Back in the good ol’ days, you could arrest someone and charge them with disorderly conduct or resisting arrest, maybe even charge them with being drunk in public. And you were the police – it was your word against theirs.

It must be really difficult for these guys, living in the age of cell phones and twitter. Having to suffer the indignity of being proved a liar within hours of putting out the official police statement.

Jonathan Meador is a reporter for the weekly newspaper the Nashville Scene. He was at Occupy Nashville, covering the arrests, when the police moved in. (For background, see: Contempt of court? Reporter among those arrested tonight at Occupy Nashville).

What happened, then… well, you can watch it yourself. Tennessee State Troopers came to arrest him, he identified himself as a member of the media, twice, and they arrested him anyway. They slam him to the ground (you can’t see that too clearly, since, you know, he’s being slammed to the ground) and zip-tied his hands. You can hear one of the officers on the video, saying they should charge him with resisting arrest. Resisting?

They issued him a citation that said, among other things, that he smelled of alcohol and “appeared to be intoxicated and unable to care for himself.”

But Meador was recording the whole thing. He sure doesn’t sound unable to care for himself in the video. He sounds perfectly lucid. Nor do the cops say boo about that at the time.

Tennessee Highway Patrol spokeswoman Dalya Qualls responded by email to the Tennessean newspaper, which was naturally not happy at the arrest of two of their colleagues (Middle Tennessee State University student journalist Malina Chavez-Shannon was also busted):

“We plan to review all of the materials documenting the arrest or Mr. Meador and depending on the review will respond appropriately. It is not our intent to interfere with a journalist doing his or her job.”

Meanwhile, the judge ordered the release of all the arrestees for the second night in a row. He said the state couldn’t change the rules in the middle of the protest, as that would violate first amendment rights. The ACLU is expected to file for an injunction Monday on the same grounds.

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