ABC News says producer Asa Eslocker was arrested after police in Denver ordered him to leave a public sidewalk outside a hotel where the ABC News investigative unit was attempting to shoot video of politicians and lobbyists leaving a private meeting. Eslocker has been charged with trespass, interference and failure to follow a lawful order.
Video posted on the ABC News website shows a Boulder County deputy ordering Eslocker off the public sidewalk and then pushing him into the street. Denver police later arrive and put Eslocker into handcuffs, also on the public sidewalk.
“We expect to see that kind of thing in Myanmar, not on the streets of Denver,” said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider. Eslocker was released on $500 bond.
Eslocker and his team from ABC News have been spending the week investigating the role of corporate lobbyists and wealthy donors at the convention for a series of Money Trail reports on ABC’s "World News with Charles Gibson."
Go to the ABC News site to view the video.
RBR/TVBR observation: Like many other journalists, we’ve had our run-ins over the years with officers who failed to grasp that they too are required to abide by the law. This was clearly not a “lawful order” that the journalist had to obey. Absent that, the other charges also fall. It is the cops who should be facing charges. But for those of us old enough to remember the 1968 convention in Chicago, this is a pretty mild case of police misbehavior.
