U.S. Customs and Border Safety (CBP) officers arrested a Chicago TV producer Friday morning. The federal authorities now accuses her of throwing an object at a CBP automobile.
Video posted Friday exhibits the officers handcuffing Debbie Brockman, a producer at WGN-TV, a neighborhood CW affiliate, whereas she lies susceptible on her abdomen. Brockman provides her identify to the individual filming her and identifies herself as media.
The arrest comes lower than 24 hours after a federal decide issued a temporary restraining order blocking federal regulation enforcement brokers from interfering with the First and Fourth Modification rights of journalists and protesters.
A full video of the incident was not instantly obtainable. The Chicago Tribune reported that Brockman and an unidentified Latino man have been already being detained when onlookers arrived and started filming:
Josh Thomas, a neighbor who videotaped the detention of Brockman and an unidentified Latino male, who was already within the van when he got here down from his condominium.
Practically two dozen pedestrians gathered and shouted objections on the brokers whereas automobiles stopped and honked because the scene unfolded, Thomas stated.
“I stroll out the entrance door of the rental, she’s laying on the bottom on the street and so they’re wrestling along with her, making an attempt to get her palms behind her again,” stated Thomas, 36, who works at a regulation agency in Chicago. “They stated they have been detaining her for obstruction. She stated, ‘I did not impede.'”
In an emailed assertion to Cause, Division of Homeland Safety Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated, “U.S. Border Patrol was conducting immigration enforcement operations and when a number of violent agitators used their automobiles to dam in brokers in an effort to impede and assault federal officers.”
“In concern of public security and of regulation enforcement,” she continued, “officers used their service automobile to strike a suspect’s automobile and create a gap. As brokers have been driving, Deborah Brockman, a U.S. citizen, threw objects at Border Patrol’s automotive and he or she was positioned underneath arrest for assault on a federal regulation enforcement officer.”
This account contradicts the Chicago Tribune, which reported that Brockman was already detained within the van when it drove off and clipped one other automotive.
