A Mattapan man was arrested after he filmed the emergency ramp outside MGH
He is now facing several charges, including trespassing, according to police.
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A Mattapan man is facing several charges after he reportedly filmed the emergency ramp at Massachusetts General Hospital Sunday.
John L. McCullough, 41, a self-described First Amendment crusader, was charged with trespassing, disturbing the peace, and threats to do bodily harm after he was arrested outside the hospital, The Boston Herald reports.
An officer at the scene told McCullough he could not force him to stop filming, but asked him to refrain out of respect for the privacy of patients, according to the newspaper.
“He continued to film the ramp and I again asked him not to film the ramp out of respect for the patient and to imagine how he would feel if the patient was a family member of his or if he were the patient,” the officer wrote in a report obtained by the Herald.
The officer wrote that “hundreds of nurses, doctors, physician assistants, and other medical staff arriving and leaving the hospital after a 12 hour shift during the COVID-19 Pandemic” were leaving the hospital at that time and others nearby appeared to be upset by McCullough’s behavior, according to the newspaper.
There were 371 coronavirus patients, 130 of whom were in intensive care, being treated at MGH on Tuesday.
McCullough was arrested on hospital property after allegedly making taunts and threats and carrying out other abusive behavior, the Herald reports.
He is a member of “Auditing America,” a video troupe that pushes for the right to record in public, according to the news outlet. Police say he was also among a group who previously recorded at an East Boston drive-up coronavirus testing site.
“The males were entering and exiting the coned off area, where Covid-19 testing is being conducted by the East Boston Health Center,” a police report says. “When officers approached the males, they became belligerent, yelling and reluctant to answer any questions.”
McCullough, who posts his videos to “The Resistance” YouTube channel, told the Herald Tuesday he agrees he may have been “rude” at the hospital earlier this week but he doesn’t believe it warrants jail time.
“I understand how people may feel, but that doesn’t mean I should be locked up,” he said.
“Did I break the law? No. I may have been rude,” he added. “I understand people may feel jittery, but where peoples’ feelings start my rights don’t stop.”
McCullough is slated to be arraigned on June 2.
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