John Abernathy, a photographer from Minneapolis, was flat on the ground. He had the knees of at least one federal officer on his back. He heard someone shouting to put his hands behind his back, but his arms were half pinned beneath him. He was surrounded by dozens of officers deploying something - tear gas, he thinks - that made it hard to see or breathe. He felt like he could puke or pass out.

He feared what might happen if federal agents got hold of his equipment. So when he locked eyes with another photographer, he took his camera - a Leica M10-R with a 28-millimeter lens - and threw it, pitching his cellphone away from him shortly after.

Photographer John Abernathy says he tossed his camera to Pierre Lavie so it wouldn`t be confiscated by federal officers./Photo: Pierre Lavie/@just1dudewithacamera

Pierre Lavie, a fellow photojournalist, snatched the Leica by the strap and brought it close to his body. As he reached for Abernathy`s phone, which had only traveled a couple of feet, a federal officer repeatedly tried to stomp on it.

"I had to Hungry Hippo my hand in and out to avoid my hand getting stepped on, and I managed to finally grab it and get it away," Lavie told HuffPost.

It`s a familiar scene to both. Abernathy, who previously did photography work for advertisements and magazines, said he set out to document the protests over Immigration and Customs Enforcement`s crackdown in Minneapolis and the killing of Renee Good "just to show what`s happening to whoever might see it." Lavie, a member of the National Press Photographers Association from Dallas, had come from New Orleans, where he was also capturing ICE activity, to cover the unrest.

On Thursday, Jan. 15, both were outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, which has recently been used to hold people detained by ICE officers. When Abernathy saw what he called "agitators" - pro-ICE demonstrators - carrying bear spray, he grabbed a can from someone and tossed it aside so it couldn`t go off near him.

He speculates that`s why he was targeted by federal agents, who yelled that they saw him spraying the crowd, though he said they didn`t provide evidence to back that up after they handcuffed him and took him inside the Whipple Building. (He received a citation, but has yet to receive a court date.)

Photographer John Abernathy is seen being pushed to the ground as federal immigration officers confronted protesters outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on Jan. 15 in Minneapolis./via Associated Press

As he struggled underneath the agents, he fought to keep breathing.

"I couldn`t breathe. I screamed my name because I didn`t know what was about to happen, and I also sort of subconsciously screamed ‘I can`t breathe,` and right when it came out, I thought of George Floyd, and I thought, ‘Oh shit, this is getting real,`" he said.

Lavie, who has traveled around the United States in recent months documenting ICE activity, said officers working in Minneapolis are harsher than those he`s seen elsewhere, doing things like shooting pepper spray into the air intake of vehicles to force people out.

"They`re very threatening right away, instead of de-escalating a situation," he said.

"Their unprofessionalism worries me as an observer because I just see it as a short distance to travel to having somebody really hurt," he added. "It`s reckless and dangerous."

Despite suffering a chemical burn in his eye, wounds from pepper bullets and abrasions from hitting the ground, Abernathy didn`t rush to the hospital after he was released from custody.

John Abernathy says he sustained several injuries after being hit with pepper bullets and tackled by federal officers./Photos: John Abernathy

Instead, he set out to find his phone and camera, though because of the chemical agent he was doused with, he didn`t have a clear idea of who had scooped them up.

"I found some guy with a bullhorn, and I asked him to walk up and down and ask if anybody has my camera, and nobody had it," he said.

He enlisted his wife`s help, having her use the Find My iPhone feature. At the same time, Lavie had passed the equipment to another journalist he was traveling with, who tried to find the owner using the contact information on the phone`s Medical ID.

The two finally reunited at a hotel where they met for the first time.

"He hopped out of the car and gave me a big handshake and a hug and said, ‘thank you so much,`" Lavie said, adding Abernathy "was a little beat up, but he`s obviously a tough dude and quick-thinking, and he seemed good."

Abernathy went to the hospital after retrieving his camera, where he discovered the last few images he captured before officers took him down.

This is one of the last two photos photographer John Abernathy took before being tackled by ICE agents in Minneapolis./John Abernathy

This is one of the last two photos photographer Abernathy took before being tackled by ICE agents in Minneapolis./John Abernathy

Abernathy said he`s fine now, but tired and constantly shaky.

"I don`t know if it`s a nervous system response to stress or something with tear gas or what," he said.

Lavie said Abernathy didn`t stay down long, noting he saw him out making more images on Saturday, after being tackled on Thursday.

"We don`t like to stop," Lavie said.

Abernathy noted that he`s never been tackled, handcuffed or pepper-sprayed until last week, but he will keep documenting what`s happening.

"The world needs to see it, not just people here," he said, "because the whole world has to come down on this."