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{
"title": "Videojournalist detained during Sacramento protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/videojournalist-detained-during-sacramento-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-01T20:54:06.897821Z",
"last_published_at": "2020-12-01T21:13:34.973547Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2020-12-01T21:13:34.930399Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Sacramento",
"longitude": -121.4944,
"latitude": 38.58157,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Jeoffrey Zingapan, co-founder of Black Zebra Productions, was briefly detained while on assignment for the Sacramento Bee covering demonstrations in Sacramento, California, on June 1, 2020.</p><p><a href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article243401291.html\">According to the Bee</a>, June 1 was the first night of a citywide curfew. In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1915290438605058&ref=watch_permalink\">FacebookLive video</a> on Black Zebra’s page captured by Zingapan’s reporting partner shortly after 11 p.m., Zingapan can be seen standing on a public sidewalk surrounded by several Sacramento Police Department officers. According to the Bee, officers detained him while he was filming an arrest on the public sidewalk.</p><p>Zingapan, who appears to be wearing a yellow safety vest, was placed in handcuffs and questioned by officers for at least five minutes after the livestream began.</p><p>Zingapan and Black Zebra Productions did not respond to messages requesting comment.</p><p>The Bee <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/21595906224/posts/10157733093296225/?d=n\">posted a statement</a> following Zingapan’s arrest on Facebook: “We want to be clear: The Bee supports Black Zebra — and all media — to independently report and produce journalism. Detaining working journalists is not acceptable.”</p><p>The outlet also confirmed that it had hired the Black Zebra reporting team and issued them Sacramento Bee credentials so they could produce documentaries on demonstrations in the city for the news outlet.</p><p>According to the Bee’s post, the police department assured them that moving forward the Black Zebra team would “be afforded the same freedoms to report as other media outlets.”</p><p>The Sacramento Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Sacramento Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jeoffrey Zingapan (Black Zebra Productions)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Denver Post reporter aimed at with weapon amid protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/denver-post-reporter-aimed-at-with-weapon-amid-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-18T18:19:31.914185Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:26:41.540727Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:26:41.453907Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Denver",
"longitude": -104.9847,
"latitude": 39.73915,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"sfefq\">Denver Post reporter Alex Burness and a second reporter were aimed at with a crowd-control weapon by law enforcement while covering protests in Denver, Colorado, on the evening of May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"n6fqx\">The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for 7 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"ol58y\">Earlier in the night, Burness was struck multiple times with crowd-control munitions. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented that case <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/denver-police-train-less-lethal-rifle-two-colorado-reporters-shortly-after-one-was-hit-projectiles/\">here</a>. Burness later ran into Denverite and Colorado Public Radio reporter Esteban Hernandez near the state capitol building, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"pxqjb\">The lights around the capitol were off, creating an “uneasy” atmosphere, Burness said. A large crowd of protesters had amassed on the north side of the building. Police moved toward protesters, firing tear gas. Burness and Hernandez decided to leave the area, heading away from the tear gas toward the capitol’s south side.</p><p data-block-key=\"2pan8\">There, they encountered a line of officers standing across a two-lane street. Burness saw an opening that would have allowed them to leave the area without crossing the police line. “We shouted to them ‘Press!’ several times,” Burness said. Both had press credentials around their necks and Hernandez wore a neon yellow vest with ‘PRESS’ written on it in large letters. “One of the officers points that we have to head the other way, back towards where the tear gas is coming from.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qumqo\">Burness and Hernandez continued to shout “Press! Press! Press!” to get the officers to allow them to pass through the open area, but police refused. In a show of force, one lifted what Burness described as a rifle used to shoot less-lethal projectiles, and pointed it directly at the journalists.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A cop just shouted at <a href=\"https://twitter.com/EstebanHRZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@EstebanHRZ</a> and me to walk in other direction — toward an epic amount of tear gas. We shouted “press!” and Esteban is even wearing a neon press vest. Cop points weapon right at us. We were forced back into the chaos and we both took a ton of gas to the face.</p>— Alex Burness (@alex_burness) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/alex_burness/status/1267319325846917120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gdlo2\">“There is no doubt in my mind that those officers knew we were press. We were 40 feet away from the guy, we’re shouting press, he’s looking directly at us, he knows what’s up, he still did that,” Burness said, calling the incident “a flagrant disregard for our press rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6dz60\">The two retreated back toward the capitol lawn, where they were engulfed in a cloud of tear gas. Burness, wearing ski goggles and an N95 mask, said he couldn’t see at more than five percent for several minutes. “It was very intense, extremely unpleasant, and crucially, totally unnecessary,” he said. Reached via direct message on Twitter, Hernandez declined to comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"lkur9\">Multiple law enforcement agencies were operating in the area at the time, Burness said, including the Colorado Army National Guard, Denver Police, the Colorado State Patrol and sheriffs’ departments from various counties across the state. Burness said he believes the officer who trained his gun at them was with the Colorado State Patrol.</p><p data-block-key=\"a4hte\">The Tracker reached out to the Colorado State Patrol, which declined to comment on the incidents, saying they involved the Denver Police Department. A request for comment to the Denver Police Department was not immediately returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"2vwys\">Burness said that while he has lingering bruises from being hit, “I’m much more shaken up by how our rights were disregarded.”</p><p data-block-key=\"m0bdl\">“Even though there certainly has been much more interest on Twitter and from people who care about me about me being shot at with these foam bullets, the other incident to me, from a press freedom perspective, is significantly more troubling,” Burness said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d8gcn\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Colorado",
"abbreviation": "CO"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Alex Burness (The Denver Post)"
],
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},
{
"title": "VOA journalist shot at with crowd-control munitions while covering DC protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/voa-journalist-shot-at-with-crowd-control-munitions-while-covering-dc-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-19T15:04:58.487189Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:34:20.620314Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:34:20.547781Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"avbc4\">Voice of America journalist Jason Patinkin was shot at with crowd-control munitions while covering a chaos-filled night of protests in Washington, D.C., on May 31, 2020, the third evening of widespread demonstrations in the nation’s capital after the death of George Floyd.</p><p data-block-key=\"bz1mn\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"ygcnr\">Patinkin said in an <a href=\"https://www.voanews.com/press-freedom/voa-journalist-says-police-fired-toward-press-protesters-dc\">article</a> published by VOA on June 4 that he’d been leaving protests near Lafayette Square around 11 p.m. with another news crew when he heard a loud bang and saw a flash-bang device land near their feet. He then said he saw an officer raise a weapon and fire in their direction. In footage of the incident posted by VOA, the projectile appears to ricochet off the ground. Patinkin told his employer that he felt something hit his flak jacket, near his left shoulder.</p><p data-block-key=\"zfq7t\">Patinkin told VOA that his press credentials were displayed and that it was unclear which agency the officers were with.</p><p data-block-key=\"k11wk\">“I’ve covered lots of places where there’s been conflict and civil unrest. I’ve seen a lot of disproportionate response and I think that a lot of what the police around the White House have been doing certainly qualifies as both disproportionate and indiscriminate,” <a href=\"https://www.voanews.com/press-freedom/covering-us-protests-journalists-find-unexpected-threats\">Patinkin told VOA in a later article</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"hplg6\">VOA did not respond to further requests for comment on this incident as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"jhh4e\">D.C. is notable for the <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/05/protests-washington-dc-federal-agents-law-enforcement-302551\">large number of different police forces</a> that operate within its borders. Requests for comment from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Park Police were not returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"cbrpp\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "District of Columbia",
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "MLive photographer hit with rubber bullets in Detroit; officer charged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/mlive-photographer-hit-with-rubber-bullets-in-detroit-officer-charged/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-29T15:28:31.316796Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-08T16:27:43.468801Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-08T16:27:43.361800Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vg5rc\">MLive photojournalist Nicole Hester was covering demonstrations in Detroit, Michigan, when she was struck alongside other photographers by crowd-control munitions fired by police on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mr6ls\">The protests that evening were in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"97k94\">Hester, along with <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-photographers-hit-rubber-bullets-detroit-officer-charged/\">Matthew Hatcher</a>, on assignment for Getty Images, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photographer-hit-with-rubber-bullets-in-detroit-officer-charged/\">Seth Herald</a>, on assignment for Agence France-Presse, encountered at least two officers while trying to return to their car in the Kennedy Parking Garage downtown around midnight, according to Herald and Hatcher.</p><p data-block-key=\"lpnku\">The photographers told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that they put their hands in the air and identified themselves as members of the press. They said they thought the police signaled that they could cross the street when the officers opened fire.</p><p data-block-key=\"9s5s6\">Hester was hit with as many as a dozen pellets in the face, arms, legs and chest, leaving welts and narrowly missing an eye, according to the <a href=\"https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2020/05/mlive-photographer-among-journalists-fired-upon-with-pellets-by-detroit-police-officer-during-protest-coverage.html\">article</a> by her employer. Hatcher sent pictures to CPJ that showed his injuries: a busted, bleeding lip and welts on his nose, forehead and torso.</p><p data-block-key=\"9l367\">After police fired on the journalists, Herald told CPJ, he asked one of the officers if he believed in freedom of the press. The officer answered that he didn’t know, Herald said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3nw6g\">According to the MLive article, one of the officers told Hester: “Maybe you’ll write the truth some day, lady!”</p><p data-block-key=\"nh2xb\">The three journalists then continued to the parking garage and passed another group of officers. One told them that if he saw their faces again, he would lock them up, according to MLive and interviews with Herald and Hatcher.</p><p data-block-key=\"cadbh\">The trio arrived to find the parking garage locked and had to leave their car overnight, walking several blocks to get a ride-share home, Hatcher told CPJ.</p><p data-block-key=\"oyzzw\">On July 20, Detroit Police Corporal Daniel Debono was charged with three counts of felony assault for shooting non-lethal rounds at Hester, Herald and Hatcher, <a href=\"https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2020/07/charges-issued-against-detroit-police-officer-accused-of-shooting-rubber-pellets-at-3-photographers-covering-protests.html\">according to MLive</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"xk5jz\">In the article, the vice president of content for MLive Media Group said that they “are pleased that the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office investigated this thoroughly, and that this is moving forward toward justice."</p><p data-block-key=\"sq8sc\">The Detroit Police Department did not respond to phone or emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"3dmn3\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"fkolu\">Detroit police fire tear gas at protesters on May 31, 2020, during protests against police brutality following the death of George Floyd. The day before, photojournalist Nicole Hester was hit with rubber bullets while covering the protests.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
