Black Reporter's Arrest During Rochester, New York, Protest Captured on Live TV
A total of 74 people were arrested during the demonstrations.
— -- Police arrested 74 people, including two African American reporters, one whom was arrested on live TV, during a protest in Rochester, New York, Friday night.
Rochester police officers clad in riot gear tried to move dozens of protesters out of an intersection downtown where the crowd had started gathering around 9:45 p.m. Police began making arrests when demonstrators continued to block the street and refused to move.
The protesters were demonstrating against police brutality in the wake of officer-involved shootings of black men earlier in the week in Louisiana and Minnesota and the mass shooting at a march in Dallas that left five law enforcement officers dead.
Two African American reporters from ABC Rochester affiliate WHAM-TV, Carlet Cleare and Justin Carter, were briefly detained and released. WHAM-TV posted live coverage of Carter's arrest on social media.
Rochester Police Chief Michael Ciminelli and the city's mayor, Lovely Warren, have both apologized for the detainment of the two reporters, WHAM said.
Ciminelli said the department was prevented from responding to nonemergency calls during the protests because of the need for a beefed-up police presence at the demonstration. Some protesters threw rocks at the officers, Ciminelli said during a news conference early Saturday morning.
Rochester Mayor Warren said during the press conference that no tear gas, batons, tasers or weapons were used by law enforcement at the protest.
ABC News' Devin Villacis contributed to this report.