New Haven Police Arrest Reporter

NEW HAVEN, CT — A New Haven Independent reporter was arrested Dec. 6 while taking photos during a bomb scare in the city.

Police were investigating two pressure cookers that were left on a Whalley Avenue sidewalk when Independent reporter David Sepulveda began snapping photos. Police and Sepulveda have different views on what transpired, according to the New Haven Independent's Paul Bass.

The Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists said they were "greatly disappointed" in the department's decision to arrest Sepulveda.

"Additionally, we are concerned by officers’ attempts to seize the memory card from a reporter’s camera, especially in light of New Haven Police Department’s historical failure to recognize the public’s First Amendment Right to record police," the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists said in a statement.

Sepulveda was on Whalley near the location of the pressure cookers and began taking photos. Police said they yelled at him to move away, but he crouched down and eventually officers had to move closer to escort him away, according to the Independent. He was handcuffed and put in the back of a cruiser.

Bass said that Sepulveda never crossed a marked police line because officers didn't block off the Fountain-Harrison intersection. Sepulveda said he was crouching in order to take pictures and backed off when he heard police. He refused to turn over his camera's memory card.

Sepulveda was charged with third-degree criminal trespass and interfering with police, according to court records. Both are misdemeanors and he was released on a promise to appear. He is due in court Dec. 19.

Read the full Independent story here.