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{
"title": "Photographer hit with projectile, tear gas while covering protests in Louisville",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-hit-projectile-tear-gas-while-covering-protests-louisville/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-08T12:22:55.718731Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:01:37.289163Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:01:37.189737Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Louisville",
"longitude": -85.75941,
"latitude": 38.25424,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j6sr5\">Freelance photographer Amy Harris was hit by pepper balls shot by law enforcement officers while covering protests in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"g72q1\">The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/ac63cb2f81e1adfba583451aee9115bf\">reported</a> that protests in Louisville have centered around the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, both of whom were Black. Taylor was shot eight times in her Louisville home in mid-March by narcotics police who broke down her door. Floyd died on May 25, after a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, kneeled on his neck for several minutes during an arrest. Video of Floyd’s death has sparked protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"nog34\">Harris told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she had been photographing peaceful protests for several hours around Jefferson Square Park when police officers, who had previously been present only on the roofs of surrounding buildings, began to appear on the ground to enforce a 9 p.m. curfew. At approximately 10:15, Harris said, officers lined up in riot formation and announced that everyone present was in violation of curfew and ordered them to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"0h33l\">The officers then began to shoot tear gas and pepper balls in all directions, according to Harris, and she was hit with a pepper ball. Both she and a nearby TV news crew, with whom she had paired up with earlier in the day for safety purposes, all felt the tear gas, she said. Harris said it was impossible to know whether they had been targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"jyygl\">Harris and the other journalists tried to flee but couldn’t tell which direction the projectiles were coming from and felt surrounded on all sides, she told the Tracker. Eventually, they were able to retreat. Harris said they heard the sounds of gunshots from the crowd while leaving.</p><p data-block-key=\"gud81\">The TV crew and their security team accompanied Harris to her car and she was able to leave the scene. Harris said she had bruising from the pepper balls but otherwise was uninjured in the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"gl6mb\">The Louisville Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"0u44e\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents — including others involving Harris — 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": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"9xsz2\">Photographer Amy Harris said she had been documenting protests around Louisville's Jefferson Square Park for several hours before she was hit with a projectile.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Kentucky",
"abbreviation": "KY"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Amy Harris (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist struck by projectiles, then arrested while covering protest on Dallas bridge",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-struck-projectiles-then-arrested-while-covering-protest-dallas-bridge/",
"first_published_at": "2020-07-02T03:21:24.759560Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:46:31.068731Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:46:30.935517Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Dallas",
"longitude": -96.80667,
"latitude": 32.78306,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rczl6\">Police struck a Dallas journalist with projectiles, zip-tied his wrists and placed him under arrest while he was covering a protest march against police violence on a bridge over the Trinity River in Dallas, Texas on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"4z0e8\">Steven Monacelli, a freelance writer on assignment for the <a href=\"https://dallasvoice.com/\">Dallas Voice</a>, an LGBT magazine serving north Texas, had been documenting the march of several hundred protesters from the Dallas County courthouse to the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge over the Trinity River, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. The evening of June 1 was the second that downtown Dallas was under a 7 p.m. curfew, from which members of the media were explicitly exempt.</p><p data-block-key=\"qjick\">On the bridge, police employed a <a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-is-kettling-the-police-technique-used-in-george-floyd-protests-11591721558\">technique</a> known as “kettling” to hem in demonstrators from both sides. Monacelli was standing between the crowd and a police line, hugging one side of the bridge, when police began advancing towards the crowd, he said. One of the officers fired a wooden pellet, he said, which hit someone nearby before falling to the ground near Monacelli’s feet.</p><p data-block-key=\"26pjd\">Seconds later, Monacelli was hit by a projectile. “I just got hit in the leg,” he exclaims on a video recording of the incident, which he <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tv/CA6lRtthbgh/?igshid=eqfrzasewet9\">posted</a> to Instagram. A second projectile then struck his backpack and lower back. “They shot me twice, I’ve been shot twice with wooden pellets.”</p><p data-block-key=\"z0wi6\">Monacelli was wearing PRESS badges on his front and back, but said he didn’t have the opportunity to verbally identify himself as a member of the media before police fired on the crowd. He said it was dark on the bridge and very loud.</p><p data-block-key=\"43w0m\">Monacelli told the Tracker while he initially suspected the projectiles that hit him were made of wood, he now believes the object that hit the back of his left thigh was a canister of tear gas, because of the sound it made on the video and the size of his resulting bruise. “In various videos of the moment at which I was shot you can hear a loud ‘POP’ and then metal sounding ricochet,” he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/stevanzetti/status/1271290219669544960\">tweeted</a> days later.</p><p data-block-key=\"w9iq6\">The second projectile he believes was a green marking round, he said. Another freelance journalist on the bridge, Benjamin Diez, captured a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/benjamindiez_/status/1268024795452641281\">video</a> of Monacelli being hit, showing the round that hit Monacelli’s back and backpack gave off a puff of green dust on impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"cs11s\">Around ten minutes later, Monacelli was then detained with a group of protesters, despite his repeated declarations that he was a member of the media, he said. The officers demanded to see Monacelli’s laminated press credentials, which he didn’t have, and ignored his repeated invitations to view his LinkedIn profile on his phone, as well as his email exchanges with his editors.</p><p data-block-key=\"rd7ub\">“I'm reporting for the Dallas Voice, I've got the email from the editor. I'm a freelance journalist, so I can show you all the information...the magazine I'm with,” he told the police, in a video he <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CA6qYUjhqhu/\">posted</a> to Instagram. He said he had emailed his editor, who he hoped would call the police. “Not sure what else I could do to show you who I am.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5ubb2\">“What sort of credentials, when you ask me that, are you looking for?” Monacelli asked the officer standing before him. The officer replied that he wanted to see a press ID on a lanyard. "I'm stuck here because I don't have a laminated card," Monacelli then tells the viewers of his Instagram livestream.</p><p data-block-key=\"cgseg\">After detaining him over an hour, an officer placed him in zip ties at around 10:40 p.m. and told him he was under arrest. “Are you aware that I am a member of the press?” he said he asked the officer. In response, the officer replied, “you are under arrest,” Monacelli said.</p><p data-block-key=\"qb14g\">After midnight, an officer took him up on his invitation to look at his email messages with his editor and his LinkedIn page. Satisfied he was a journalist, the officer released Monacelli from the zip ties. He was released without charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"fbaky\">Later that morning, he snapped a photo of the newly formed bruise on the back of his leg, and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/stevanzetti/status/1271274218748067842/photo/2\">posted</a> it to Twitter on June 11. Monacelli documented his experience on the bridge in a <a href=\"https://dallasvoice.com/the-ringing-in-my-ears/\">story</a> in the Dallas Voice and in a <a href=\"https://www.centraltrack.com/the-first-four-days-on-dpd-toys-early-protest-response/\">piece</a> for Central Track, a website covering Dallas culture.</p><p data-block-key=\"aswsu\">Ryan Michalesko, a staff photographer at the Dallas Morning News, was hit in the thigh with a foam round while covering the same protest on the bridge. That incident is documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dallas-morning-news-photojournalist-caught-crossfire-documenting-protesters-bridge/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"87b33\">Asked for comment on Monacelli’s arrest and the use of projectiles that led to his injuries, a spokesman for the Dallas Police Department, Sgt. Warren Mitchell, wrote, “We are not at a place we can speak on a specific incident during any nights of the protests.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fvmls\">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 violence 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=\"jcm7x\">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 Black Lives Matter 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/Monacelli_arrest_0602.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"cbpxp\">Steven Monacelli, left, was hit with projectiles and detained while covering protests in Dallas, Texas, on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge on June 1, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Dallas Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "3:21-cv-02649",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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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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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-10-26 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance journalist sues city of Dallas, officers after being struck by projectiles and arrested during 2020 protests",
"(2023-12-29 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance journalist’s case against Dallas and police officers dismissed"
],
"case_statuses": [
"dismissed"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Steven Monacelli (Dallas Voice)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist choked, pushed in encounter with police officers while covering protest in Ohio",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-choked-pushed-encounter-police-officers-while-covering-protest-ohio/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-29T17:36:38.156494Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:52:31.020335Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:52:30.940747Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Cincinnati",
"longitude": -84.51439,
