On Monday, Ferguson Police arrested Scott Olson, a veteran photographer for Getty Images.
Olson’s arrest marks the second time journalists have been arrested while covering the protests over the death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Similar to the experiences of journalists Wesley Lowery from the Washington Post and Ryan J. Reilly from the Huffington Post who were arrested, Olson claimed he was “arrested for just doing my job.” All three journals were detained for several hours, and then released without any charges.
While before it had been Reilly who was arrested, this time he was able to bring attention to Olson’s arrest by posting a photo on his Twitter account:
According to The Guardian, police were trying to detain all media to a certain area near the convenience store where Michael Brown “allegedly stole cigars minutes before he was shot by a police officer,” and when Olson was found across the street from that area, he was “thought to have declined a request to move on.”
Scott Olson is responsible for a series of iconic photographs from the protests in Ferguson. Jack Moore, a Foreign Reporter for International Business Times featured a few of those images on his Twitter account:
The Vice President for News at Getty Images, Pancho Bernasconi, released a statement prior to Olson’s release saying, “Getty Images staff photographer Scott Olson was arrested this afternoon in Ferguson, Missouri, while on assignment documenting the events there.”
“We at Getty Images stand firmly behind our colleague Scott Olson and the right to report from Ferguson. Getty Images is working to secure his release as soon as possible,” said Bernasconi. “We strongly object to his arrest and are committed to ensuring he is able to resume his important work of capturing some of the most iconic images of this news story.”
Following Olson’s release, Bernasconi took to his Twitter account to share a statement from Olson:
“I want to be able to do my job as a member of the media and not be arrested for just doing my job.“