Journalists covering the drive-by shooting of a 6-year-old girl who was being treated at Chicago's Mt. Sinai hospital were told by a police officer that “Your First Amendment rights can be terminated if you’re creating a scene,” although the video above doesn't show any "scene" going on.
Via:
Apparently at the request of Mt. Sinai hospital security guards, police arrived and told the media scrum to back up. The group had already moved from the sidewalk in front of the hospital to a median in the middle of Ogden avenue.
When police arrived, the group was ordered to move across the street from the hospital, they refused, which prompted the officer in charge to comment on termination of First Amendment rights, followed by place two reporters in cuffs and load them into a van. They were later released without charge.
Maybe someone can explain to me how the Phelps clan manages to have their First Amendment rights protected while protesting at funerals, but media personnel lose their rights for trying to do their job.
