Two US journalists face charges after being arrested in Ferguson

A foreign news agency stated that The Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery was arrested with Ryan J. Reilly, a reporter for Huffington Post at a restaurant.

Journalists were using the eatery spot as a press area to cover the protests which broke out after the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a white police officer.

Lowery was ordered by the court to appear for the hearing on 24 August or face arrest.

The Washington Post’s employee is being accused of trespassing on private property despite being told to leave along with interfering with a police officer’s performance of his duties for not abiding by the command to leave the scene.

Martin Baron, The Washington Posts’ executive editor, has stated that charging a journalist for trespassing and interfering with a police officer is outrageous.

He added that Lowery should never have been arrested.

Meanwhile, The Huffington Post released has responded to the accusations against Reilly by stating that, “A crime was committed at the McDonald’s, not by journalists, but by local police who assaulted both Ryan and Wesley Lowery of The Washington Post during violent arrests”.

Lowery, who was released, said that the police officers slammed him into a soft drinks machine and placed plastic cuffs on him as he was being arrested.

The two were locked in a holding cell at the Ferguson police station. They were freed about half an hour after their arrival with no charges filed, till the fresh St. Louis County summoning.