Journalists Arrested by SWAT Members Inside McDonald’s

Since the controversial shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, over the past weekend, journalists have gathered in Ferguson, Mo. With new details of the case breaking, reporters tend to stay close to the area of the incident in the event they need to broadcast immediately.

Two journalists from the Huffington Post and Washington Post, Ryan Reilly and Wesley Lowry, were arrested Wednesday at a McDonald’s only a few blocks away from Brown’s shooting. Policer officers, both in uniform and heavy gear, entered the lobby of the fast-food restaurant and began telling reporters to shut down their cameras, identify themselves and leave the premises.

According to the Washington Post, the officers began giving conflicting information on how they wished the reporters to exit the restaurant. This caused a confusion, leading to the two journalists’ arrest. Lowry reports having been slammed so hard into a soda dispenser that Coca Cola began pour out of the spout. Reilly stated that he was also roughed up, having an officer slam his head against the lobby glass, followed by a sarcastic apology.

During the entirety of the experience, both journalists repeatedly asked for badge numbers and identifications from the officers, which were ignored, reports The Huffington Post.

Allegedly, the cause of this arrest was trespassing at a McDonald’s. Though, if you order at least 39-cent cookie, you can almost definitely stay for hours upon hours. At least where I’m from. The two journalists were put into a squad car and taken to the local jail. There, they were later released without any official report of the incident.

Picthx HuffPo