Deray is on summer vacation from his job with the Baltimore public schools. BLM members tried to describe his arrest as 'violent', others who saw it said it was not. He was charged with obstruction of a highway, probably not have an affect on his six figure new job with the Baltimore Schools.
Via Daily Mail:
Prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson was arrested in Baton Rouge during a protest against the shooting death Tuesday of 37-year-old Alton Sterling, Louisiana authorities said.
McKesson, one of the most recognizable faces to emerge from the Black Lives Matter movement, was walking alongside Airline Highway when he was arrested.
The former educator built a national following after he left his then-home and job in Minneapolis in August 2014 for Ferguson, Missouri, to document the rising anger over race relations after the police shooting of Michael Brown.
It was not immediately clear what prompted McKesson's arrest — but multiple witnesses described the arrest as 'physically violent,' the Washington Post reported.
'They tackled him,' Brittany Packnett, a fellow activist, told the newspaper. 'One officer hit the top of his body and another officer the bottom.'
The activist said McKesson, who was live-streaming the protests, had been walking down the street with a group of about eight people — when an officer told him he had been 'flagged' and would be arrested if he left the sidewalk again.
He was arrested moments later.
'The officers won't give their names,' Packnetet told the Post. 'He was clearly targeted.'
Footage from McKesson's camera shows the minutes before he is arrested.
'The police continue to just provoke people,' he says, right before an officer tells him he has been 'flagged.'
'You in them loud shoes, if I see you in the road, if I get close to you, you're going to jail,' the officer is heard saying.
'We're on the shoulder,' Packnett is heard saying. 'There is no sidewalk, sir.'
Moments later, an officer is heard saying: 'City police, you're under arrest.'
'What?' replies McKesson, as heard in the video. 'I'm under arrest, y'all.'
As of Sunday morning, more than 160,000 people tweeted news of McKesson's arrest using the hashtag #FreeDeray.
Police are yet to confirm what charges McKesson faces.
He called a close friend about 5:30am and said he was in 'okay physical condition,' the Post reported.