"latitude": 39.12711,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"z156m\">Journalist Nick Swartsell said police officers grabbed and pulled him by the bandana around his neck as he reported on protests in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"r4rdt\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest 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=\"65jj8\">Police officers began to arrest protesters in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew went into effect, said Swartsell, news editor for the weekly publication CityBeat Cincinnati. When Swartsell and another journalist, Pat Brennan of the Cincinnati Enquirer, walked around the right side of a police vehicle to observe an arrest taking place near the intersection of West McMicken Avenue and Mohawk Place, an officer told them to move to the other side of the vehicle, Swartsell said.</p><p data-block-key=\"tmkyj\">While complying with the orders, Swartsell said an officer suddenly yanked him by the back of the bandana tied around his neck, and pulled him backwards. The journalist was pulled so forcibly, he said, that he was choked by the bandana and felt like he couldn't breathe for several seconds. He was then pushed into a crowd of officers with shields who shoved him off to the side.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Police grabbing media. I was grabbed by my bandana from behind and pulled into a group of officers as they approached me. An enquirer reporter just hauled off. <a href=\"https://t.co/cNreMVFgyH\">pic.twitter.com/cNreMVFgyH</a></p>— Nick Swartsell (@nswartsell) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nswartsell/status/1267612155840528385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"65fgq\">Swartsell told the Tracker that he momentarily glimpsed body armor but otherwise couldn’t see the officer who had pulled him. He also said that he was unaware of body camera footage that captured the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"e1lf2\">The force of the assault left red marks around Swartsell’s neck for several hours but he told the Tracker that he was otherwise uninjured. He immediately resumed reporting on the arrests. The journalist is covering the protests pro bono for CityBeat while on furlough due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p data-block-key=\"7rtkr\">The Enquirer’s Brennan was then <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cincinnati-enquirer-journalist-detained-cameras-roll/\">forcibly detained</a> by police, which the Tracker documented separately.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vdw3\">The Cincinnati Police Department did not return requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"xal7y\">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 related to the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nick Swartsell (Independent)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist hit by multiple individuals while broadcasting live from Times Square",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-multiple-individuals-while-broadcasting-live-times-square/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-26T14:13:21.903653Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:54:22.446602Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:54:22.370259Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9nugp\">Hasanuzzaman Saki, a journalist for the Bengali-language news organization Somoy TV, was attacked by individuals in New York City on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"snty4\">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=\"yt2ee\">According to an <a href=\"https://en.somoynews.tv/Somoy-TV-journo-attacked-during-live-coverage-of-protests-in-New-York/news/8468\">interview</a> the journalist gave to Somoy TV, Saki was in Times Square around 11 p.m. doing a standup to camera when he was attacked. In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=62&v=c9j2eAF5n2A&feature=emb_logo\">video of the incident</a> published on YouTube, he can be seen in front of a line of people, all wearing face masks. One smacks him on the back of the head while walking by; then, a second person takes a swing at him. Saki said the individuals also attacked his cameraperson and tried to confiscate the camera, but the Tracker was unable to independently verify that information. He added that he identified himself as a member of the media, was wearing a press pass and holding a microphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1g2c\">It’s unclear who the attackers were or what their motivations were.</p><p data-block-key=\"arwki\">“I never thought that I, myself, would become the news,” Saki told Somoy TV, according to an <a href=\"https://tbsnews.net/world/us-protesters-beat-somoy-tv-journalist-camera-87934\">English-language write-up</a> of the interview on TBS News, a site that focuses on Bangladesh.</p><p data-block-key=\"cqnv7\">Somoy TV and Saki did not respond to a request for an interview. The New York Police Department did not immediately respond when asked if this incident had been reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"crtnn\">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": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"wxleh\">People fill Times Square in New York City on June 1, 2020.</p>",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Hasanuzzaman Saki (Somoy TV [Bangladesh])"
],
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},
{
"title": "Dallas Morning News photojournalist caught in crossfire documenting protesters on bridge",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dallas-morning-news-photojournalist-caught-crossfire-documenting-protesters-bridge/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-25T20:59:04.260469Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:54:04.919495Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:54:04.828318Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Dallas",
"longitude": -96.80667,
"latitude": 32.78306,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"m7pi6\">A newspaper photographer was struck in the thigh by a foam round while documenting protesters hemmed in by law enforcement on a bridge in Dallas, Texas, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mob7i\">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=\"7kqeb\">June 1 marked the second night of downtown Dallas’ 7 p.m. curfew, from which journalists were expressly excluded.</p><p data-block-key=\"lsv8o\">At around 9 p.m., Ryan Michalesko, a staff photojournalist at the Dallas Morning News, was photographing a group of several hundred protesters who’d marched from the county courthouse to the <a href=\"https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/santiago-calatrava-margaret-hunt-hill-bridge-article\">Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge</a>, an architectural landmark that spans the Trinity River and connects downtown and west Dallas.</p><p data-block-key=\"k3772\">A police line began to form across the bridge, Michalesko told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email. “Over their speakers they ordered the protesters to stop moving forward and turn around. At this point many of the protesters took a knee with their arms in the air,” he wrote. Police then deployed canisters of smoke into the crowd, followed by tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"yojbt\">Police in gas masks and riot gear began advancing on protesters from both sides of the bridge, employing a <a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-is-kettling-the-police-technique-used-in-george-floyd-protests-11591721558\">technique</a> known as “kettling” to hem them into a small area. As protesters came to realize what was happening, Michalesko turned toward them, exposing his back to police, he told the Tracker. “I knew at that moment it was important I find a way to capture the fear in people’s eyes as they found themselves trapped,” Michalesko wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"bx088\">As he took photos, he regularly looked back over his shoulder at police. “This is when I was struck with a less-lethal round in the back of my upper thigh. I felt it hit, realized what had happened as I watched the blue-tipped projectile bounce across the ground,” he continued.</p><p data-block-key=\"k4zxi\">Michalesko was wearing press credentials, holding a camera and had another camera around his neck. But the shot came from 25 feet away, he estimated, putting him too far from police to be identifiable as press. He was unable to identify to which agency the officer who fired the shot belonged.</p><p data-block-key=\"pxckq\">Police then began to command everyone on the bridge to lie down on their stomachs, before firing foam rounds and other projectiles. “I could tell they were aiming these at the ground near people’s feet,” he wrote. Michalesko complied with police commands and continued to snap photos of the moving line from his stomach. “I also felt like the officers were at this point still too far away for me to face them and attempt to declare myself as press. I had already been hit once and didn’t want it to happen again,” he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"f2ew5\">When he saw an officer nearby, he shouted, “I am a photojournalist with the Dallas Morning News. Don’t shoot!” He then asked if he could stand up and continue to take photographs. According to Michalesko’s recounting, the officer said yes, before adding the caveat, “But if I tell you to move, you need to move quick.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7h2b3\">Michalesko continued to work, filming and photographing the scene as police zip-tied protesters’ hands and lined them up. He observed members of the Dallas Police Department, state troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, National Guardsmen and FBI agents as protesters were being detained and processed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Police have surrounded the protesters on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and are arresting everyone. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dallasnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@dallasnews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/OtnOvPE6wl\">pic.twitter.com/OtnOvPE6wl</a></p>— Ryan Michalesko (@photosbylesko) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/photosbylesko/status/1267643703763623936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"1zd1v\">Some 674 protesters on the bridge were cited with obstructing a freeway and released, the Dallas Morning News <a href=\"https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2020/06/02/dallas-police-chief-renee-hall-says-demonstrators-broke-law-when-they-walked-onto-margaret-hunt-hill-bridge/\">reported</a>, but those charges were all later <a href=\"https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2020/06/04/dallas-police-chief-renee-hall-says-protesters-who-marched-on-margaret-hunt-hill-bridge-will-not-be-charged/\">dropped</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"xw2o6\">When he returned home, Michalesko was able to inspect his bruise, describing it as “black, blue, and about the size of a baseball.” It remained sore for a full week, making sitting uncomfortable, he said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Whatever you want to call it: rubber bullet, foam bullet, less-lethal ammunition. I was hit in the rear with this on the bridge Monday night as I was caught between the police line advancing from the west and protesters. It still hurts to sit. <a href=\"https://t.co/GgWzpzvh6y\">https://t.co/GgWzpzvh6y</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/IX9kqd1Tqu\">pic.twitter.com/IX9kqd1Tqu</a></p>— Ryan Michalesko (@photosbylesko) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/photosbylesko/status/1269073413030764544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 6, 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=\"nkux6\">A slideshow of Michalesko’s photos from the evening can be seen <a href=\"https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2020/06/02/dallas-police-chief-renee-hall-says-demonstrators-broke-law-when-they-walked-onto-margaret-hunt-hill-bridge/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"i38l3\">Melinda Gutierrez, a spokesperson for the Dallas Police Department told the Tracker, “Not having specific details from the person involved and taking in to account the atmosphere, it’s challenging to provide a comment about an incident that is unfamiliar.” A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety wrote in an email that the agency “did not use any less lethal projectiles (e.g. rubber munition) during the protests on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge on June 1.” The Texas National Guard did not return an emailed request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"y3o5t\">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 Black Lives Matter 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/Michalesko_assault_0601.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rgfh2\">Police surround and detain hundreds of protesters on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, Texas on June 1, 2020. Dallas Morning News photojournalist Ryan Michalesko was hit with a projectile while reporting.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"Assault"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist shot with projectile, camera destroyed amid Philadelphia protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shot-projectile-camera-destroyed-amid-philadelphia-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-23T13:57:55.777166Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T17:50:06.321085Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T17:50:06.204404Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Philadelphia",
"longitude": -75.16362,
