New developments have emerged in the case of a photojournalist taken into custody during one of the many current college demonstrations. It was a week ago when I covered the case of a cameraman for a local news outlet in Austin who had been arrested during a pro-Palestine protest on the campus of the University of Texas. There was plenty of outrage in the journalism community over this action, but as I noted last week, there was cause for pause.

When Carlos Sanchez was taken down and detained by riot police, the automatic complaints spilled out, and the outrage from journalism circles was as expected. But few asked questions. Why would police arrest him when he was clearly with the press? How come, with numerous press members in attendance, he was one of the few detained? Why was he not mistakenly arrested in a group but singled out when detained? Why did the police go through the full process of arrest and booking if it was all supposedly in error?

Then, an additional video came out. The claims were that Sanchez was in a mob and had been pushed into the officer. But from one angle, we can see no one actually engaged with the cameraman, and he appears to be shoving his shoulder-mounted camera into the back of one officer. 

Who pushed him? pic.twitter.com/OImXDxeeZJ

— McCallum (@BK_McCallum) April 25, 2024

While his initial charges had been dropped, and Sanchez was released that same day, the authorities made the curious statement that his case was going to remain under investigation. Then, on Wednesday, May 1, Carlos Sanchez turned himself in as he was served with two new charges – misdemeanor assault and interference with public duties. Sanchez was booked and released Wednesday.

The Society of Professional Journalists has issued a letter, with dozens of groups co-signing, demanding the immediate dropping of these charges. They mention the “chilling effect” this will have on the news-gathering community and their ability to perform their jobs. What seems clear as to this matter is that they are unwilling to do their jobs by investigating the facts.

Upon the initial arrest of Sanchez, the group issued an immediate statement:

"It's crystal clear from every angle of videos capturing the incident that Sanchez did not intentionally hit anyone while covering protests at the University of Texas at Austin last week," said SPJ National President Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins.

Except it is not “crystal clear.” When looking over the footage, we can clearly see that Sanchez made contact with the officer, seemingly twice. What is not evident in any capacity is that Sanchez was ever jostled or driven into the officer. From yet another angle we see the approach the cameraman makes, and there are no people behind him as he makes contact.

Here is clear video evidence of Carlos Sanchez extending his arms and pushing the Trooper. If he was truly only recording, why would he need to do that? pic.twitter.com/Rc0FmLMLDU

— NoNameX (@TXAnonymousX) May 2, 2024

Slowing this down you can see telling details. Sanchez strides up intentionally. Also, while the camera is running, he is not actively filming, as he is not using the viewfinder, and the camera is tilted down. He had a clear path to the position and was not impacted by anyone.

Whatever, commies. pic.twitter.com/hriM7Yb71b

— Ol' Sarge (@_aTm2004) May 2, 2024

This is all, of course, open to interpretation, and defensive speculation will be offered. But at the very least, there is enough evidence here to suggest the police are not acting in an out-of-control or vindictive manner. How this case will develop is not clear, but also unclear are the claims of complete innocence and proven visual of a lack of aggression by Sanchez. 

Questions abound, and the journalism group SPJ clearly is not interested in asking these questions.