(Newswire.net — April 27, 2015) Baltimore, MD — City Paper’s Photo Editor J.M. Giordano was beaten by Baltimore City police outside of Western District headquarters. The news photographer was on the job and covering Sunday night’s riots over the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, City Paper reported.
The newspaper posted the disturbing video, shot by City Paper Managing Editor Baynard Woods, showing anti-riot police squad swarming over the photographer who was laying motionless on the pavement.
At the video, Woods can be heard yelling “He is a photographer”, however, the police officers just continue hitting and kicking Giordano who lay curled up in the street.
Luckily, he suffered only minor injuries and a concussion, and he was able to get back up and continue shooting. The person next to him was arrested and pulled away. According to Giordano, the incident happened around 12:30 when one of the protesters next to him threw a rock at the cordon hitting ones officer’s plastic shield.
“They mobilized,” Giordano says, explaining that the police line rushed forward while he did not move fast enough because he was photographing. “I always move at the last second,” he says. Five or six police officers in riot gear hit Giordano and the other protester with their shields, knocking them to the ground.
“They just swarmed over me,” he says. “I got hit. My head hit the ground. They were hitting me, and then someone pulled me out.”
“I kept shooting it,” Giordano says. “As soon as I got up I started taking pictures.” He says the person who was next to him (who did not throw anything, he is sure) was arrested and was loaded into a van. Giordano thinks it is because police realized he is a photographer and arresting him would cause a backlash. However, the police tried to prevent him from shooting the riot.
“They [police] tried to block me from shooting,” he says in a statement.
According to Giordano, Reuters’ photographer Sait Serkan Gurbuz, who was standing nearby, did get arrested and taken away in the police van. He was later released and cited for disorderly conduct.
Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the incident, City Paper reported.
Baltimore