"latitude": 39.95238,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t9wi1\">Independent photojournalist Joe Piette was shot by law enforcement officers with a projectile that injured his hand and destroyed his camera while covering protests in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"y6xcy\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"4csd4\">Piette told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was photographing protesters as they poured onto the I-676 highway, halting traffic in both directions at around 5 p.m. Minutes later, Piette said, Philadelphia police began firing tear gas into the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"zo0q6\">“I was one of many people who ran up a grass embankment through a lot of gas fumes to street level,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"m6dbp\">Piette told the Tracker that once he was out of the gas, protesters helped pour water into his eyes and he crossed to the other side of the expressway, where there were very few people.</p><p data-block-key=\"bs8id\">“From that vantage point, I had a good view of police continuing to shoot [crowd-control munitions] at protesters as they tried to flee up an embankment and over a 10-foot-tall fence,” Piette said. “I took a few photos, and suddenly my camera was shot out of my hands and I felt a lot of pain in my right hand.”</p><p data-block-key=\"91yx3\">After looking at his photos the following day, Piette saw that his second-to-last image shows an officer on top of a tank approximately 20 feet from him. Piette told the Tracker that he assumes that is the officer who shot at him.</p><p data-block-key=\"ry7ay\">While Piette was not wearing any press identifiers, he told the Tracker that the officer had no cause to shoot at him, as he was standing away from the disturbance and with no other people around him.</p><p data-block-key=\"5h57f\">“The camera is totaled. The glass was shot out of the lens. The in-camera flash is stuck in the up position. When I turn on power, nothing happens,” Piette said.</p><p data-block-key=\"exnt5\">Piette told the Tracker that he went to the hospital to have his hand X-rayed. While it was not broken, he said that it was discolored, sore and swollen.</p><p data-block-key=\"opxgd\">“This is an attack on the press, a clear violation of the Constitution. I have a right, as every citizen does, to film and report on police activities, especially when the police are violating the rights of peaceful protesters,” Piette said.</p><p data-block-key=\"n4wo9\">In a late-night statement on June 1, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said that officers had no choice but to use tear gas after the protest turned violent, <a href=\"https://www.inquirer.com/news/george-floyd-protests-philadelphia-gas-police-vine-street-expressway-20200601.html\">according to</a> the Philadelphia Inquirer.</p><p data-block-key=\"9x2uc\">WHYY <a href=\"https://whyy.org/articles/philly-police-say-tear-gas-used-because-676-protest-turned-hostile-but-theres-no-evidence-that-happened/\">reported</a> that there does not appear to be evidence to support those claims.</p><p data-block-key=\"f4c2q\">Neither Mayor Kenney nor the Philadelphia Police Department responded to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"sgc7u\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Piette_assault_0601_PA.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"73lta\">Photojournalist Joe Piette captured this image of Pennsylvania police officers using crowd-control ammunition during a protest on June 1, 2020, moments before he was hit with one of the projectiles.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Joe Piette (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "KMTV journalists caught up in arrests in Omaha",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kmtv-journalists-caught-arrests-omaha/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-22T04:13:18.149675Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:31:57.014497Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:31:56.922341Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Omaha",
"longitude": -95.94043,
"latitude": 41.25626,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"l4uue\">Jon Kipper, a reporter for CBS affiliate KMTV, was briefly detained by police in Omaha, Nebraska, as he covered a protest against police violence on June 1, 2020, Kipper said on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jonnykip21/status/1267643253274431491\">social media</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8kfvb\">Kipper was one of at least six journalists who were either detained, searched or aggressively confronted by law enforcement while covering the protest that evening, according to several journalists on the ground that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"97ukk\">For days, Omaha officials had struggled to respond to escalating protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 and spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ro1j\">Protesters once again gathered on June 1 after Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine announced that a white bar owner would not be charged in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old Black man two days earlier, <a href=\"https://apnews.com/7551c8d603964e0e2cba3e2930e58f75\">according to The Associated Press</a>. Kleine said the bar owner had fired in self-defense.</p><p data-block-key=\"zf4bw\">Several hundred protesters peacefully engaged with police and National Guardsmen only a block away from the location of the bar shooting in the Old Market area, according to <a href=\"http://netnebraska.org/article/news/1221798/i-want-same-equality-protesters-speak-out-during-mostly-peaceful-night-omaha\">news reports</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6105o\">Shortly before the city’s 8 p.m. curfew, Kipper shared a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jonnykip21/status/1267620300356759561\">photo</a> on Twitter of Deputy Police Chief Kanger kneeling with other law enforcement officers and protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"gd83e\">Kanger then attempted to escort a large group of the remaining protesters out of the area so they could return home for curfew, <a href=\"https://www.omaha.com/news/local/fourth-day-of-omaha-protests-brings-more-clashes-after-curfew-but-also-signs-of-unity/article_cc3bf57a-341b-53cb-b975-b525f4b61813.html#19\">according to the Omaha World-Herald</a>. But a water bottle was thrown, pepper balls were fired and the chaos of mass arrests quickly enveloped the block.</p><p data-block-key=\"r1j82\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jonnykip21/status/1267630906442948608\">video</a> Kipper posted on Twitter, police can be seen making arrests amid a chaotic chorus of pepper ball shots, screams and shouts of “On the ground!” Kipper swings the camera to the left to show an advancing line of riot police.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9cb6\">“I’m media,” Kipper says to the approaching officers. He repeats it again, and then a third time even louder.</p><p data-block-key=\"l2ord\">“On the ground!” an officer orders Kipper, who appears to lower himself as the camera angle shifts. For a fourth and fifth time, Kipper says he’s media.</p><p data-block-key=\"21ig6\">The officer reaches out and suddenly the camera—and Kipper—tumble to the pavement. For a sixth time, Kipper yells that he’s media—this time with an expletive for emphasis. Then the video cuts out.</p><p data-block-key=\"bdi9p\">At the same time on the same block, two of Kipper’s colleagues were also nearly detained. Reporters <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Maya_Reports/status/1267633522807910400\">Maya Saenz</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KentLuetzen/status/1267638956801380353\">Kent Luetzen</a> both recorded videos of a National Guardsman apparently attempting to detain them.</p><p data-block-key=\"z2p5i\">In the videos, Luetzen repeatedly says, “We’re fine. We’re fine,” as law enforcement make arrests all around them. Suddenly, a National Guardsman grabs Luetzen. Both journalists repeatedly scream, “We are media! We are media!” before the guardsman disengages.</p><p data-block-key=\"39h09\">Saenz films a protester shrieking as a police officer brings them into custody. Another officer screams, “Get out!” at the journalists. They then weave around several protesters on the ground in an attempt to find safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"3t6yr\">“OK, I think it’s time to go,” Saenz says in the video after leaving the block.</p><p data-block-key=\"heuld\">Both Kipper and Saenz were wearing polo shirts with a KMTV logo. It is not clear from the footage whether Luentzen was also displaying the logo.</p><p data-block-key=\"u7v2u\">Kipper said on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jonnykip21/status/1267643455469244417\">Twitter</a> he was released after an officer took him to the side of the action and confirmed his profession.</p><p data-block-key=\"9xcdp\">At least three other journalists were caught up in the police action as well, including two who were briefly detained. The Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7yoor\">The incidents occurred despite the curfew explicitly excluding “members of the media.” As police waited to transport the arrested protesters, they asked members of the media to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MikeSautterOWH/status/1267636031047831553\">leave the area</a>, World-Herald reporter Mike Sautter told the Tracker. The block was “like a crime scene,” the police said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8q703\">The detained journalists were eventually released.</p><p data-block-key=\"kxbxa\">Lieutenant Sherie Thomas, a spokesperson for the Omaha Police Department, told the Tracker that Police Chief Todd Schmaderer had ordered “an overall review of the protests.” Thomas later said that the department sent “clear communication” to news outlets “to make sure employees had visible badges showing that they work for the media” and to “wear highly visible vests.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b43nf\">Major Scott Ingalsbe, a spokesperson for the Nebraska National Guard, told the Tracker, “Once National Guardsmen and law enforcement were able to quickly and correctly identify members of the news media, they were released without arrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2z0fh\">“We appreciate the work journalists do and the service they provide to our community,” Ingalsbe said. He added that he had personally reached out to KMTV and other outlets covering the protests and has yet to hear any indications the National Guard harmed them or interfered with their work.</p><p data-block-key=\"oppta\">Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert did not respond to request for comment. The KMTV journalists also did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"dwi1t\">Two days after the protest, the prosecutor reversed course on the shooting case, according to <a href=\"https://www.omaha.com/news/local/veteran-federal-prosecutor-to-lead-grand-jury-probe-into-james-scurlocks-death/article_f2f0f66d-8400-5923-b441-d2f490c512c7.html\">news reports</a>. A grand jury would review the case after all.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Omaha Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
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"actor": null,
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"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": null,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Nebraska",
"abbreviation": "NE"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jon Kipper (KMTV-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Police search journalist’s bag and detain three other journalists in Omaha",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-search-journalists-bag-and-arrest-three-other-journalists-in-omaha/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-22T04:01:09.911258Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-16T13:06:15.886794Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-16T13:06:15.802797Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Omaha",
"longitude": -95.94043,
