Police Handcuff NBC Chicago Photojournalist

Police release media members after about 10 minutes

By Zach Christman
NBC Chicago

Chicago police took two members of the media into custody Saturday, including an NBC Chicago photographer.

Photographer Donte Williams and WGN Reporter Dan Ponce were detained as they attempted to cover the story of a 6-year-old girl who was shot and killed. Crews were standing on a sidewalk outside Mt. Sinai Hospital, where the girl had been taken.

The hospital apparently called police, complaining of trespassers. The news crews, at the request of police officers, said they had already moved from a public sidewalk directly in front of the hospital, to a median halfway across the street.

But police disputed that, saying hospital security guards told them news crews had tried to get past them into a secure area of the hospital. Reporters say they did not go into the hospital.

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Police Handcuff NBC Chicago Photojournalist | NBC Chicago

This is not an isolated incident, it's epidemic.

More and more, police are enthusiastically and aggressively
arresting members of the press.

This case, in particular, highlights the very basic issue that
individual officers (not all of them, of course) seem to believe
that they can arbitrarily suspend or 'terminate' the Constitution
they are sworn to uphold.

That the reporters were released 10 minutes later (in this case)
means very little, when we have a sworn officer shouting things at
the press like, "Your first amendment rights can be terminated..."
and "(expletive deleted) a lawsuit!"

Clearly, this officer could use a little censorship of his own...

Video:

Censorship "Your First Amendment Right Can Be Terminated"

Goodman Green
- Brasscheck

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