Journalists Arrested In Ferguson Promise Not To Promote The Settlement
from the interesting-agreement dept
Back in 2014, as the protests in Ferguson, Missouri were the main story everyone was following, we noted a troubling pattern of police in the area arresting journalists on no basis whatsoever. This happened even after a court told them to knock if off. And yet, the fallout from this is still happening. For reasons that still don't make any sense at all, prosecutors have charged two journalists -- Ryan Reilly and Wesley Lowery -- with trespassing, after they failed to leave a McDonald's fast enough (they were leaving, just apparently not fast enough).Back in March, St. Louis County "accidentally" issued arrest warrants for the two of them:
St. Louis County, seeking to give @WesleyLowery and me the full municipal court experience, has mistakenly issued warrants for our arrest.
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) March 16, 2016
Thanks for the keepsake @SaintLouCo. It was very thoughtful, but really would've preferred a commemorative t-shirt. pic.twitter.com/Uj6xQo5n4T
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) March 23, 2016
Meanwhile, some other journalists who had been detained had already filed a lawsuit over the unlawful detention and, on Wednesdsay, it was announced that a settlement has been reached in which law enforcement officers will receive more training. While the official details of the settlement were "confidential," the Huffington Post got a copy of the settlement using a FOIA request and found some interesting details, including an agreement that none of the four journalists in question will "publicize" the agreement in any way:
Under the deal, Ryan Devereaux, Lukas Hermsmeier, Ansgar Graw and Frank Herrmann cannot “take any steps to publicize any of the terms” of the settlement. The agreement requires St. Louis County to pay $75,000 to resolve the federal civil rights lawsuit from the reporters, but like many settlements does not require the county to admit liability.Of course, it shouldn't take a lawsuit for police to learn about the right of anyone (not just the press!) to record police activity. And, even though this information is getting out anyway, it seems pretty ridiculous that part of this settlement has this kind of gag order. These people are reporters. Their whole focus is on sharing and spreading information. It sounds like the St. Louis County Police Dept. must have really wanted to try to keep this settlement quiet... and now that's backfiring too. Maybe it should just stop trying to arrest and muzzle the press.
The agreement, a copy of which was obtained by The Huffington Post through a public records request, will also require all officers with the police department to undergo mandatory in-service training on media access and the right to record police activity.
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Filed Under: arrests, ferguson, freedom of the press, missouri, ryan reilly, settlements, wesley lowery
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So, does that mean that the charges will not be dropped if they decide to sue? Because they seem to be saying, we will arrest you and possibly send you to jail if you do not agree to this.
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Handy coincidence
If the requirement on the side of the police is 'extra training' so that they can know for sure this time that they aren't allowed to arrest anyone recording them, but no one outside of the police knows about the condition then there's no-one to make sure that they actually follow it. They can just as easily ignore it completely, making the 'settlement' entirely one sided, with the reporters dropping any case they might have had, and the police giving up absolutely nothing in exchange.
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Re: Handy coincidence
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Admitting you have a problem is the first step towards getting better.
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Judge: So your client is willing to plead guilty then?
Defense lawyer: Under the condition that doing so does not constitute an admission of guilt on their part.
Judge: Wait, what? They're willing to admit guilt, without actually admitting to being guilty?
Defense: Essentially, yes.
Judge: What logic could you possibly have to defend something like this?
Defense: Why we learned it from watching the state prosecutors and their various 'settlement deals' your honor.
Judge: ...
Defense: And the police, can't forget them.
Judge: ... point made.
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Random observations:
Those holding political office and enforcing the law in St. Louis serve primarily as a reminder of why cousins shouldn't marry. It's common to find large quantities of empty glue tubes and aerosol cans in their offices, but only if you can get the Budweiser empties cleared out. On the up side, there's no bigotry or racism, as long as you're on the Cardinal's 25-man roster. Feathered hair and Members Only jackets will never make a comeback, because they never left. We have the Arch. Despite that, we're positive that a catenary curve is somewhere between a cutter and a hard slider. When an out-of-towner says 'Is the Pope Catholic?' the response is 'Yes. How could you not know that?'
And now, an old Balko article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/04/st-louis-jails-the-wrong-_n_4212663.html
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The Police Win Again
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Including intimidation, assault and wrong full arrest.
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Are we living in one?
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| Are we living in one?
Yes. Ever since 911.
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While it's legally permissible these days for people to "identify" as another gender for toilet purposes, it's apparently still a crime to identify as a dog and do what dogs do.
It's times like this when a reporter's relationship with the police had better be a good one.
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Accidental crime
The police should be grateful that they got off that easy. (They won't be. Their employer is the one paying, not them.)
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Re: Accidental crime
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Day 7: Watched the Ferguson Chief of Police file charges and accuse me of witchcraft for 'storing words inside clouds'
etc
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