Freelance photographer beaten, arrested while covering Illinois protest

Freelance photojournalist Albert Riley Jr. was beaten by police officers, arrested, and had his camera seized and equipment damaged while documenting a protest in Rockford, Illinois, on Sept. 25, 2020.

He was held for three days and later charged with felony aggravated battery and resisting arrest, but was acquitted of the charges on Feb. 17, 2022.

Protests against police brutality had been held Fridays near Rockford’s City Market in the wake of the killing in police custody of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020. On Sept. 25, a small group of demonstrators showing support for the police was also present, the Rockford Register Star reported.

Riley told the Rock River Current that he was covering various aspects of the protests. “There wasn’t anything specific that I was taking pictures of: I took pictures of police, I took pictures of protesters, I took picture of counter-protesters, I took pictures of the ministers on the corner singing and playing guitars, I took pictures of the marches as they were going through the crosswalk.”

According to the Current, Riley said that at one point, he took photos of an off-duty Winnebago County sheriff’s deputy throwing a water bottle at protesters, and protesters throwing the bottle back. The deputy’s wife, an off-duty detective in the Sheriff’s Office, approached Riley and asked him to delete the photos; he started to take a picture of her, and she slapped his hand and camera.

Riley said he reacted to try to protect himself and the camera, causing the detective to fall back. “Was it my intention for her to fall back and hit the ground? No it was not. I just wanted her out of my personal space,” he told the Current.

Then, her husband pushed him in the back, and two uniformed Rockford Police Department officers grabbed him from behind and threw him to the ground. Riley said he was unaware they were police officers until he was on the ground. He alleged they assaulted him, and denied he resisted arrest.

“They’re punching me. They’re kicking me,” he told the Current. “I didn’t fight with them, I was just attacked by them.” The outlet reported the journalist sustained a black eye, a bruised cheek and bleeding on the side of his nose, adding that his glasses and cellphone screen were broken.

Riley also said that images were deleted from his professional camera’s memory card without his permission.

Melinda Jacobson, Riley’s attorney, told the Current that the police never explained deleting the images. “The only photographs that were deleted contained images of the state’s witnesses,” she added.

Jacobson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that Riley’s camera was broken during the assault.

A fundraiser started on his behalf stated that he needed to replace more than $4,000 worth of camera equipment and a lens as a result of the incident.

Riley was released on Sept. 28, and charged with felony counts of aggravated battery in a public way — for allegedly shoving the off-duty detective to the ground — and resisting arrest. A superseding indictment was entered on Oct. 28, for the same charges.

In February 2022, following a four-day trial, Riley was acquitted on both charges by a jury in Winnebago County 17th Judicial Circuit Court, according to the Current and court records.

The Rockford Police Department declined to comment.