
It's clear how ABC News feels about Denver police arresting producer Asa Eslocker for trying to record footage of Democratic senators meeting with VIP donors at a private gathering at the Brown Palace Hotel: They're pissed. That's why Brian Ross, whose investigative team Eslocker is on, makes a point to describe the "cigar-smoking Denver police sergeant" who "twisted the producer's arm behind him to put on handcuffs." The police claim the sidewalk in front of the hotel is the hotel's private property, so Eslocker was theoretically trespassing. Or, they caved to pressure from some very powerful politicos to remove the press trying to document their closed-door doings. You know, because they might be doing some shady things.
It's no longer enough to whine "But this is America!" when something like this happens. The flagrant disregard these cops have for the individual, the cameras and the inevitable backlash not only shows us just what a police state will look like here in the good ol' US of A, but that it has arrived.