A nationally recognized photographer was arrested while covering a protest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility and is now attempting to recover his confiscated camera equipment.
Dave Decker, a well-known Tampa Bay area photojournalist, was covering the Sunrise Movement protests outside the Chrome Service Processing Center in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Decker, 52, was on assignment for three media outlets – News2Share, zuma newswireAnd CL Tampa Bay – when he became one of 30 people arrested in the program.
according to CL Tampa BayDecker described the situation as initially appearing normal.
“A contact for [Sunrise Movement]I heard them saying, ‘As long as you’re standing on the grass, you’re OK,'” she said, noting that concrete barriers separated protesters from restricted areas. “It felt normal to do photojournalism work and document from the sides, documenting people detained.”
Decker, who was wearing press credentials around his neck, says he received no warning before an officer made eye contact and handcuffed him while photographing officers detaining protesters.
“I said, ‘Hey officer, I’m a member of the press.’ They said, “You’ve been warned, you’re under arrest,” Decker adds.
He recalled speaking with a Florida Highway Patrol sergeant, presenting his credentials from the National Press Photographers Association and his Part 107 drone pilot license, and explaining that he was documenting the protest.
“He said, ‘I don’t care about that.’ And he said, ‘You’re going to be arrested too.’ So he arrested me, and then he isolated me on the other side of the street,” Decker explains.
The photographer eventually convinced the authorities to keep his camera gear in his car.
He added, “Eventually, a soldier, a detective took my gear, put it in my car and then they confiscated it and made an inventory of it.”
according to CL Tampa BayDecker describes being placed on the ground with other protesters, handcuffed and bound with zip ties for hours as night fell and mosquitoes swarmed the parking lot outside Chrome. Miami-Dade County records indicate that Decker is charged with trespassing on property after warning an officer and resisting him without violence. He was released on bond Monday morning and is actively working to retrieve his vehicle and camera equipment from the seized location in Miami.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help Decker post his bond, get his camera gear, and understand the consequences of his arrest. According to the GoFundMe campaign, it’s unclear how much money the photographer will need to recover his vehicle and camera equipment, as well as cover any potential damage to his gear.
Decker has worked as a freelance photojournalist for the past six years, and this isn’t the first adversity he’s faced this year. On September 27, while covering protests outside the US ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, he was shot in the lower legs by federal officers with a pepper ball, which also damaged one of the lenses of his camera. Following a series of reports on these incidents and the photographers, a US federal judge has temporarily blocked Homeland Security agents from using riot control weapons on journalists in the Chicago area.
Image Credit: Header photos via GoFundMe.
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