During an hour-long conference call with law enforcement officials and a lawyer representing media channels – including CNN – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he was embarrassed about treating reporters after police ordered the crowd to disperse, according to a participant in the meeting.
Attorney Leita Walker, who wrote on behalf of more than two dozen journalism and media channels, sent a letter to the Walz government and public safety officials after the meeting. The letter alleges that several journalists were harassed, assaulted or arrested by law enforcement during protest rallies in Minnesota.
CNN producer Carolyn Sung was grabbed by her backpack and thrown to the ground by state troops while trying to comply with a distribution order, the letter reads.
Her hands were tied behind her back, she did not resist and repeatedly identified herself as a journalist working for CNN while showing her credentials, according to the letter. The male security agent hired to work with her was also detained but later released after showing his credentials.
A troop shouted at Sung, “Do you speak English? despite the fact that she identified herself as a journalist several times and told the troops that the zippers on her wrists were too tight. Sung was transported in the prison transportation bus to the Hennepin County Jail where she was processed, the letter reads.
“She was searched by a female officer who put her hands in Sung’s pants and in her bra, fingerprinted, electronically scanned and searched and ordered to take off an orange uniform before lawyers working on her behalf could locate her. ensures her release, a process that takes longer than two hours, ‘reads the letter.
In another case, according to the letter, several media members, including one from the New York Times, were assaulted by police officers. The officers surrounded their car, smashing windows and doors with wooden sticks before dragging out the driver and arresting him. Officials allegedly beat the New York Times journalist repeatedly and tried to break his camera, the letter reads.
The letter contains a photo of an unknown law enforcement officer spraying chemicals on journalists, who are clearly recognizable by their equipment and clothing.
In a press release after Saturday’s meeting, the Minnesota State Patrol acknowledged that a distribution order, in accordance with a federal judge’s order, does not apply to members of the media covering the protest.
“MSP is prohibited from seizing equipment or ordering anyone to stop recording or notice who we know or the reason for knowing that he is a member of the media,” the statement said. .
The State Patrol also says they are instructing soldiers not to threaten to arrest members of the media unless they are suspected of having committed a crime.
CNN’s Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.