CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- An internal investigation by Charleston police exonerates the officer who arrested an award-winning video journalist after he took pictures of Santa Claus and a choir at the Town Center Mall in December.

Charleston Police Chief Brent Webster said at least eight witnesses, including the man playing Santa Claus in the mall at the time, had a version of events that differed from Scott Rensberger's.

Rensberger, 47, of Washington, D.C., filed a complaint against Charleston Police Cpl. R.C. Basford after he was charged with battery on a police officer and resisting arrest.

"There were eight to 10 witnesses that saw the incident or part of the incident and saw the way he approached the officer or saw the way [the officer] handled himself and they just did not support what [Rensberger] said," Webster said.

According to the complaints filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court, Rensberger slapped the Basford's hand as the officer attempted to block Rensberger from taking a picture of him on Dec. 7. Rensberger then "attempted to pull away" from the officer, Basford wrote in the complaint.

Rensberger said the officer grabbed at his camera and that he placed his other hand on the camera to keep it from falling. He said he was taking pictures to send to his girlfriend in Washington.

When he filed the complaint, Rensberger said he told police he was trying to grab the camera, not the officer's hand.

"This officer is lying," Rensberger said Monday. "You have a police officer in your city who told what happened was that I slapped him. That is a lie. I was begging him not to hurt me. ... This is an egotistical man who all of the sudden got mad because he didn't like his picture being taken."

Attempts to reach the man playing Santa Claus and the other witnesses on Monday were unsuccessful.

Rensberger, who works out of Washington, D.C., had been hired to take photos of government buildings as a subcontractor for the IRS. The day he was arrested he had just taken pictures of the Sidney L. Christie Federal Building in Huntington and went to the Charleston Town Center mall to eat dinner at about 5 p.m.

"I took some pictures of the choir singing and I took some pictures of the Santa snow scene," he said at the time. "I take my camera with me almost anywhere."

Rensberger is a freelance videographer, and in 1991 won an Investigative Reporters and Editors award and was named National Press Photographers Association Photographer of the Year. He said he takes photos of all the places he visits and sends them to his girlfriend.

He went into a store to shop for a scarf for her when two men stopped him and told him he had taken a photo of one of their children with Santa Claus. He said he deleted the photos, but when he walked back by the Santa Claus area, the two men were talking to Basford, who stopped him.

Rensberger said Basford asked him, "Why are you taking pictures of kids?"

"I can't believe you are asking me that," Rensberger said to the officer. "Do you mind if I take a picture of you?"

Rensberger said he then tried to snap a photo of Basford and that Basford grabbed at the camera.

He said he's shocked that all of the witnesses side with police.

Charleston Police Chief Brent Webster said at least eight witnesses, including the man playing Santa Claus in the mall at the time, had a version of events that differed from Scott Rensberger's.

Rensberger, 47, of Washington, D.C., filed a complaint against Charleston Police Cpl. R.C. Basford after he was charged with battery on a police officer and resisting arrest.

"There were eight to 10 witnesses that saw the incident or part of the incident and saw the way he approached the officer or saw the way [the officer] handled himself and they just did not support what [Rensberger] said," Webster said.

According to the complaints filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court, Rensberger slapped the Basford's hand as the officer attempted to block Rensberger from taking a picture of him on Dec. 7. Rensberger then "attempted to pull away" from the officer, Basford wrote in the complaint.

Rensberger said the officer grabbed at his camera and that he placed his other hand on the camera to keep it from falling. He said he was taking pictures to send to his girlfriend in Washington.

When he filed the complaint, Rensberger said he told police he was trying to grab the camera, not the officer's hand.

"This officer is lying," Rensberger said Monday. "You have a police officer in your city who told what happened was that I slapped him. That is a lie. I was begging him not to hurt me. ... This is an egotistical man who all of the sudden got mad because he didn't like his picture being taken."

Attempts to reach the man playing Santa Claus and the other witnesses on Monday were unsuccessful.