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"updates": [
"(2021-10-26 14:09:00+00:00) Charges dismissed against officer who fired rubber bullets at MLive photographer",
"(2023-03-16 00:00:00+00:00) Detroit police officer who fired rubber bullets at photojournalist to stand trial",
"(2024-10-21 00:00:00+00:00) Case dropped against Detroit officer who shot rubber bullets at photojournalists"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist assaulted while covering protests in Birmingham",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-while-covering-protests-in-birmingham/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-18T17:57:27.814907Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:26:23.747580Z",
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"date": "2020-05-31",
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"city": "Birmingham",
"longitude": -86.80249,
"latitude": 33.52066,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kc8u7\">AL.com social media manager Madison Underwood was assaulted while covering protests against police violence in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 31, 2020, according to eye-witness reports and social media posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"kq37x\">Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May. They were sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"jxyjk\">Underwood, who didn’t respond to emails requesting comment, was attacked while trying to protect <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/unknown-assailants-attack-reporters-covering-protests-birmingham/\">broadcast reporter Stephen Quinn</a> from a group of unidentified individuals.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7ulz\">The journalists were covering the protests and looting in the city’s downtown, near the site of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Linn Park. Two days later, the statue was <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/06/02/867659459/confederate-monument-removed-after-birmingham-mayors-vow-to-finish-the-job\">removed</a> by order of Mayor Randall Woodfin in response to the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"l6sm0\">At around 10:45 p.m., an unidentified individual knocked the phone Quinn had been using to livestream out of his hand; other individuals stole his wallet, tripped him and attempted to hit him.</p><p data-block-key=\"4d9m5\">When Underwood attempted to help Quinn, he was knocked to the ground, kicked and punched repeatedly by several unidentified men who had surrounded the journalists. In a message posted to Twitter about the incident shortly after, Underwood said his nose was swollen and bleeding.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">That was terrible. I'm glad my colleagues are okay. I'm okay. My nose is swollen and bleeding. My phone is gone. I'm thankful to the folks who dragged me out of there, who checked on me, who said nice things. Not sure why that went bad so quickly. <a href=\"https://t.co/1evjmimm4u\">https://t.co/1evjmimm4u</a></p>— Madison Underwood (@MadisonU) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MadisonU/status/1267323334859112448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6ybhn\">In a livestream <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/aldotcom/videos/vb.9586347482/297910334549112/?type=2&theater\">video</a> of the incident recorded by AL.com journalist Ivana Hrynkiw, the incidents are shown occurring over about three minutes. AL.com said in a tweet and a later <a href=\"https://www.al.com/news/2020/06/watch-as-george-floyd-protests-around-alabama-turn-violent.html\">article</a> that its reporters, including Hrynkiw, who was heard on the livestream screaming as the attack occurred, left the scene after the attack and were OK.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">To everyone who has reached out- we are okay. Thank you. Thank you. ❤️</p>— Ivana Hrynkiw Shatara (@IvanaSuzette) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IvanaSuzette/status/1267311435253723136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0zv3d\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"name": "Alabama",
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"tags": [
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"protest"
],
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{
"title": "Minnesota State Patrol officers shoot at CBS logistics manager in Minneapolis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/minnesota-state-patrol-officers-shoot-at-cbs-logistics-manager-in-minneapolis/",
"first_published_at": "2021-11-18T19:29:26.742687Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:13:36.757956Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:13:36.657705Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"earim\">CBS News logistics manager Kevin Ward and his news crew were shot at with crowd-control munitions by law enforcement while documenting protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after curfew went into effect on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"914od\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"up858\">Protesters were marching that day on the Interstate 35W Bridge in downtown Minneapolis, <a href=\"https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/05/31/breaking-semi-truck-appears-to-drive-through-protest-marchers-on-i-35w-bridge/\">according to local CBS affiliate WCCO</a>. Sound engineer John Marschitz told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he noticed the protesters from the window of the Courtyard hotel where they were staying, and he and his team quickly gathered their equipment to film from the hotel’s parking garage. The team consisted of Ward, Marschitz, camera technician Tim Horstman and field director Michael Hopkins. See the Tracker’s documentation of these incidents <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Minneapolis&date_lower=2020-05-31&date_upper=2020-05-31&targeted_institutions=174\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gl65j\">“That’s where we started watching everything happen and there were press down below us yelling, ‘Press! Press!’ and [law enforcement] still kept firing at them,” Marschitz said, referring to members of <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/minnesota-state-patrol-officers-threaten-reporter-for-german-outlet/\">a Deutsche Welle news crew</a> who were shot at as they identified themselves as press, cut their live shot short and drove away. “We were up in the garage and when we went over to the little brick wall they would shoot up at us, even though we had the camera propped up over, if we looked over they would shoot at us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c8hy0\">When asked if the CBS News crew was specifically targeted, Marschitz said they were the only ones on that level of the garage when officers opened fire with rubber bullets and marker rounds.</p><p data-block-key=\"s5ife\">Both Marschitz and Horstman said none of the CBS journalists were struck by the munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"m1v79\">Neither Ward nor the Minnesota State Patrol responded to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"uv8kp\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kevin Ward (CBS News)"
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{
"title": "Minnesota State Patrol officers threaten cameraman for German outlet",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/minnesota-state-patrol-officers-threaten-cameraman-for-german-outlet/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-18T20:41:41.103320Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:30:24.619341Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:30:24.532259Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"plsba\">A Deutsche Welle news team was threatened and aimed at with weapons by Minnesota State Patrol troopers while documenting protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after curfew went into effect on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"5u5cp\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"2yzx7\">At 8:08 p.m., eight minutes after curfew — from which members of the media were<a href=\"http://news.minneapolismn.gov/2020/05/31/curfew-starts-8-p-m-sunday-night-stay-in-your-home/\"> specifically exempted</a> — DW correspondent Stefan Simons and cameraman Maximilian Förg were standing near a fence running alongside Interstate 35W in Minneapolis. State police officers stood in a line on the highway, where two hours earlier a truck had plowed into a crowd of protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"b2ekx\">As Simons began his live shot, several members of the Minnesota State Patrol, clad in tan riot gear, bounded up the hillside towards the journalists. “Hey, we’re press, guys, from D.C.,” Simons shouted. “We’re all press here.” Despite this, at least one officer in riot gear pointed his gun at him through the fence.</p><p data-block-key=\"0s7nc\">"Come on guys we have permission to be out here! Stop it!” Simons continued, as the officer continued to train his weapon at him. “Sir, the governor of Minnesota exempts press,” he said, referencing the curfew.</p><p data-block-key=\"40q8l\">Simons and Förg cut their live shot short, got into their car, and drove away. Video of the encounter aired live on DW, and was later<a href=\"https://www.dw.com/en/dw-team-in-minneapolis-met-with-police-hostility/av-53648098\"> posted</a> on the website.</p><p data-block-key=\"mzuoj\">Simons told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that just prior to the live shot, officers had fired off canisters of tear gas in their direction, followed by several rounds of projectiles. “We all took cover behind my car,” he said. Other members of the media were present in the vicinity, Simons said, but he did not know their names or outlets. When Simons and Förg drove away, the officers fired some sort of projectile at their vehicle, which pinged the door but did not damage it, Simons said.</p><p data-block-key=\"oyagl\">A day prior, on May 30, police<a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN8ISwuiX68\"> fired projectiles</a> at Simons and his crew and threatened them with arrest. That incident was<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-target-dozens-journalists-covering-protests-minneapolis-tear-gas-pepper-spray-rubber-bullets/\"> captured separately</a> by the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"z2hji\">The attacks garnered the attention of German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who told reporters at a<a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/george-floyd-protests-06-02-20/h_a387d67883dc0c680ac3bd2e5d8a47f9\"> press conference</a> in Berlin on June 2 he would be reaching out to the U.S. government about the matter. Deutsche Welle is an international English-language news station funded by the German government.</p><p data-block-key=\"jpm2j\">"With regard to the incidents involving Deutsche Welle, of which we have also been made aware, we will contact U.S. authorities to find out more about the circumstances," Maas<a href=\"https://www.dw.com/en/germany-to-take-up-dw-reporter-incident-with-us/av-53658672\"> said</a>. "We remain firmly committed: Journalists must be able to carry out their task, which is independent coverage of events, without endangering their safety."</p><p data-block-key=\"ri0jl\">"Democratic states under the rule of law have to meet the highest standards when it comes to protecting freedom of press," Maas said.</p><p data-block-key=\"gt3rk\">Simons, who has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Germany, characterized the treatment of the media in Minneapolis as “shocking.” “I have not actually ever seen the foreign minister of Germany having to take that kind of stance with an ally,” Simons said. “There is nobody who expects this from the United States.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jxpu7\">A request for comment emailed to the Minnesota State Patrol was not immediately returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"ko69z\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Stefan Simons (Deutsche Welle)"
