The Chicago Police Department is dropping all charges against CBS journalist Sopan Deb, who was arrested Friday while covering protests outside a canceled Donald Trump rally in Chicago last week.
The Chicago Police Department and Illinois State Police, the two agencies involved in the arrest, announced the decision Thursday after conducting an internal investigation that involved reviewing video of Deb’s arrest and interviewing the officers involved.
“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 top spokesmen for the Chicago Police Department and Illinois State Police said in a joint statement.
None of the officers involved will face disciplinary sanctions, Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
Deb was detained Friday night as he covered the protests and at-times violent confrontations between police officers and protesters that ensued after Trump decided to cancel his rally at the University of Illinois-Chicago past its scheduled start time. Deb was charged with a non-criminal citation for resisting arrest after he was hauled to a local Chicago Police Department precinct.
Two police officers, one from the Chicago Police Department and the other an Illinois state trooper, physically detained Deb as he was filming protests from behind a line of police officers.
Deb has said he was not given a verbal warning before the police officers grabbed him and slammed him into the pavement before handcuffing him. Deb suffered cuts to his chin as a result.
Deb among five individuals arrested Friday night outside the venue for Trump’s planned rally as fights broke out between Trump supporters and protesters.
Two police officers also suffered non-life threatening injuries, including one police officer who was hit in the head with a bottle.
Deb also filmed one protester who was being detained by police with blood streaming down the side of his face.
Initially, the Chicago Police Department’s interim superintendent claimed at a news conference that Deb had been arrested by the Illinois State Police, which later learned one of its troopers was involved in Deb’s detention.
Chicago State Police public information officer Sgt. Jason Bradley told CNN that a state trooper “assisted” a Chicago police officer in detaining Deb, which involved restricting one of Deb’s arms. Bradley maintained that it was a Chicago police officer who handcuffed Deb.
CBS News president David Rhodes tweeted support of Deb last week and the network aired video of the incident which showed Deb not resisting arrest.
In a statement on Thursday, CBS News stood by its position that “there is no indication Sopan did anything to warrant his detention. We are pleased that the authorities have drawn the same conclusion and dismissed the charges.”
“Best of all, Sopan is back to work and back on the campaign trail,” the statement said.