On the last
night of the RNC, several members of the news media were arrested covering
protestors blocking the Marion Street Bridge
in St. Paul, including
WCCO photographer Tom Aviles who was caught in the chaos when police ordered
the crowd off the bridge.
Fortunately,
Tom was released after an hour or so of sitting in handcuffs with several other
members of the media. It was surreal to see them in that scene, knowing they
were just trying to do their job under very chaotic and challenging
circumstances. It came just two nights after photographer Dave Chaney and I
were caught in the chaos of a clash between police and protestors sitting in
the street in front of
Mickey's Diner. We both got
temporarily blinded by a smoke grenade police used when the crowd that night
taunted police and ignored repeated orders to disperse.
At rush
hour Thursday, I was fully expecting to get another round of smoke grenades or
shots of pepper spray when we were standing between the protestors and officers
in the middle of the John
Ireland Bridge,
just below the Cathedral.
I was
surprised and relieved when officers didn't deploy the smoke grenades there. It
was not something I wanted to experience again, but I also wanted to be with
Dave at all times as he videotaped the confrontation.
As we were
covering the standoff, Dave's daughter called with some good news from school.
As he briefly talked with Samantha, I thought how much I hoped he wouldn't get
hurt in the crush of chaos if the officers started using force to clear the
bridge and get home safely to see his family.
I was also
concerned because lots of folks were standing on the rail of the bridge and
easily could have gone over it and onto the I-94 freeway in the chaos that
follows explosions of smoke and flash bangs.
In the midst
of the chaos later that evening, word spread that I also was arrested in
connection with Marion
Street Bridge
incident. It was not true, in fact, I was a couple blocks away when the blockade
and arrests took place.
That story
would be almost funny if it were not for the fact that it was passed on by
officials who never checked out the information.
I have been
receiving phone calls all morning from cops and some law enforcement officials
who wanted to know how I was doing after a trip to jail. A bulletin even went
out to top Minneapolis
police officials saying I was on the list of people cited for unlawful behavior
last night.
After Chief
Tim Dolan learned that allegation was based on bad information from the St. Paul police
department, he sent out an e-mail to let his folks know it was not true.
Police get
angry when the news media get things wrong and are quick to let me know. I wish
I had received at least a call to confirm it or someone had taken minimal steps
to check out the information before it was repeated to other law enforcement
officials who spread it to officers.
Posted by:
Caroline Lowe, reporter, WCCO-TV
