A local news crew covering a crash on an El Paso, Texas highway Monday found that reporting the news can end with them being arrested.
Journalist Darren Hunt and cameraman Ric Dupont were at the scene of the accident and were attempting to interview witnesses, when approached by an officer who told them to leave.
According to an ABC-7 account (the station they worked for):
Darren continued to try to get information from the men in fatigues when the situation began to escalate. The sergeant jumped the barrier and told Darren to get in the truck (an ABC-7 news unit) and leave, then held Darren with his hands behind his back to the side of the truck belonging to a witness that was parked on the shoulder.
“I’m not doing anything,” Darren said repeatedly.
Darren and Ric were handcuffed, read their Miranda rights and taken to the Westside Regional Command Center. They were released within a few minutes. The entire incident lasted about an hour.
The officer has been placed on administrative duties while an investigation takes place. Local police officials said that while they had to wait for the outcome of the investigation, “”that’s not the type of conduct, based on the video, that we expect from our officers.” Both the reporter, and TV station said they would be filling complaints.
Naturally the whole thing was caught on video:
