Two reporters for the conservative news outlet Daily Caller said they were beaten with nightsticks by police as they reported on an anti-police protest Thursday night in Wauwatosa, Wis.
Shelby Talcott, 27, and Richie McGinniss, 31, said they were injured during the encounter with Wauwatosa Police.
“It was excessive force, for sure,” Talcott told Fox News on Friday. “Nobody was resisting. When police told us to do something, we complied.”
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Protesters march in Wauwatosa, Wis., around a line of National Guardsmen protecting the Wauwautosa City Hall, late Wednesday. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)
She said a ranking officer ordered them released after they proved to him that they were members of the media.
"If any credentialed members of the press were arrested or cited on the night of October 8th they are advised to contact the Wauwatosa Police Department with verification of their media status," Sgt. Abby Pavlik, a spokeswoman for the department, told Fox News.
Earlier Friday, the Wauwatosa Police Department said they had made several arrests Thursday night of “members from a crowd violating lawful orders.”
“We ultimately want voluntary compliance of the emergency curfew,” it said.
Talcott said they were with two other reporters who were taken into custody and arrested for violating the city's 7 p.m. curfew.
She said one of them was Brendan Gutenschwager, an independent videographer.
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She posted video shot by a reporter for Milwaukee station WISN-TV showing Gutenschwager being pulled out of her car by police.
“Tonight I was brutalized by police in Wisconsin,” the videographer said on Twitter. “This is me being dragged out of a vehicle and slammed to the pavement. Pleaded with officers that I am here as press, never even given a chance to cooperate before they escalated to this. I am in shock.”
Gutenschwager could not be reached for comment.
Protesters march in Wauwatosa, Wis., around a line of National Guardsmen protecting the Wauwautosa City Hall, late Wednesday. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)
He, Talcott and McGinniss were reporting on a gathering of protesters angry that prosecutors found no reason to arrest a Wauwatosa officer in the shooting of a Black teen Alvin Cole earlier this year.
McGinniss was recording the arrest of Cole’s mother, Tracy Cole, 48, when he said he was tackled to the ground by officers.
“Yes sir, I have press credentials right here,” he is heard saying in video of his encounter with the officers.
He told Fox News he was left limping after one cop whacked him in the knee with a nightstick.
Talcott was arrested recently covering a protest over the Breona Taylor shooting in Louisville.
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She was charged with two misdemeanors in a case that is still pending.
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