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},
{
"title": "Editor, radio host repeatedly shoved while covering Portland protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/editor-radio-host-repeatedly-shoved-while-covering-portland-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-12-10T16:18:23.313811Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T21:11:21.052251Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T21:11:20.954367Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pdfb3\">Cory Elia, an editor at Village Portland and host of a KBOO podcast, was repeatedly shoved by police while covering protests in Portland, Oregon, on May 31, 2020, <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6983308-COMPLAINT-07-08-20-FINAL.html\">according to his lawsuit</a> against the city and Mayor Ted Wheeler, among others.</p><p data-block-key=\"5xq78\">Elia was covering one of the many protests that broke out across the U.S. in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis.</p><p data-block-key=\"xhjhv\">In Portland, protests over the death of Floyd began on May 29, prompting Wheeler to declare an 8 p.m. curfew that lasted three days.</p><p data-block-key=\"b7kd1\">On the night of May 31, protesters gathered near the Multnomah County Justice Center and marched toward Pioneer Courthouse despite the curfew, according to<a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/05/police-declare-civil-disturbance-amid-clash-with-protesters-in-downtown-portland-live-updates.html\"> the Oregonian</a>. Shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew took effect, the Portland police declared the protest an unlawful assembly and used tear gas and other crowd-control munitions to disperse the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"es7dj\">Elia and his colleague Lesley McLam filed a<a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2020/07/two-independent-journalists-file-suit-against-portland-police-county-sheriffs-deputies-and-state-police.html\"> civil lawsuit</a> against the city, the state, and multiple law enforcement officers on July 8, citing <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?case_number=3:20-cv-01106\">multiple press freedom violations</a> against the journalists. Elia declined to comment, citing an upcoming deposition.</p><p data-block-key=\"ylr54\">According to the complaint, Elia and a journalist with weekly alternative newspaper <a href=\"https://www.streetroots.org/\">Street Roots</a> were reporting together downtown and were attempting to leave the area when a demonstrator ran past them. Immediately after, a flash-bang grenade exploded within feet of where the pair of journalists were standing and, while temporarily blinded and disoriented, five officers surrounded them.</p><p data-block-key=\"hsklv\">“[The officers] threatened to arrest them if they did not move ‘NOW!’” the complaint said. “They held out their press passes and yelled ‘PRESS! PRESS!’ and reminded the police officers that press were exempt from the curfew order.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gah8c\">According to the complaint, the officers deliberately pushed both journalists after they identified themselves, and caused Elia to stumble into his bike, injuring his ankle.</p><p data-block-key=\"1oh4b\">After the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon filed a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> at the end of June, the city agreed to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">preliminary injunction</a> to not to arrest or harm any journalists or legal observers of the protests or impede their work.</p><p data-block-key=\"ifm6l\">The Portland Police Bureau has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing ongoing litigation.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"case_number": "3:20-cv-01106",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-07-29 13:18:00+00:00) Independent journalist receives $50,000 to settle lawsuit stemming from arrest, assaults at protests in 2020",
"(2022-04-28 00:00:00+00:00) City of Portland pays two journalists $55,000 to settle lawsuit stemming from arrests, assaults at protests in 2020"
],
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"settled"
],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Cory Elia (KBOO-FM)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance videographer assaulted while covering DC protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-videographer-assaulted-while-covering-dc-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-19T15:03:36.301475Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:32:55.260577Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:32:55.179512Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hk9g7\">Freelance videographer Roddy Hafiz was shot at with crowd-control munitions during a chaos-filled night of protests in Washington, D.C., on May 31, 2020, the third evening of widespread demonstrations in the nation’s capital after the death of George Floyd.</p><p data-block-key=\"zfe1e\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"69xfn\">Hafiz told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that shortly after 6 p.m. he had begun to document protesters next to Lafayette Square, near the White House. In a clip reviewed by the Tracker, camo-clad military police can be seen firing chemical agents into the crowd, which was then forced to retreat by a row of advancing U.S. Park Police officers mounted on horseback. Hafiz told the Tracker that as the crowd headed toward Constitution Avenue, officers fired one projectile at his feet and another at eye level, so close to his head that he could feel a rush of air pass him. He said that he identified himself to them as a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"i298j\">“I’m, like, ‘Hello, I’m media. You can see me holding a camera. Don’t point your weapons at me,’” Hafiz told the Tracker. “‘If you’re gonna shoot tear gas, obviously shoot it over me. Use whatever protocols you guys have been taught.’ I don’t think it’s to shoot at journalists point-blank, eye level.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aw2pu\">D.C. is notable for the <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/05/protests-washington-dc-federal-agents-law-enforcement-302551\">large number of different police forces</a> that operate within its borders. Requests for comment from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Park Police were not returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"v9v1l\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"shot / shot at"
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],
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{
"title": "DC police threaten Turkish VOA reporter, news team with batons",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dc-police-threaten-turkish-voa-reporter-news-team-with-batons/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-19T15:10:13.678792Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:35:08.197833Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:35:08.101832Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fomym\">Police brandished batons and forcibly moved three journalists for Voice of America’s Turkish service — after they identified themselves as members of the press — while they covered protests against police violence in Washington, D.C., on May 31, 2020, <a href=\"https://www.voanews.com/press-freedom/covering-us-protests-journalists-find-unexpected-threats\">according to a VOA report</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"nptcj\">Reporters Uzeyir Yanar and Mehtap Yilmaz and camera operator Tezcan Taskiran were reporting that Sunday night on demonstrations near St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lafayette Square, near the White House.</p><p data-block-key=\"xtzx9\">Yilmaz told VOA that at about 10:30 p.m., police officers at the scene raised batons and advanced on her, her colleagues and others standing in the area and ordered them to leave, despite the fact that Yilmaz’s colleagues were carrying video cameras and that the team identified themselves as journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"t63d3\">“There was a harsh intervention of the police against journalists during the protests. Although we showed our press cards, we were drastically removed from the protests in front of the White House,” Yilmaz told VOA.</p><p data-block-key=\"he3wh\">A spokesperson for VOA declined to comment to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on the incident. The agency also declined to make Yanar, Yilmaz or Taskiran available for interviews.</p><p data-block-key=\"775d9\">Yilmaz was one of several VOA journalists, some of whom have covered conflicts around the globe, who told the news service they were surprised by the violence they encountered at the hands of both police and demonstrators taking part in this year’s protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"f1muc\">It isn’t clear from Yilmaz’s published account of the May 31 incident which law enforcement agency approached the news crew.</p><p data-block-key=\"c0zeu\">The same day that VOA journalists were forced from the area around St. John’s Church, fire was set to a nursery room in the basement of the church’s parish house. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, which didn’t spread to other parts of the building.</p><p data-block-key=\"aftje\">On June 1, St. John’s became the backdrop for a controversial photo op for President Donald Trump. National Guard troops used tear gas and pepper balls to clear protesters from the area before Trump posed for cameras while holding up a Bible.</p><p data-block-key=\"k02mj\">Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Movement have been held across the country after a viral video showed a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"96mgn\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Broadcast reporter hit with pepper balls and tear gas during Tulsa protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/broadcast-reporter-hit-with-pepper-balls-and-tear-gas-during-tulsa-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-24T16:49:59.150920Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:22:12.424895Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:22:12.323729Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Tulsa",
"longitude": -95.99277,
"latitude": 36.15398,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wafal\">Two journalists for KTUL, Tulsa, Oklahoma’s ABC affiliate station, were hit with pepper balls fired by police while covering protests against police violence on the night of May 31, 2020, according to social media and a <a href=\"https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/chief-franklin-says-police-not-targeting-media-during-protests/article_900c8ead-abc2-5a2f-9e22-35ad501bc548.html\">news</a> report.</p><p data-block-key=\"j46kr\">The Tulsa protests were part of national demonstrations that followed the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. May 31 was also the 99th anniversary of what’s known as the Tulsa race massacre, when a racist white mob killed hundreds of Black residents in the then-thriving Black business community.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hqu9\">Reporter Ethan Hutchins and photojournalist Jacob Aranda were covering a standoff between police and protesters outside a gas station at the intersection of East 36th Street and South Peoria Avenue at around 10 p.m. Footage that <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=709626329854354&ref=watch_permalink\">streamed live</a> on the station’s Facebook page shows people milling about near the gas station, with flashing police lights down the road in the distance.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ngsm\">“So something is happening here, we’re not exactly sure,” a female voice, presumably from the KTUL studio, says. “We do have three crews that are there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"opu7u\">As popping noises erupt, some projectiles can be seen flying through the air, leaving smoke trails. “We see something beginning,” she says.</p><p data-block-key=\"i2mls\">“Hey, guys, A.J., pull back,” said Hutchins on the broadcast. “Kim, oh, Kim, I just got shot, excuse me, with a pepper ball,” a likely reference to Kim Jackson, the weekend anchor at KTUL who had been speaking.