🔗 Share this article

Legal representatives acting for a producer from the city of Chicago's local TV network who was briefly held by federal agents last week characterize the incident as "an occurrence that ought to alarm and horrify each individual in this country".

Particulars of the Detainment

The journalist, a US citizen and station staff member, was taken into custody on the weekend by federal agents during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in a North Side Chicago area. Footage from the scene depict the producer being forced to the ground by two agents before she is handcuffed and put in a vehicle.

At the time, a homeland security official stated that Brockman "threw objects at an official vehicle" and was "detained for assault on a federal law enforcement officer".

Subsequently that day, the television station confirmed that Brockman had been freed from detention and that no accusations had been filed against her.

Legal Team's Reaction

In a news release released by lawyers acting for Brockman on Tuesday, her legal team challenged the official version. They declared they "adamantly deny any allegation that she assaulted anyone" and that "She was the one who was physically attacked by federal agents on her way to work" on 10 October.

Her lawyers explain that at the time of the arrest, the journalist was "not acting in any professional capacity as an staff member for WGN" but that she was just "walking to the bus stop as part of her daily travel when she was attacked by federal officers.

"The individual, who is a American citizen native to the US, was forcibly held on Foster Avenue," the release adds. "As this happened, bystanders on the street began recording the event and asked her her name."

The release says that she told the onlookers her name and that she was employed at the station, in the hopes that "a person would inform her employer so colleagues would know that she would not be coming at work that day", her attorneys stated.

Aftermath and Legal Action

Based on her lawyers, the journalist was held in government detention for about seven hours before being freed.

"The individual has not been accused with any offenses and she intends to pursue all legal avenues available to her to vindicate her entitlements and hold the federal authorities accountable for their conduct," the release notes.

"One attorney, one of her attorneys, added in the release: "If armed, masked, federal agents are taking American nationals off the street as they travel to work and throwing them in unmarked vehicles, you can only conceive what these agents must be prepared to do to our immigrant neighbors and individuals who dare to speak out against them."

"Ms Brockman was forced down, struck, handcuffed, and her trousers were pulled down exposing her uncovered skin," the lawyer said. "Not anyone should be treated like that in this city, in this country or anywhere else in the world."

Immigration authorities, the Department of Homeland Security, and the US Customs and Border Protection did not provide a prompt reply to inquiries from the media.