UPDATE: Editor Criticizes Police After 'St. Louis P-D' Reporter Arrested at Town Hall Protest; Watch Video

By: Joe Strupp Editor Arnie Robbins of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch criticized police who arrested one of his reporters Thursday night outside a town hall forum held by a local congressman.

In a statement Friday, Robbins said the arrest of Jake Wagman showed "police over-reacted and were overzealous."

"While we understand that police have difficult jobs and were in a volatile situation, we hope they understand that reporters, too, have difficult jobs and were in a volatile situation," Robbins' statement continued. "On two separate occasions, police asked our reporter to move farther away from the scene. He identified himself and complied -- he was also wearing his press badge clearly visible around his neck.

"On a third occasion, two police officers asked him to move back. Before he could explain who he was and that he was standing where two other officers had told him to, a police officer counted to two, handcuffed him and arrested him. Even later, after identifying himself as a Post-Dispatch reporter, the police processed him.

"We absolutely think that our reporter handled himself responsibly. We absolutely do not think that charges are warranted."

Wagman, who was covering the event and shooting video for the paper's Web site, was arrested for interference, the newspaper reported
Friday.

The Post-Dispatch has posted video that Wagman was shooting when he was arrested. Check it out, here.

Robbins said Wagman was released at 2:30 a.m. Friday. A Post-Dispatch photographer shot photos, posted to the paper's Web site.

One report indicated that a local union member, who opposed the protest, had suffered a shoulder injury.

The paper reported that the forum drew an overflow crowd to a local school gym that forced dozens of people to be kept out. Many were protesting health care reform, which sparked a "back-and-forth between factions within the crowd" and "created a carnival-like atmosphere inside and out between members of the movement opposing President Barack Obama's policies and groups who came to show support for the president's proposals."

The Post-Dispatch reported that members of the local Tea Party Coalition, a movement that seeks to counter Obama's policies, had urged members to attend the forum, which in turn spurred Democrats to show up.