</p><p data-block-key=\"vauyg\">“Police officers have thrown a flash-bang, they have thrown a flash-bang, and my photographer and I, Jacob and I, have gotten hit with pepper balls,” said Hutchins, who declined to comment for this article. “The demonstrators have walked off now. We’ll toss it back to you real quick.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bubw0\">A portion of the same broadcast later posted on the station’s Twitter account:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">⚠️VIEWER WARNING: This was a live, uncensored event⚠️ Tulsa police fired pepper balls and tear gas into a crowd of protesters overnight at 36th and Peoria. Channel 8's <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TylerButlerKTUL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TylerButlerKTUL</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ehutchinsnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ehutchinsnews</a> were live on air when it happened. <a href=\"https://t.co/2r9zTbSiXS\">pic.twitter.com/2r9zTbSiXS</a></p>— NewsChannel 8 | KTUL (@KTULNews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KTULNews/status/1267388909937405952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e1wen\">The footage changes to another reporter on the ground, Tyler Butler, in a mask, who says, “I see Ethan, he’s OK. They’re just catching their breath. As you can see, all that smoke there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"723ds\">“We saw a canister of tear gas that one of the protesters kicked backwards,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"nqbuq\">The footage then zoomed in on a gas station shrouded in smoke with some people squatting behind parked cars.</p><p data-block-key=\"iom8h\">When contacted about this incident, Danny Bean of the Tulsa Police Department communications unit, described it as “a peaceful protest that escalated into an unlawful assembly” and that journalists were not targeted by police.</p><p data-block-key=\"t0pnb\">The police response was “to agitators in certain crowds throwing objects at police officers and private property being vandalized. When this begins to occur officers will take action to disperse the crowd, including the use of pepper balls in some cases,” Bean wrote in an email to the Tracker. “At no point was Ethan, or any other member of the media, targeted by TPD. Ethan and his cameraman were inside of the crowd that was being dispersed where TPD introduced pepper balls.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lyp6r\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oklahoma",
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"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"authors": [],
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{
"title": "Sacramento Bee reporter shoved to the ground while covering protests in California capital",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sacramento-bee-reporter-shoved-to-the-ground-while-covering-protests-in-california-capital/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-29T18:25:29.033319Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:26:05.212435Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:26:05.111813Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Sacramento",
"longitude": -121.4944,
"latitude": 38.58157,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"h9xwi\">Two Sacramento Bee journalists were assaulted and their work equipment damaged and stolen while covering protests against police violence in downtown Sacramento, California, on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ivlqu\">SacBee reporter Sam Stanton was reporting that night with colleague photojournalist Paul Kitagaki Jr. The pair had been following protests at the state Capitol, which law enforcement had dispersed with flash-bang grenades and tear gas at around 11:30 p.m. As the crowd broke up, Stanton and Kitagaki left the area, soon walking past a 7-Eleven a block from the Capitol that appeared to be being looted, according to Kitagaki.</p><p data-block-key=\"wx7q3\">Kitagaki told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in a phone interview that the city was loud that night and the journalists didn’t hear as two men ran up behind them, hitting them, in Stanton’s words, “full speed from behind.” Stanton was thrown to the ground, hitting his knee and head, and his work iPad in his backpack was smashed on impact. Kitagaki had a camera yanked off his shoulder, breaking his right hand in the process. The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-sacramento-bee-journalists-hit-behind-their-equipment-damaged-and-stolen-while-covering-protests/\">Kitagaki’s assault and equipment damage here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1k98t\">Kitagaki told the Tracker that he got the impression that the attackers, who quickly ran away after the assault, were looters, unassociated with the protesters, and that he and Stanton were targeted because of the camera equipment he was carrying.</p><p data-block-key=\"iglnv\">Stanton said he “was just roughed up” and he and Kitagaki intended to continue working that night. However, within 10 minutes of Stanton <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StantonSam/status/1267342165337796608\">tweeting</a> about the attack, all Sacramento Bee reporters and photographers were pulled out of the area. Reporter Alex Yoon-Hendricks tweeted the newspaper <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ayoonhendricks/status/1267344884236644353\">was concerned</a> for its journalists’ safety, as looting had escalated and police were hard to find.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">All <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sacbee_news?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@sacbee_news</a> reporters and photographers have been pulled out of downtown/midtown Sacramento. Right now, groups of mostly young men are smashing windows, stealing. Few cops along J and K St. Some people were walking dogs right next to people in ski masks breaking into cars. <a href=\"https://t.co/qrjUNoCdk5\">https://t.co/qrjUNoCdk5</a></p>— Alex BOOn-Hendricks 🐝 (@ayoonhendricks) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ayoonhendricks/status/1267344884236644353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kte05\">Stanton <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StantonSam/status/1267345652339503104?s=20\">tweeted</a> at 11:42 p.m., “I have never willingly left the scene of a news story because of personal peril in my 38 years in the business. But when my editor ordered me to leave tonight, I did it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"88z1l\">Kitagaki reported the assault to the police the following day, and Kitagaki and Stanton were both interviewed about the attack. The Sacramento Police Department did not respond to a request for comment for this story.</p><p data-block-key=\"k4y4y\">Protests in Sacramento and across the United States have surged in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following a viral video that showed a white police officer kneeling on the neck of a Black man, George Floyd, during his arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"6kq18\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
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}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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},
{
"title": "SacBee photojournalist's hand broken, camera stolen while covering protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-sacramento-bee-journalists-hit-behind-their-equipment-damaged-and-stolen-while-covering-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-30T14:08:13.469688Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:21:45.606877Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:21:45.474714Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Sacramento",
"longitude": -121.4944,
"latitude": 38.58157,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"s33jn\">Two Sacramento Bee journalists were assaulted and their work equipment damaged and stolen while covering protests against police violence in downtown Sacramento, California, on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qvnp\">SacBee photojournalist Paul Kitagaki Jr. was reporting that night with colleague reporter Sam Stanton. The pair had been following protests at the state Capitol, which law enforcement had dispersed with flash-bang grenades and tear gas at around 11:30 p.m. As the crowd broke up, Kitagaki and Stanton left the area, soon walking past a 7-Eleven a block from the Capitol that appeared to be being looted, according to Kitagaki.</p><p data-block-key=\"xfh21\">Kitagaki told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in a phone interview that the city was loud that night and the journalists didn’t hear as two men ran up behind them, hitting them, in Stanton’s words, “full speed from behind.” Stanton was thrown to the ground, hitting his knee and head, while Kitagaki had one of his cameras yanked off his shoulder, breaking his right hand in the process. Stanton’s <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sacramento-bee-reporter-shoved-to-the-ground-while-covering-protests-in-california-capital/\">assault and equipment damage are documented by the Tracker here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"p7me4\">Kitagaki told the Tracker that he got the impression that the attackers, who quickly ran away after the assault, were looters, unassociated with the protesters, and that he and Stanton were targeted because of the camera equipment he was carrying.</p><p data-block-key=\"4e88l\">Kitagaki and Stanton intended to continue working that night, with Kitagaki using his left hand to take photos with a second camera of which he was still in possession. However, within 10 minutes of Stanton <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StantonSam/status/1267342165337796608\">tweeting</a> about the attack, all Sacramento Bee reporters and photographers were pulled out of the area. Reporter Alex Yoon-Hendricks tweeted that the newspaper <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ayoonhendricks/status/1267344884236644353\">was concerned</a> for its journalists’ safety, as looting had escalated and police were hard to find.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">All <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sacbee_news?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@sacbee_news</a> reporters and photographers have been pulled out of downtown/midtown Sacramento. Right now, groups of mostly young men are smashing windows, stealing. Few cops along J and K St. Some people were walking dogs right next to people in ski masks breaking into cars. <a href=\"https://t.co/qrjUNoCdk5\">https://t.co/qrjUNoCdk5</a></p>— Alex BOOn-Hendricks 🐝 (@ayoonhendricks) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ayoonhendricks/status/1267344884236644353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lnirk\">Kitagaki reported the assault to the police the following day, and Kitagaki and Stanton were both interviewed about the attack. The Sacramento Police department did not respond to a request for comment for this story.</p><p data-block-key=\"qeisz\">Kitagaki took two months off work to heal his broken hand, and will continue in physical therapy four months after the assault.</p><p data-block-key=\"w3dva\">Protests in Sacramento and across the United States have surged in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following a viral video that showed a white police officer kneeling on the neck of a Black man, George Floyd, during his arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"hmuke\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Paul Kitagaki Jr. (The Sacramento Bee)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter covering Iowa protests struck by rubber bullet",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-covering-iowa-protests-struck-rubber-bullet/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-26T14:31:06.448199Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:15:03.579578Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:15:03.495630Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Des Moines",
"longitude": -93.60911,
