officer in Albany, New York is under investigation after he was caught on video accosting a busker and misleading him about local statutes in order to shoo him off the street.<br />The footage shows Officer Glenn Szelest telling the artist, Leif Solem, “Go down to City Hall, go see the clerk they’ll explain everything to you. First Amendment or nothing.”<br />However, the department told the Times-Union that buskers are not required to have permits to perform, nor is there a law against busking in the city.<br />“I’ve done it in Albany for 20 years,” Solem says in the footage, only for Szelest to reply, “Well, you haven’t done it down here, and you’re blocking the sidewalk, OK?”<br />Contrary to the officer’s statement, though, the footage clearly shows Solem standing in front of an empty building. Szelest then points to a t-shirt and calls it “debris,” claiming that it does not allow pedestrians to walk through the area.
