While covering the Occupy Wall Street protests 10/5, WNYW-TV Fox 5 photographer Roy Isen was hit in the eyes by pepper spray from a police officer and Fox 5 reporter Dick Brennan was hit by an officer’s baton.
The protests on Wall Street grew all day on Wednesday. In the evening, crowds surged past barriers and NYPD officers moved in to contain the protesters. By many accounts, mayhem broke out. Officers, many wearing white shirts indicating supervisor rank, swatted protesters with batons and sprayed them with mace, video from the scene showed.
Fox 5’s Isen and Brennan were there and witnessed the chaos. At one point, Brennan was hit in the abdomen by a police baton and Isen got indirectly sprayed with pepper spray in the eyes. Both journalists were all right and continued to cover the protests and arrests.
Cops appeared to arrest dozens if not hundreds of protesters, but the final tally was not known.
RBR-TVBR observation: Needless to say, this sort of thing goes with the territory. Covering breaking news as a reporter has its risks—whether in a bedroom community or hostage situation. These folks are cut from a brave cloth.