"latitude": 41.60054,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dl29q\">A photojournalist covering protests in Des Moines, Iowa, tweeted that he was hit in the thigh by a rubber bullet fired by police on May 31, 2020.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I was hit in the thigh by a nonlethal projectile (rubber bullet) while covering the protests last night in Des Moines. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloydProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloydProtests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/desmoines?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#desmoines</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/SEfcKDfTi9\">pic.twitter.com/SEfcKDfTi9</a></p>— Bryon Houlgrave (@bryonhoulgrave) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bryonhoulgrave/status/1267426107026006016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0hdop\">The journalist, Bryon Houlgrave of the Des Moines Register, declined to comment further about the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rly7\">Demonstrations that night included a march starting at Evelyn K. Davis Park, a candlelight vigil, and protests outside Merle Hay Mall and Des Moines police headquarters, the Register <a href=\"https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2020/05/31/after-nights-mayhem-more-protests-planned-des-moines-sunday-george-floyd/5301568002/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ysna4\">Register reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pepper-sprayed-arrested-amid-protests-des-moines/\">Andrea Sahouri was pepper-sprayed and arrested</a> while documenting the Merle Hay Mall demonstration.</p><p data-block-key=\"ehkxq\">The journalists were covering the third night of protests <a href=\"https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2020/05/31/register-reporter-arrested-while-covering-protest/5304560002/\">in the city</a> in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
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"name": "Iowa",
"abbreviation": "IA"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "Detroit Free Press reporter shoved by police while covering protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/detroit-free-press-reporter-shoved-police-while-covering-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-15T19:44:59.019924Z",
"last_published_at": "2020-10-15T19:44:59.019924Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2020-10-15T19:44:58.942464Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Detroit Free Press reporter Darcie Moran was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/darciegmoran/status/1267256747783270401\">shoved</a> by Detroit police near their headquarters while covering protests in the city on May 31, 2020, Moran told the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p>Moran said that she was with her colleague Branden Hunter at the time when she received a text from another colleague stating that the police public information officer wanted all media to move to a designated area. But Moran said she didn’t know where that was.</p><p>Moran said that Hunter told her he heard police announce that they were going to use tear gas, so they decided to find the media area and stay there.</p><p>“We went over there [when] some officers came and started pushing us,” Moran told CPJ, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “They were pushing us back toward Detroit police, which was confusing because there were police on both sides so we didn't really know where to go.”</p><p>The journalist said she kept saying that they were members of the media, but the officers persisted.</p><p>Detroit Free Press colleague Mark Kurlyandchik, who was standing nearby, was charged by police at this time, Moran said. “I was concerned he was about to go head first into a ticket vestibule,” she said. The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/detroit-free-press-reporter-charged-police-told-leave/\">Kurlyandchik’s assault here.</a></p><p>Moran said she was pushed, but “not far,” despite yelling that they were members of the media. “I don’t care,” one of the officers shouted back, according to Moran.</p><p>The Detroit Free Press reporters were stuck as police jostled them around, Moran said.</p><p>“It was difficult because we wanted to see the direct interactions between protesters and police, but we were now kind of stuck behind police,” Moran said. “We did some interviews with some stragglers there and saw some arrests taking place.”</p><p>At one point that evening an officer began yelling that Moran and several of her colleagues were going to be arrested for being out. Moran said that they replied that they’re members of the media, but the police officer said that didn’t matter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We were in the designated media area. Police started shoving us and said they didn’t care we were media. One reporter went down hard. He is fine.</p>— Darcie Moran (@darciegmoran) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/darciegmoran/status/1267256747783270401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Moran said they observed the detention of reporter Christine MacDonald that evening and were able to make it back to the newsroom. The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/detroit-news-journalist-captures-her-own-detention-livestream/\">MacDonald’s arrest here</a>.</p><p>The Detroit police did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Darcie Moran (Detroit Free Press)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist struck with baton while covering DC protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-struck-with-baton-while-covering-dc-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-19T15:02:12.576205Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:32:34.701189Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:32:34.607864Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5x7hs\">Freelance photojournalist Matthew Rodier was struck with a baton while documenting protests in Washington, D.C., on May 31, 2020, the third evening of widespread demonstrations in the nation’s capital after the death of George Floyd.</p><p data-block-key=\"ubxiz\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"s8eqr\">Rodier, who frequently contributes to the Sipa USA agency, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email that at about 10:30 p.m. he’d found himself in the path of a line of advancing officers on H Street. “When they got really close I put my hands in the air and shouted ‘I’m a journalist’ multiple times,” Rodier recounted. He said an officer in front of him “spun me around and hit me with a baton in my posterior hard enough to drop me to the ground.” Rodier said he yelled, “I’m a journalist,” again and that the officer responded, “I don’t care. Get out of here.” A protester helped Rodier up.</p><p data-block-key=\"5n54y\">Rodier was unclear what law enforcement agency the officers belonged to. Later that evening, an individual assaulted Rodier and broke his jaw. The Tracker captured that incident <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-jaw-broken-at-washington-dc-protests/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"svdy9\">D.C. is notable for the <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/05/protests-washington-dc-federal-agents-law-enforcement-302551\">large number of different police forces</a> that operate within its borders. Requests for comment from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Park Police were not returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"9oh5d\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Matthew Rodier (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Voice of America video journalist punched in face, toes fractured while covering protests in Santa Monica",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/voice-america-video-journalist-punched-face-toes-fractured-while-covering-protests-santa-monica/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-14T15:23:23.586230Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:14:42.015887Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:14:41.903079Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Santa Monica",
"longitude": -118.49138,
"latitude": 34.01949,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"26dwx\">Voice of America video journalist Khrystyna Shevchenko was punched in the face and fractured three toes while covering protests against police violence in Santa Monica, California, on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"gkdyj\">Shevchenko told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview that she and a friend, Christian Gomez, had been filming along the Third Street Promenade in downtown Santa Monica that afternoon when individuals split away from the protesters and broke into various stores, taking shoes and other items.</p><p data-block-key=\"tc1sp\">As Shevchenko was setting up her frame, an unidentified man charged toward her and punched her in the face, she said. She immediately blacked out, and her camera and tripod fell on her foot, fracturing three toes and breaking the camera’s viewfinder. Gomez told the Tracker that the assailant then punched him in the face as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"mo5qr\">“My friend fought back,” Shevchenko said. “But then that guy started to call for help, so [other individuals] started to kick my friend without any analysis of what was going on.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rdkid\">Gomez told the Tracker that he had pinned the assailant down, but then released him to check on Shevchenko, who had regained consciousness. The assailant ran away with Gomez’s gimbal and lens. Gomez then helped Shevchenko to his car and drove her to the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center emergency room, where a doctor diagnosed the three fractured toes and a minor head injury, Shevchenko said. Shevchenko underwent surgery on her foot two weeks after the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"3jgpy\">Shevchenko said she couldn’t be certain if she was targeted specifically because she was a journalist, though she surmised that the assailant attacked her in order to take her camera and other equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"vjupu\">After returning home from the ER, Shevchenko filed her<a href=\"https://ukrainian.voanews.com/a/5444822.html\"> story</a> for Voice of America’s Ukrainian service.</p><p data-block-key=\"qi8mk\">“I was so shocked—I couldn’t think that I would go through all of that and not have the story air,” Shevchenko said of her need to get the story out despite the pain she was in. “I had to write the story.”</p><p data-block-key=\"k23t5\">In early June, Shevchenko and Gomez filed a report with the Santa Monica Police Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"ng16z\">“He [the unidentified man] is in my footage and my friend recognized him,” Shevchenko explained. “However, the police said that because I didn’t document the action of punching, they cannot confirm that he did it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2x2st\">Additionally, Shevchenko made clear that Gomez was a witness to the incident, but the police department never reached out to him after taking his initial statement, according to Gomez. Shevchenko’s case is pending, but as of early October, she said she has yet to receive new updates.</p><p data-block-key=\"pg77q\">The Santa Monica Police Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"qlyye\">“It’s an injustice,” Gomez stated. “She went through neuropathy for a month, and it seems like there’s no recourse to alleviate financial hardships or provide any help at all. It’s not just a physical thing that she had to overcome. It’s emotional, mental.”</p><p data-block-key=\"joaeu\">Shevchenko told the Tracker that she still experiences post-traumatic stress and is unable to walk independently.</p><p data-block-key=\"ceo32\">Numerous protests across the Los Angeles area ensued following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. In a widely circulated video online, a white police officer kneeled on Floyd’s neck, ignoring his calls that he could not breathe. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"j64gm\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"da59r\">Khrystyna Shevchenko, a Voice of America video journalist, was injured by an unknown assailant while covering protests in Santa Monica, California, on May 31, 2020.</p>",
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{
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
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"categories": [
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"Equipment Damage"
],
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{
"title": "Mercury News reporter ordered on ground by law enforcement during San Jose protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/mercury-news-reporter-ordered-ground-law-enforcement-during-san-jose-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-13T18:53:04.693651Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:14:25.040315Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:14:24.956511Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Jose",
"longitude": -121.89496,
