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Legal representatives representing a producer from the city of Chicago's local TV network who was temporarily detained by government officers last week describe the event as "an occurrence that ought to concern and frighten every person in this nation".

Details of the Detainment

Debbie Brockman, a US citizen and station staff member, was taken into custody on the weekend by government officers during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in a North Side Chicago area. Footage from the scene show the producer being pushed down by officers before she is restrained and placed in a van.

At the time, a homeland security official stated that the individual "hurled items at an official vehicle" and was "detained for attacking an officer".

Later on Friday, WGN announced that their employee had been released from federal custody and that no accusations had been pressed against her.

Attorney's Reaction

In a news release issued by attorneys acting for Brockman on earlier this week, her legal team disputed the official version. They stated they "adamantly deny any allegation that she assaulted anyone" and that "Brockman was the one who was violently assaulted by officers on her way to work" on the date in question.

Her lawyers say that at the moment of the arrest, Brockman was "not acting in any professional capacity as an staff member for the station" but that she was just "walking to the bus stop as part of her morning commute when she was attacked by federal officers.

"Brockman, who is a American citizen born in this country, was forcibly held on Foster Avenue," the release adds. "As this happened, bystanders on the street began recording the event and inquired her her name."

The statement says that she informed the bystanders her name and that she worked at the station, in the hopes that "someone would notify her workplace so colleagues would know that she would not be coming at work that day", her attorneys stated.

Consequences and Next Steps

According to her lawyers, Brockman was kept in federal custody for about seven hours before being freed.

"The individual has not been charged with any crimes and she plans to pursue all legal avenues available to her to uphold her entitlements and ensure government accountability for their conduct," the statement adds.

"One attorney, one of her attorneys, added in the release: "If equipped, covered, government officers are taking US citizens off the street as they walk to work and throwing them in non-descript cars, you can only imagine what these agents must be prepared to do to our foreign-born residents and people who choose to protest against them."

"Ms Brockman was taken to the ground, battered, restrained, and her trousers were pulled down revealing her uncovered skin," Thomson said. "No one should be treated like that in this metropolis, in this nation or anywhere else in the globe."

Immigration authorities, the federal agency, and the border agency did not provide a prompt reply to requests for comment from news outlets.