New York Times Photographer Claims He Received NYPD Beat Down Last Night While Doing His Job
Robert Stolarik, a freelance photographer for the New York Times, had this happen to him while "taking photographs of a brewing street fight at McClellan Street and Sheridan Avenue in the Concourse neighborhood," according to the Times:
Mr. Stolarik was taking photographs of the arrest of a teenage girl about 10:30 p.m., when a police officer instructed him to stop doing so. Mr. Stolarik said he identified himself as a journalist for The Times and continued taking pictures. A second officer appeared, grabbed his camera and "slammed" it into his face, he said.
Mr. Stolarik said he asked for the officers' badge numbers, and the officers then took his cameras and dragged him to the ground; he said that he was kicked in the back and that he received scrapes and bruises to his arms, legs and face.
Incidentally, in this video, Stolarik was arrested by the NYPD while covering Occupy Wall Street for the Times.
One of his friends sent an email with an alternate rundown of what happened to Stolarik last night:
NYTimes photographer—and my friend—Robert Stolarik had the shit beaten out of him by the NYPD last night while he was on assignment in the Bronx. He's the same photographer who was harassed at the Winter Garden while covering OWS. In the incident last night he was shoved, punched, stomped on, kicked and had his camera confiscated and smashed. Ironically, he was sent to the Bronx to cover the police misuse of Stop and Frisk. This shit has got to stop. One of the only ways that that can be done and that we can hope to maintain Freedom of the Press is to cover this sort of outrage. I'd appreciate it personally and professionally if you could cover this matter in Gawker.