Charges Dropped Against Reporters Arrested During RNC

MINNEAPOLIS — Charges will be dropped against journalists who were arrested during protests at the Republican National Convention and cited for unlawful assembly, St. Paul officials said Friday.

Mayor Chris Coleman said the city attorney's office recommended against prosecuting reporters for the misdemeanor charge.

"This decision reflects the values we have in St. Paul to protect and promote our First Amendment rights to freedom of the press," Coleman said in a prepared statement.

He added, "At the scene, the police did their duty in protecting public safety. In this decision, we are serving the public's interest to maintain the integrity of our democracy, system of justice and freedom of the press."

He said the city doesn't know yet how many cases the decision will affect, and he said the city will use a broad definition of journalists caught up in mass arrests.

City Attorney John Choi said it would take a while for his office to review each case, do the paperwork and notify everyone involved.

More than 800 people were arrested in St. Paul and Minneapolis during the convention. Journalists among them included Associated Press reporters Amy Forliti and Jon Krawczynski. City spokesman James Lockwood said charges against them will be dropped.

Dave Tomlin, associate general counsel for the AP, said, "It's always good to learn that a bogus charge against you has been dropped. We're still waiting for police to account for the unprovoked smackdowns of two of our photographers."

The AP has sent the Police Department a letter asking for an accounting of police treatment of photographers Matt Rourke and Evan Vucci while they were covering violent protests during the convention.

Amy Goodman, host of the syndicated radio and television program Democracy Now!, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing the legal process during the protests. Two producers of the show were also arrested.

Choi said the city would also drop charges against the three of them.

Mike Buckso, executive officer of the Minnesota Newspaper Guild Typographical Union, said the dropped charges were welcome _ but he said elected officials must examine what happened in order to prevent "the needless detention and harassment of journalists" in the future.

Comments

[UnderdogSRD]

What a surprise, just like the last RNC convention in New York. Bring in Blackwater, arrest, detain, and intimidate. Then afterwards, drop all charges. Oooppsss sorry, our bad. Republizan - nazilbupeR.

[brenner21]

And what about the house surrounded by police prior to the convention? Without a search warrant, nobody was permitted in or out. The residents were young people planning a peaceful demonstration of the convention.

[Coinyer101]

they were just practicing for the future 'police state' republicans will call for ,if mccain's elected.

[Agnim]

Ha ha ha!

No doubt these are the same hypocritical Americans, of all stripes, who want to travel thousands of miles to impose themselves on Chinese for ALSO seeking to maintain law and order in their society. lol

Cannot or will not fix American law and order problems at home; but rush to China to fix imagined problems of 5,000 year mature Chinese culture. Childish. lol

[jimsey]

Nothing to laugh at. "ALSO seeking to maintain law and order..." If you believe that you deserve the incipient police state here as much as the established police state there (China). They are not seeking to maintain anything, only to suppress...

[KarlaElisa]

Not good enough. Time for a big ass lawsuit with LOTS of press coverage. Millions of people are currently unaware of what happened.
For God's sake, the PRESS IS part of this story.

[marymansour]

I wish the 'unruly' mobs and protestors had been more the focus at the RNC. I would have rooted for them from the comfort of my own home.

[wm1066]

So what about the photographers from New York who were arrested on the friday before the convention?
Did they get thier case thrown out?
That was so bogus.

[Steambomb]

you seem to be missing the point. Whether their case is thrown out or not is not of consequence here. The fact that their constitutional rights where infringed is.

[CNSR4500]

Hmmm. Wonder why this fiasco didn't happen at the DNC. Perhaps this is reflective of a general feeling of disccontent with the Republicans.

Why were people arrested a week prior to the RNC for planning peaceful,legal protests, guaranteed by our U.S. Constitution?

