Don't have a cow, it's only a picture

When two cows ran loose across the Ohio State University (OSU) campus, Alex Kotran, a photographer for The Lantern, wanted to be the first with the photos. He ran to his apartment, grabbed his professional camera, and started on his way. As he was taking pictures, he was told he wasn’t allowed to and that he needed to leave.

He explained he was on public property, that he was doing nothing wrong, and that if this lady from the School of Agriculture had such a problem with him taking pictures she could call the police, so she did just that. The police told him that it was dangerous for him to be taking photos in that area, which could be plausible, had he not been about 100 yards from the cows.

They told him he had to leave the premises, so he left and started to take photos from another spot. They then detained him. He told them he was a photographer for The Lantern, but they continued to detain him.

To me, this is completely unnecessary. He wasn’t violating any rules, and he was completely within his rights. If the School of Agriculture didn’t want their business to be in the paper, they shouldn’t have let their cows loose.

It is not Kotran’s fault that the cows were there, nor did he contribute to the nonsense by taking photographs.

So, what I’m curious about is that the lady from the School of Agriculture was telling Kotran that he couldn’t take pictures, which sounds like he was violating some rule or law, but when the police arrived they told him that it wasn’t safe for him to be taking photos. So, does that mean that anything unsafe is illegal? Or are these two people contradicting each other for that sake of saving face?

Kotran was completely within his rights. He was on public property, he was not antagonizing the animals, he was not even close enough to be aggravating them, and so I think he was detained unfairly. For his “profession,” Kotran was in the right place at the right time. He was doing his job, taking photographs and getting a story.

To my knowledge, he was not trespassing or doing anything illegal. Kotran just did what anyone else would have done had they seen loose cows running around on campus - take pictures. He wasn’t breaking any laws, so for him to be arrested, or even detained, I think is ridiculous.

I also think that between the police and the other people trying to corral the cows, they need to get their reasoning straight. Either he was breaking the law, or it was unsafe. Pick one and stick with it, but whatever they pick, they had better be able to support.