Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery posts video of his arrest in Ferguson

(Image credit: Washington Post)

last updated 8 January 2015

On Wednesday, police in Ferguson, Missouri, detained two reporters — Wesley Lowery of The Washington Post and The Huffington Post's Ryan J. Reilly — who were camped out in the unofficial press headquarters for the turmoil in Ferguson: A McDonald's a few blocks from where unarmed teenager Michael Brown was shot dead by a police officer on Saturday. Police entered the McDonald's, asked the two journalists for ID, then returned moments later and told them to leave, Lowery recounts in The Washington Post. Then he started filming:

On his way out of McDonald's, Lowery writes, his backpack started slipping, and when he moved to grab it several cops grabbed him:

That was when I was most afraid — more afraid than of the tear gas and rubber bullets. As they took me into custody, the officers slammed me into a soda machine, at one point setting off the Coke dispenser. They put plastic cuffs on me, then they led me out the door. [Washington Post]

Washington Post Executive Editor Martin D. Baron, in a statement, focused on that part of Lowery's treatment, calling a "wholly unwarranted and an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news." The Post is relieved that Lowery is OK, Baron added, and "we are appalled by the conduct of police officers involved." Read the rest of Lowery's tale at The Washington Post.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.