[jatwood]

This did happen at the DNC, albeit to a lesser extent. http://www.blinkx.com/video/usa-reality-2008-dnc-arrests/PdQZCQAj_KFqYETq5UkCFg
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/13/city-readies-warehouse-for-mass-dnc-arrests/

[evekendall]

Mayor Coleman, the First Amendment is more than just freedom of the press. Here is the text:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The world watched as St. Paul and Minneapolis police arrested journalists doing their job, and people who were assembling peaceably on public property to protest their government. It appears that your police also stopped automobiles at random, and if they didn't like the looks of the occupants, those occupants were told to get out of their vehicles, and then were arrested, had their vehicles impounded, and told they would be informed of the charges against them later. There are dozens of videotapes documenting these incidents on the internet.

I think the citizens of St. Paul and Minneapolis would be well-served if their law enforcement officials and personnel were required to sit down and read the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights under the U. S. Constitution.

[thatvisionthing]

When National Guardsmen fired on protesters at Kent State, Ohio, in 1970, killing four students, Crosby Stills Nash & Young rushed to put out their ["four dead in"] Ohio single immediately in a picture sleeve that had the text of the First Amendment on it -- the Bill of Rights -- the right to free speech and freedom of assembly.

Do police officers take an oath to defend the Constitution? They're really crappy at it, they should study it. And understanding it should be a skill they should have to keep current.

[Wiredwilly]

NAZIAPOLIS

I propose a petition to kick Minneapolis & St. Paul out of the Union , ban them from all Government funding , build a giant electronic fence around the city and don't let anyone into the United States. I will also now refer to the City as Naziapolis .

[mdn]

What about all of the other innocent people who are not part of the press that were arrested? Do they receive get out of jail cards too?

[Meggie]

This calls for a HUGE lawsuit. Time for Americans to take the constitution back!

[jmndodge]

Yes. Dropped charges which do not cost the illegal actions of the authorities is on parallel with allowing a criminal to apologize and walk free. Of course it will raise my taxes, (I'm from MN) but they committed this crime in my name, embarrassed me, and diminished by freedoms and rights by their actions. Unless we stand up to these abuses of power now, our grand-children will be standing up with arms in a bloody civil war, hoping to once again achieve the dream of freedom. Government, and their agents (the men and or women wearing the riot gear) -- agents who refused to identify themselves, or give their badge numbers must be held responsible. Civil damages paid, and prison terms for those proven to committed the abuse of power. Both the officer and the foot soldier must be held responsible. In addition these investigations and trials need to be covered by the press.

[DEMTRUPATRIOTS]

no kidding...that's because the charges were bogus.....dissent is dead in the u.s. ......long live the rethugs and facsism

[ConstitutionCrusader]

HuffPost's Pick

Mister Williams, there are a few details in this article that need some further attention. For example, not only were the two Democracy Now! producers arrested (VIOLENTLY), but they were both charged with a FELONY count of "conspiracy to riot". The video footage of Nicole Salazar being arrested is on youtube, and it speaks for itself. You can hear her screaming "PRESS! PRESS!" as the officers wrestle her to the pavement and tell her to "put her face on the ground". Then one of them steps on her back, and the other starts pulling one of her legs. When they knock her down she starts bleeding from the nose. The other producer was kicked in the chest several times. In addition to these actions from St. Paul Police, the secret service then came and REMOVED THE PRESS BADGES FROM AROUND THEIR NECKS.

I really feel like this article leaves something to be desired in terms of painting an accurate portrait of the goings-on at the RNC convention regarding the press. And for the record, the journalists were NOT covering "violent protests" they were covering police firing rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray and flash-bang grenades at peaceful protesters. There is ABUNDANT footage of this to be found online, and I suggest readers of this article take it upon themselves to seek it out.

[sacrebleu]

"This decision reflects the values we have in St. Paul to protect and promote our First Amendment rights to freedom of the press," [Mayor Chris] Coleman said in a prepared statement.

And he managed to say this with a straight face?

[Steambomb]

No kidding. Thats exactly opposite of what happened. What a dufus. This is the type of crap that led up to the American revolution.