"latitude": 37.33939,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"m0b6a\">Maggie Angst, a city reporter for the Mercury News, was ordered to get on the ground by law enforcement despite repeatedly holding out her press badge while covering protests against police violence in downtown San Jose, California, on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"xsw85\">Earlier in the day, City Manager David Sykes had <a href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/Home/ShowDocument?id=59288\">announced</a> the implementation of a citywide curfew from 8:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Notably, media outlets were deemed “essential businesses” and exempt from the measure.</p><p data-block-key=\"701df\">The night’s protests started at City Hall, Angst told the Tracker in a phone interview. When curfew went into effect, she said, demonstrators continued to march around the downtown area, eventually making their way into the neighborhoods near San José State University. Police officers soon announced over loudspeakers that the protesters were violating curfew.</p><p data-block-key=\"ooeh4\">“I turned down a street and there was a line of cops on motorcycles and in cars on both sides,” Angst said. “We got kettled. The protesters started running into yards and houses.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w61dh\">Angst said she followed several individuals into a backyard, but stopped when some started to jump over the fence. She said she debated walking back out to the main street, but officers had begun to fire rubber bullets and tear gas. So she decided to wait in the backyard instead, which is where she met another reporter, Luke Johnson from the San José Spotlight. Anticipating that the police would soon be entering the backyard, Angst held out her press badge.</p><p data-block-key=\"brfzh\">“They just started to charge at us and were screaming to get on the ground with our faces down,” Angst said. “I tried to explain that I was with the media and show my badge, but they screamed more and were waving batons, so I got down.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ugikc\">Angst said the officers surveyed the backyard and asked what she and Johnson were doing there. Again, Angst announced she was a reporter with the Mercury News. She said one officer finally looked at her ID, but no further instruction or permission to leave was given. The Tracker has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-jos%C3%A9-spotlight-reporter-detained-despite-press-exemptions-for-citywide-curfew/\">documented Johnson’s detainment here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"zs4ed\">After several minutes, Angst told the Tracker, the officers left the backyard. She was unsure if she could leave the area and did not know if officers were still firing rubber bullets or tear gas on the main street, which she later learned is where they’d detained protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"fkwt1\">“I was pretty freaked out,” Angst said. “Eventually, another reporter that was there with me talked to the cops. She said to walk out slowly with my hands up, so I did that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d1r9u\">Angst <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaggieAngst/status/1267319075723608064\">tweeted</a> about the incident that evening, writing, “Unfortunately, I was too shaken to try and record a video or take down badge numbers. Noted for the future. One officer came back with a flashlight in the backyard at one point — while I was still sitting on the ground — to pick up his dropped sunglasses.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f3d1u\">The mayor and several city council members reached out the following day, according to Angst. She also said she spoke to San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia, who shared that some officers may have been put out on patrol but inadequately informed about media exemptions from the citywide curfew.</p><p data-block-key=\"7aeb3\">On September 3, the San Jose Police Department released a 243-page <a href=\"https://www.sanjoseinside.com/news/sjpd-report-reviews-its-handling-of-the-george-floyd-protests/\">“preliminary After-Action Report”</a> analyzing law enforcement’s response to the “civil unrest” that followed George Floyd’s death from May 29 through June 7. In it, the SJPD detailed numerous incidents with members of the press and concluded that the department needs additional formalized training, clear instruction of protocols for interacting with media and a comprehensive review of procedures regarding use of force and crowd control.</p><p data-block-key=\"zdzyj\">One recommendation raised in the report suggests providing “identifiable reflective vests” to reporters, so they are “more easily distinguishable in a crowd.” However, Sergeant Christian Camarillo told the Tracker that he personally believes that police-issued vests could risk journalists being targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"qrfny\">“One of the things I wanted to improve on after reading that after-action report was sitting down and having a dialogue with some of our local media reporters on how to keep them safe,” Camarillo said. “We want to have input from the people out there doing the work.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1t32b\">Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Movement have been held across the country after a viral video showed a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"gutv7\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"arresting_authority": "San Jose Police Department",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Maggie Angst (The Mercury News)"
],
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},
{
"title": "San José Spotlight reporter detained despite press exemptions for citywide curfew",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-jos%C3%A9-spotlight-reporter-detained-despite-press-exemptions-for-citywide-curfew/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-13T18:49:15.751128Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:14:06.799898Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:14:06.671892Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Jose",
"longitude": -121.89496,
"latitude": 37.33939,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dy08m\">Law enforcement ordered Luke Johnson, a San José Spotlight reporter, to get on the ground with his face down while he was covering the third consecutive night of protests against police violence in San Jose, California, on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"9awj0\">Earlier in the day, City Manager David Sykes had <a href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/Home/ShowDocument?id=59288\">announced</a> the implementation of a citywide curfew from 8:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Notably, media outlets were deemed “essential businesses” and exempt from the measure.</p><p data-block-key=\"8j4y6\">When curfew arrived that evening, demonstrators remained on the streets. Johnson confirmed with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview that he’d been following a group marching in neighborhoods near San Jose State University. At around 9:30 p.m., he said, police began to surround them, scattering the protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"c49bs\">“I followed them into a driveway that led to a backyard parking lot for a couple housing units,” he wrote in a <a href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/im-a-journalist-who-was-detained-by-san-jose-police-for-doing-my-job/\">piece</a> for the Spotlight. “However, once they started hopping fences into other backyards, that’s where I decided to draw the line and stop following them."</p><p data-block-key=\"n2oax\">Johnson said he was waiting in the area with Maggie Angst, a journalist from the Mercury News who’d also been covering the protests that evening, when, with batons waving, officers rushed into the backyard area and ordered both journalists to get on the ground with their faces down. The Tracker <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/mercury-news-reporter-ordered-ground-law-enforcement-during-san-jose-protests/\">documented Angst’s detainment here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0xjcb\">Johnson told the Tracker that officers then scoured the area and asked the journalists several times what they were doing there. He said he repeatedly verbally identified himself as a journalist and had a camera hanging around his neck. Johnson said the officers did not provide any further instruction and were unclear about whether or not the journalists could get up and leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"8qphe\">“Some of the officers were telling me to go home and some were saying to stay there. After a while, it went quiet,” Johnson said. “I looked back and they weren’t even there anymore.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jrvhb\">Johnson recalls that he and Angst were on the ground for several minutes. After noticing that the officers had left, he gathered his camera and belongings and prepared to go home. One officer, Johnson remembered, returned to retrieve his sunglasses but did not make any verbal contact.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">UPDATE: Police told me to get on the ground, face down and hands out. They held me there for about two minutes. I identified myself as a reporter.<br><br>They told me to remain in a backyard. About 20 minutes later, police left the area without further instruction.</p>— Luke Johnson (@Scoop_Johnson) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Scoop_Johnson/status/1267323497249792000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ngyfw\">Afterward, Johnson said, residents in the area offered support to the journalists, sharing water and food.</p><p data-block-key=\"s7wzs\">The following day, according to his piece in the Spotlight, Johnson and his editor, Ramona Giwargis, spoke on the phone with San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia.</p><p data-block-key=\"d066n\">“He wanted to share his team’s side of the story,” Johnson told the Tracker. “There was a lot of confusion going on. Some of the officers were put out there before the curfew was put into effect. He was thoroughly apologetic.”</p><p data-block-key=\"t5uxn\">Garcia explained that many officers were experiencing a citywide curfew for the first time and that it is not protocol for officers to leave individuals on the ground without further instruction, according to Johnson’s account in the Spotlight.</p><p data-block-key=\"c9t5z\">On September 3, the San Jose Police Department released a 243-page <a href=\"https://www.sanjoseinside.com/news/sjpd-report-reviews-its-handling-of-the-george-floyd-protests/\">“preliminary After-Action Report”</a> analyzing law enforcement’s response to the “civil unrest” that followed George Floyd’s death from May 29 through June 7. In it, the SJPD detailed numerous incidents with members of the press and concluded that the department needs additional formalized training, clear instruction of protocols for interacting with media and a comprehensive review of procedures regarding use of force and crowd control.</p><p data-block-key=\"qo2qc\">One recommendation raised in the report suggests providing “identifiable reflective vests” to reporters, so they are “more easily distinguishable in a crowd.” However, Sergeant Christian Camarillo told the Tracker that he personally believes that police-issued vests could risk journalists being targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ibmq\">“One of the things I wanted to improve on after reading that after-action report was sitting down and having a dialogue with some of our local media reporters on how to keep them safe,” Camarillo said. “We want to have input from the people out there doing the work.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pgzda\">Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Movement have been held across the country after a viral video showed a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"bzpve\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
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"Luke Johnson (San José Spotlight)"
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{
