Photographers arrested during rioting, imprisoned overnight

NEVADA–Two photographers for the Reno Gazette-Journal were arrested and jailed while covering a riot in downtown Reno in early August.

The photographers were taken to jail on a Saturday night and released the next day. They told The Associated Press that police roughed them up, smashed a camera and took their film after they photographed officers beating suspected rioters. Police made more than 130 arrests in the incident, AP reported.

A lawyer for the newspaper told AP he was gathering evidence for a possible complaint or civil lawsuit.

Reno Police Chief Jerry Hoover told AP that he would routinely review all of the arrests in the incident. He said he “suggested very strongly” to newspaper officials “that you bring those allegations over here in the form of an internal affairs complaint and we’ll investigate it.”

Mark Studyvin was charged with obstruction of justice and resisting arrest, according to AP, while Steve Keegan was charged with perimeter violation.

“I was thrown to the ground. It is something I will remember forever. There were officers standing on both of my legs,” Studyvin said in an article the newspaper published on the Monday after the arrests.

Keegan, an intern for the newspaper, recounted in the newspaper’s account that as he was photographing police beating suspects, an officer shouted, “What the hell are you taking pictures of?”

“He picked me up and threw me against a car. He was holding me by the throat and said, ‘Give me your camera,”‘ Keegan said. The officer then threw the camera on the ground, destroying it and the attached $700 lens, he said. (Nevada v. Studyvin; Media Counsel: Jim Hardesty, Reno)