by Jack
In a Newsmax story, it was reported Huffington Post reporter Ryan J. Reilly and Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery were detained and assaulted after attempting to film a swarm of police officers inside a McDonald’s in Ferguson, Missouri. An officer slammed Reilly’s head into a glass window, and Lowery was shoved into a soda fountain while wearing press credentials around his neck.
A USA Today story reported like this, “… police fired tear gas at demonstrators and arrested two reporters as the St. Louis suburb erupted for a fourth night after a police officer fatally shot an unarmed teen Saturday. City officials had asked for calm, but police set up barricades and were out in force as the sun went down.
As a protest escalated, officers in riot gear moved in to close a McDonald’s restaurant where reporters were writing and charging cellphones. Reporters Wesley Lowery of The Washington Post and Ryan Reilly of The Huffington Post said on Twitter that police told them to stop recording the events, then took them into custody.
Reilly tweeted that police asked him for his ID when he took a photo. He said he and Lowery were arrested for “not packing their bags quick enough.”
Lowery tweeted, “Officers slammed me into a fountain soda machine because I was confused about which door they were asking me to walk out of.”
If you read enough news stories you get a better sense of what happened. The following is what I gathered from 6 news accounts and it’s most likely the more honest version of what really happened:
The officers were in a highly volatile situation with a nearby mob. A senior police official ordered that a McDonald’s restaurant be immediately evacuated for the safety of the occupants. Presumably because it was too close to protesters and anything could happen in a split second. Keep in mind many of the police officers had been on riot duty and pulling extra shifts for days. That’s a lot of stress and fatigue. To a great degree the media feeding frenzy has drawn national, if not global attention, to the rioting and that in turn has made their job extremely tough. I have no doubt the officers that allegedly gave two reporters the bums rush out the door were not in the mood for questions by reporters. Again, when in a riot situation bad things can happen quickly and the officers were well aware of the dangers when they were ordered to close McDonalds. There was an urgency here for good reason. Further, their presence was needed on the front line, not herding reluctant, obstructive reporters. It’s quite possible the reporters knew exactly what they were doing and baited the officers trying to get a good story where none need exist. We can’t know this for sure, but other reporters were present and they had no problems because they immediately complied with the evacuation order.
Give the totality of the most dangerous and explosive situation this was not the time for a reporter to delay or obstruct officers.
Related stories. Governor criticized for slow response.
Los Angeles Times coverage.
Video: http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-michael-brown-ferguson-missouri-shooting-20140811-story.html
Oh Jack I watched things unfold live… The world watched it live as it unfolded..although I checked Fox of course they did not cover it!
I saw the reporters tweets, I saw the piece of video.
I knew when the reporters got released and they went on the air and told their story! It is quite accessible.
The reporters were taking a break, charging and sending files.
The police had come in earlier and talked to the manager of McDonald’s for a minute then told people to leave.
They asked if McDonald’s was being closed and the officers said no they just could no longer insure their safety. The reporters said that was fine.
There was no riot in the store and they were about 1/4 mile from the action..
They then came back later and made them leave. The cops were acting like they were invading and were quite frankly rude. I watched the video.
I also watched The cops throw tear gas at Al Jazerra crew, They later said they were helping them..LOL yea that’s why they pulled up, dismantled their lights then pointed the camera down as not to film. It’s all been video taped and is everywhere…
The police sat there in Military Combat gear not riot gear training their gun lasers on people who were standing there.
A man atop an Iraq Military vehicle with a mounted gun training on peaceful people all day. Heck at one point some young girls were dancing and the gun was on them.
Look some video was on TV Live , Twitter was tweeting info, and there was some livestream video… The truth was seen by America and the whole world..
It is sad when Israeli’s and Palestinians had to tweet to US Citizens how to deal with tear gas live while it’s happening.
As I said those cops were just waiting to use their military toys and have a racist thread in the force.
It was live real time for those of us who actually watch what is happening not relying on Mainstream news.
Although I will say as I flipped the ch’s MSNBC and AL JAzerra were live on the air with video. We also tweeted live stream links to news and some were used.
