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Attorneys representing a producer from Chicago's WGN television station who was briefly held by federal agents last week characterize the incident as "an occurrence that ought to alarm and horrify every person in this country".

Particulars of the Arrest

The journalist, a US citizen and WGN employee, was arrested on the weekend by government officers during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement action in a North Side Chicago area. Videos from the scene show Brockman being pushed down by two agents before she is handcuffed and put in a van.

At the time, a homeland security official stated that Brockman "threw objects at border patrol's car" and was "detained for attacking an officer".

Subsequently that day, the television station confirmed that their employee had been released from federal custody and that no charges had been filed against her.

Attorney's Response

In a statement issued by lawyers acting for Brockman on earlier this week, her representatives disputed the official version. They stated they "strongly refute any claim that she attacked anyone" and that "She was the one who was violently assaulted by federal agents on her way to work" on the date in question.

Her attorneys say that at the moment of the detainment, the journalist was "not acting in any professional capacity as an employee for the station" but that she was just "walking to the bus stop as part of her daily travel when she was confronted by Border Patrol agents.

"Brockman, who is a US Citizen native to the US, was violently detained on a city street," the statement adds. "As this happened, bystanders on the street began filming the event and inquired Ms Brockman her name."

The release indicates that she informed the onlookers her name and that she was employed at WGN, in the hopes that "someone would inform her employer so coworkers would know that she would not be coming at work that day", her attorneys stated.

Consequences and Legal Action

Based on her lawyers, Brockman was held in government detention for about several hours before being freed.

"The individual has not been charged with any crimes and she plans to explore all legal avenues available to her to vindicate her entitlements and hold the federal authorities accountable for their actions," the statement adds.

"Brad Thomson, a legal representative, added in the statement: "When armed, masked, federal agents are taking US citizens off the street as they travel to work and placing them in non-descript cars, you can only conceive what these agents must be prepared to do to our immigrant neighbors and people who dare to protest against them."

"Ms Brockman was taken to the ground, struck, restrained, and her trousers were pulled down revealing her bare buttocks," Thomson stated. "No one should be handled like that in this city, in this nation or anywhere else in the world."

Immigration authorities, the federal agency, and the border agency did not immediately respond to inquiries from news outlets.