"latitude": 41.25626,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tq4us\">A member of the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office searched the bag of Omaha World-Herald reporter Reece Ristau as he covered a protest against police violence in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 1, 2020, Ristau told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"9z8rv\">Ristau was one of at least six journalists who were either detained, searched or aggressively confronted by law enforcement while covering the protest that evening, according to several journalists on the ground that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"5y20l\">For days, Omaha officials had struggled to respond to escalating protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 and spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"si153\">Protesters once again gathered on June 1 after Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine announced that a white bar owner would not be charged in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old Black man two days earlier, <a href=\"https://apnews.com/7551c8d603964e0e2cba3e2930e58f75\">according to The Associated Press</a>. Kleine said the bar owner had fired in self-defense.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ggm6\">Several hundred protesters peacefully engaged with police and National Guardsmen only a block away from the location of the bar shooting in the Old Market area, according to <a href=\"http://netnebraska.org/article/news/1221798/i-want-same-equality-protesters-speak-out-during-mostly-peaceful-night-omaha\">news reports</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"yh208\">After protesters and law enforcement took a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jonnykip21/status/1267620300356759561\">knee together</a>, Deputy Police Chief Ken Kanger attempted to escort a large group of the remaining protesters out of the area so they could return home for the city’s curfew, <a href=\"https://www.omaha.com/news/local/fourth-day-of-omaha-protests-brings-more-clashes-after-curfew-but-also-signs-of-unity/article_cc3bf57a-341b-53cb-b975-b525f4b61813.html#19\">according to the Omaha World-Herald</a>. But a water bottle was thrown, pepper balls were fired and the chaos of mass arrests quickly enveloped the block.</p><p data-block-key=\"3mv7l\">Ristau told the Tracker that when he saw officers don gas masks, he put on his orange vest and safety glasses. With a large press badge around his neck, Ristau began filming arrests.</p><p data-block-key=\"0y2xr\">“Once the first pepper balls were fired, things moved quickly,” Ristau said.</p><p data-block-key=\"86soh\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/reecereports/status/1267629669093978117\">video</a> Ristau posted to his social media, a police officer kicks, punches and stomps on a protester struggling on the ground with two National Guardsmen. Ristau continues to film as he walks into the crowd of arrested protesters. Crying and coughing can be heard over the ratcheting of zip ties. An officer then warns Ristau in the video to “Back it up.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ebghg\">Shortly thereafter, a Sarpy County Sheriff officer tapped Ristau on the shoulder and said he needed to search Ristau’s backpack, Ristau told the Tracker. Ristau said he was unsure of the officer’s rank.</p><p data-block-key=\"yrvtk\">Ristau showed his press badge and said he did not consent to a search. But the officer insisted and threatened to jail Ristau if he did not comply, Ristau said.</p><p data-block-key=\"y55ok\">Out of the corner of his eye, Ristau noticed his colleague Anna Reed focus her camera in his direction, he said. Her <a href=\"https://www.omaha.com/news/local/fourth-day-of-omaha-protests-brings-more-clashes-after-curfew-but-also-signs-of-unity/article_cc3bf57a-341b-53cb-b975-b525f4b61813.html\">photo</a> of the search shows Ristau in safety goggles, mask and bright orange vest holding his backpack in front of the officer equipped in riot gear, plastic restraints hanging at the ready.</p><p data-block-key=\"atncp\">Without Ristau’s consent, the officer searched through Ristau’s bag. Ristau said the officer did not ask to search his phone or question him about his reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"s2ewu\">At least five other journalists were caught up in the police action as well, including three who were briefly detained. The Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0aj7k\">The incidents occurred despite the curfew explicitly excluding “members of the media.” As police waited to transport the arrested protesters, they asked members of the media to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MikeSautterOWH/status/1267636031047831553\">leave the area</a>, World-Herald reporter Mike Sautter told the Tracker. The block was “like a crime scene,” the police said.</p><p data-block-key=\"zs1a4\">The detained journalists were eventually released.</p><p data-block-key=\"gbaaz\">Ristau said that his paper’s executive editor, Randy Essex, complained about the search to the Omaha mayor, Jean Stothert, and law enforcement officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"uv661\">Sarpy County Sheriff Chief Deputy Greg London refused to respond to questions about the search of Ristau’s bag.</p><p data-block-key=\"ab7b5\">“Just like a journalist, I’d be extremely remiss if I responded to secondhand information that I haven’t verified,” he said, adding that Ristau can file a formal complaint or contact him if he felt mistreated.</p><p data-block-key=\"ph643\">Lieutenant Sherie Thomas, a spokesperson for the Omaha Police Department, told the Tracker that Police Chief Todd Schmaderer had ordered “an overall review of the protests.” Thomas later said that the department sent “clear communication” to news outlets “to make sure employees had visible badges showing that they work for the media” and to “wear highly visible vests.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mmklh\">Major Scott Ingalsbe, a spokesperson for the Nebraska National Guard, told the Tracker, “Once National Guardsmen and law enforcement were able to quickly and correctly identify members of the news media, they were released without arrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nun2f\">“We appreciate the work journalists do and the service they provide to our community,” Ingalsbe said. He added that he had personally reached out to outlets covering the protests and has yet to hear any indications the National Guard harmed them or interfered with their work.</p><p data-block-key=\"21sl9\">Mayor Stothert did not respond to request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"xgid9\">Two days after the protest, the prosecutor reversed course on the shooting case, according to <a href=\"https://www.omaha.com/news/local/veteran-federal-prosecutor-to-lead-grand-jury-probe-into-james-scurlocks-death/article_f2f0f66d-8400-5923-b441-d2f490c512c7.html\">news reports</a>. A grand jury would review the case after all.</p><p data-block-key=\"g5shb\"><i>The headline of this article was updated to emphasize the journalists were detained, not arrested.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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{
"title": "Freelance journalist caught up in a wave of arrests in Omaha",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-caught-wave-arrests-omaha/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-22T03:53:01.303842Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:31:07.870971Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"euqlw\">Freelance reporter Megan Feeney was briefly detained by police in Omaha, Nebraska, as she covered a protest against police violence on June 1, 2020, she told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ua28p\">Feeney was on assignment for public outlets NET News and America Amplified, she wrote in an <a href=\"http://netnebraska.org/article/news/1221798/i-want-same-equality-protesters-speak-out-during-mostly-peaceful-night-omaha\">article</a> for NET News, home to Nebraska’s PBS and NPR stations.</p><p data-block-key=\"ebppp\">Feeney was one of at least six journalists who were either detained, searched or aggressively confronted by law enforcement while covering the protest that evening, according to several journalists on the ground that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"mkz3w\">For days, Omaha officials had struggled to respond to escalating protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 and spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"y1ep3\">Protesters once again gathered on June 1 after Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine announced that a white bar owner would not be charged in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old Black man two days earlier, <a href=\"https://apnews.com/7551c8d603964e0e2cba3e2930e58f75\">according to The Associated Press</a>. Kleine said the bar owner had fired in self-defense.</p><p data-block-key=\"xd5zt\">Several hundred protesters peacefully engaged with police and National Guardsmen only a block away from the location of the bar shooting in the Old Market area, according to <a href=\"http://netnebraska.org/article/news/1221798/i-want-same-equality-protesters-speak-out-during-mostly-peaceful-night-omaha\">news reports</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"zgk3d\">After protesters and law enforcement took a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jonnykip21/status/1267620300356759561\">knee together</a>, Deputy Police Chief Ken Kanger attempted to escort a large group of the remaining protesters out of the area so they could return home for the city’s 8 p.m. curfew, <a href=\"https://www.omaha.com/news/local/fourth-day-of-omaha-protests-brings-more-clashes-after-curfew-but-also-signs-of-unity/article_cc3bf57a-341b-53cb-b975-b525f4b61813.html#19\">according to the Omaha World-Herald</a>. But a water bottle was thrown, pepper balls were fired and the chaos of mass arrests quickly enveloped the block.</p><p data-block-key=\"4j6rv\">Despite the media exemption to the curfew, Feeney knew she risked being detained for continuing to report past 8 p.m., she told the Tracker. She was especially at risk as a freelancer without credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"d5cz5\">“I felt the need to witness what happened next despite the consequences,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7th0y\">Feeney was not the only journalist who faced consequences for continuing to report past curfew. At least five other journalists were caught up in the police action as well, including two who were briefly detained. The Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"vsja7\">The incidents occurred despite the curfew explicitly excluding “members of the media.” As police waited to transport the arrested protesters, they asked members of the media to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MikeSautterOWH/status/1267636031047831553\">leave the area</a>, World-Herald reporter Mike Sautter told the Tracker. The block was “like a crime scene,” the police said.</p><p data-block-key=\"i2hnj\">In videos by KMTV’s <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KentLuetzen/status/1267647419568869377\">Kent Luetzen</a>, who was nearly <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KentLuetzen/status/1267638956801380353\">detained</a> himself, and Omaha World-Herald’s <a href=\"https://twitter.com/asanderford/status/1267628919290814464\">Aaron Sanderford</a>, a police officer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/asanderford/status/1267632400378597376\">escorts</a> Feeney down the street. Feeney is wearing a yellow reflective vest with “PRESS” written on the front. She identifies as a freelancer for NET News and America Amplified, a microphone resting on her hip and a camera dangling from her zip-tied hands.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ou8j\">Feeney was escorted to a hot police van holding other people in custody, she wrote for NET News. She told the Tracker, “I had no way of verifying to the arresting officer that I was media other than my word.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cb3kk\">NET News learned of her detention on Twitter and contacted Omaha police, Feeney said. Michael Pecha, a public information officer for the Omaha police, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/OPDOfcPecha/status/1267636725905588229\">tweeted</a> just before 9 p.m. that another officer, Joseph Nickerson, was on his way “to sort this out.”</p><p data-block-key=\"m3n7w\">The detained journalists, including Feeney, were eventually released.</p><p data-block-key=\"ggusq\">Lieutenant Sherie Thomas, a spokesperson for the Omaha Police Department, told the Tracker that Police Chief Todd Schmaderer had ordered “an overall review of the protests.” Thomas later said that the department sent “clear communication” to news outlets “to make sure employees had visible badges showing that they work for the media” and to “wear highly visible vests.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xurul\">Major Scott Ingalsbe, a spokesperson for the Nebraska National Guard, told the Tracker, “Once National Guardsmen and law enforcement were able to quickly and correctly identify members of the news media, they were released without arrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ftnfw\">“We appreciate the work journalists do and the service they provide to our community,” Ingalsbe said. He added that he had personally reached out to outlets covering the protests and has yet to hear any indications the National Guard harmed them or interfered with their work.</p><p data-block-key=\"32e7w\">Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert did not respond to request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"wlapa\">Two days after the protest, the prosecutor reversed course on the shooting case, according to <a href=\"https://www.omaha.com/news/local/veteran-federal-prosecutor-to-lead-grand-jury-probe-into-james-scurlocks-death/article_f2f0f66d-8400-5923-b441-d2f490c512c7.html\">news reports</a>. A grand jury would review the case after all.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qxmvw\">An Omaha police officer escorts freelancer Megan Feeney, a camera dangling from her zip-tied hands, on June 1, 2020.</p>",
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{
