Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: right to take photos in a public place

What you were doing is perfectly legal but the police wuld have the right to stop and ask what you are doing to determine if you were there for illegal purposes. Since there was no reasonable cause to believe you had commited a crime, their search of you and your possessions was illegal. So you have a case.

But when you file a claim within 180 days of the incident [required under the Government Tort Claims Act], whomever the police worked for will deny the claim and you will have to file suit. You probably will recover very little if anything since the injuries were all emotional and not physical. You could call one of the local attorneys who often sue the police [John Buris in Oakland, Steve Yeager in Los Angeles] and try to speak to them to confirm whether you have a case they think some attorney might take, but they themselves will probably not want such a minor case.

You can contact the police department involved and complain and ask that the person who called the police be informed that what you did was legal.