Rensberger, who works out of Washington, D.C., had been hired to take photos of government buildings as a subcontractor for the IRS. The day he was arrested he had just taken pictures of the Sidney L. Christie Federal Building in Huntington and went to the Charleston Town Center mall to eat dinner at about 5 p.m.

"I took some pictures of the choir singing and I took some pictures of the Santa snow scene," he said at the time. "I take my camera with me almost anywhere."

Rensberger is a freelance videographer, and in 1991 won an Investigative Reporters and Editors award and was named National Press Photographers Association Photographer of the Year. He said he takes photos of all the places he visits and sends them to his girlfriend.

He went into a store to shop for a scarf for her when two men stopped him and told him he had taken a photo of one of their children with Santa Claus. He said he deleted the photos, but when he walked back by the Santa Claus area, the two men were talking to Basford, who stopped him.

Rensberger said Basford asked him, "Why are you taking pictures of kids?"

"I can't believe you are asking me that," Rensberger said to the officer. "Do you mind if I take a picture of you?"

Rensberger said he then tried to snap a photo of Basford and that Basford grabbed at the camera.

He said he's shocked that all of the witnesses side with police.

"There is no gray area. I did absolutely nothing wrong," Rensberger said Monday. "Did they talk to everyone there? ... If they asked for witnesses right then and there, that would impress me."

Webster said Basford acted properly in stopping Rensberger, who parents had said was taking pictures of their children. At the time he stopped Rensberger, Basford had the right to conduct a field interview to determine whether a crime had been committed. Witnesses said Rensberger became immediately antagonistic, Webster said. Police can't stop someone from taking their photo in a general sense, but at that time, Basford was conducting a field interview.

"And while we're doing an investigation, we are going to need people to cooperate and let us figure out what's going on," Webster said. "And that's what Basford said he was doing from the very beginning."

From there, events went downhill quickly, Webster said.

"I'm greatly concerned about our perception with the public, but if I'm going to make a personnel decision, I've got to make it based on facts," Webster said. "And the facts and the witnesses exonerated the officer."

Webster said the internal investigation has no bearing on the charges against Rensberger. The two investigations are handled separately.

Rensberger said he will be in town for the preliminary hearing in magistrate court March 1.

"I've got to fight it. I have no choice," Rensberger said. "If I spend my children's college fund fighting it, you can be doggone sure I'm going to put the police on trial."

He said if he filed a lawsuit in the case, he would seek attorney's fees and donate any other money he was awarded to a local Charleston charity.

"If he would have approached me and said I'm officer so-and-so, do you mind if we walk over here and talk?' Guess what I would have said? 'Sure, let's go talk.' But when four officers come over and ask, 'Why are you taking pictures of kids?' I find that very offensive," Rensberger said. "I've never slapped anyone as an adult. Officer Basford had gotten into street fights, so you know his file has something in it."

In 2006, Charleston Fire Department Lieutenant Scott Allred was accused of assaulting Basford. In court, Allred, 36, admitted that he punched Basford once in the nose in the Verizon parking lot on MacCorkle Avenue in the early morning hours of April 9, 2006, but said he acted out of self-defense after Basford rushed him. Allred was found not guilty on all charges by a Kanawha Circuit Court jury.

And this isn't Rensberger's first run-in with police while using a camera.

In 1994, he was arrested in Hawaii while attempting to cover Bill Gates' marriage. He was booked for investigation of trespassing, but the charges were dropped when he agreed to leave the island.

He sued Gates and Dole Food Co., which owned most of the island where the wedding was being held, according to an article at the time in the Seattle Times. Rensberger won a partial summary judgment against Gates and Dole Foods. The judge ruled he should have been allowed to film on public property.

As a part of the settlement, Rensberger received letters of apology from both Dole and Gates.

"... I was working as a journalist at the time and I was there [at the mall] as a private citizen," Rensberger said in December. "I'm very proud of that. I took on these two powerful people and I won. And I'll do the same thing here and donate the proceeds to charity if it comes to that."

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.