Minneapolis Reporter Arrested While Covering #BlackLivesMatter Protest

A reporter for FOX 9 Minneapolis was arrested while covering a #BlackLivesMatter protest Monday night.

Jack Highberger was covering a group of protesters who shut down Interstate 94 after 24-year-old Jamar Clark was shot during a scuffle with police officers Sunday night. After reports emerged that Clark was handcuffed when he was shot (a charge the police have denied) protesters blocked traffic chanting “Handcuffs, don’t shoot.”

When the first protester was arrested, Highberger began his report. “This is the first arrest, it will certainly not be the last,” he said in the full video posted to Facebook.

But ironically, Highberger himself was the next one to be arrested. “I told you to leave, man,” the arresting officer told him. “You weren’t supposed to be here, I told you many times to get out of here.”

Highberger was separated from his microphone, but snatches of the conversation could be heard later in the video. “I was walking off, I was walking off,” he protested.

“You’re going to jail,” the officer said simply.

After the video was posted to his Facebook, reaction to Highberger’s arrest was mixed. “That’s total crap. You were covering a story, not protesting!” reads one typical comment.

But others were less sympathetic. “Just because you are a reporter doesn’t mean you don’t have to obey law enforcement,” reads the most-liked comment. “Yes you are reporting the news but you are also interfering with crowd control when you are part of the crowd, making their job that much harder.”

Watch above, via FOX 9 Minneapolis.

[Image via screengrab]
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