Photojournalist Arrested at UT-Austin Protest
By William Melhado, The Texas Tribune
The Texas Department of Public Safety could launch a criminal investigation against a broadcast news cameraman arrested at this week’s University of Texas at Austin demonstration, the agency said Friday. That announcement came shortly after Travis County officials said they dismissed misdemeanor criminal trespass charges against all 57 people known to have been arrested at the protest.
The photojournalist for FOX 7 in Austin was among the people arrested. He was covering the protest and law enforcement response, and identified himself only as “Carlos” to local media. Neither DPS nor the television station have publicly named him.
In a statement Friday, DPS accused him of hitting a trooper with his camera.
“The department believes strongly in a journalist’s right to cover events of the day in a safe way; however, that does not except a person from following the law or the rules that have been put in place for the safety of others,” Sheridan Nolen, DPS press secretary, said in a Friday statement.
The agency said the matter has been referred to its criminal investigations division for further investigation.
Kevin McPherson, news director at FOX 7, said the organization was not able to comment at this time. But the station posted a copy of the DPS statement on its website.
Multiple videos from the scene posted on the social media site X show a crush of protesters, officers and journalists chaotically moving across the campus’ South Lawn as DPS troopers clear the area. It’s not clear who filmed the videos. A television photojournalist, loaded with a large shoulder camera and backpack, can be seen near the edge of a line of troopers pushing the crowd off the lawn.
From multiple angles of the melee captured in several videos, including one filmed by the journalist, it’s clear his camera collides with an officer during the scuffle.
Video then shows a trooper pulling the photojournalist’s backpack and, along with another officer, throwing him to the ground. As the cameraman was being led away by a state trooper, he said to KXAN that he told law enforcement he was with the press. He also said he was being pushed, but didn’t say who was pushing him.
“They were pushing me and … they say I hit an officer,” he says in a video posted on X. “I didn’t hit an officer. They were pushing. They were pushing me.”
The author of the post did not respond to a request for comment from the Tribune.
Carlos’ camera continued rolling after he was slammed to the ground.
“I was moving, I was moving,” Carlos can be heard saying on the footage from his camera. He explained that he was pushed and almost fell.
The officer leading him away said, "I wasn't there to see it."
FOX 7 reported the photojournalist was booked in Travis County Jail after 8 p.m. on Wednesday and was released before noon on Thursday.
Travis County Attorney Delia Garza announced on Friday that law enforcement lacked probable cause in the 57 criminal trespass cases stemming from Wednesday’s arrests. There had been no felony charges filed as a result of the demonstration as of late Thursday, according to the Travis County district attorney’s office
In a Thursday statement, Kelley Shannon, executive director for the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said that the photojournalist was charged with criminal trespass, along with the protesters who were arrested.
Shannon denounced the arrest and called on law enforcement to respect the rights of free press.
“The police should not interfere with a working journalist doing his job covering the news in a public place,” Shannon said.
Annie Xia contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/26/ut-austin-arrest-fox-7-photojournalist/.
