Photographers Covering Attacks Are Jailed

By: David Walker (Photo District News) Several photographers were jailed for trespassing while covering the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. At least four were arrested in New York near the site of the World Trade Center disaster, while two others were detained in western Pennsylvania at the site of the United Airlines flight 93 crash.

New York Times photographer Tyler Hicks was arrested and charged with criminal trespass on Saturday, Sept. 15. "It's understandable that [officials] want to keep the area secure," Hicks says. "At same time, this is a story people want to see the effects of." Police had blocked public access to the streets around the rescue area almost immediately after the Tuesday attack. Journalists were also prohibited from entering.

Hicks managed to gain entry to the restricted area on Saturday. "You find windows of opportunity to slip past [barricades]," he explains. "Once you're past that and in the zone, you're OK to work." But police were cracking down on trespassers by Saturday, claiming some journalists were posing as rescue workers to gain unauthorized entry to restricted areas.

Hicks says he wasn't misrepresenting himself when two officers approached and told him they would have to escort him out of the area. Before they could do that, though, a police lieutenant instructed the officers to arrest him, impound his cameras and confiscate his film. "I was handcuffed on the spot," he says.

He spent the night in jail. A judge dropped the charges against him the following day, after he explained who he was and what he had been doing. "They have bigger things to worry about," Hicks says. Police still haven't returned all of his film, however.

Others arrested and jailed in New York City included photographer Emmanuel Dumont and Liaison photographer Stephen Ferry, who was charged with criminal trespass and held for four nights without a phone call. Ian Austin, an outdoor sports photographer represented by Aurora Quanta Productions in Portland, Maine, was also arrested for trespass and jailed for more than three days.

Austin drove overnight from Maine to New York, arriving in the city at 3:30 a.m. on Friday. "I started walking the perimeter [of the restricted zone]. At most of the checkpoints, they turned me away, but one let me through," he says.

A short while later, he encountered some police who ordered him out of the area. He turned around and walked about 20 feet. "They told me to stop. They handcuffed me, and went through all of my camera gear. Between my notebook, my map of New York City, and address book, they were very suspicious. So they took me to a captain who said, 'Put him away.'"

He was charged with criminal trespass and trespass with intent to obstruct a government operation, he says. Both charges were dropped when he appeared in front of a judge, but Austin is still trying to recover $5,000 worth of camera gear.

In Pennsylvania, photographer William Wendt and his assistant Daniel Mahoney were arrested for defiant trespass at the scene of the United Airlines plane crash in Shanksville. Wendt was on assignment for The New York Times Magazine at the time. Police instructed him to register at a press tent and wait for a bus taking journalists to a crash site. But restricted areas were unmarked and Wendt and his assistant misunderstood where the press tent was located, he says. They were arrested after walking 50 yards in the wrong direction, Wendt says.

"I was worried about being thrown in jail, having to call someone to bail us out, and not getting a picture, so we plead guilty," Wendt says. They ended up paying fines and court costs totaling about $300.