U.S. Park Police recently charged a man at the Lincoln Memorial for allegedly using a telephoto lens and a fair amount of personal sleaze to take upskirt photos of women sitting on the steps leading up to the memorial, because there is quite possibly no space in this country safe or sanctified enough to dissuade creepy, criminal behavior.
According to the Washington Post, Christopher Hunt Cleveland was arrested back at the beginning of summer on June 19 after a Park Police officer observed him taking pictures near memorial’s steps, a popular vantage point and the spot where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. The nature of the picture-taking was suspicious, according to the search warrant, since Cleveland seemed to be aiming his lens up towards women (some in dresses and skirts) seated on the steps above him.
From the Post:
Cleveland then walked to the Reflecting Pool, where the officer saw him shooting photos of women seated on steps there, according to the warrant. The officer became convinced that he was taking upskirt shots.
When officers approached Cleveland, he walked away and began to manipulate his camera and remove a memory card, according to the warrant. Officers told him to drop the camera, but he disobeyed and resisted arrest, authorities said in the warrant.
Officers reviewed Cleveland’s camera and found numerous shots of women’s crotches and buttocks, according to the warrant. Officers located one of the women, who told them that she had not given anyone consent to photograph her.
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Cleveland was subsequently charged in D.C. Superior Court with voyeurism and, what could prove a far worse for him, assaulting a police officer. Unfortunately, Cleveland’s grossness wasn’t limited to that particular photo session in June — during an interview after his arrest, Cleveland said he’d visited the Lincoln Monument over the past couple of months to take upskirt photos, and investigators later discovered in Cleveland’s car a laptop “containing at least 150 PowerPoint slide presentations, each containing 30 or more upskirt images or images leading up to the shots.”
Man accused of taking inappropriate photos of women at Lincoln Memorial [WaPo]
Image via AP