CNN reporter Omar Jimenez and his entire crew were arrested by Minnesota State Police on Friday morning — only to be quickly released less than two hours later and given an apology by Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Appearing back on CNN after his release, Jimenez recounted how police surrounded him and his crew and eventually led them away in handcuffs.
“In a sense, we were sort of surrounded by state patrolmen and Minneapolis police officers as well,” he said. “It was that moment where all of a sudden someone runs past and they were on edge based on the destruction that’s all around them and that arrest happened.”
Jimenez then said that the officers who arrested him were very cordial and said they actually seemed unsure of why they were taking journalists into custody.
“I was talking to the officer leading me away: ‘Hey, man, we’re going to be out here for the next few days, what is the guidance of where we should be? If you don’t want us that close, where should we be? We were under the impression that was okay,’” Jimenez explained. “He said look, I don’t know man, I’m just following orders.’ I don’t know who was potentially giving that order in that particular moment.”
Watch the video below.