Listen Live
Stone Soul Vendor Graphics

WESLEY LOWERY:  Up against the fountain soda machine, at which point, at which point I knew I was being arrested, I knew that was going to happen.  And so I …

TOM JOYNER:  Now this is Ferguson Police?

WESLEY LOWERY:  This is Ferg—well, it’s a combination, it’s was county police, there was, I believe there was some Ferguson Police, and also some other state agencies, I mean …

TOM JOYNER:  And all of them white?

WESLEY LOWERY:  I believe all of them inside of McDonald’s white.  At one point we saw a black officer outside while they were holding us, but all these officers in the McDonald’s are white.  So they throw me off, my phone is still recording in my left hand, but I dropped everything else in my right hand and I’m saying to them; I’m not going to resist, you can arrest me, I’m not resisting, I’m not resisting.  And they’re saying to me; you are resisting, stop resisting.  And that, frankly, was the most horrified I’ve been, because I’ve just seen too many videos of people who were allegedly resisting arrest/not resisting arrest, these things happening.  And so I’m telling them, I’m not resisting …

TOM JOYNER:  This sounds like a foreign countr …

WESLEY LOWERY:  I’m not resisting, I’m not resisting, I’m not, you can arrest me, my hands are behind my back.  I know that I’m going to be fine as long as nothing happens to me physically.  And so I’m telling them; I’m not resisting, you can arrest me.  So then …

SYBIL WILKES:  Are you still recording at this time?

WESLEY LOWERY:  I recorded through most of it.  So the video we posted, I think there are maybe five or ten seconds after that that I think our video editors cut out.  But for the most part, until they physically threw me it recorded.  And then I, the phone dropped out of my hand as the Coke started splashing on my arm, because I was up against the fountain soda machine.  And so I have some of this recorded, at least the audio of it, it goes black.  But then they, they take me outside, and as I’m walking out I see Ryan’s still in the corner having more of a verbal conversation, I was telling him; tweet that they’re arresting me, tweet that they’re arresting me.  He didn’t have that opportunity; moments later they’re slamming him into something, putting him in cuffs bringing him out.

As we’re coming out some of the res—some of the people who had been in the McDonald’s, actually some nice, we had some very nice conversations with some of the, there was a woman that came up to me right bef—a few minutes before; hey, are you with the media?  I see your, and we had a kind of nice back and forth, not an interview, we were just chatting.  You know, civil.  And she’s screaming out to me; why are they arresting you?  And I said; for videotaping them.  And that alerted a few journalists who were in a broader area; I think there was a picture of Ryan taken in his cuffs.  We are standing outside at this point, outside the McDonald’s in the middle of the street, and they have a police tank, you know, one of the big trucks they use to transport people.  And as we’re, and initially they want to put us in this and they open the back door and there are two people in there.  There’s one sitting on one of the benches, there are benches on both sides, and then the other person is this large, large black man, had to be well over 250, probably 300, 350 pounds, who cannot sit on the bench …

TOM JOYNER:  Wait a minute, Wesley, Wesley, Wesley, Wesley …

WESLEY LOWERY:  Yes?

TOM JOYNER:  I’m, I’m, I’m out of time.

WESLEY LOWERY:  Oh, you’re out of time?  (Laugh)

TOM JOYNER:  I’m so out of town.

WESLEY LOWERY:  This man was screaming for paramedics and they refused to give him one.  That’s the end of my story.  That’s the end of that story.  Imagine the Eric Garner video.  That is what happened in front of us, the guy was locked up.

TOM JOYNER:  But you are all right?

WESLEY LOWERY:  I am all right physically, and like I said before a few times, I’ve seen residents of Ferguson be actually injured.  I am not injured.  I’m fine.  We’re going to be fine.  This story shouldn’t be about me, but in a same way this is an anecdote about what’s going on in the ground here.  If I was dealt with this way, another reporter was dealt with this way, imagine residents who don’t have the legal power of The Washington Post behind them, who don’t have people noticing them being arrested and tweeting; hey, is that reporter getting arrested?  So that’s why, listeners who aren’t here and aren’t seeing this, that’s the context I get from this, I don’t want people to feel sorry for me.  I’m in the field right now reporting on it.

TOM JOYNER:  All right.  Well, God bless, Wesley.

For iPhone: 

(Photo Source: Twitter)

EXCLUSIVE: Wesley Lowery, Washington Post Reporter Arrested In Ferguson, Speaks To The TJMS [LISTEN]  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com

« Previous page 1 2