The San Diego Police Department is in hot water with photographers and First Amendment rights advocates everywhere this week over the way two of their officers handled a situation this last Saturday.

The story and the video that goes with it — which went viral after being shared by the website Photography is Not a Crime — shows one of the officers violently arresting a man for exercising his right to record the officer during the course of his duties.

Adam Pringle and two of his friends were walking down a Mission Beach boardwalk when two bicycle officers stopped to write Pringle a citation for smoking. Everything was ok until Pringle got out his Samsung Galaxy and began recording the officer.

Man Points Smartphone Camera at Cop, Gets Arrested for Brandishing Weapon samsunggalaxy

After telling Pringle to put away his phone several times, to which Pringle replied several times that he had a right to record, officer M. Reinhold slapped the phone out of Pringle’s hand, slammed him onto the ground, and proceeded to arrest him. Pringle was bleeding so badly afterwards that an ambulance had to be called.

More: Man Points Smartphone Camera at Cop, Gets Arrested for Brandishing ‘Weapon’