George Floyd protests spread nationwide

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told CNN this morning that he expects “there will be charges” against the four Minneapolis officers involved in George Floyd’s death. He added that he hopes they will be announced “soon.”

Ellison said officials are making sure they have “a very strong case” before charges are announced. 

“Everybody believes that this is a violation of Mr. Floyd. And I believe that everybody wants to see these charges filed as soon as they can be. But again, I do want to say we have seen cases that seem so clear go south,” Ellison said. 

Ellison said that "unfortunately, it is taking more time than any of us want."

He added that he sympathizes with everybody “who's demanding charges.” 

The four police officers were fired earlier this week, but no charges have been filed. Floyd’s family said they want the officials to be charged with murder. 

The US Attorney’s office in Minnesota and the FBI’s Minneapolis field office said they are conducting "a robust criminal investigation" into the circumstances surrounding Floyd's death.

At least 72 people were arrested during a protest in New York City last night, NYPD Police Chief Terence Monahan told CNN affiliate WPIX 11 Friday morning.

Five people were arrested for felonies for “assaults on our police officers,” 33 people were arrested for misdemeanors that range from “obstruction of government, to administration to resisting arrest" and 34 people were arrested for “various violations, mainly disorderly conduct, blocking streets,” Monahan said. 

“A few of our cops got injured,” Monahan added.

Two officers suffered a concussion, one had a garbage can thrown at him and another was thrown to the ground and taken to the hospital. 

Two deputy inspectors were also injured, he said. One suffered shoulder and back injuries after being thrown to the ground and another was punched in the face, but was "alright," Monahan said.

Responding to a video that shows an NYPD officer using a baton on protestors, Monahan said, “our goal was to take the trouble makers out of the group.” He said the police department had to arrest individuals that were causing “mayhem.”

When a journalist is arrested at a protest, the free and fair gathering of the news is arrested, too.

That's one of the reasons why these infringements on press freedom are relatively rare in the United States — and why Friday's brief arrest of a CNN crew in Minneapolis was so egregious.

Live video from correspondent Omar Jimenez and the CNN crew showed that they were not interfering with law enforcement.

When a journalist is arrested at a protest, the free and fair gathering of the news is arrested, too.

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Arresting reporters at a protest is an affront to the First Amendment

CNN journalist Josh Campbell is also on the ground in Minneapolis, not far from where CNN reporter Omar Jimenez and his team were arrested by officers early this morning. They have since been released.

Speaking to Campbell earlier, CNN anchor John Berman pointed out that Jimenez is black and latino, and Campbell is white, though he said he did not know whether race played a factor in Jimenez’s arrest. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the arrest unacceptable and totally inadvertent.

The Minnesota State Patrol released this statement on Twitter: "In the course of clearing the streets and restoring order at Lake Street and Snelling Avenue, four people were arrested by State Patrol troopers, including three members of a CNN crew. The three were released once they were confirmed to be members of the media."

​CNN broadcast shows Jimenez clearly ​displaying his CNN badge before he was restrained.

Laura Coates, CNN's legal analyst, said the arrest of CNN reporter Omar Jimenez is "why people don't have faith in what might happen in Hennepin County."

Jimenez, who identifies as both black and Latino, was arrested early on Friday while reporting live on the protests in Minneapolis. Coates pointed out that Josh Campbell, another CNN journalist on the ground in Minneapolis, was treated very differently.

Coates added: "Four officers who were involved in the killing of an unarmed black man whose body was on the street and handcuffed behind his back, they have not been arrested since Monday or charged with any crime. Omar Jimenez shows a credential, a camera is running, his crew and producers are saying who they are and they were arrested sooner. Optically, this is why people don't have faith in what might happen in county."

CNN reporter Oscar Jimenez's journalism career began roughly eight years ago.

Jimenez, whose mother is black and father identifies as Colombian, worked in Baltimore at WBAL-TV before joining CNN in 2017.

In Maryland, he covered the trials for the officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, was the lead story on the station's Emmy award-winning special on opioids, and published pieces on opioid influence in the state and the fight against child sex trafficking.

Jimenez first worked with CNN's Newsource, based in Washington, DC.

While at Newsource, Jimenez reported from the ground in Paris in the aftermath of the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, from Las Vegas just hours after the mass shooting there, the deadliest in modern American history and from Florida and Texas during the 2017 hurricanes.

He graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where he also played on the varsity men's basketball team. While in school, Jimenez was also an intern with CNN.

Learn more about Jimenez's career below:

CNN's reporter Omar Jimenez, who was released from custody in the past few minutes after he was earlier arrested live on air, said he was comforted by the fact that at least people could see what was happening.

CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez and his crew have been released from police custody.

Jimenez, along with producer Bill Kirkos and photojournalist Leonel Mendez, were arrested shortly after 6 a.m. ET live on CNN air, while reporting on the protests in Minneapolis.

The team was released from the Hennepin County Public Safety facility in downtown Minneapolis just a few minutes ago. 

CNN president Jeff Zucker spoke with the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz on Friday morning, following the arrest of CNN's team in Minneapolis,

Walz said he "deeply apologizes" for what happened and is working to have the CNN team released immediately.

Walz described the arrests as "unacceptable," said CNN's team clearly has the right to be there, and said he wants the media to be in Minnesota to cover the protests.

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