TV Photographers Arrested At News Scenes

 

UPDATE: Late Monday Newark police said they have suspended special police officer Brian Sharif, the officer who arrested photographer Jim Quodomine, and that Newark police director Garry McCarthy – who was very disturbed by what he saw on video tape coverage of the arrest – was planning "appropriate action."

 

NEWARK, NJ (October 27, 2008) - A CBS2 HD television news photographer was put in a chokehold, handcuffed, arrested, and held in a police car for an hour after filming a peaceful protest outside a Newark church on Sunday, and last week in Chicago a freelance television news photographer was arrested, his equipment confiscated and his digital photographs deleted, after photographing a crime scene where a suspected robber was shot and killed by an off-duty Chicago police officer.

WCBS-TV 2 HD photographer Jim Quodomine was covering a neighborhood march in front of Newark churches on Sunday when a Newark police officer put him in a chokehold, CBS2 reporter Christine Sloan said.

Family members and parents of the victims of neighborhood gun violence were peacefully marching to encourage Newark clergy to help the community with a string of shootings during the past week. Quodomine and Sloan had been covering the march when a Newark police officer told Quodomine, "Put your hands behind your back." The cop told Sloan, "He's going with me."

Sloan said when she protested, the officer told her "I can do whatever I want."

The officer also threatened to arrest Sloan, she says. "[This is] none of your business. Stay away or you'll be sitting in the car," Sloan says the officer told her.

Quodomine's camera was rolling as the officer put him a chokehold, CBS2 reports. The station says that marchers took pictures of Quodomine being arrested, and told CBS2 what they saw happen next.

Witness Latrice Smith told CBS2, "He [Quodomine] went to put the camera down. Before he had the opportunity to [do so], the police officer came and knocked it down. ... [He] started grabbing him, putting handcuffs on him, grabbed him by the neck. It was out of control for no reason."

Quodomine was left sitting a police car for about an hour, CBS2 said.

Newark councilwoman Mildred Crump, who was there attending church, spoke with the officer and request Quodomine's release, CBS2 says. Quodomine was shooting the story while on public property, was not trespassing, and was not disobeying any police orders.

CBS2 says the Newark police department will not comment on what happened, and that councilwoman Crump said that she will ask for an investigation. "You have a Constitutional right to videotape what is going on," Crump told the station.

When Quodomine was released he was issued a summons for disorderly conduct, a charge CBS2 says they plan to fight in court.

Meanwhile, last week in Chicago, freelance television photojournalist Mike Anzaldi was arrested at the scene of a police shooting, and his equipment was confiscated and still photographs from his camera were deleted by police.

A 12-year veteran of Chicago news and an NPPA member, Anzaldi was covering a crime scene where a suspected robber was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. Police said Anzaldi was arrested because he crossed police tape at the scene. "I never crossed the police tape," Anzaldi said.

"I started by photographing police stringing tape and using dogs to search the area for a weapon," Anzaldi told NPPA.

"After the police tape was up, I determined that there was nothing left to shoot from my location. I set about to find different vantage points of the investigation, and to locate the victim. I wandered the rear alley of the block where the victim collapsed, and was invited onto the property of the resident directly across the street from the victim, and ultimately, the investigation activity. I stayed on this private property, with permission, with 20-25 other people from the community. I was able to work for 20 minutes, gathering images and video of the scene and activity with no problem," he said.

Anzaldi said all was fine until Chicago police department spokeswoman Monique Bond arrived at the crime scene. The photographer said Bond spoke with detectives for about five minutes before she turned her attention to the only news camera at the scene, his. "She came over and started to say something, then she said 'Oh, hi.' She obviously recognized me as I am often on the scenes she visits. She said I needed to stop shooting because this was a crime scene, and there was an investigation going on. She confirmed that it was okay for me to remain in my location, but that recording was the issue. I complied."

Anzaldi says a few minutes later a family member or a friend of the victim arrived on the scene, and the person was emotional. "I turned on the camera and chose to record that emotion," Anzaldi said. "Bond wasted no time rushing right back to confront me about recording. She demanded by CPD-issued credentials. I didn't have my credential necklace around my neck, it was on the front seat of my car along with my wallet and cell phone."

Anzaldi says that CPD credentials do not actually grant journalists access to incident scenes, but really are used only for identification, and that he was outside any police tape or police lines the entire time. The photographer says the fact that he wasn't wearing his credential fueled the argument with Bond, and that uniformed officers standing nearby heard them arguing.

One of the officers, CPD Sgt. Keith Calloway, finally said, "I've seen enough. Take him in," Anzaldi says, and then he was arrested.

"In jail I placed a phone call to a colleague and asked him to call some of the news desks in the city to spread the word," Anzaldi told NPPA. "Turn's out, Bond's official statement to the news media was that I had crossed police lines and refused to leave, resulting in arrest."

Anzaldi was charged with obstruction, and police confiscated and kept his video camera and still camera. Nine hours later when Anzaldi was released, he says the memory cards in his still cameras had been cleared of all images.

"As I signed myself out [of jail], I asked if I could make a report to take note of the fact that the cards were deleted," Anzaldi told NPPA. "The District 7 commander and the desk sergeant both said that they would not make that note, and that deleting camera cards 'was not a crime anyway.' I was ordered to have a nice evening."

 

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