"title": "Journalist detained by Omaha police for covering protests after curfew",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-one-three-detained-omaha-police-covering-protests-after-curfew/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-20T13:40:14.226105Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-16T13:04:57.392644Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-16T13:04:57.292183Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hpml1\">Michelle Renne Leach, a freelance journalist on assignment for the Daily Beast, was briefly detained by police in Omaha, Nebraska, while covering a protest against police violence on June 1, 2020, she told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"xb2wb\">Leach was one of at least six journalists who were either detained, searched or aggressively confronted by law enforcement while covering the protest that evening, according to several journalists on the ground that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"e58y1\">For days, Omaha officials had struggled to respond to escalating protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 and spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"mm7q3\">Protesters once again gathered on June 1 after Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine announced that a white bar owner would not be charged in the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old black man two days earlier, <a href=\"https://apnews.com/7551c8d603964e0e2cba3e2930e58f75\">according to The Associated Press</a>. Kleine said the bar owner had fired in self-defense.</p><p data-block-key=\"eqdpq\">The Daily Beast had contacted Leach to report on the developing story, she told the Tracker. When she arrived at the protest, Leach found a calm scene. But things escalated quickly as an 8 p.m. <a href=\"https://www.cityofomaha.org/latest-news/637-citywide-curfew-begins-at-8-00-p-m-may-31#:~:text=A%20curfew%20is%20imposed%20from,park%20or%20other%20public%20place.\">curfew</a> drew close, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e67va\">Several hundred protesters peacefully engaged with police and National Guardsmen only a block away from the location of the bar shooting in the Old Market area, according to <a href=\"http://netnebraska.org/article/news/1221798/i-want-same-equality-protesters-speak-out-during-mostly-peaceful-night-omaha\">news reports</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"spumn\">After protesters and law enforcement took a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jonnykip21/status/1267620300356759561\">knee together</a>, Deputy Police Chief Ken Kanger attempted to escort a large group of the remaining protesters out of the area so they could return home for curfew, <a href=\"https://www.omaha.com/news/local/fourth-day-of-omaha-protests-brings-more-clashes-after-curfew-but-also-signs-of-unity/article_cc3bf57a-341b-53cb-b975-b525f4b61813.html#19\">according to the Omaha World-Herald</a>. But a water bottle was thrown, pepper balls were fired and the chaos of mass arrests quickly enveloped the block.</p><p data-block-key=\"734l5\">Leach told the Tracker she captured an <a href=\"https://www.thedailybeast.com/omaha-bar-owner-jake-gardner-held-in-shooting-of-black-protester-james-scurlock-has-gun-arrests?ref=author\">image</a> of police cuffing a kneeling protester right before she, too, was detained. She said one of the arresting officers knew she was a journalist because she had talked to him earlier to get estimates of the number of protesters and officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"qreji\">“I was just confused that I was even being arrested because he knew I was just trying to do my job,” Leach said.</p><p data-block-key=\"z27gz\">The police cuffed Leach in plastic restraints and placed her phone and notebook into her bag. She said at least two officers then led her to a fenced area across the street where they were holding others in custody. They then searched her belongings.</p><p data-block-key=\"27p3x\">Leach repeatedly insisted she was a journalist throughout her detention and search of her belongings.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ts0m\">At least five other journalists were caught up in the police action as well. The Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"yxsxj\">The incidents occurred despite the curfew explicitly excluding "members of the media.” As police waited to transport the arrested protesters, they asked members of the media to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MikeSautterOWH/status/1267636031047831553\">leave the area</a>, World-Herald reporter Mike Sautter told the Tracker. The block was “like a crime scene,” the police said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bcvoj\">The detained journalists, including Leach, were eventually released.</p><p data-block-key=\"6y09w\">Police took Leach away from the other protesters to investigate whether she was a journalist, she told the Tracker. She did not have press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qgih\">“I don’t know how much it really would have mattered,” she said, citing the treatment of the other journalists. “The onus really fell on me to show them all of my work and prove who I was.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rw0qu\">After examining Leach’s online portfolio, officers found a National Guardsman to cut off her restraints, she said. The officers told her to hold onto them and gave her a slip of paper to show to any other law enforcement official who might try to arrest her for a curfew violation as she returned home.</p><p data-block-key=\"osjku\">Leach said that only upon returning home, her hands tingling and numb, did she realize how tight the restraints had been tied.</p><p data-block-key=\"rfoiz\">Lieutenant Sherie Thomas, a spokesperson for the Omaha Police Department, told the Tracker that Police Chief Todd Schmaderer had ordered “an overall review of the protests.” Thomas later said that the department sent "clear communication" to news outlets "to make sure employees had visible badges showing that they work for the media" and to "wear highly visible vests."</p><p data-block-key=\"x30cb\">Major Scott Ingalsbe, a spokesperson for the Nebraska National Guard, told the Tracker, “Once National Guardsmen and law enforcement were able to quickly and correctly identify members of the news media, they were released without arrest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mvnjz\">"We appreciate the work journalists do and the service they provide to our community," Ingalsbe said. He added that he had personally reached out to outlets covering the protests and has yet to hear any indications the National Guard harmed them or interfered with their work.</p><p data-block-key=\"49npp\">Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert did not respond to request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"00d78\">Two days after the protest, the prosecutor reversed course on the shooting case, according to <a href=\"https://www.omaha.com/news/local/veteran-federal-prosecutor-to-lead-grand-jury-probe-into-james-scurlocks-death/article_f2f0f66d-8400-5923-b441-d2f490c512c7.html\">news reports</a>. A grand jury would review the case after all.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"n3igs\">Freelance journalist Michelle Renne Leach reports on anti-police violence protests in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 1, 2020, before being detained later in the day.</p>",
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},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist says police targeted him with projectiles after he identified himself as press",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-says-police-targeted-him-projectiles-after-he-identified-himself-press/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-18T16:29:41.021003Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:30:15.239338Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:30:15.147355Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Worcester",
"longitude": -71.80229,
"latitude": 42.26259,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nu4t0\">Police shot projectiles at freelance journalist Sam Bishop after he identified himself as press to officers while covering a protest in Worcester, Massachusetts on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"osgle\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"aika3\">Bishop, who has produced work for The Daily Dot and Patch.com, was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sebishop99/status/1267882265318735875\">recording protests</a> on his Twitter page. He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the scene grew tense when police in riot gear began arresting protesters and dispersing the crowd using pepper spray and projectiles, interrupting what he described as a peaceful demonstration up until that point.</p><p data-block-key=\"c33kf\">A Worcester Police Department <a href=\"http://www.worcesterma.gov/police/press-releases/nineteen-arrested-on-main-st-after-police-pelted-with-rocks-roman-candles#id7zYsc_Ax7k_lfV_9XVPvxw\">press release</a> says that officers began to use “less-lethal measures including smoke grenades and pepperball rounds” after people in the crowd targeted them.</p><p data-block-key=\"nd84t\">As the protest thinned out, he said, police continued to shoot tear gas and projectiles and people threw tear gas canisters and rocks at the police. Bishop said he identified himself as a member of the press to a sergeant who assured him that he would not be attacked or targeted as long as he was not breaking the law.</p><p data-block-key=\"hwuma\">“At this point, most of the crowd was about maybe 300 yards back from the riot squad officers when I went up to them,” Bishop told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"kog4w\">Bishop stood away from the crowd to avoid projectiles when he said an officer, who was standing close to the sergeant he had spoken with, started shooting at him with projectiles. He believes the officer overheard him seeking assurances from his colleague, and was deliberately targeting him.</p><p data-block-key=\"opvht\">“As I'm going back, probably off to the side from the main street, I'm up on the sidewalk, it's clear, I'm alone, there's nobody else near me,” Bishop said. “And then suddenly, I can see in front of me, and I guess kind of behind me the pavement being chipped off from the roadway [from the force of the projectiles].”</p><p data-block-key=\"7b6tq\">“I'm close enough that he can clearly see who I am, and I can see who he is,” said Bishop, who said he was wearing press identification.</p><p data-block-key=\"8dnjz\">Bishop said he moved back into the crowd to avoid being singled out by the police again. Inside the crowd, he was exposed to tear gas, which later caused him to develop a skin rash.</p><p data-block-key=\"mfuex\">“For a couple days after what happened my face was blistered off,” Bishop said. “I don't know if it was tear gas burns or some kind of allergic reaction, but my forehead and the base of my nose was really just like red and kind of burned.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jcg95\">The Tracker contacted the Worcester Police Department to ask about the incident and the projectiles used. In response, a representative clarified that the department does not use rubber bullets. The representative did not immediately respond to follow up questions about Bishop’s other claims, but directed the Tracker to its <a href=\"http://www.worcesterma.gov/police/press-releases/nineteen-arrested-on-main-st-after-police-pelted-with-rocks-roman-candles#id7zYsc_Ax7k_lfV_9XVPvxw\">press release</a> detailing the department’s version of the night’s events.</p><p data-block-key=\"m1vg8\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these cases here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"4r9o2\"><i>In a response to request for additional comment, the Worcester Police Department guided the Tracker to its press release. This article has been updated to reflect that release.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2020-06-18_at_11.22.2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hrblu\">After being targeted by police with projectiles on June 1 in Worcester, Massachusetts, journalist Sam Bishop says he retreated into the crowd, only to have a chemical reaction after tear gas was used.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Massachusetts",
"abbreviation": "MA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"Sam Bishop (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "News Journal reporter one of three journalists detained by Philadelphia police past curfew",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/news-journal-reporter-one-three-journalists-detained-philadelphia-police-past-curfew/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-17T03:18:59.123553Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:29:49.989853Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:29:49.883308Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Philadelphia",
"longitude": -75.16362,
