San Francisco Reporter Can't Sue Over Wrongful Arrest
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court says a reporter who was allegedly roughed up by San Francisco police while filming a protest cannot sue the department for wrongful arrest.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling dismissing Mark Burdett's false arrest claim.
The appeals court said Burdett was standing in the street, so police could have arrested him for jaywalking.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Burdett was filming a protest against the Iraq war in March 2004 for the Indybay news collective when an officer accused him of knocking over a motorcycle. He says other officers threw him to the ground and pummeled him while handcuffing him.
Burdett's lawyer, Ben Rosenfeld, says police later concocted the claim that Burdett was jaywalking.
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