🔗 Share this article

Attorneys representing a producer from the city of Chicago's WGN television station who was briefly held by government officers last week characterize the event as "something that should alarm and horrify every person in this nation".

Particulars of the Detainment

The journalist, a American national and station staff member, was arrested on the weekend by federal agents during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement action in a North Side Chicago area. Footage from the location depict the producer being forced to the ground by officers before she is handcuffed and put in a vehicle.

At the moment, a government spokesperson claimed that the individual "threw objects at an official vehicle" and was "detained for assault on a federal law enforcement officer".

Subsequently that day, WGN confirmed that their employee had been released from federal custody and that no charges had been filed against her.

Attorney's Reaction

In a news release released by attorneys acting for the journalist on Tuesday, her legal team challenged the government's account. They stated they "adamantly deny any allegation that she assaulted anyone" and that "Brockman was the one who was violently assaulted by officers on her way to work" on the date in question.

Her attorneys explain that at the moment of the arrest, Brockman was "not performing in any official role as an employee for WGN" but that she was just "heading to the bus stop as part of her daily travel when she was attacked by federal officers.

"Brockman, who is a American citizen born in this country, was forcibly held on Foster Avenue," the statement continues. "As this happened, bystanders on the street began filming the event and asked her her name."

The release says that she informed the onlookers her name and that she was employed at WGN, in the hopes that "a person would notify her workplace so colleagues would know that she would not be coming at work that day", her attorneys said.

Consequences and Next Steps

Based on her legal team, Brockman was held in federal custody for about seven hours before being released.

"She has not been accused with any offenses and she plans to pursue all legal options available to her to uphold her entitlements and ensure government accountability for their actions," the statement notes.

"One attorney, one of her attorneys, commented in the statement: "If equipped, covered, government officers are taking US citizens off the street as they walk to work and throwing them in non-descript cars, you can only imagine what these officers must be prepared to do to our immigrant neighbors and people who dare to protest against them."

"The journalist was taken to the ground, battered, handcuffed, and her trousers were pulled down exposing her uncovered skin," the lawyer stated. "Not anyone should be treated like that in this metropolis, in this country or anywhere else in the globe."

ICE, the federal agency, and the border agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment from news outlets.