I was under NATO arrest this afternoon
and I just said NO!
05/18/2012 5:56 PM
I was trying to snap this picture today around noon for a post on the new and temporary CJ blog, Nato Updates--to show how there is quite an uptick in police presence in the South Loop as NATO really begins to rock. And roll. I mean, we've never had any kind of visible police presence around the one federal building devoted to homeland security on the south side of Congress at Clark. Until today.
So I stepped under the portico, lifted my iPhone and bombs away! (Not a great choice of words, but you know what I mean.)
"No picture taking here, ma'am," the marshal said.
That's hard to believe, I thought; after all, he has "no expectation of privacy." (A little legal talk; I spent several semesters teaching Media Law at Columbia College--and I'm a lawyer, too.) The marshal was out in the open, he's a federal employee to whom I pay a salary and I felt I had every right, as a citizen, to snap his picture to illustrate for CJ readers what's going on in our 'hood.
"No problem," I said. I already had my picture and was getting ready to go down the stairs to the Blue Line so I could meet my girlfriends in Wicker Park for lunch.
"Ma'am," he continued coming at me. "You have to stop." I could see him eyeing my iPhone. "Stop, ma'am. You have to stop. Do you hear me. Stop!"
I told him I heard him but under NO circumstances was I going to stop.
"Ma'am, you have to stop. Do you understand me? Stop."
And once again, I told him nothing doing. "I am absolutely definitely NOT going to stop! Ever." I started to think about the NATO guidelines for summit journalists that was sent to me this morning from the Association for Women Journalists and the Chicago Headline Club, both to which I belong. And I was prepared to use them in some fashion.
I proceeded down the stairs. For sure, he'll run after me, I figured. But I also figured he probably wasn't allowed to leave his post. But he probably has a radio and will summon help, who will come after me in the Congress-LaSalle station (how embarrassing) and I'll end up in the MCC, with Tony Rezko for a roommate, and.... My thoughts were racing. And what will I tell everyone?
But, then, I started to think, had I not had girlfriends to meet and if I had some extra time, getting arrested by the feds during NATO might be quite an adventure. As I paced the station, waiting for the handcuffs and the clink, the train finally came and it was all over. I was free.
--Bonnie McGrath
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By Judy Marcus from Palatine
Posted: 05/20/2012 12:26 PM
OMG! You're my hero!!!
By Helen from South Loop
Posted: 05/19/2012 11:24 AM
Also, I love it when you talk legal, Bonnie, you hottie. ;-)
By Helen from South Loop
Posted: 05/19/2012 11:19 AM
I love you Bonnie! I wish you *had* gotten yourself arrested so you could write all about it. Bravo to you for not stopping. And for using common sense when told "no photos." What was up with that?! I think you should go back tomorrow and take more photos and see what happens. Can they really insist you take no pictures? That seems like an invitation for an argument to me. Please keep us posted as to your latest...
By Connie from South Loop
Posted: 05/18/2012 8:13 PM
You are so funny, Bonnie!!!! You should have gone with him!!! You could have called the girls to say you were in jail!!! They would have loved that!!! An experience to definitely remember forever. I love your thought process!!!
By Helen Karakoudas Redfern
Posted: 05/18/2012 7:21 PM
As you were standing your ground, did you get any video of the exchange? (Just a thought for next time.)
By Laura D. Trucano-Harp from Former South Looper
Posted: 05/18/2012 6:52 PM
GO Bonnie, GO! (Hmmm, I need to review that info before my camera & I go for walk this weekend...)