"title": "Detroit Free Press reporter charged by police, told to leave",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/detroit-free-press-reporter-charged-police-told-leave/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-06T15:12:56.002115Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:13:42.241135Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:13:42.150101Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nnanf\">On May 31, 2020, while covering protests in Detroit, Michigan, Detroit Free Press reporter Mark Kurlyandchik was charged by a police officer, who knocked his phone out of his hands as he was filming, and told by another to leave the area where press were permitted, according to Kurlyandchik’s <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MKurlyandchik/status/1267259635293204481\">tweets</a> from that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"zd2mv\">Neither Kurlyandchik, the Free Press, nor the Detroit Police Department responded to the U.S. Press Freedom’s request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"17ysh\">According to Kurlyandchik’s Twitter feed, the incident occurred after police had deployed tear gas and as he was putting on his goggles to protect against the gas.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I just got charged by a DPD officer as I was putting my goggles on to protect against the tear gas they shot. Knocked my hat off my head and phone out of my hands. Another officer tried to make us clear the area even though we were standing in the press zone.</p>— Mark Kurlyandchik (@MKurlyandchik) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MKurlyandchik/status/1267259635293204481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cvxrk\">Tweeted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MKurlyandchik/status/1267359959089586176\">video footage</a> from his phone shows dozens of riot police holding shields running toward the camera. After Kurlyandchik appears to collide with an officer, the phone falls to the ground, filming the sky.</p><p data-block-key=\"18g6r\">It wasn’t clear if there were protesters around. Kurlyandchik said in a separate tweet that he was with three other Free Press reporters and that another officer had tried to “force” them away from the area. “Said a guy with TV camera was fine to stay but he didn’t believe we were press despite all of us showing our badges,” Kurlyandchik tweeted. “I’m fine, but it shouldn’t take a big news camera to exercise our constitutional duty.” It wasn’t clear where exactly the incident took place.</p><p data-block-key=\"6mksj\">The protests in Detroit that day were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ircl\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mark Kurlyandchik (Detroit Free Press)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "KPCC/LAist reporter shot in throat with rubber bullet while covering protests in Long Beach",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kpcclaist-reporter-shot-throat-rubber-bullet-while-covering-protests-long-beach/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-05T14:53:04.056869Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:13:22.452387Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:13:22.359181Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Long Beach",
"longitude": -118.18923,
"latitude": 33.76696,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"osyid\">KPCC and LAist education reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez was shot in the neck with a rubber bullet while covering protests against police violence in Long Beach, California on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"wzaph\">When reached for comment about the events of that day, Guzman-Lopez directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to previous news coverage, including in the LAist; his tweets from the day; and an essay he wrote about the incident in July.</p><p data-block-key=\"lltun\">According to those accounts, at around 6:30 p.m. on May 31, Guzman-Lopez had been finishing an interview with a protester at the intersection of Third Street and Pine Avenue in Long Beach. He was one of only a few people standing in the area, as a crowd of about 200 protesters were on their knees while in a face-off with police, the <a href=\"https://laist.com/2020/05/31/reporters_injured_protests_police.php\">LAist reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6e1wz\">As he was typing the protester’s name into his phone, he recalled in <a href=\"https://laist.com/latest/post/20200723/adolfo-guzman-lopez-long-beach-police-essay\">an essay published by the LAist in July</a>, he heard a “loud pop,” then felt an impact low on his neck. At that point, he wrote, he and others started running in the other direction.</p><p data-block-key=\"wdi1o\">The impact of the projectile left a bloody mark at the base of Guzman-Lopez’s neck, near his collarbone. At 6:40 p.m., he posted photos of himself on Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I just got hit by a rubber bullet near the bottom of my throat. I had just interviewed a man with my phone at 3rd and Pine and a police officer aimed and shot me in the throat, I saw the bullet bounce onto the street <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAist?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LAist</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KPCC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@kpcc</a> OK, that’s one way to stop me, for a while <a href=\"https://t.co/9C2u5KmscG\">pic.twitter.com/9C2u5KmscG</a></p>— Adolfo Guzman-Lopez (@AGuzmanLopez) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AGuzmanLopez/status/1267269781805137920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"693m0\">“I just got hit by a rubber bullet near the bottom of my throat. I had just interviewed a man with my phone at 3rd and Pine and a police officer aimed and shot me in the throat, I saw the bullet bounce onto the street,” he wrote. “OK, that’s one way to stop me, for a while.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4gvy9\">After he was struck, Guzman-Lopez <a href=\"https://omny.fm/shows/news-reports/kpcc-laists-adolfo-guzman-lopez-talks-about-gettin\">went live on air</a> on KPCC’s special coverage of the protests to report on what had happened. He noted in the clip that he was obviously conducting an interview at the time he was hit. He was also wearing credentials on a lanyard around his neck, though he observed that the credentials were not as bright as a previous version.</p><p data-block-key=\"r9pqd\">Guzman-Lopez went to the emergency room for treatment for his injury. A CT scan found the impact of the shot knocked the fillings from his teeth, according to an LAist article. He took four weeks off to recover.</p><p data-block-key=\"w8cdu\">“Regardless of whether I was targeted or not, being shot by a police foam round shook my life,” he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"md6q2\">The LAist<a href=\"https://laist.com/latest/post/20200723/agl-lbpd-foam-round\"> reported in July</a> that Guzman-Lopez had been hit with a 40mm foam round fired by a Long Beach Police Department officer. According to the LAist, Police Chief Robert Luna told Guzman-Lopez that the department’s investigation found that he had been “inadvertently” struck by a round that had likely ricocheted off of something else.</p><p data-block-key=\"zfa8f\">Luna said that the department couldn’t determine which of two officers had fired the shot that struck the journalist, according to the LAist. Both officers fired rounds within four seconds of each other after two men threw bottles at police.</p><p data-block-key=\"ffcz4\">In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J63KXK92ja4&feature=youtu.be\">video briefing</a> released on July 24 about the incident, the police department released footage from body cameras some officers were wearing at the time, though the cameras were partially blocked and do not show the full scene.</p><p data-block-key=\"l4ak4\">The videos show that two bottles had been thrown toward the line of police officers before the shots were fired, which prompted the crowd to disperse. Guzman-Lopez “was not the intended target” of the rounds, a narrator said on the police video.</p><p data-block-key=\"xa3n8\">As of late September, the department’s review of the incident was in its final phase, a spokesperson for the Long Beach Police Department told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vaey\">The incident prompted apologies from local officials and attracted international attention. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia apologized to Guzman-Lopez following the incident, the<a href=\"https://laist.com/latest/post/20200601/long-beach-rubber-bullet-response\"> LAist reported</a>. Guzman-Lopez was among several journalists mentioned in a<a href=\"http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/146415.pdf\"> resolution</a> the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed on June 9 affirming the rights of journalists to cover protests and opposing the use of force against the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9fd1\">The protests in Long Beach that day were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"ehnnj\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Guzman_Lopez_assault_0531_CA.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"2tca9\">While covering Long Beach, California, protests on May 31, KPCC/LAist reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez was hit by a rubber bullet fired by police. He posted this selfie shortly after, and was treated at a hospital for the injury.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Adolfo Guzman-Lopez (KPCC-FM/LAist)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "DC police threaten Turkish VOA reporter, team with batons",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dc-police-threaten-turkish-voa-reporter-team-with-batons/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-02T14:25:15.352119Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:20:56.233459Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:20:56.143145Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yeql9\">Police brandished batons and forcibly moved three journalists for Voice of America’s Turkish service — after they identified themselves as members of the press — while they covered protests against police violence in Washington, D.C., on May 31, 2020, <a href=\"https://www.voanews.com/press-freedom/covering-us-protests-journalists-find-unexpected-threats\">according to a VOA report</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"xeat6\">Reporters Mehtap Yilmaz and Uzeyir Yanar and camera operator Tezcan Taskiran were reporting that Sunday night on demonstrations near St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lafayette Square, near the White House.</p><p data-block-key=\"tow1z\">Yilmaz told VOA that at about 10:30 p.m., police officers at the scene raised batons and advanced on her, her colleagues and others standing in the area and ordered them to leave, despite the fact that Yilmaz’s colleagues were carrying video cameras and that the team identified themselves as journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"wn5cx\">“There was a harsh intervention of the police against journalists during the protests. Although we showed our press cards, we were drastically removed from the protests in front of the White House,” Yilmaz told VOA.</p><p data-block-key=\"y9qrn\">A spokesperson for VOA declined to comment to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on the incident. The agency also declined to make Yilmaz, Taskiran or Yanar available for interviews.</p><p data-block-key=\"emnw2\">Yilmaz was one of several VOA journalists, some of whom have covered conflicts around the globe, who told the news service they were surprised by the violence they encountered at the hands of both police and demonstrators taking part in this year’s protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"fucp8\">“Becoming a target of either police or protesters is not something new to me,” Yilmaz told VOA. “But it was both surprising and anxious for me to encounter the incidents I witnessed as journalists in America for the last three days during protests in Washington,” said Yilmaz.</p><p data-block-key=\"bblgb\">It isn’t clear from Yilmaz’s published account of the May 31 incident which law enforcement agency approached her crew.</p><p data-block-key=\"y1ej0\">The same day that VOA journalists were forced from the area around St. John’s Church, fire was set to a nursery room in the basement of the church’s parish house. Firefighters extinguished the blaze, which didn’t spread to other parts of the building.</p><p data-block-key=\"2dm6j\">On June 1, St. John’s became the backdrop for a controversial photo op for President Donald Trump. National Guard troops used tear gas and pepper balls to clear protesters from the area before Trump posed for cameras while holding up a Bible.</p><p data-block-key=\"fwdyi\">Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Movement have been held across the country after a viral video showed a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"tibqq\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Broadcast anchor attacked while covering protests in Birmingham",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/unknown-assailants-attack-reporters-covering-protests-birmingham/",
"first_published_at": "2020-09-21T20:50:56.359829Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:20:36.518129Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:20:36.401108Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Birmingham",
"longitude": -86.80249,