"latitude": 39.95238,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"q9601\">Two journalists working for Wilmington’s The News Journal and Delaware Online were temporarily detained on June 1, 2020, the outlet <a href=\"https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/editorials/2020/06/02/reporters-must-not-charged-detained-they-cover-protests-editorial/3123063001/\">reported</a>. Philadelphia police arrested reporter Jeff Neiburg and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/news-journal-photographer-one-three-journalists-detained-philadelphia-police-past-curfew/\">photographer Jenna Miller</a> as they returned home from reporting around 7 p.m., after the 6 p.m. curfew, Miller <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jennamargaretta/status/1267629476034146304\">said in a tweet</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"nv52u\">A third journalist was similarly detained that night in Philadelphia. Kristen Graham, a reporter for the daily Philadelphia Inquirer, was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/philadelphia-inquirer-reporter-one-three-journalists-detained-police-past-curfew/\">also arrested</a> by police as she attempted to return to her car soon after the curfew, the paper <a href=\"https://www.inquirer.com/news/live/philadelphia-protest-curfew-news-live-george-floyd-minneapolis-looting-stores-police-20200602.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"33i3h\">Their respective outlets said the three journalists were reporting on protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 and spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"yzkir\">As the curfew set in by 6 p.m. and the protesters dispersed, Miller and Neiburg decided to go home and file their reporting, Neiburg said in an <a href=\"https://975thefanatic.com/episodes/delware-onlines-jeff-neiburg-breaks-down-the-protests/\">interview</a> with the local radio station 97.5 The Fanatic. Miller’s bike was parked near police headquarters, so they headed in that direction.</p><p data-block-key=\"w3xwn\">They asked a police officer how to get there safely, who instructed the journalists to walk around the south side of City Hall, Neiburg said in the radio interview. As they walked, they saw police officers arresting people.</p><p data-block-key=\"dc2lk\">The journalists held their press credentials in the air, Neiburg said in the radio interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"r1dt4\">“They’re going to round you up, they’re going to round you up,” a group of officers warned the journalists. One of the police officers started to escort Miller and Neiburg out of concern they would be arrested, Neiburg said in the radio interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"1r3s2\">But two other officers interceded and overruled her, Neiburg said. The journalists were to be detained.</p><p data-block-key=\"1yv2s\">Miller said in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jennamargaretta/status/1267629476034146304\">tweet</a> after her release that they repeatedly identified themselves as journalists and showed their press credentials. But officers claimed they were under orders to detain everyone.</p><p data-block-key=\"ctrf1\">“I don’t believe you,” one officer told the journalists, in reference to their press credentials, according to <a href=\"https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/editorials/2020/06/02/reporters-must-not-charged-detained-they-cover-protests-editorial/3123063001/\">Neiburg</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7ztv\">Miller and Neiburg were placed in plastic restraints and escorted to gender segregated buses, Neiburg said in the radio interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"gqvuf\">Graham wrote in her account for the Inquirer that she was also arrested near City Hall and brought to an empty bus that soon was filled with more than 20 women, including Miller from The News Journal. The journalists, with the other detainees, were then driven to the 22nd District Headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"glvzk\">For two hours, the journalists remained on the buses, their outlets reported. In her Inquirer account, Graham described how the buses were not air conditioned and one woman urinated herself after not being allowed to use the bathroom. Another woman had a medical emergency and was eventually taken to receive medical care.</p><p data-block-key=\"rupgv\">An officer informed the detainees on Graham and Miller’s bus they would be issued citations for violating the curfew and released by the end of the night, both journalists <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jennamargaretta/status/1267635481317183488\">said</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"youq3\">Graham wrote in the Inquirer that she was eventually able to maneuver her hands in order to send texts to her husband and editor on her smartwatch. A lawyer for the Inquirer contacted city officials. Around 9 p.m., the journalists were released without charge but with an apology from officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"y5xch\">City spokesperson Mike Dunn told the Tracker that Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney is “extremely troubled” by the detentions and has called some of the journalists. Both Mayor Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw “are strongly committed to allowing press access so the public can be fully informed,” Dunn said.</p><p data-block-key=\"swtgk\">Toward that end, Dunn said Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw ordered an investigation into the detentions. And police protocols that ensure “properly credentialed press are essential workers and not subject to restrictions of a curfew, as long as they are not impeding public safety or police operations […] have been reiterated repeatedly in internal communications to officers.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wplq6\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Philadelphia Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jeff Neiburg (The News Journal and Delaware Online)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "News Journal photographer one of three journalists detained by Philadelphia police past curfew",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/news-journal-photographer-one-three-journalists-detained-philadelphia-police-past-curfew/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-17T03:06:19.728001Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:29:21.344307Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:29:21.263865Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Philadelphia",
"longitude": -75.16362,
"latitude": 39.95238,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fo5gr\">Two journalists working for Wilmington’s The News Journal and Delaware Online were temporarily detained on June 1, 2020, the outlet <a href=\"https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/editorials/2020/06/02/reporters-must-not-charged-detained-they-cover-protests-editorial/3123063001/\">reported</a>. Philadelphia police arrested photographer Jenna Miller and reporter Jeff Neiburg as they returned home from reporting around 7 p.m., after the 6 p.m. curfew, Miller <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jennamargaretta/status/1267629476034146304\">said in a tweet</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gnysb\">A third journalist was similarly detained that night in Philadelphia. Kristen Graham, a reporter for the daily Philadelphia Inquirer, was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/philadelphia-inquirer-reporter-one-three-journalists-detained-police-past-curfew/\">also arrested by police</a> as she attempted to return to her car soon after the curfew, the paper <a href=\"https://www.inquirer.com/news/live/philadelphia-protest-curfew-news-live-george-floyd-minneapolis-looting-stores-police-20200602.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"w9uln\">Their respective outlets said the three journalists were reporting on protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 and spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"6eem7\">After the curfew set in by 6 p.m. and the protesters dispersed, Miller and Neiburg decided to go home and file their reporting, Neiburg said in an <a href=\"https://975thefanatic.com/episodes/delware-onlines-jeff-neiburg-breaks-down-the-protests/\">interview</a> with the local radio station 97.5 The Fanatic. Miller’s bike was parked near police headquarters, so they headed in that direction.</p><p data-block-key=\"cudy9\">They asked a police officer how to get there safely, who instructed the journalists to walk around the south side of City Hall, Neiburg said in the radio interview. As they walked, they saw police officers arresting people.</p><p data-block-key=\"m31sy\">The journalists held their press credentials in the air, Neiburg said in the radio interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"608uo\">“They’re going to round you up, they’re going to round you up,” a group of officers warned the journalists. One of the police officers started to escort Miller and Neiburg out of concern they would be arrested, Neiburg said in the radio interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"6v1ss\">But two other officers interceded and overruled her, Neiburg said. The journalists were to be detained.</p><p data-block-key=\"sfu18\">Miller said in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jennamargaretta/status/1267629476034146304\">tweet</a> after her release that they repeatedly identified themselves as journalists and showed their press credentials. But officers claimed they were under orders to detain everyone.</p><p data-block-key=\"mbowp\">“I don’t believe you,” one officer told the journalists, in reference to their press credentials, according to <a href=\"https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/editorials/2020/06/02/reporters-must-not-charged-detained-they-cover-protests-editorial/3123063001/\">Neiburg</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"nlsi8\">Miller and Neiburg were placed in plastic restraints and escorted to gender segregated buses, Neiburg said in the radio interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"ka1k7\">Graham wrote in her account for the Inquirer that she was also arrested near City Hall and brought to an empty bus that soon was filled with more than 20 women, including Miller from The News Journal. The journalists, with the other detainees, were then driven to the 22nd District Headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"acrg5\">For two hours, the journalists remained on the buses, their outlets reported. In her Inquirer account, Graham described how the buses were not air conditioned and one woman urinated herself after not being allowed to use the bathroom. Another woman had a medical emergency and was eventually taken to receive medical care.</p><p data-block-key=\"qvisw\">An officer informed the detainees on Graham and Miller’s bus they would be issued citations for violating the curfew and released by the end of the night, both journalists <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jennamargaretta/status/1267635481317183488\">said</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ufnv\">Graham wrote in the Inquirer that she was eventually able to maneuver her hands in order to send texts to her husband and editor on her smartwatch. A lawyer for the Inquirer contacted city officials. Around 9 p.m., the journalists were released without charge but with an apology from officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"3oib5\">City spokesperson Mike Dunn told the Tracker that Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney is “extremely troubled” by the detentions and has called some of the journalists. Both Mayor Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw “are strongly committed to allowing press access so the public can be fully informed,” Dunn said.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7ctq\">Toward that end, Dunn said Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw ordered an investigation into the detentions. And police protocols that ensure “properly credentialed press are essential workers and not subject to restrictions of a curfew, as long as they are not impeding public safety or police operations […] have been reiterated repeatedly in internal communications to officers.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3dkt7\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
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"arresting_authority": "Philadelphia Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jenna Miller (The News Journal and Delaware Online)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Atlanta photographer detained, released after intervention by other journalists",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/atlanta-photographer-detained-released-after-intervention-other-journalists/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-16T13:50:58.737920Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-15T13:40:58.281697Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-15T13:40:58.161587Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Atlanta",
"longitude": -84.38798,
