Dana Winn, the Benton County deputy who found himself a star on YouTube the other day after arresting a man with whom he'd argued a short time before. Result: The sheriff is now investigating his deputy's conduct to determine whether Deputy Winn stayed within professional bounds in his exchange with a man who was secretly taping their confrontation on a video camera built into his sunglasses.

From what can be seen on the video, an investigation would seem fully justified. The flap began when Deputy Winn, in search of a fugitive, confronted John Lewis, who was seated in a chair in his front yard. The officer asked Mr. Lewis if he knew the whereabouts of the wanted man, who once lived at that address. In a response recorded by the hidden camera, Mr. Lewis says he doesn’t know where the suspect is, adding, "That’s the end of it. I’m not answering any more questions."

On the tape, Deputy Winn seems to grow increasingly agitated as he continues to ask about the fugitive and about Mr. Lewis himself. All too soon the officer starts to chide Mr. Lewis for not addressing him by his proper title. The deputy then walks Mr. Lewis to his patrol car, where he arrests and cuffs him. Then it’s off to the county jail. Mr. Lewis was released, but not before being charged with obstructing governmental operations, a misdemeanor. Now he wants the charges dropped. The video recorded by Mr. Lewis’ cinematic shades raises a relevant question: Just which man was acting improperly?

Laurent Sacharoff, a professor of criminal law at the University of Arkansas, says that in general, police can’t arrest people on their own property without a warrant unless they see a crime being committed. Therefore, those investigating Deputy Winn’s actions will have to decide whether the officer saw a crime in progress. And on first viewing the video, says the professor, he didn’t detect any obvious crime being committed. The investigation will have to determine whether Deputy Winn had sufficient cause to believe Mr. Lewis was lying about knowing where the fugitive was.

"Some of the questions he refused to answer," the professor points out, "were about [Mr.] Lewis and not about the fugitive, and it was unclear how that related

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