During one of the seemingly endless pro-Hamas protests on campuses across the country, an arrest of a press member has many in journalism outraged. During a rally at the University of Texas, a photographer for the Fox 7 News station in Austin was detained by police during the disturbance on campus. 

The photographer, known only by the name of Carlos, was among the dozens arrested for various charges on campus, and there was all of the expected outcry in the media over this episode, with plenty of criticism concerning the way the Texas troopers on the scene handled the episode. Amid cries from participants that he was a member of the press, the arrest still took place. 

During his detainment, Carlos explained things thusly: “I was just covering things, and they were pushing. Yeah, I told him that I was the press. This one says I was hitting an officer. I was not hitting nobody." He was later booked and released in the early evening.

Update our photographer was released just now from Travis County Jail.

He was booked last night at 8:29pm. @fox7austin pic.twitter.com/euZnliA2bj

— Jessica Rivera (@JessicaonFOX7) April 25, 2024

In a thread on Xitter, professional media maven Brian Stelter provided many clips of the episode, taken from the Austin 7 camera used by Carlos. The episode and the resulting anxiety in the press bring up several questions out of curiosity.

Why was Carlos singled out, with numerous press members on the scene? Why would an arrest happen as so many in attendance were trying to explain to police that he was from the media? Why did his presence, toting a significantly sized camera, not serve to indicate he might have been with the press? The answers could be in a video clip shot from another angle, capturing the moments just ahead of and including his detainment.

Taken from just outside — and slightly above — the gathered throng, we see the moment when the police move in to clear a tight crowd, and as the mass of people are flowing, we see other police come in and grab Carlos. He is pulled back and then taken to the ground.

Who pushed him? pic.twitter.com/OImXDxeeZJ

— McCallum (@BK_McCallum) April 25, 2024

From this angle, at the start, we can see the cameraman in the lower portion of the center of the frame in all blue attire and a matching backpack. As the police move in, the crowd initially spreads, and he is jostled. Then, as the police surge forward and push the crowd back, Carlos falls in behind, and he appears to hit one officer in the back with his camera, and then, after a couple of steps, makes contact a second time. At that moment, the trailing officers immediately grab him by the backpack and pull him away from the throng.

It is clear he makes direct contact with the officer, and at no time do we see him being pushed, as the image clearly shows him from behind. As for intent, there can be a question: Was momentum carrying him, or did he lose his footing? While possible, he does not seem off balance and could be considered lunging forward into the officer's back.

While much might be debated about the actions of the cameraman, it is at least understandable why other officers would react to corral and detain the man, seeing as he twice makes direct contact with another officer. We see no one pushing the cameraman into the back of the officer.

Though it is most likely that little if anything will come from this in the form of charges being brought, the accusations from those in the press that this is a case of police overstepping and abusing the media appear rather exaggerated. At the very least, it becomes a bit understandable why this lone photojournalist was singled out among all those press members in attendance.