The charges against two student journalists who were arrested last year while covering the Occupy Atlanta protests were officially dropped Wednesday.
Judy Kim and Alisen Redmond were reporting for their student newspapers, The Signal at Georgia State University and The Sentinel at Kennesaw State University, respectively. They were arrested, jailed and cited for obstruction of traffic while reporting on the protests in November 2011.
“It was a happy afternoon,” said Sandra Michaels, the attorney that represented the student journalists.
After he was asked about the charges in mid-October, Mayor Kasim Reed told a group of journalists that the charges would be dismissed. Reed said he wasn’t aware of the charges initially. The National Press Photographers Association, the Student Press Law Center and five other journalism organizations wrote to Reed in early October asking the charges to be dismissed.
Charges were also dismissed for a third journalist from Atlanta alternative newspaper Creative Loafing, who was also arrested during coverage of the Occupy movement.