8:40 pm ET, May 1, 2024
TV photojournalist charged with 2 misdemeanors after arrest at University of Texas
From CNN's Joe Sutton and Andy Rose
Carlos Giraldo Sanchez, an Austin Fox 7 television photojournalist, was charged with two misdemeanors following his arrest last week at the University of Texas at Austin, according to a statement from the Texas Department of Public Safety (TPS) on Wednesday.
Sanchez, 43, was charged with “assault and interfering with public duties,” DPS said, and was taken to the Travis County Jail.
DPS said it saw Sanchez move toward the DPS trooper and then “strike the trooper in the lung and lower head and neck area with his camera.”
“While journalists should be given access, interfering with the official duties of the police can never be tolerated – assaulting an officer of the law – regardless of rank – can never be tolerated,” TPS said.
Sanchez's attorney, Jerry Morris, released a statement CNN affiliate KEYE-TV saying:
“Mr. Sanchez was conducting an important news gathering event during a chaotic event when he inadvertently ran into a police officer. He committed no crime. We look forward to someone seeing an unbiased testimony and exonerating Mr. Sanchez. Maybe eventually with a jury.”