Earlier in the day that police chief tried to imply an old sundowner town to only protest only in the day.
He also said there was no curfew live on TV.
At 8:30pm Police passed the word through the crowd that everybody had to go home at 9PM… No they do not by law!
Sure enough right around 9 the tear gas started going off. It looked like Baghdad not USA. They claim a moltiv cocktail was thrown.. well who knows but I find them suspect cause that happened right at 9?
There was no rioting, No Mob there was abuse of power by a militarized Police force. They attacked people running away advancing forward. I watched it!
The militarization of our police has been an issue and last night we saw it’s abuse. Some military men even tweeted that the cops had such poor training they were do things like training guns on people they could not do in a combat zone.
Never again do I want to see cops dressed in military gear in the streets all day pointing guns at a protest.
Funny today the MO Highway patrol had no problem letting the people vent over what appears to be 1st degree murder.
There have been racial tensions with racist police for a long long time.
Funny a bunch of TP people can show up and protest holding AR-15’s and there are no Military tanks and guns pointed at them, but when Black people protest the police murdering a kid ..we have to suit up?
I want that military gear locked up. When the police look like the military it is the picture of a dictatorship regime like Iran or something.
I have also read their police blogs. There is a racist under tone and they have not a clue to what actual policing is.
They also just got a new building and the chief has on his blog space for a “real intelligence center” So now police are keeping a file on everybody? They think they are FBI? CIA?
Our 1st amendment rights and Freedom of the Press were violated. We can film the police all we want. Funny Tax payers paid for that military gear and they pointed guns all day at the taxpayers for no reason.
American wants the police demilitarized and we mean it.
I have been angry from what I saw all day. Abuse of power period.
People did not now where to run to. An Alderman went to his car and kept filming. They pulled him out and arrested him! Kept him overnight. I knew the minute it happened..The real news is available for those who really do care about truth
Anyway
I told you that there was a no fly zone and It looked like they wanted the press not to see them try to incite a riot. I was correct.
Funny it’s kind of like the white supremacists who have infiltrated our police force put out the word to pick off a few to start their civil war they keep begging for. How many Black kids have been killed in a month? Just sayin..
LOL Your Ted Cruz and rand paul are trying to capitalize off it.. they made campaign statements it was wrong…I realize they really like it but… they know it was wrong…..
Sorry but you may want to get the real story
Dewey you actually may have some good points where we can agree, especially about the militarizing of law enforcement. It seems you and Rand Paul are on the same side. He is for a bi-partisan bill to stop giving heavy weapons and armored vehicles to law enforcement. In general I think it’s a bad idea to equip your average cop in a combat uniform armed with a machine gun. We’ve had no incidents where cops sprayed a mob with machine gun fire and I seriously doubt American officers would EVER behave that way, but it does have a negative impact on the public trust, especially minorities.
As for your comments about the McDonald’s incident. That was a judgment call made by the field commander. The reaction by two of the reporters appears they were stalling, adding more stress and anxiety than prudent under the circumstances. I tried to imagine myself in that situation and how I would feel under such extreme pressure. Because I’ve been there, it’s easy to see how a delaying and obstructing arrest could result. I wish you could see it through my eyes, but it takes a rare individual to do that and I have no right to expect that much from you. Now on the other side, you are backed up by the President. President Obama has already concluded his investigation and declared the police officers removing reporters from McDonald’s were behaving like bullies. So, there it is…guilty as charged, lynching to follow?
‘ told you that there was a no fly zone and It looked like they wanted the press not to see them try to incite a riot. I was correct.” Dewey. No you were not, there’s been all kinds of reporting from day one.
The smartest thing that was done so far in this mess was to remove the Ferguson officers from the front line and replace them with State Police. From what I could determine the citizens had zero trust in them, and maybe they never had any trust. Their was resentment and animosity on both sides because the racial tension has been going on a long time. This can only come from a failure of leadership at the top, from both sides, black and white, the public and law enforcement. It should have never been allowed to get this bad. So there you go Dewey, there’s plenty of blame to go around.
