How insanely crazy is the prosecutor's office in Ferguson? This crazy:
Last edited Tue Aug 11, 2015, 04:37 AM - Edit history (9)
They are going ahead with prosecuting a reporter from the Huffington Post, who -- while covering the Michael Brown story -- was sitting in a McDonald's, working on his laptop. They're also prosecuting a Washington Post reporter for not leaving the McDonald's fast enough.
The reporters had been using the McDonald's as a "staging area" while they were in Ferguson.
If they will prosecute nationally known, high-profile reporters for peaceably doing their jobs, imagine who else they feel free to prosecute in Ferguson?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/08/10/washington-post-reporter-charged-with-trespassing-interfering-with-a-police-officer/
In an account Lowery gave after he was released, officers came inside the McDonald’s and asked him and Reilly for identification. A little later, police officers ordered them to leave.
Lowery said he was given conflicting information about where to exit and was attempting to gather his bag when officers grabbed him, slammed him into a soda machine and placed plastic cuffs on him. Reilly, speaking to the Huffington Post last year, said the police gave the reporters “a countdown like we were 5-year-olds.”
Both reporters were taken by police to a holding cell at the Ferguson police station, while news of their arrests quickly spread over social media. A reporter for the Los Angeles Times said he contacted then-Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson about the arrests, and about half an hour after their arrival, Lowery and Reilly were told that all media members could leave without any charges filed.
FROM REPORTER WESLEY LOWERY'S ACCOUNT:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-ferguson-washington-post-reporter-wesley-lowery-gives-account-of-his-arrest/2014/08/13/0fe25c0e-2359-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html
I said, “Officer, do I not have the right to record you?”
He backed off but told me to hurry up. So I gathered my notebook and pens with one hand while recording him with the other hand.
As I exited, I saw Ryan to my left, having a similar argument with two officers. I recorded him, too, and that angered the officer. As I made my way toward the door, the officers gave me conflicting information.
One instructed me to exit to my left. As I turned left, another officer emerged, blocking my path.
“Go another way,” he said.
As I turned, my backpack, which was slung over one shoulder, began to slip. I said, “Officers, let me just gather my bag.” As I did, one of them said, “Okay, let’s take him.”
REPORTER RYAN REILLY'S ACCOUNT:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/14/ryan-reilly-ferguson-arrest_n_5678528.html
"You know you always see cops yelling, 'stop resisting, stop resisting,' and that's something that happened here -- but I wasn't resisting," Reilly said. "This is just something that these cops yelled no matter what you were doing. I let my arms go limp ... wasn't trying to resist anything."
"In a certain way I think I'm in a privileged position both as a reporter and, frankly, as a white male, that this is something that you don't really expect to happen to you," Reilly said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/washington-post-reporter-wesley-lowery_55c92866e4b0f1cbf1e61822?kvcommref=mostpopular
NEW YORK – Reporters from The Huffington Post and Washington Post have been charged with trespassing and interfering with a police officer’s performance, a chilling setback for press freedom coming nearly a year after their arrests in Ferguson, Missouri.
The Huffington Post's Ryan J. Reilly and Washington Post's Wesley Lowery were arrested while working out of a McDonald's on Aug. 13, 2014, just four days after white police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.
Police claimed the journalists, who were covering the unrest that followed the police killing, didn't leave the restaurant fast enough. Reilly described a police officer shoving his head against glass during his arrest, while Lowery said an officer pushed him into a soda machine. Both Lowery and Reilly were quickly released and not charged with any crime at the time.
The decision to charge Reilly and Lowery now is especially surprising, given that St. Louis County settled just last week with two other journalists arrested while reporting in Ferguson.
SNIP
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