San Francisco Chronicle photographer arrested at site of Yolo County explosion
A news crew with ABC10 was also threatened with arrest after filming too close to the crime scene.
A freelance journalist on assignment for the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper was arrested at the scene of a massive fireworks warehouse explosion in Yolo County on Wednesday.
The photographer, Richard Grant, was booked into Yolo County jail on one count of criminal trespass after a California Highway Patrol officer confronted him at the scene of the fire.
Around 4:30 p.m., a news helicopter from KCRA-TV (Channel 3, NBC) spotted Grant taking photographs of debris within the blast zone, which has been designated an active crime scene by law enforcement.
A CHP officer placed Grant into his squad car and drove him away from the scene. He was transferred to the custody of the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office, and is expected to be released late Wednesday evening.
Grant is believed to have circumvented CHP road closures by cutting through farm land to access the scene of the explosion, a law enforcement source told Solano NewsNet by phone on Wednesday.
An editor with the San Francisco Chronicle did not return a request for comment, but a source familiar with the matter said a private attorney has been retained to represent Grant. KCRA-TV and the San Francisco Chronicle are owned by Hearst Corporation.
About 15 minutes after Grant’s arrest, sheriff’s deputies warned a news crew from Sacramento TV station KXTV (Channel 10, ABC) that they were filming too close to the crime scene.
The crew had been warned the previous day that they were filming within the crime scene zone, and that they needed to move for the integrity of the investigation and their own safety, a police source told Solano NewsNet on Wednesday.
One member of the news crew told police that they used a GPS application on their phone to arrive at the scene, and that they did not encounter any police road blocks or any visible signs that the area was closed to the media. But a police source who spoke with Solano NewsNet said the same crew had been warned a day earlier that they were filming too close to where the explosion took place.
The crew, who was not identified by name, was told to leave the area and threatened with arrest if they returned. A spokesperson for KXTV has not returned a request for more information.
Under California law, accredited members of the news media are permitted to access areas that are closed to the public during emergencies, even if their safety is threatened. But the law doesn’t allow reporters or photographers to access areas designated as crime scenes, and journalists can be arrested if they disturb evidence.