(Also see: Ky. photographers arrested at GOP convention)
By Jim Warren
jwarren@herald-leader.com
Minneapolis police Wednesday morning released three photographers from Kentucky who were arrested during a disturbance at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night, but their legal status remains unclear.
Carla Winn, whose husband, Jim Winn, the photo adviser for the University of Kentucky’s student newspaper, was among those arrested, said that no charges have been filed against the three. She said by cell phone from Minneapolis that police told her husband to check back with them on Monday about his case.
Another of those arrested, Ed Matthews, a senior at the University of Kentucky, said most their camera equipment and personal property were confiscated when they were arrested and remain in police custody. Matthews, a student photographer for the Kentucky Kernel, said police also confiscated his car keys, so he can’t leave Minneapolis until he gets the keys back or finds a locksmith to make a new ones.
“All I have right now is my ID and my debit card, and I only have them because I hid them in my shoe,” he said.
In addition to Jim Winn and Ed Matthews, UK photographer Britney McIntosh and Nathan Weber, a Western Kentucky University graduate and photographer, were arrested during the disturbance.
Weber was still in custody Wednesday morning, but probably will be released later today, Karla Winn said.
According to Matthews, the photographers were taking pictures of a group of demonstrators about 5 p.m. Monday, roughly a block from the convention site. Eventually, police herded the protestors into a parking lot and began making arrests, he said.
Matthews said he had press credentials, but officers ignored them.
Matthews said he and other photographers knew that some sort of disturbance was possible when they went to Minneapolis.
“But to see it happening right in front of your eyes was really something,” he said.
Although Matthews, Winn and McIntosh all work for the Kentucky Kernel they were not on assignment for the paper at the time of their arrests. Matthews said they went to the Republican convention because of personal interests in seeing and photographing the event.
According to Matthews, the American Civil Liberties Union is planning to hold a press conference on the arrests in Minneapolis later today.
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