Mike Anzaldi, 12-year veteran journalist has been arrested twice in the last month on obstruction charges. The latest arrest was for “allegedly being told he couldn’t take photos of a police-involved shooting.” Police have decided to not move forward with the charges from the second arrest but on Dec. 4 he goes on trial for his first arrest.
On Oct. 22 when he arrived to the crime scene neighbors invited him onto their property to take photos and videotape. He was asked to stop once but when he later started recording police spokeswomen asked for his credentials. Anzaldi had left his police-issued press pass in his car and claims Chicago does require journalists to carry them. The police told reporters he crossed the line at least once but on his police report it says two or three times. Anzaldi claims he never crossed the line.
Anzaldi says he wasn’t targeted on the first arrest. It was just a sensitive crime scene and, “ ‘I personally happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time’ -- caught between a high-stakes police event and the First Amendment.” Anzaldi says the second arrest he did feel like a “marked man.” The article also said, “That second case was thrown out, Anzaldi said, after the officer didn't show up in court, freeing him up to prepare for trial in early December on the prior charges.” Anzaldi is still out covering the news but taking more precautions. He said, “’I’m not going to go up to the point that I know legally I could go, because I could end up in jail.’ He's hoping in court, ‘cooler heads’ will win the day.”
The second arrest I think was deserved because after Anzaldi was told to not film or take photos he did. Anzaldi deliberately disobeyed which made the police upset. The one thing you never do is upset the police because they can and will take you to jail for not “obeying the law.” I also think the police make it hard for reporters to do their jobs. In one of the incidents Anzaldi camera was taken from him and 500 photos were deleted from his camera. I think his photos should not have been messed with because the reason he was arrested was for walking over crime scene lines not for taking illegal photos.
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