"latitude": 33.52066,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"aybw4\">Stephen Quinn, an anchor and reporter for television station ABC 33/40, was attacked by unidentified assailants while covering protests in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"p96b3\">Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May. They were sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"bod9d\">Quinn told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was livestreaming scenes of protests and looting in the city’s downtown, near the site of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Linn Park. Two days later, the statue was <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/06/02/867659459/confederate-monument-removed-after-birmingham-mayors-vow-to-finish-the-job\">removed</a> by order of Mayor Randall Woodfin in response to the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"van8f\">After police officers had dispersed the crowd gathered in the park, the protesters had moved to the surrounding streets. Some were breaking the windows of buildings on Sixth Avenue, Quinn said.</p><p data-block-key=\"wxjpj\">At around 10:45 p.m., an unidentified individual knocked the phone Quinn had been using to livestream out of his hand. Quinn said he picked the phone off the ground and resumed filming, but shortly after another man grabbed his wallet from his pocket and ran away. Quinn chased but failed to catch the man. In the process, he was tripped by another individual, causing him to stumble.</p><p data-block-key=\"8j220\">Quinn then returned to where other members of the media were gathered. He said that shortly afterwards, another man hit him in the back of his head with what he believed to be an ice-filled styrofoam soda cup. A different man then tried to hit him, but missed.</p><p data-block-key=\"4yzqx\">A second journalist, AL.com social media manager Madison Underwood, tried to shield Quinn, but was knocked to the ground, kicked and punched repeatedly by several unidentified men who had surrounded the journalists. The Tracker has documented that assault <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-while-covering-protests-in-birmingham/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"yzaop\">In a livestream <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/aldotcom/videos/vb.9586347482/297910334549112/?type=2&theater\">video</a> of the incident recorded by AL.com journalist Ivana Hrynkiw, the incidents are shown occurring over about three minutes. AL.com said in a tweet and a later <a href=\"https://www.al.com/news/2020/06/watch-as-george-floyd-protests-around-alabama-turn-violent.html\">article</a> that its reporters, including Hrynkiw, who was heard on the livestream screaming as the attack occurred, left the scene after the attack and were OK.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">To everyone who has reached out- we are okay. Thank you. Thank you. ❤️</p>— Ivana Hrynkiw Shatara (@IvanaSuzette) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IvanaSuzette/status/1267311435253723136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hgc4a\">Quinn told the Tracker he also left the scene and returned to his station’s vehicle. The reporter said his injuries were mild — some bleeding from a cut on his right ear and temporary redness on his neck — but, at the instruction of his network, went to the hospital to be checked as a precaution.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Took a couple blows to my head and my wallet is gone but I’m okay. Thank you to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BhamPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@BhamPolice</a> for your help. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/abc3340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@abc3340</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/spann?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@spann</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloyd</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/955myya7hG\">pic.twitter.com/955myya7hG</a></p>— Stephen Quinn (@StephenQ3340) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StephenQ3340/status/1267305480738742274?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ads7x\">Quinn said he believed he was targeted because the people breaking windows didn’t want their faces on camera. They could see he was a member of the press because he wore a polo shirt with the logo of his network, he said. Three days after the incident, a local community member recovered and returned the stolen wallet, which he told Quinn he had spotted while someone tried to sell it in his neighborhood, the reporter said.</p><p data-block-key=\"oc5tj\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "Alabama",
"abbreviation": "AL"
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{
"title": "Miami social media producer arrested for curfew violation while covering protests; charges dropped",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/miami-social-media-producer-arrested-curfew-violation-while-covering-protests-charges-dropped/",
"first_published_at": "2020-09-21T20:18:32.022251Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:13:02.488960Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:13:02.399770Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Miami",
"longitude": -80.19366,
"latitude": 25.77427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"njzep\">Joel Franco, a social media producer with WSVN 7News, a Fox affiliate station based in Miami, Florida, was arrested while covering protests in the city on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"37bwy\">Franco <a href=\"https://twitter.com/OfficialJoelF/status/1267483526917754880\">reported the arrest on Twitter</a> the morning of June 1, writing: “I was arrested last night as I was walking to my car after covering the protests in Downtown Miami. Charged with violating curfew. The curfew ordinance exempts media (I had my credentials).”</p><p data-block-key=\"8bvv0\">Franco, contacted on Twitter by the Committee to Protect Journalists, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. WSVN also did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment, sent via Twitter direct messages and email. The Miami Herald reported that Franco no longer works for WSVN.</p><p data-block-key=\"m1563\">On June 1, in an <a href=\"https://wsvn.com/news/local/charges-dropped-against-7news-social-media-producer-after-being-arrested-and-jailed-while-covering-protests/\">interview</a> with WSVN, Franco recounted how he’d completed a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/OfficialJoelF/status/1267257762435612672\">livestream of protests downtown</a> and was headed back to his car when he noticed a line of police vehicles that appeared to be looking for people who were in violation of the city’s 9 p.m. <a href=\"https://www.miamidade.gov/releases/2020-05-31-mayor-curfew-exemptions.asp\">curfew order</a>. He said he began to film the scene.</p><p data-block-key=\"awi6m\">“That’s when they noticed I was filming,” Franco told WSVN. “They just swarmed me, got out of the pickup truck, threw me against their pickup truck, raised my arms behind my back and put a little zip tie on me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"un46t\">In his account to WSVN, Franco said that he told police he was a member of the press and that he had his work ID on him. He said police “grabbed” the ID and his phone case and started “acting clueless.”</p><p data-block-key=\"uy5jc\">Franco’s girlfriend was with him at the time. She was not arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"cx3k0\">WSVN reported that Franco spent nine hours in police custody before he was released on bond for the charge of curfew violation. WSVN reported that the charges were subsequently dropped.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ivku\">WSVN also noted in its June 1 report that the Miami-Dade Police Department was investigating Franco’s arrest. When reached via email for comment by CPJ, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the department instructed CPJ to submit a media request on its website. CPJ submitted a request for more information on Franco’s arrest, specifically asking whether an investigation into his arrest had begun or been completed. The department did not respond as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"gw1rj\">According to WSVN, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle released a statement at the time saying, “Working journalists, who pose no threat to law enforcement or public safety, have a First Amendment right to keep us all informed of public developments and public news in our community and in every community in America.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9miog\">Speaking at a <a href=\"https://miamidade.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=6&clip_id=6131\">press conference</a> on June 1, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said of Franco’s arrest when questioned about it: “That was a mistake. He should not have been. The media is exempt from the curfew.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dzwfs\">On June 2, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists released a <a href=\"https://nahj.org/2020/06/03/nahj-asks-for-investigations-into-abuse-of-power-and-racial-profiling-of-latino-journalists/\">statement</a> condemning assaults by law enforcement on journalists covering protests and asking for investigations to be launched into the unlawful arrest of journalists, particularly journalists of color, including Franco.</p><p data-block-key=\"gkk0i\">Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Movement have been held across the country after a viral video showed the death of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"7omu0\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Miami-Dade Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
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"state": {
"name": "Florida",
"abbreviation": "FL"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Joel Franco (WSVN)"
],
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},
{
"title": "KSHB news vehicle vandalized, set on fire during Kansas City protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kshb-news-vehicle-vandalized-set-on-fire-during-kansas-city-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-09-18T17:18:55.998779Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T16:20:09.567772Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T16:20:09.479634Z",
"date": "2020-05-31",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Kansas City",
"longitude": -94.57857,
"latitude": 39.09973,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ihgah\">At least two news vehicles were vandalized amid protests against police violence in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 31, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"vum27\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"ab1l4\">KSHB 41 Action News <a href=\"https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/news-vehicles-vandalized-set-on-fire-amid-unlawful-assembly\">reported</a> that one of its vehicles was parked near the intersection of 46th and Main streets when it was vandalized and set on fire. In its request for tips, the Kansas City Police Department <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kcpolice/status/1271171503615356929\">posted on Twitter</a> that it occurred at around 9:30 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"3elp3\">KSHB reporter Megan Strickland published a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/StricklyMeg/status/1267292468686532608\">video</a> of the burning car on Twitter. Lines of spray-painted graffiti were also visible on the hood and passenger doors of the Ford SUV.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-image\">\n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/IMG_1872.2.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"621\" alt=\"KSHB 41 Action News/Kathleen Choal\">\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"o13q4\"><i>A KSHB 41 Action News team films a standup in front of the burned out remains of its news vehicle after the car was vandalized amid protests on May 31, 2020. KSHB 41 NEWS/KATHLEEN CHOAL</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"cv5ll\"></p><p data-block-key=\"qh12c\">Station General Manager Kathleen Choal told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the station took additional precautions — including hiring security for each field crew — to ensure the journalists’ safety while covering protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"20zlf\">Choal told the Tracker that prior to the fire, several KSHB journalists had rocks, bricks and water bottles thrown at them, but no one was injured.</p><p data-block-key=\"7e9hj\">“Journalists find themselves facing more aggression and hostility while documenting history,” she said. “However, this has not diminished their passion to tell the stories of the amazing Kansas City community.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xnuj4\">KCPD spokesperson Capt. Dave Jackson told the Tracker they were working on the cases, but that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had taken the lead on the arson investigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"zsf61\">A KMBC 9 News vehicle was also vandalized that night. The Tracker has documented that case <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kmbc-9-news-vehicle-vandalized-during-kansas-city-protests-on-may-31/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"2e5xk\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "Missouri",
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},
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]
