NEW YORK — A veteran news photographer arrested with media credentials around her neck while covering the recent Jordan Neely protests asked authorities to clear her name Thursday and protect journalists’ ability to do their jobs in New York City.
New York Police Department Chief of Patrol John Chell personally told officers to “lock her up!” before five community affairs cops wrangled Stephanie Keith into the back of a police van on May 8, footage shows.
The award-winning independent news photographer, who regularly shoots for Reuters, Getty Images and The New York Times, joined at least a dozen media organizations to document a vigil at the Broadway-Lafayette Street subway station a week after Neely’s killing aboard an F train.
In asking a Manhattan summons court judge to dismiss the disorderly conduct charge against Keith, civil rights lawyer Wylie Stecklow said the evidence was indisputable that Chell’s claim she interfered in three arrests was false.
Stecklow noted the video shows Chell singling out Keith in the crosswalk seconds after she joined other photographers to document officers arresting demonstrators.
“Suddenly he wheels around and moves ... away from the arrest scene and grabs journalist Keith,” Stecklow wrote, noting journalists closer to the action were not detained.
“He can be heard on video stating loudly over and over, ‘Lock her up! Lock her up!’”
The NYPD has not commented on Keith’s case and did not immediately answer a New York Daily News inquiry on Thursday.
Keith’s photos are ubiquitous in U.S. news coverage and local New York news.
Keith’s attorney said if the court won’t dismiss the charges, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should make a prosecutorial decision on the summons case, which the city’s DAs can do but have had a policy against since 2018.
In an email obtained by the Daily News, one of Bragg’s chief misdemeanor prosecutors cited the policy in rejecting Keith’s request. Gabriel Hippolyte said the office doesn’t handle summonses anymore, to save spending resources “on minor offenses,” adding that it would be “inequitable” to make an exception. Bragg’s office declined to comment beyond what was in the email.
The DA last week said nobody arrested on misdemeanor charges during the Neely protests — higher than what Keith faces — would be prosecuted.
Multiple press freedom groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders called on the DA to recognize Keith shouldn’t be, either.
“Her prosecution would set a harmful precedent of prosecuting reporters simply for doing their jobs and documenting matters of public importance,” reads their letter.
Stecklow said Keith having to defend herself against charges that any reporter on assignment could be arrested for will have a chilling effect.
“They’re manipulating the system and it’s unfortunate and sad that the Manhattan DA is sort of taking a hands up approach when that’s being done right in front of them,” Stecklow said.
“Step up and do the right thing.”
