John Abernathy, a photographer from Minneapolis, was flat on the ground. It had the knees of at least one federal officer on its back. He heard someone yell for him to put his hands behind his back, but his arms were half pinned under him. He was surrounded by dozens of officers deploying something—tear gas, he thinks—that made it hard for him to see or breathe. He felt like he might throw up or pass out.
He feared what might happen if federal agents got hold of his equipment. So when he looked with another photographer, he grabbed his camera — a Leica M10-R with a 28-millimeter lens — and threw it away, taking his cell phone away from him soon after.
Photographer John Abernathy says he threw the camera at Pierre Lavie to avoid it being confiscated by federal officers. Photo: Pierre Lavie/@just1dudewithacamera
Pierre Lavie, a fellow photojournalist, yanked the Leica from his belt and brought it close to his body. As he reached for Abernathy’s phone, which had traveled only a few feet, a federal officer repeatedly tried to step on it.
“I had to put my hand in and out to keep from stepping on myself, and I was finally able to grab it and get it out,” Lavie told HuffPost.
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It’s a familiar scene for both of them. Abernathy, who had previously done so photo works for advertising and magazines, said he set out to document the protests over the crackdown in Minneapolis and the killing of Renee Good “just to show what’s happening to anyone who might see it.” Lavie, a member of the National Press Photographers Association, had come from New Orleans to cover the unrest.
On Thursday, Jan. 15, both were outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, which has recently been used to hold people detained by ICE officers.When Abernathy saw what he called “agitators” — pro-ICE demonstrators — carrying bear spray, he grabbed a can from someone and tossed it aside so it couldn’t escape near him.
He speculates that’s why he was targeted by federal agents, who yelled that they saw him spray the crowd, though he said they provided no evidence to support that after they handcuffed him and took him to the Whipple Building. (He received a summons but has yet to receive a court date.)
Photographer John Abernathy is seen pushed to the ground as federal immigration officers confronted protesters outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on January 15 in Minneapolis. via the Associated Press
As he struggled beneath the agents, he struggled to keep breathing.
“I couldn’t breathe. I screamed my name because I didn’t know what was going to happen, and I also subconsciously screamed, ‘I can’t breathe,’ and right when it came out, I thought of George Floyd and I thought, ‘Oh, this is getting real,'” he said.
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Lavie, who has traveled the United States in recent months documenting ICE’s work, said officers working in Minneapolis are tougher than those he’s seen elsewhere, doing things like shooting pepper spray into the air intakes of vehicles to force people out.
“They’re very threatening right away, rather than de-escalating a situation,” he said.
“Their unprofessionalism worries me as an observer because I see it as just a short distance to have someone really hurt,” he added. “It’s reckless and dangerous.”
Despite suffering a chemical burn to his eye, pepper bullet wounds and abrasions from hitting the ground, Abernathy did not rush to the hospital after being released from custody.
John Abernathy says he suffered multiple injuries after being hit with pepper spray and attacked by federal officers. Photographs: John Abernathy
Instead, he set out to find his phone and camera, though because of the chemical agent he was sprayed with, he had no clear idea who had taken them.
“I found a guy with a meg and asked him to walk up and down and ask if anyone had my camera and no one did,” he said.
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He enlisted his wife’s help by having her use Find My iPhone. At the same time, Lavie had handed over the equipment to another journalist he was traveling with, who tried to find the owner using the contact details on the phone’s medical record.
The two eventually reunited at a hotel where they first met.
“He jumped out of the car and gave me a big handshake and a hug and said, ‘Thank you so much,'” Lavie said, adding that Abernathy “was a little beat up, but he’s obviously a tough guy and a quick thinker and he seemed good.”
Abernathy went to the hospital after retrieving his camera, where he discovered the last images he had captured before officers took him down.
This is one of the last two photos photographer John Abernathy took before he was approached by ICE agents in Minneapolis. John Abernathy
This is one of the last two photos photographer Abernathy took before he was approached by ICE agents in Minneapolis. John Abernathy
Abernathy said he is fine now, but tired and shaking constantly.
“I don’t know if it’s a nervous system response to stress or something with tear gas or what,” he said.
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Lavie said Abernathy didn’t stay down long, noting she saw him take several pictures Saturday after he was approached Thursday.
“We don’t like to stop,” Lavie said.
Abernathy noted that he had never been tackled, handcuffed or pepper-sprayed until last week, but he will continue to document what happens.
“The world needs to see this, not just the people here,” he said, “because the whole world needs to get over it.”
Updates from the US
Read the original on HuffPost