Reporters Ryan J. Reilly (Huffington Post) and Wesley Lowery (Washington Post) are now facing charges in connection with an incident where both were assaulted by police in a McDonald's in Ferguson.
You may recall that both of them were assaulted by a police officer while leaving a McDonald's in a fashion that wasn't fast enough for the officer's taste.
The statute of limitations had nearly arrived, but Ferguson managed to get the charges filed right under the wire. Here is the statement from Huffington Post's Ryan Grim and Sam Stein:
The Huffington Post condemns the charges filed by St. Louis County against our Justice reporter, Ryan J. Reilly, while covering the protests in Ferguson last year. Ryan has the full support of The Huffington Post in fighting these charges.
Almost a year ago today, Ryan was working on his laptop in a McDonald's near the protests in Ferguson, Missouri. A crime was committed at the McDonald's, not by journalists, but by local police who assaulted both Ryan and Wesley Lowery of The Washington Post during violent arrests.
At least we know St. Louis County knows how to file charges. If Wesley Lowery and Ryan J. Reilly can be charged like this with the whole country watching, just imagine what happens when nobody is.
Just last night, police in Ferguson tried to grab Reilly's press badge. Who knows what might have happened next?
