Relations between police in Ferguson, Mo. and members of the media covering protests against law enforcement there broke down again Sunday night.
Echoing the arrests of the Huffington Post’s Ryan Reilly and the Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery earlier this week, three reporters said they were briefly handcuffed and detained by police. Other reporters said officers threatened them with mace, while one radio reporter caught an officer’s threat to shoot him on tape.
Three journalists — Neil Munshi of the Financial Times, Robert Klemko of Sports Illustrated and Rob Crilly of the Telegraph — tweeted that they were briefly detained and handcuffed by Missouri highway police Capt. Ron Johnson. Munshi emphasized that the three of them were held by police but were not arrested.
Just cuffed and searched as we said we were leaving as he asked. Johnson was following us saying bring the … https://t.co/K106v4t5Qu
— neiL Munshi (@neiLmunshi) August 18, 2014
There were three of us. He said that journo was under arrest, we started walking, he followed, he said he’s under arrest bring the car
— neiL Munshi (@neiLmunshi) August 18, 2014
It was tense, he seemed to realize it wasn’t a great look, and had them release us after cuffing and searching – another cop was apologetic
— neiL Munshi (@neiLmunshi) August 18, 2014
Cops stopped us. We explained ourselves. They said to walk away. We said why. They said command center was attacked. I said no it wasn’t.
— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) August 18, 2014
Capt Johnson said walk away or be arrested. I started walking away. They followed and arrested us.
— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) August 18, 2014
Entire goal was to document police action towards protesters. Johnson wouldn’t let us enter a visibly secured area.
— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) August 18, 2014
Capt Johnson furious at journals getting in the way.
— Rob Crilly (@robcrilly) August 18, 2014
Johnson has now ordered my handcuffs off along with two others. I gather we are now free
— Rob Crilly (@robcrilly) August 18, 2014
Separately, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and the Huffington Post’s Amanda Terkel both said that police officers threatened them with mace.
Riot cop to me just a few minutes ago: “Get back! Or next time you’re gonna be the one maced.”
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) August 18, 2014
Police getting mad when media goes up past their line. Tells us we’ll get maced next time we do that. #Ferguson
— Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) August 18, 2014
A reporter for KARG Argus Radio, whom the Huffington Post identified as Mustafa Hussein, also captured an officer’s threat against him while recording a live stream of the protests.
“Get the fuck out of here,” an officer can be heard yelling, although audio of the incident isn’t entirely clear. “You get that light off, or you’re getting shelled with this.”
Hussein then asked a second officer, who identified himself as Captain Todd, to give him the name of the officer who he said threatened him by yelling “get the fuck out of here or I will shoot you with this.” Captain Todd did not provide the officer’s name but said he would follow up with the reporter.
Watch the clip from KARG Argus Radio’s livestream below:
I’m not on the ground there so I don’t know what is happening. But, a reporter’s job is to document and report, not get in the way.
The media is now trying to find a new story, Ron Johnson is no longer ‘hero’ but oppressor of journalists.
Funny how we’ve been shown just a ‘clip’, nothing about what happened before Ron Johnson’s statement.
So much for the “hero of Ferguson” Capt. Ron Johnson.
I don’t know about that. Without him at least helping to reset things to a more normal state we’d probably have had much larger riots and at least a few Rodney King moments.
Whether or not he is just that remains to be seen.
That same media is widely touting him as the Savior come to save the situation, so your assertion that they are “trying to find a news story” seems to me baseless.
We deserve to know what is going on – this isn’t Russia. If the truth isn’t complimentary to the police, so be it. It’s been shown that when police are required to wear cameras, for example, violent incidents and complaints fall precipitously.
Agreed. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but this tactic has been employed before. It seems he’s been installed as a figurehead but has little actual authority – witness the way he reluctantly participated in the presser by the Gov announcing the curfew.