pknopp
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- Jul 22, 2019
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A jury acquitted Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri today of two misdemeanor charges stemming from her coverage of protests last year in a case closely watched by press freedom advocates.
Iowa Reporter Acquitted After Being Arrested While Covering George Floyd Protests
The arresting officer, Luke Wilson, testified that he was clearing a street of an unruly mob and wasn't aware that Sahouri was a reporter. Sahouri was not wearing a press badge. However, Sahouri and other journalists who were on the scene sharply disputed the police account of her arrest.
"I see an officer coming at me, so immediately I put up my hands and I say 'I'm press' because he was coming like, right at me, and I didn't think it was a good idea to run from officers," Sahouri testified during her trial. "He grabbed me, he pepper-sprayed me and as he was doing so said, 'That's not what I asked.'"
Body camera footage could have cleared this up, but, after a judge ordered prosecutors to produce the video, it was revealed that Wilson did not save the footage of Sahouri's arrest and did not report it to his supervising officer, as department rules required.
Two points here. First is why was he not fired for destroying evidence and not reporting this as he is required to do?
Second, police officers used to have their word taken as gospel in court. That has changed. With the proliferation of video it's been proven to most people that their word can't simply be taken without question.
Iowa Reporter Acquitted After Being Arrested While Covering George Floyd Protests
The arresting officer, Luke Wilson, testified that he was clearing a street of an unruly mob and wasn't aware that Sahouri was a reporter. Sahouri was not wearing a press badge. However, Sahouri and other journalists who were on the scene sharply disputed the police account of her arrest.
"I see an officer coming at me, so immediately I put up my hands and I say 'I'm press' because he was coming like, right at me, and I didn't think it was a good idea to run from officers," Sahouri testified during her trial. "He grabbed me, he pepper-sprayed me and as he was doing so said, 'That's not what I asked.'"
Body camera footage could have cleared this up, but, after a judge ordered prosecutors to produce the video, it was revealed that Wilson did not save the footage of Sahouri's arrest and did not report it to his supervising officer, as department rules required.
Two points here. First is why was he not fired for destroying evidence and not reporting this as he is required to do?
Second, police officers used to have their word taken as gospel in court. That has changed. With the proliferation of video it's been proven to most people that their word can't simply be taken without question.
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