Minnesota State Police arrested CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez, his producer and cameraman while they were reporting live on the riots in the city during Friday morning’s “New Day" program.
Jimenez reportedly told the police that his team was going to move away from the area as they requested and then was inexplicably taken into police custody.
(Video 2 of 2) pic.twitter.com/AUkOfFd2Hq
— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) May 29, 2020
Minnesota police arrest CNN reporter and camera crew as they report from protests in Minneapolis https://t.co/IY0H1Lc77E pic.twitter.com/s9XmwVfabP
— New Day (@NewDay) May 29, 2020
The Minnesota State Patrol just arrested my colleague @CNN correspondent @OmarJimenez and his team for doing their job. Reporting the news. His camera is still rolling as it sits on the ground in #Minneapolis — see it on @NewDayCNN now.
— Poppy Harlow (@PoppyHarlowCNN) May 29, 2020
Wow. Police in Minneapolis just arrested @OmarJimenez live on CNN. What is going on?? Our camera crew and Omar's producer also now being arrested.
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) May 29, 2020
Let’s name all of them: CNN Correspondent Omar Jimenez, CNN Producer Bill Kirkos and CNN Photojournalist Leonel Mendez — ARRESTED by Minnesota State Police for lawfully doing their jobs. #CNN
— Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBCNN) May 29, 2020
Police later told the network the three were arrested “for not following orders to clear the street.” According to co-host Alisyn Camerota, however, they were standing where police instructed them to stand.
John Berman, co-host of “New Day,” later explained the network's legal team was “in touch with authorities and working to secure the release of the team.” Gov. Tim Walz apologized to the network's president Jeff Zucker for the arrests, calling them "totally inadvertent."
On Twitter, CNN appeared to claim racism was involved, despite the fact that the producer, who was also arrested, is white.
The arrest was stupid and harmful, but this kind of inflammatory nonsense form a news organization is not helpful. The whole crew of 4 were arrested, including the white producer. https://t.co/flp7TgO5nv
— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) May 29, 2020
These cops are complete morons. They should/will also be suspended by tomorrow, but they just caused a whole new level of bad PR for the police for no apparent reason. https://t.co/ECq3k3PsKT
— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) May 29, 2020
Update: They have been released.
UPDATE: CNN correspondent returns to reporting live on air after he and crew have been released from police custody.
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 29, 2020
They had been arrested while reporting in Minneapolis earlier this morning.
This post has been updated.