Donald McKenrick shot a video in Great Falls on February 26, 2024, showing his interaction with a police officer. The officer was responding to a “disorderly conduct” report.
McKenrick – who was not involved in the call for service – then walked up to the scene; here is the video that he posted on Youtube:
The incident resulted in a Facebook response from the GFPD, which stated in part: “During the course of the Disorderly Conduct investigation, a male who had nothing to do with the initial investigation interjected himself into the matter. The male, identified as Donald Wallace McKenrick (46 yoa Great Falls resident), was temporarily detained in handcuffs, to prevent further interference. McKenrick was given a citation for Obstructing a Peace Officer (misdemeanor); he was not arrested, but released from the scene after being cited.”
The GFPD post generated scores of comments, predictably, with nearly all of them falling into either the “he didn’t do anything wrong!” camp, or the “Don’t butt into an investigation!” camp, and varying degrees of incivility and name-calling.
McKenrick only has one other video on his channel – it’s him inside of a post office in Great Falls on January 25, 2024, where nothing of interest happens, other than him telling an employee that he has a 1st Amendment right to shoot the video. It is titled @406audit, which leads me to believe that he is trying to create some sort of “1st Amendment Audit” channel.
I’ll note that I have been to dozens of crime scenes, crashes, fires, etc, in Great Falls over the last 16 years, and have never once been admonished, threatened, berated, or otherwise “yelled at” by police officers, deputies, or firefighters. And in each case, I was shooting photos/video with my cell phone, and was not wearing any clothing (shirt, hat, etc) with my news affiliation. A few times I was asked – politely – to step back a bit, and of course I complied.
EDIT: By the way – how did the officer know that McKenrick was not involved in the “disturbing the peace” report? And how did the officer know that McKenrick was not carrying a weapon? ANSWER: he didn’t. The officer did not know if McKenrick was related to or a friend of the person/people that were being investigated. The officer also didn’t know if McKenrick was armed and/or intended any harm.
Here is the full GFPD post:
Sounds to me like McKenrick is lonely and bored.
LEO’s have enough on their plate without having to waste precious time and resources in having to deal with those who feel they need to manufacture a crisis.