Persistent Newspaper Reporter Cuffed and Hauled Away at Blagojevich Trial
A reporter for the Wall Street Journal was handcuffed and escorted to the lockup Wednesday morning at the trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich after a U.S. marshal said the journalist refused orders to back up.
Reporter Doug Belkin was released after receiving a misdemeanor citation for failing to comply with signs and directions and for touching a U.S. marshal, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Belkin was trying to interview Blagojevich lawyer Sam Adam Sr. when he was cuffed, the Tribune says. He was outside the area set aside for media interviews at the time, according to the newspaper account.
The U.S. marshal who cuffed Belkin told the Chicago Sun-Times: “I told him three times to back up and he didn’t. He put his hands on me.”
Wall Street Journal spokeswoman Ashley Huston says the reporter was wrongfully arrested for routine news gathering, NBC Chicago reports.
