SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A court security officer handcuffed a reporter for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard this morning after the reporter took pictures of an arrest in the hallway of the Onondaga County Courthouse.

The New York state court officer ordered the reporter, Douglass Dowty, to turn over his cell phone then handcuffed him about 10:45 a.m.

Dowty's hands were cuffed behind his back for about five minutes and he remained in police custody for 10 minutes before other court officers released him.

Dowty was not charged.

The state's top court security official, Chief Michael Magliano, was quickly notified about the incident, according to a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration in New York City.

"We're aware of it and it's being investigated," said Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for OCA. "We told them we want everything by the end of the day. Whatever action is taken depends on what transpired."

Chalfen did not have the officer's name or other details.

"They're supposed to be professional," he said of court officers.

Douglass Dowty, reporter for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard, was handcuffed by a court security officer Tuesday morning after taking this photo of officers arresting a man following a brawl on the third floor of the Onondaga County Courthouse.

Journalists have long been allowed to take photos and videos in the courthouse's hallways. About a year ago, signs were posted warning the public not to take pictures in the hallways. Court administrators, however, said journalists could continue to film and shoot pictures.

Dowty, 33, the courts reporter with Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard for 3 1/2 years, was covering courts this morning when a fight broke out outside the trial of a man accused of murder.

Court security officers had surrounded a man who was pressed against a window, Dowty said. One of the officers told the man repeatedly to relax, but he appeared agitated and told them he wasn't resisting, Dowty said.

Dowty took a photo of papers strewn on the ground then crossed at a safe distance between the man and a courtroom door, he said. He then took two more photos of the officers surrounding the man.

As the officers led the man away, Dowty took two more photos, he said.

"As I was doing that, an officer came running at me," Dowty said. He'd seen the officer at the courthouse before, but didn't know his name. The officer ordered him to surrender his cell phone, which Dowty did.

The officer told Dowty to turn around.

"I'm going to cuff you," the officer said. Dowty complied, and the officer applied the handcuffs.

Here's what happened next, according to Dowty:

Other officers arrived and asked what was going on. The officer told them Dowty had been videotaping the incident.

"Was he told not to?" one of the other officers asked.

"It was in the courthouse," the first officer said.

Two officers led Dowty to an elevator. The officers carried his company backpack and phone. They assured him the situation would be worked out.

The officers had Dowty sit at a desk behind a security counter, where they immediately removed the handcuffs. The two officers expressed bewilderment about what had happened.

About five minutes later, the officers told Dowty he was free to go. They returned his backpack and phone. The phone did not appear to have been accessed.

Dowty headed back to a courtroom where he'd been covering a trial. On his way, he saw the officer who'd detained him. Dowty said the man patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thank you."

The area's administrative judge, James Tormey, did not respond to a request for interviews. A court administrator, Gerald Neri, said he and Tormey could not comment until the Office of Court Administration finished its investigation.

Advance Media New York, which runs Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard, sent a letter about the incident to Tormey and the state's chief administrative judge, Lawrence Marks.