Photojournalist Says Arrest Violated His Civil Rights

A professional award-winning photojournalist named Mannie Garcia has been receiving a lot of media attention lately due to an incident in June 2011 in which Garcia, after exiting  on Hickerson Drive in Wheaton, snapped photos and video of an arrest already in progress. 

Here’s Garcia’s account of his encounter with the police, as reported by News Photographer Magazine, which is part of the National Press Photographers Association.

Garcia, 58, wasn't physically close to the police, the suspects, or the cars. "I was across the street and about half a block up the street, toward the street light," he says. "When an officer came up to me, I let the camera go, I opened up my hands, and I said, 'I'm Mannie Garcia, and I'm with the press.' Then two things happened at about the same time: he grabbed me by the neck and says, 'That's it, you're under arrest'; and he pulled my arm behind me, put me in a choke hold, and started dragging me across the street. That's about the time I hollered out, 'Vicki!'" [his wife]

The magazine also included excerpts from the official report of the police officer involved, who claimed that Garcia "immediately became disorderly, demanding that he had a right to be there, and was not cooperating with simple questions.”

Garcia was charged with “disorderly conduct” and lost his White House press pass due to the pending investigation, according to reports by The New York Times, the Gazette and WUSA9.

You may not have heard of Garcia, but you’re probably familiar with the “Hope” poster of President Obama--Garcia took the 2006 photo that was later transformed into the famous image, according to the New York Times.

A district court judge ruled that Garcia was innocent in December, but Garcia never recovered the chip taken from his camera that night. And now, he is contemplating suing for civil rights damages, according to the News Photographer Magazine article.

The article places Garcia’s case in a larger context: the “catch and release” method used more and more by police to stop a journalist from taking photos at the scene by detaining the journalist under charges of “trespassing, or resisting arrest, or disorderly conduct”--with the knowledge that these charges will likely be later dismissed.

Watch an interview with Garcia on WUSA9.