"latitude": 33.749,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2jm7h\">Officers from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources temporarily <a href=\"https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional/groups-condemn-detention-journalists-covering-atlanta-protests/ki7s5LUHU1n3dPLQgYN5aK/\">detained</a> Atlanta Journal-Constitution photographer Alyssa Pointer as she covered protests in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"pfofu\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"19his\">Pointer told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she’d been following a group of <a href=\"https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-protests-crowds-gather-downtown-4th-day-demonstrations-continue/sSoUsu5ugM3nbuSkzBgXNO/\">protesters</a> marching near City Hall when she realized they intended to try to get on the interstate south of the state Capitol. She heard an officer instruct others to arrest any protester who tried to go down an embankment toward the interstate, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4kcf9\">As the Georgia State Patrol began to make arrests, Pointer said she continued to photograph the scene. After she captured the arrest of two young women, an officer from the DNR demanded to know what she was doing.</p><p data-block-key=\"pplib\">The department, which usually provides law enforcement for outdoor recreation, was one of several state and local agencies assisting the Atlanta Police Department that day, DNR spokesperson Mark McKinnon told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"2rnz0\">Pointer responded that she was a journalist with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and said she was heading back up the embankment. Pointer’s press badge hung clearly visible around her neck, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"zb9hu\">“I don’t care. You’re being detained,” the DNR officer said, according to Pointer. Two other officers followed that order and proceeded to detain her.</p><p data-block-key=\"0er0u\">McKinnon said that two Atlanta Police Department officers told DNR officers to arrest everyone in the area where protesters were blocking traffic on the highway. DNR officers detained Pointer as part of that group.</p><p data-block-key=\"xm2m7\">Pointer told the Tracker that the officers were not able to handcuff her due to all of her equipment. So they took her two cameras and backpack and placed her in plastic restraints. They then hung her cameras around her neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"fylj1\">Journalists walking among the protesters found Pointer sitting with her back against the support of an underpass surrounded by several DNR officers. In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/tvnewsgoon/videos/564953394445546/?v=564953394445546\">livestream video</a> by NBC affiliate 11Alive, reporter Doug Richards spots Pointer and asks, “Whoa, is that Alyssa?”</p><p data-block-key=\"bwzl7\">Two other journalists were already filming Pointer and talking to the officers. “She’s with the AJC!” Richards shouts in the video. A DNR officer responds that he did not know who detained her or why.</p><p data-block-key=\"xgcwn\">“It’s as if the story of these guys is that someone cuffed her and then walked away,” Richards explains to his livestream audience.</p><p data-block-key=\"vyz17\">A DNR officer, seeing Pointer’s press badge, asked her who detained her. She said she did not know, because the initial officer had left after giving the order. An officer then left to search for his colleague, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"po5v3\">Pointer told the Tracker that one officer offered to write down a phone number for her to call once she was taken to jail. “I kept telling him I’m not going,” Pointer said, repeating that she was a journalist. “But they weren’t listening.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dxk5l\">McKinnon said a DNR supervisor ordered her release after Pointer provided evidence that she was a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"nkkak\">Pointer’s restraints were removed; she’d been detained for approximately 10 minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"i5hax\">“Bottom line, I was going to jail if the journalists weren’t there,” Pointer told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"u6sg4\">Pointer gathered her things and immediately headed up the street to catch up with the protest. She had a <a href=\"https://www.ajc.com/news/photos-fourth-day-protests-downtown-atlanta/QEezIBkVD4OHAUrhCca0LM/\">job</a> to do, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"38p0b\">Pointer told the Tracker it was frustrating to know the officers were not listening to her as a journalist or as a black woman.</p><p data-block-key=\"8m7tz\">“I’m not afraid, but there’s all this legacy of why I possibly should be,” she said. “So listen to a journalist when they tell you who they are. Don’t detain us. Let’s have a conversation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6mif3\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Pointer_arrest_ATL_0530.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"8f0a8\">Atlanta Journal-Constitution photographer Alyssa Pointer was detained while covering protests in Atlanta on June 1, 2020. Three other journalists intervened on her behalf until she was released.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Atlanta Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
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"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Georgia",
"abbreviation": "GA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Alyssa Pointer (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Broadcast photographer struck with pepper balls while covering Buffalo protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/broadcast-photographer-struck-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-buffalo-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-15T04:18:38.545378Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:51:26.989397Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:51:26.910516Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Buffalo",
"longitude": -78.87837,
"latitude": 42.88645,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c0b4p\">A news crew from WIVB in Buffalo, New York, was struck by crowd-control munitions fired by police while covering protests in the city on June 1, 2020, the same night a Buffalo protester was tackled and forcibly arrested by police while giving an on-camera interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"v8bpa\">The demonstrations that evening were part of a wave of protests resulting from a viral video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"sn835\">June 1 was <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/06/01/us/ap-us-america-protests-officers-struck.html?searchResultPosition=20\">a particularly chaotic night in Buffalo</a>. At one point, an SUV carrying two people who had been shot drove through a line of law enforcement officers, two of whom suffered injuries and were taken to a hospital. Blocks away from that incident, police deployed tear gas to clear the streets. In the midst of that, WIVB photographer Brad Berchou and reporter Dave Greber were caught in a volley of pepper ball fire from police. One of the projectiles hit the camera lens, but it was not damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"1131j\">In an interview with WIVB, Greber said that he did not believe he and Berchou were targeted because they were journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"i2u1q\">“I think they were firing at anything that moved. And we happened to be moving,” he said. “I would hope, to be honest with you, that they didn’t know who we were. It would be a real shame that if they identified us as media positively, and then pulled the trigger.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u5wgr\">At a press conference, Buffalo police captain Jeff Rinaldo said that any harm journalists suffered during the protests from police was incidental.</p><p data-block-key=\"xphsr\">“We try as hard as we can to make sure that members of the media have access to these events. But when situations like this unfold, when we’re trying to disperse large crowds, there is the potential for media members to become part of the situation,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"sa42m\">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": "",
"teaser_image": null,
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
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"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"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",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brad Berchou (WIVB-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Senior Telemundo correspondent hit with projectile during protests in DC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/senior-telemundo-correspondent-hit-with-projectile-during-protests-in-dc/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-19T15:30:05.437330Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:54:51.505177Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:54:51.413774Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pd0i5\">Multiple journalists for the Spanish-language outlet Telemundo reported being hit with projectiles while covering protests near the White House on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"hguta\">The protests that day were part of a wave of demonstrations resulting from a viral video showing a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later 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=\"jux4c\">The Telemundo journalists — senior Washington correspondent Cristina Londoño Rooney, bureau chief Lori Montenegro and cameraman Edwin López — reported being hit with projectiles as law enforcement officials attempted to disperse protesters half an hour before the district’s 7 p.m. curfew on June 1 and as President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the Rose Garden nearby.</p><p data-block-key=\"l1hm5\">Emailed requests to the Telemundo journalists for interviews were not returned as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"twcuh\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/luisfemiami/status/1267615162355388417\">video</a> posted shortly before being hit, Londoño described “a very tense atmosphere” and how tear gas was “already starting to make our throats itch.” She wondered if “protesters are aware that the president will be addressing the nation any time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"k9jgn\">After the attack, the Colombian journalist posted a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=731606084241442\">video</a> in which she detailed the journalists’ injuries, stating that Montenegro had been hit on the back and that her throat was sore after breathing air filled with tear gas; that López had been hit on his right arm and ribs; and that law enforcement had used “long weapons that were pointing at us” to push them out of the area close to the White House.</p><p data-block-key=\"gqvvm\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CristiLondono/status/1269111643012808704/photo/1\">tweet on June 5</a>, Londoño shared pictures of her wounds and bruises, writing, “The White House also said rubber bullets were not used. Can anyone tell me what this looks like?”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">La Casa Blanca negó que usaron gases lacrimógenos o balas de goma para dispersar a los manifestantes y periodistas el lunes. Sentí los gases y el <a href=\"https://twitter.com/washingtonpost?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@washingtonpost</a> ahora los confirma. Y esto ¿Me pueden decir esto qué es? <a href=\"https://t.co/CkjEIPSwqu\">pic.twitter.com/CkjEIPSwqu</a></p>— Cristina Londoño Rooney (@CristiLondono) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CristiLondono/status/1269111643012808704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 6, 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=\"fk323\">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. Park Police said in a <a href=\"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/uspp/6_2_20_statement_from_acting_chief_monahan.htm\">statement</a> on June 2 that its officers and other assisting law enforcement partners had not used tear gas that day, though multiple outlets, including the <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/park-police-spokesman-acknowledges-chemical-agents-used-on-lafayette-square-protesters-are-similar-to-tear-gas/2020/06/05/971a8d78-a75a-11ea-b473-04905b1af82b_story.html\">Washington Post</a>, have reported that “chemical agents” were deployed. Regarding this particular incident, Park Police did not respond to our request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"pbw7p\">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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"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
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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": [
"Cristina Londoño Rooney (Telemundo)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Radio journalist tear gassed, injured at Oakland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/radio-journalist-tear-gassed-injured-at-oakland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2022-12-02T18:58:52.728523Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:39:13.833874Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:39:13.751448Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Oakland",
"longitude": -122.2708,
