CBS News journalist relives his arrest at a Chicago Trump event
Sunday’s broadcast of “Face the Nation” featured the seven 2016 CBS News Political Embeds responsible for covering the presidential candidates throughout the election. Sopan Deb covered the Trump campaign and shared his story of getting arrested in Chicago during a protest at a cancelled Trump rally.
“It does feel like ages ago.” Deb told “Face the Nation” moderator John Dickerson.
It was the night of March 11th and Trump had just cancelled a scheduled rally at the University of Illinois after thousands of protestors filled the streets outside and inside the arena where the event was to take place.
“Chicago was always going to be a tough thing for Trump.” Deb recounted. “There were a lot of protests around the country at the time. But in Chicago there were already protests in the works for days and days and days.”
Deb recalled the night of the rally feeling “different” leading up to the announcement that the event was cancelled. After the announcement came, Deb witnessed pandemonium inside the gymnasium hall.
“There are fights breaking out and Trump supporters going after protesters and protesters going after Trump supporters. It was just, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Outside of the arena, where scuffles had already began to unravel, police began arresting protestors and supporters. Deb began filming the incidents up until his own arrest, which would also be filmed by other journalists covering the event.
“I just get grabbed by the back of the hood.” He said and added, “And I get thrown to the ground. And before you know it, I have cuffs on.”
Although Deb identified himself as press to his arresting officers, he was still placed inside a police van and charged with resisting arrest, though video footage would later prove he did not resist. The Chicago Police Department eventually dropped all charges on Deb just a few days after.
For more stories from the 2016 campaign trail with our CBS News Political embeds click here.