A Fox television cameraman who was charged with disorderly conduct and jaywalking while covering a story has reached a diversion agreement with prosecutors.
Brian W. Willie did not admit any guilt in the agreement with Salt Lake prosecutors. And if he does not have any problems with the law for 30 days, the charges against him will be dismissed, said defense attorney Ed Brass."It's the best resolution for him, although I worry what kind of message it sends about news gathering. I don't want it to have any chilling effect," Brass said.
The cameraman was the first journalist in recent memory ticketed by Salt Lake police while attempting to cover a news story on a public street.
Willie, who works for Channel 13, was riding with gang detectives on July 24 when they responded to a stabbing at 320 S. Main. Willie apparently left a patrol car with his camera and began walking in the southbound lane toward the stabbing scene.
An officer assisting with crowd control at the scene told the cameraman to get out of the road, but Willie ignored the commands, according to a police report written by officer Dave Hendricks.
Willie then disappeared into the crowd, but Hendricks saw him in the road again a few minutes later, escorted him to the sidewalk and cited him for disorderly conduct and jaywalking, the report states.
KSTU attorney Jeffery J. Hunt said Willie did as he was asked to do by police, and the station had the videotape to prove it. Not only that, but several pedestrians and another television cameraman were in and out of the area repeatedly and were not cited by police.
Brass said he was convinced Willie would have beaten the charges had they gone to trial.
"But my interests have to be what Brian's interests are and this resolution is clearly the most expeditious way of handling the situation," Brass said.
For its part, Channel 13 said the incident will not deter its news gathering.
"It won't inhibit us one whit in pursuing the news and exercising our constitutional rights to cover news events," Hunt said.