CNN Reporter Arrested on Live TV While Offering to Comply With Police

CNN reporter Omar Jimenez and his camera crew were arrested Friday morning by Minnesota state police live on television in the aftermath of a protest over the death of an unarmed black man at the hands of local police.

In footage broadcast live on CNN, Jimenez can be heard calmly requesting orders from the police surrounding him, while explaining his crew of four had been trying to stay out of law enforcement’s way. They are surrounded by officers wearing gas masks and riot gear and holding batons.

In the live footage, Jimenez can be heard asking the officers where they’d like his crew to go. “We can move back to where you’d like,” he says twice, before telling them,“We are live on the air at the moment.” The police cannot be heard due to their masks.

“Wherever you want us, we will go. We were just getting out of your way when you were advancing through the intersection,” says Jimenez says, repeatedly requesting a command. “Just let us know and we got you.”

Jimenez then turns to the camera and continues reporting on the police response to the several acts of arson that occurred during the protests. A moment later, an officer is heard notifying Jimenez, “You’re under arrest.”

“Okay,” Jimenez says. The officers do not appear to respond when he asks why, though their mouths are covered and Jimenez is forced to drop his microphone.

CNN’s studio reporters begin to chime in and sound completely stunned. “If you’re just tuning in, you are watching our correspondent, Omar Jimenez, being arrested by state police in Minnesota,” one says. 

The Minnesota State Police did not respond to a request for comment.

Jimenez and his crew were reporting on the third day of protests following the death of 46-year-old George Floyd. Protests erupted after viral video footage spread showing a Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee against the handcuffed Floyd’s neck for several minutes.

Floyd says, “I can’t breath” several times and repeatedly requests medical attention. Officers are shown standing by looking on calmly while passersby yell for them to help and insist Floyd isn’t resisting. One points to blood apparently dripping from his nose.

“They’re killing me. I can’t breathe,” Floyd is heard saying.

Protests demanding murder charges be brought against the four officers involved have spread across the U.S. In Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey ordered police to abandon the Third Precinct where the officers worked after it was clear they could not hold the building without firing on the demonstrators.

After several officers were rescued from the precinct’s roof by helicopter, the building was breached by civilians and set ablaze.