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Reporter Receives Court Summons Nearly A Year After Reporting In Ferguson

A year after he was in Ferguson, Mo., a reporter at The Washington Post, has been ordered to appear in court.

According to the Post, Wesley Lowery, who covered demonstrations in Ferguson, was detained in a McDonald's while reporting. He's been charged in St. Louis County with trespassing and interfering with a police officer and ordered to appear in court.

" 'Charging a reporter with trespassing and interfering with a police officer when he was just doing his job is outrageous,' Martin Baron, executive editor of The Post, said in a statement Monday. 'You'd have thought law enforcement authorities would have come to their senses about this incident. Wes Lowery should never have been arrested in the first place. That was an abuse of police authority.

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" 'This latest action represents contemptible overreaching by prosecutors who seem to have no regard for the role of journalists seeking to cover a major story and following normal practice,' Baron continued."

Lowery received a court summons dated August 6, ordering his appearance at a St. Louis County municipal court on August 24. He could be arrested if he doesn't appear.

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