Journalists Receive Court Summons Nearly A Year After Reporting In Ferguson

By Lucy Perkins

Published August 10, 2015 at 6:06 PM CDT

A year after he was in Ferguson, Mo., a reporter at The Washington Post has been ordered to appear in court.

Wesley Lowery, who covered the 2014 demonstrations in Ferguson, was detained in a McDonald's while reporting. He's now been charged in St. Louis County with trespassing and interfering with a police officer and ordered to appear in court.

The Post reports:

" 'Charging a reporter with trespassing and interfering with a police officer when he was just doing his job is outrageous,' Martin Baron, executive editor of The Post, said in a statement Monday. 'You'd have thought law enforcement authorities would have come to their senses about this incident. Wes Lowery should never have been arrested in the first place. That was an abuse of police authority.

" 'This latest action represents contemptible overreaching by prosecutors who seem to have no regard for the role of journalists seeking to cover a major story and following normal practice,' Baron continued."

Lowery received a court summons dated Aug. 6, ordering his appearance in a St. Louis County municipal court on Aug. 24. He could be arrested if he doesn't appear.

UPDATE, 10:10 p.m. ET:A St. Louis County spokesman told a Post-Dispatch reporter late Monday night that reporter Ryan Reilly of The Huffington Post — who was arrested at the same time as Lowery — will face the same charges as the Washington Post reporter. HuffPost says Reilly will have its full support.