Cleveland Channel 5 news anchor arrested at crime scene

Judging strictly by the headlines, there is now one more reporter arrested for disobeying a lawful order from the police than concealed handgun license-holders this year.

May 17, 2005
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Maple Heights police arrested WEWS Channel 5 anchor Curtis Jackson at a crime scene Sunday as he followed a woman to her apartment for an interview.

Chief Rich Maracz said that Jackson was inside the boundaries of a crime scene. He said officers asked Jackson several times to leave before they arrested him.

"He refused to obey the lawful order of police," Maracz said.

WEWS News Director John Butte said that Jackson believed he had the right to go anywhere the general public could. When police asked him to leave, Butte said, Jackson agreed but asked the officer for his name. That was when he was arrested, Butte said.

Jackson was covering a suspicious death of a 74-year-old man when a woman who notified police of the death agreed to be interviewed. She did not want to be on camera but said she would talk to Jackson in her apartment.

"We have a significant concern when police prevent us from talking to potential sources of news...there is a sense of being singled out which we find pretty unacceptable," Butte said.

He said he was also disturbed when tape from a station videographer showed an officer with his hand on his gun while Jackson, handcuffed, was frisked.

"He wasn't a danger. They knew exactly who he was," Butte said.

Jackson, who recently joined the station as a weekend anchor, was released from the police station shortly after 1 a.m. Monday. He was not charged with a crime Monday, Maracz said. A city prosecutor will review the case and decide whether to charge Jackson.