News

Police drop charges against CBS reporter arrested at Trump rally

by Rebecca Savransky - 03/17/16 4:18 PM ET

The Chicago Police Department is dropping charges against a CBS journalist who was arrested last week when covering protests at a Donald Trump rally, CNN reported.

CBS News reporter Sopan Deb was arrested while covering the Trump rally on March 11 at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. The rally was canceled after the massive protests.

{mosads}Deb was cited for resisting arrest. He was detained and released several hours later.

Police dropped the charges after an investigation by the department of internal affairs.

“While this incident was very dynamic and troopers and officers were forced to make split-second decisions in the interest of public safety of demonstrators and police officers, we have collectively decided to drop the administrative charges in this case,” the police department in a statement Thursday, according to CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond.

“The decision was made after a methodical review of the physical evidence including video and interview both troopers and police officers involved in the incident.”

Deb was filming protests from behind a line of police officers when he was grabbed by officers and knocked down before being handcuffed, according to CNN.

David Rhodes, CBS News president, tweeted after the incident that Deb captured what happened on camera.

“.@SopanDeb was handcuffed, later charged with resisting arrest; on tape you see he did not resist, identified himself as working press,” he tweeted.

A @CBSNews journalist @SopanDeb captured his ordeal last night on camera in #Chicago

— David Rhodes (@davidgrayrhodes) March 12, 2016

.@SopanDeb was handcuffed, later charged with resisting arrest; on tape you see he did not resist, identified himself as working press

— David Rhodes (@davidgrayrhodes) March 12, 2016