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ST. LOUIS - The City of Kinloch, Missouri, held a special meeting Thursday after an investigation claiming police were using uninsured and unregistered police cars.
Instead of being allowed into the public meeting, however, the KTVI crew was barred from entering for having a camera, and police arrested reporter Chris Hayes, who explained what happened:
Kinloch is a small municipality off I-70, bordered by Ferguson on one side and Lambert Airport on the other.
In an investigation that aired Wednesday, KTVI ran VINs on police cars and found one registered to a rural Missouri man. Another came back to a cab company. Kinloch city officials said they couldn’t afford to buy insurance for their cars or the city.
This issue was slated to be discussed at the City Hall meeting, where a sign reads “no audio or video recording of any kind is allowed in this building without prior written approval.” Hayes said he initially received permission from officials to record the meeting, but was then told he couldn't enter:
Police cuffed me and shackled my leg to a holding bench.
Hayes was charged with “disorderly conduct” and “failure to comply” and released on bail with a September court date.
Meanwhile, another KTVI employee attended the meeting without a camera. City Leaders talked about dissolving the police department but decided to fight through their financial struggles and continue policing without registering or insuring their squad cars.
Citizens were inside with cameras, including one man who told the station, “The press, you know they are public. They cover news and I think that they should be able to have that. They ain’t going in there with no weapons and no guns. Are they scared to take cameras because they might tell the truth?”
Hayes wrote: