A photojournalist covering an Iowa protest in response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis was wrongly arrested by a Des Moines police officer, his lawyer told a federal appeals court panel Thursday, arguing the officer should not be protected from liability by qualified immunity.
Mark "Ted" Nieters, a freelance photographer with international experience, was covering a spring 2020 protest in downtown Des Moines in reaction to the Floyd murder when he was tackled by Des Moines police officer Brandon Holtan, pepper-sprayed, and arrested for failure to disperse, a simple misdemeanor.
