A Milwaukee journalist working on a story about police response times was arrested over the weekend after taking photographs of squad cars in a Milwaukee Police Department parking lot.
Edgar Mendez, a reporter with the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, was issued a $181 ticket for trespassing — but only after being handcuffed, fingerprinted and questioned at the police station at 245 W. Lincoln Ave.
A Police Department spokesman said Wednesday that the no-trespassing signs were clearly marked and that Mendez had no press credentials on him when he was pulled over after leaving the lot.
But News Service Editor Sharon McGowan said Mendez’s treatment appeared excessive and that the agency plans to contest the citation.
“The whole thing was completely unnecessary,” said McGowan, who has reached out to the nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for assistance with the case. (read more…)