Peter Nickeas is a Tribune reporter recently accused of informing on protesters to the police. Monica Trinidad is the activist who publicly accused him. Jerry Boyle is the Chicago attorney who put the idea in her head. And I’m the media writer who wishes he hadn’t.   On a pro bono basis, Boyle serves the causes he believes in. He was on hand when Black Lives Matter demonstrators gathered at Taste of Chicago earlier this month, wearing the green hat that identifies him as a legal observer. He doesn’t know most of the demonstrators, but he thinks of them all, in an abstract way, as his clients.  

  Green was arrested and charged with aggravated battery of a police officer. He was later released on bail.

Jamal Green, ID’d by CPD as person hitting Cmdr. George Devereaux in this photo, charged w/ 5 felonies #chicago pic.twitter.com/YvUOO0F63Q

— Peter Nickeas (@PeterNickeas) July 11, 2016

   Trinidad took Boyle’s words of wisdom more to heart than she should have, and a couple of days after the Taste she posted this tweet:

Heads up, Chi activists. Reporter @PeterNickeas helps cops arrest prominent activists at actions w/ biased reporting pic.twitter.com/ApTFQ8QJl6

— Monica Trinidad (@monicatea2) July 13, 2016

But the work has apparently taken its toll on Nickeas. In April, he posted a kind of cry for help on Medium: 

                         I drink more than I used to. The first good night of sleep I’ve had in probably three or four years was last week, when I drank half a bottle of gin, a healthy slug of nyquil and 40 oz of “sleep tea.” I blacked out, and didn’t dream. Dreamless sleep, a good eight hours, I miss that from before overnights. But my solution is not sustainable. . .

                         I struggle with whether my feelings now are valid. Whether this is normal, whether this is to be expected or whether I should just man up and quit being a bitch about it. So what, I went to murders and shootings. Experiences be damned, this is just life, so don’t dwell on it. . . 

                         So. Here I am. If I’m being honest, and I’ve been forcing myself to be honest as a way of reckoning with my mental health and my future, I can’t deny my feelings. I can’t deny my failures to my loved ones over the last four years — the relationships I’ve let whither because I ran out of energy and the will to make relationships work or because I took them for granted. My negativity, my inattention, my attitude. I hurt people I love. I can’t deny my personal failures — of my own well being and mental health, in not addressing this cloud that I’ve let take over my existence. . .


  And he tweeted this:

Also I didn’t cover the protest but narrative more important than facts https://t.co/WvDiDfR8bm

— Peter Nickeas (@PeterNickeas) July 14, 2016

. @jackdoppelt no problems from me, I’m comfortable with the work I’ve done and if someone wants to beef I can handle it.

— Peter Nickeas (@PeterNickeas) July 13, 2016

@BruceDold @PeterNickeas Why put reporter usually embedded with police on police brutality protest? https://t.co/bQ5UMMBi1g

— Jerry Boyle (@jecboyle) July 13, 2016

@PeterNickeas @yo60640 How did Felony Review get it in time to approve charge, long before it gets to court?

— Jerry Boyle (@jecboyle) July 14, 2016

  “Who did you give it to, and when?” asked Boyle.

Would say slower if I could. Did not give that photo to anyone but Twitter. I know that’s hard to understand. Try. https://t.co/dgcBYvgpJJ