Minister charged with assaulting TV reporters
Records also say he robbed journalists in protest scuffle
A Baltimore pastor who previously ran unsuccessfully for City Council has been charged with assaulting and robbing Fox 45 journalists during recent protests outside City Hall, according to online court records and a Baltimore police report.
Westley West, 32, who is a pastor at the Faith Empowered Ministries in West Baltimore, is charged with five counts, including robbery, second-degree assault and theft under $25,000, for an incident involving the TV journalists, according to a redacted police report.
This is not the first time West has been arrested during public demonstrations in the city. In 2016, a Baltimore jury found him not guilty of charges stemming from a protest outside a court hearing for the officers charged in the Freddie Gray case.
West was acquitted at the time of disturbing the peace and failure to obey law enforcement, and prosecutors dropped other charges, including malicious destruction of property and false imprisonment, before his trial started.
In a statement, Bill Fanshawe, senior vice president of WBFF Fox 45, said the journalists were not hurt and emphasized the need for a free press.
“Our station will always support the Constitutional right to protest, a fundamental pillar of our democracy. At the same time, we also recognize the necessity of a free press, something that is more important now than ever before,” Fanshawe said. “We ask that protesters recognize the important service that journalists everywhere provide, and should not be targets of anger and frustration.”
Donald Wright, an attorney for West, said that his client was falsely charged, and denied taking any items from the journalists. He said second-degree assault charges should be brought against the Fox reporter who he said put a microphone in West’s face and stepped in in front of West.
“We look forward to his day in court,” Wright said.
West referred questions to his attorney, and declined to comment further. He said he would speak about the case at a news conference at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
In a police report, the director of the station told police that the station’s journalists were outside City Hall just after midnight on May 31 when they were attacked.
Fox 45 journalist Dan Lampariello wrote on Twitter that he and photojournalist Jacob Fisher were chased away from the protests outside City Hall.
“We are safe and unharmed,” he wrote. A Fox story from the protests said that the photographer was punched in the face.
The police report said WBFF provided police with footage from the incident.
According to online court records, West was arrested Monday and released on his own recognizance.