Estado de S. Paulo reports that its journalist, Gabriel Toueg, was briefly detained by subway security in São Paulo to stop him from recording an altercation between the officers and several young women.
Toueg was using his cell phone to record the incident when two guards advanced on him and took his phone. Another agent then restrained him, Estado de S. Paulo explains.
The police were going to take him to the police station along with the women Toueg recorded them arresting, however, upon learning he was a reporter, he was freed and his cell phone was returned. He was told to erase any photos he took.
The journalist filed a formal complaint the day of the incident, April 29, and the subway authorities responded by temporarily suspending the officers while it investigated the case.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
