I’m not sure how well this meshes with the raw video of them taking down the equipment but judge for yourself.
Media footage of St. Charles County SWAT Team members reportedly taking an Al-Jazeera news crew camera equipment has made international news. But the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department says their SWAT Team was helping the journalists in Ferguson, not taking their equipment.
In a statement released Thursday, the sheriff said their regional SWAT Team responded to Ferguson at the request of the St. Louis County police department.
On Wednesday, an Al-Jazeera crew got caught in the tear gas. St. Charles County SWAT Team members located the journalists, put them into their armored car and then disassembled their equipment and loaded it for them.
A spokesperson for the St. Charles County Sheriff’s department says the reporters “thanked their officers.”