Live PD production company sues, accusing Texas authorities of "illegal seizure" of footage of a suspect's in-custody death

LawandCrime.com

Big Fish Entertainment alleges it was thrown under the bus by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and the Austin Police Department in the death of Javier Ambler, a Black man who died in 2019 after sheriff deputies used tasers on him after a traffic stop. The footage was captured by Live PD cameras and was later destroyed. News of the footage emerged in the aftermath of George Floyd's death. “While the brief but wrongful taking of its cameras and footage by WCSO and APD caused Big Fish actual damage and clearly violated the law, that is not the only damage Big Fish has suffered as a result of WCSO and APD’s erroneous view that they controlled and had immediate rightful access to Big Fish’s footage,” stated the lawsuit from Big Fish Entertainment. “WCSO and APD’s taking on March 28, 2019 was only the beginning of the harm Big Fish suffered. The illegal seizure of its footage was premised on the false foundation that WCSO somehow owned or controlled Big Fish’s footage, and a year later this same false narrative was used to fuel a public campaign that vilified Big Fish and caused it untold economic damage and reputational harm.”