And BTW that had been going on for a few days. Their state senator was gassed the day before sitting down in protest…
Off topic.
Thank God there is at least one reporter who believes the truth is worth reporting.
Sharyl Attkisson Sues Federal Government to Obtain Obamacare Documents:
http://dailysignal.com/2014/08/15/sharyl-attkisson-sues-federal-government-obtain-obamacare-documents/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
Jack I do not believe Rand Paul.. His history shows otherwise, but if a good bill is written I will support it. I do not vote by party.
The reporters were packing their bags Jack. They had eaten and set up everything to send their files to their office.
There was no danger, they said they needed to get their stuff and asked if they were going to be able to move their car parked right out front. The cop was impatient and said they had 45 seconds… That is wrong. Jack it is their training and leadership that developed the scene for their failure.
The previous Police Chief allowed them to write their own use of force reports and they were not put in their own personnel files. That is probably why Wilson has nothing in his file.
It is a Good O Boy Police force ran bu good o’l boys in a very very racist area.
Jack yes I am right the reporters were reporting they were being blocked and had limited access…This is from their mouths many agencies…
There was absolutely no premise for a no fly zone… the only air traffic was either police or news…
Look I try to give good police support but things have changed. Our military has been giving them military toys since the early 1990’s 1992 I think….
Homeland Security (Hitler was the only man who called his country a Homeland Before Bush) is training these guys to combat citizens as terrorists. Oakland citizens wer shocked when they learned their city was being used for training.
Obama? maybe he actually saw the film I saw…They acted like an invading military force….They were bullies and really overstepped….. Reporters were their enemy, One had his Washington Post credentials showing plainly.
yes the Highway patrol has shown the county police the difference…
But we need to demilitarize our police NOW. Most those officers who were released have not a clue what went wrong. The police do a dangerous job but we need to get them retrained and back into the community spirit.
The released cops are ranting, throwing hate against their politicians and it shows plainly in their writings they are haters.
Again the police have been abusing their power in Ferguson for decades. This kids murder was the straw that made them act out in protest. These people were told to go home at night just like when they had sundowner laws.
The St Louis County Police responded with military gear and guns trained on citizens who were posing no threat.. not even allowed in combat by military
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/15/the-day-ferguson-cops-were-caught-in-a-bloody-lie.html
That is just 1 story.
Anyway just wanted to share actual things I saw live…. I do watch the news not read it. I support Livestreamers filming the police and reporters having access.
The St Louis County Police Dept needs to be cleansed. That does not mean all police are bad.
Jack Online and in video there is a call for civil war against Blacks… Heck the white knight leader is raising money to send to the cop who killed Mike B.
I am not dumb to racist’s my mother married one who just happens to be from that part of MO.
Fox news has already chopped up Obama’s speech to hack at it with lies…
This country will fall if the lies and crap do not stop.
There is no democracy, we are ruled by an oligarchy who controls the media as well.
I look at this tragedy as a way to bring up the conversation of militarized police and over reach. We have a National Guard.
Secondly reporters have a war against them and we have been talking about it. They are even trying to redefine reporters and protection of their sources in Congress and both reps and dems have been involved.
I will turn this into a positive for reform.
The St Louis County Police are suspect, have a past, and are trying to protect their officer against the animals.
All that matters is the cop apparently emptied his gun in a teen .. and while his hands were up and he was stopped… that becomes murder in the 1st degree… Nothing else matters….
Also I am going to say this new report of shoplifting has nothing to do with it. If the kid tried to steal some swishers and when he got caught pushed the guy out of they way to run away…..
All news stations doing nothing but talking about that… failure of our mainstream news… owned by 6 guys who collect most of the superpac money…
We have a race problem and we fought those battles in the 60’s/70’s The KKK will not get their civil war. It will remain a cold civil war and there will be more and more protests until we get the crooks out of government. We are not going to overthrow the gov for the crooks to take control
Would it not be nice to have democracy again?