Two reporters covering the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri were arrested and physically assaulted by police on Wednesday.
Ryan Reilly, the justice correspondent for The Huffington Post, and Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery were working in a McDonald's when a SWAT team suddenly invaded the restaurant. After being told to stop recording the proceedings, and refusing, both men were then violently arrested. (Recording police officers is a legal act.) Lowery was shoved into a soda machine. An officer slammed Reilly's head against glass.
Reilly and Lowery were released shortly after news of their arrest broke. Police in Ferguson—which has seen days of protests following the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by an unnamed officer—have been extremely antagonistic towards journalists, as well as towards the protesters demonstrating against Brown's death.
The Washington Post uploaded this video of Lowery's arrest:
Reilly's arrest was photographed by a St. Louis Post-Dispatch journalist:
Later, Lowery wrote an account of his arrest. He said that police ordered him to stop filming them, and that, when his bag fell off his shoulders, they suddenly seized him and accused him of resisting arrest, even though his hands were behind his back. That, he said, made him "more afraid than of the tear gas and rubber bullets.”
Later, Lowery had this exchange:
“I hope you’re happy with yourself,” one officer told me. And I responded: “This story’s going to get out there. It’s going to be on the front page of The Washington Post tomorrow.”
And he said, “Yeah, well, you’re going to be in my jail cell tonight.”
Speaking to MSNBC, Reilly told a similar story. He said that the officers "essentially acted as a military force."
News of the arrests was met with outrage.
Washington Post editor Martin Baron said the paper was "relieved that Wesley is going to be OK" and "appalled by the conduct of police officers involved." He continued, "That behavior was wholly unwarranted and an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news."
HuffPost's Washington bureau chief Ryan Grim told Talking Points Memo, "This is what happens when local police are allowed to become para-military units."
Below is a series of tweets from Lowery, Reilly and others about the situation. Read here for further details.
Police come into McD where me and @ryanjreilly working. Try to kick everyone out.
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 13, 2014
Was arrested
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 14, 2014
Officers decided we weren't leaving McDonalds quickly enough, shouldn't have been taping them.
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 14, 2014
Released without any charges, no paperwork whatsoever
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 14, 2014
Officers slammed me into a fountain soda machine because I was confused about which door they were asking me to walk out of
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 14, 2014
Detained, booked, given answers to no questions. Then just let out
— Wesley Lowery (@WesleyLowery) August 14, 2014