About half of the people arrested during the Baltimore protests Monday—some of them members of the press—were just released without charges, NBC News reports.

The estimated 100 people were reportedly held in jail for around 48 hours—double the accepted time period—before cops began releasing or charging them. NBC reports the process was apparently nudged along by a habeas corpus petition filed Wednesday morning by the Baltimore Public Defenders’ office.

The processing problems were also apparently self-inflicted—Baltimore City Paper writer Caitlin Goldblatt tweeted Wednesday night that, “Delays in recent releases allegedly partially due to vans dropping detainees off at booking without paperwork.” But, according to NBC, those released may still be charged:

The releases were the result of a logjam for police who were scrambling to pull the necessary paperwork to file charges at the same time they were trying to keep peace on the city’s streets, Kowalczyk said.

Batts, the police commissioner, told reporters Wednesday night: “We’ve come up on a timeline. We are releasing them with future prosecution in mind. ... We’re not giving up on them.

Among those released Wednesday evening was VICE freelancer Shawn Carrié, who was apparently arrested despite showing police his press pass.

[image via AP]


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