G20 Aftermath

Even after being subjected to the chemical weapons, arrested, and having my camera destroyed and footage stolen at the conclusion of September's G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, I still had two charges that I needed to fight. I was charged with failure to disperse and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors. So I journeyed back to Pittsburgh in hopes of getting the charges completely dismissed.

Upon arrival, I noticed the city was much more peaceful and “normal” without the barricades, military-style check-points, and the ever constant presence of the police photographers snapping pictures of everyone. At about the same time as I had arrived, my attorney was presenting evidence of my Twin Cities Indymedia press passes that I was wearing during my arrest. However, the district attorney chose to take a hard-line position and refused to outright dismiss my charges unless I was “credentialed” by the Secret Service. This was not a qualification that all media personnel could make though four journalists were able to get their charges dismissed this way, one from the Post-Gazette, a local mainstream paper and two from the University of Pittsburgh’s publication, the Pitt News.

Related: TCIMC G20 Coverage Archive | TCIMC Journalist, Other Mediamakers Arrested as Pittsburgh Says No to G20 (with video) | Pittsburgh IMC | G20Media.org