Chicago Cop Accused Of Destroying Tribune Photographer's Gear

 

CHICAGO, IL (August 7, 2007) - The Chicago Tribune reports that local police are investigating allegations that one of their officers grabbed a Tribune photographer's cameras Monday night at the scene of a police-involved shooting and damaged his gear.

The newspaper says that Tribune photographer Terrence Antonio James was covering the fatal shooting of Aaron Harrison, 18, in North Lawndale around 10 p.m. Monday after Harrison was fatally shot in the back by Chicago police as he ran from them.

James was photographing officers entering a building where bottles and objects had been thrown at police by neighbors who were angry over the shooting, according to the Tribune, when an officer told the photographer to leave the scene. The Tribune says James was standing on public ground, and that he appropriately informed the officer that he was a working member of the news media.

The Tribune says the officer then kicked one of James' cameras, destroying it, and took a second camera from the photographer and thew it down the block. The camera was later recovered by police about 30 feet from where James was standing, the paper reports.

Five people were arrested from the crowd for throwing objects, including bricks, at police. Pictures on James' cameras show several police officers and Internal Affairs is checking to see if any of them were witnesses. James and the police say they do not know the identity of the officer who destroyed the cameras but that the photographer was able to describe him to Internal Affairs investigators.

 

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