Paul St. Laurent with his camera and a memory card similar to the one he says police kept. (CBC)A Winnipeg man is accusing the city's police force of confiscating his camera's memory card after he took pictures of another man who had been shot by officers with a stun gun .

But police denied the charge, saying Paul St. Laurent got all his property back.

St. Laurent said his memory card was taken after he arrived at the scene of a suspected car theft Tuesday night. By the time he got there, police had already shot a man with their Taser stun guns, he said. The man was not seriously injured.

"I kept my distance. I was no closer than any of the spectators there. I took quite a few pictures. And by this time, the officers were starting to focus on me now, because they had that guy in custody," he said.

St. Laurent said he was handcuffed and told he was under arrest for "intimidation of an officer." He was put in the back of a police cruiser car and was held for about 15 minutes, he said.

"Eventually [the police officer] opened the car door, he took the cuffs off and he said, 'Here's your camera.' I opened it up and there's no memory card," St. Laurent said.

St. Laurent said he's already spoken to the police Professional Standards Unit and the Law Enforcement Review Agency.

He said the officer claims he gave everything back, meaning it comes down to St. Laurent's word against the officer's, as far as the camera's memory card is concerned.

Refused to follow orders: police

But Const. Jason Michalyshen, a spokesman for the Winnipeg police, said no piece of equipment was seized.

"He was detained for a period of time along with some equipment that he may have had with him. He left with that equipment," Michalyshen said.

Michalyshen said St. Laurent was detained for ignoring repeated requests by officers to get out of the crime scene and not for taking pictures.

St. Laurent was in the 300 block of Keenleyside Street photographing an arrest in which police used stun guns, when he himself was briefly detained. (CBC)"This individual was causing a disturbance and making it more difficult for these officers to do their job," he said.

"He seemed to be the only one at the scene there that refused to stay back."

Crystal Keewatin, who also saw the events unfold, said she didn't believe St. Laurent was causing a problem.

"All the other cops that were here seemed to be fine with it. But then there was just one cop who came up to him and said, 'Do you want to be charged with intimidation? Because we can do that,' " she said.

"I was standing right behind [St. Laurent] when he said that, and I didn't know what he meant by that," she added. "The way I see it, they were trying to intimidate him."

Keewatin said she didn't see anything to do with St. Lauren's memory card, but she felt he was singled out by police because he had been taking photos.

"They cuffed him and they took him in the car.... I yelled out, 'We should take a picture of him now!' just to be cheeky," she said.

Under the Criminal Code, it is an offence, punishable by up to 14 years in jail, to try to scare a police officer by "persistently or repeatedly following" them or "besetting or watching the place" where they are at work. It is also an offence to intimidate a journalist in this manner.