December 10th, 2013 by and tagged fast food, journalist, Kristoffer Tripplaar, museum, news, Photography Is Not A Crime, photojournalist, protest, Smithsonian

A veteran photographer is looking for answers after he was accosted by Smithsonian security guards while recording fast food workers protesting at the museum last week.

Kristoffer Tripplaar was at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum to document workers who walked off the job and picketed Thursday as part of a national campaign demanding higher wages. Tripplaar was recording a confrontation between security officers and a fellow photographer, when he says he was pulled into the fracas.

Tripplaar says it started when a security guard pushed the other journalist towards him. Worried that his equipment would be damaged, Tripplaar leaned forward to take the incoming blow with his body, and in the process collided with the officer. A second officer quickly approached, claiming Tripplaar had struck his colleague, and a third tackled the photographer to the ground.

Tripplaar says the violent exchange was completely unwarranted, telling Photographer Is Not a Crime “I can’t emphasize enough that I did not lay a finger on the officer.”

Video of the incident shows three officers smothering the photographer, who appears to be trying to protect himself and his equipment.

Tripplaar’s description of the acting supervisor’s reaction to the incident seems to confirm that the security guards overreacted:

“As I was on the ground a security officer that identified himself as a supervisor came over, told them to let me go and offered to help me up. I told him I would not get up until he made the three security officers back off because I was afraid they would grab me again. Once they backed off, I got up and went back to photographing the protest.”

But the ordeal wasn’t over yet:

“Once the protest inside the food court wound down, I approached the supervisor who had helped me to ask for the names of the officers who had grabbed me, one of which was standing next to him. When I did that they both began pushing me towards a door saying it was time for me to leave.”

Tripplaar has contacted the Smithsonian’s press office to file a complaint, and says he’s shocked by the guard’s behavior.

“I’ve been doing this for almost ten years. I cover everything from the White House to the Capitol. I’ve done countless protests, some of them got pretty heated and a little pushy. And I’ve never, ever, ever had something like this happen to me. Ever.”