"latitude": 37.80437,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"relbp\">KCBS Radio reporter Timothy Ryan was caught in a cloud of tear gas and severely injured his ankle while covering protests in Oakland, California, on June 1, 2020, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf in January 2022.</p><p data-block-key=\"ejg0\">Protests in Oakland took place amid a national wave of demonstrations against racism and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis in May 2020. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented hundreds of incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control munitions or tear gas or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?tags=Black%20Lives%20Matter%201%20year\">Find these incidents here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"23ik6\">Ryan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was covering the demonstration downtown as protesters marched toward the Oakland Police Department. <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.391057/gov.uscourts.cand.391057.23.0.pdf\">According to the lawsuit</a>, Ryan was reporting near the corner of Broadway and Ninth Streets at approximately 7:40 p.m., shortly before the city-wide curfew order went into effect.</p><p data-block-key=\"eefb4\">“Just like I’ve seen so many times in Oakland, there were a couple hundred police officers, all in their riot gear,” Ryan said. “And as I usually do, I positioned myself close enough to the action but always keeping an eye out for an escape route.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cdioe\">Ryan said he saw two small, plastic water bottles fly toward the police officers. Instantly, the officers began deploying tear gas and flash-bang grenades into the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"d97du\">“I didn’t think their reaction would be so violent,” he said. “Instantly, it just gets chaotic.”</p><p data-block-key=\"34kel\">Ryan said he was half a block away from the skirmish line and he attempted to flee as a thick cloud of tear gas enveloped him.</p><p data-block-key=\"9l4n7\">“I’m overcome with tear gas and it’s dark and I’m blinded,” he said. “I turn to run and in that retreat, in just the first couple of steps, I move from the sidewalk to the street and that movement twists my right foot in.”</p><p data-block-key=\"58s2i\">Ryan told the Tracker he tore two ligaments and broke a bone in his right foot. He said that while the adrenaline helped him push through the pain and continue reporting for several hours, his injuries ultimately required surgery and he still has a limp.</p><p data-block-key=\"6lth5\">Ryan was wearing a helmet labeled with “PRESS,” had his KCBS press identification attached to his belt and was carrying a digital recorder and microphone with the KCBS logo, according to his lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ga4a\">“The tear gas attack by defendants on plaintiff RYAN was motivated by his status as a working journalist or was committed with reckless disregard to his status as a journalist and his peaceful and lawful presence at the protest,” the suit states.</p><p data-block-key=\"ff8mc\">Then-Deputy Police Chief Leronne Armstrong said during a town hall meeting on June 8 that the department would examine each instance when munitions were deployed during the protest, <a href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/oakland-police-will-now-investigate-tear-gas-deployment-at-protest-as-criticism-mounts\">KTVU FOX 2 reported</a>. He also acknowledged that it was possible the crowd did not hear the officer’s dispersal order.</p><p data-block-key=\"19v9m\">Armstrong, who became chief of police in 2021, <a href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/oakland-police-chief-apologizes-issues-33-disciplinary-actions-for-using-tear-gas-against-protesters\">issued an apology</a> one year after the protest for the police response and announced that he had issued at least 33 disciplinary actions to officers for violating city and department policy.</p><p data-block-key=\"f1ghl\">"We failed on June 1," Armstrong told KTVU. "We deployed tear gas outside policy. I apologize to the young people that you had to experience what you experienced. This department is holding itself accountable."</p><p data-block-key=\"a8o07\">Ryan filed his lawsuit on Jan. 26, 2022, against the city of Oakland and two Oakland Police Department officers who had supervised the police response.</p><p data-block-key=\"au4md\">Ryan’s attorney, Dan Siegel, told the Tracker that the goal of the suit is to hold the department accountable for its excessive use of force, and they are seeking both policy change and monetary damages.</p><p data-block-key=\"d31s0\">In November, Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu dismissed the municipal liability claims against the city, but ruled that the remainder of the claims — including First Amendment retaliation and supervisory liability — can stand.</p><p data-block-key=\"apb46\">According to court records reviewed by the Tracker, a jury trial in the case is scheduled for Sept. 25, 2023.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Ryan_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7c7ix\">Oakland police disperse a crowd with tear gas on June 1, 2020. KCBS reporter Timothy Ryan, who was covering the protest against police brutality, severely injured his ankle when fleeing the chemical irritant.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "4:22-cv-00521",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-08-16 14:23:00+00:00) Radio journalist wins settlement after tear-gassing at Oakland protest"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Timothy Ryan (KCBS)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Cincinnati Enquirer journalist detained as cameras roll",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cincinnati-enquirer-journalist-detained-cameras-roll/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-11T04:26:10.563431Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:28:52.602592Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:28:52.511708Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Cincinnati",
"longitude": -84.51439,
"latitude": 39.12711,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ynogx\">Cincinnati police temporarily detained Enquirer journalist Pat Brennan as he covered protests against police violence in the Over-The-Rhine neighborhood on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"g3634\">Brennan told the Tracker that he normally covers professional soccer but has reported on many police scenes in his career. With a short staff due to furloughs, he was recruited to help cover the protests that swept through Cincinnati and the rest of the nation after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"ket9p\">Cincinnati police began to enforce a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/HCEMA/status/1267537596164517889\"> curfew</a> shortly after 8 p.m., the paper<a href=\"https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/06/01/cincinnati-enquirer-journalist-detained-during-protest-coverage/5313869002/\"> reported</a>. A video provided by Brennan shows a SWAT vehicle advancing as a loudspeaker blares warnings to leave the streets or face arrest. Protesters run away from the police line. Brennan decided to stay put, identify as a journalist, and let the police pass, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"j8zhs\">His colleague Maddie Mitchell told the Enquirer that Brennan was separated from the group and she called out to him to rejoin. But he suddenly disappeared from view as he crossed behind a police vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"qz64k\">Brennan had crossed behind the vehicle on the orders of the police, his video shows. Brennan records police arresting two people. One officer tells Brennan to “do what you want but back up.” Brennan says he is trying to reconnect with his crew. An officer says to go on the other side of the vehicle. So Brennan crossed to the other side of the street and sought a way to reconnect with his colleagues, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"9i18j\">The detention was captured in two videos filmed by other media present.</p><p data-block-key=\"dizdu\">Courtney Francisco, a senior journalist with the local ABC affiliate WCPO,<a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CA8kpkHpbVU/\"> posted</a> on her social media a video that begins moments before police took Brennan into custody.</p><p data-block-key=\"tldt2\">In the video, two police officers warn Francisco and the WCPO crew to leave the area. “Sir, we are with the news,” she says. “I know but we need space,” one officer responds before warning her again to get back.</p><p data-block-key=\"msbwt\">Within a minute, the camera swings towards a commotion and records at least seven officers taking Brennan to the ground. As an officer pulls out plastic restraints to cuff Brennan, Francisco gets quickly caught up herself. The two police officers who previously warned her begin shoving her backwards. The officers force the crew around the corner of a building and out of sight of Brennan.</p><p data-block-key=\"jd6n5\">“They were pushing very hard and very fast. I couldn’t keep up,” she says to the camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"c2j9s\">Nick Swartsell, a journalist on furlough from the Cincinnati CityBeat, posted a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/nswartsell/status/1267612155840528385\"> video</a> on Twitter showing Brennan walk by a police SWAT vehicle toward the police line. Police officers stop Brennan, who is wearing a mask, goggles, and a badge around his neck. A police loudspeaker blares “He’s been told” before the officers take him to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"0bbxx\">Brennan told the Tracker he did his best to avoid face-planting as one officer stuck his leg out to trip him. He collapsed to the ground with the officers, who shoved his cheek into the pavement and cuffed him. Police then brought him to a wall where others were being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"kp7yf\">The police released Brennan from custody without charge after 30 minutes, according to the Enquirer.</p><p data-block-key=\"02wcx\">That night Brennan said on<a href=\"https://twitter.com/PBrennanENQ/status/1267656078067720198\"> Twitter</a> that he had a “respectful conversation” with Cincinnati’s chief of police, Eliot Isaac. Brennan told the Tracker that Isaac arrived on scene and immediately went to apologize to Brennan.</p><p data-block-key=\"162kb\">The police department <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CincyPD/status/1267629539980648451\">apologized</a> on Twitter for “any inconvenience” regarding Brennan’s detention and Francisco’s removal from the area. According to<a href=\"https://twitter.com/nswartsell/status/1267622449115467778\"> Swartsell</a>, Isaac said Brennan “got mixed up in the crowd,” claiming he was wearing goggles and a mask without an obvious ID.</p><p data-block-key=\"iqikl\">Lt. Steve Saunders, a spokesman for the Cincinnati police department, told the Tracker on June 10 that the department had entered ongoing conversations with media outlets to help better identify journalists and ensure they can report while not interfering in police operations. “If we can do things better, we want to do things better,” he said, while insisting that this applies to journalists, too.</p><p data-block-key=\"mw34s\">Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley also <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JohnCranley/status/1267628761027141634\">apologized</a> on Twitter, calling the arrest a “big mistake” and stating that reporters are crucial to democracy.</p><p data-block-key=\"n9y6c\">Francisco and Swartsell did not respond to emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"vgcks\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2020-06-10_at_11.13.2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mohox\">While documenting protests in Cincinnati, journalists with ABC affiliate WCPO captured multiple officers forcing Cincinnati Enquirer journalist Pat Brennan to the ground to detain him.</p>",
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{
"title": "Philadelphia Inquirer reporter one of three journalists detained by police past curfew",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/philadelphia-inquirer-reporter-one-three-journalists-detained-police-past-curfew/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-17T02:55:55.868353Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:27:20.987289Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:27:20.884820Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Philadelphia",
"longitude": -75.16362,
"latitude": 39.95238,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ei4vv\">Kristen Graham, a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, was temporarily detained on June 1, 2020, by police while returning home from reporting post-curfew, her paper<a href=\"https://www.inquirer.com/news/live/philadelphia-protest-curfew-news-live-george-floyd-minneapolis-looting-stores-police-20200602.html\"> reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"a1nta\">Graham was one of three journalists similarly detained that night in Philadelphia. Reporter Jeff Neiburg and photographer Jenna Miller of Wilmington’s The News Journal and Delaware Online were also arrested by Philadelphia police as they attempted to return home after the 6 p.m. curfew, the outlet<a href=\"https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/editorials/2020/06/02/reporters-must-not-charged-detained-they-cover-protests-editorial/3123063001/\"> reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"e6yyu\">Their respective outlets said the three journalists were reporting on protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 and spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"gu8h8\">Graham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning education reporter, volunteered to cover the protests that day, she said in a<a href=\"https://www.inquirer.com/news/george-floyd-protests-philadelphia-jouranlist-arrested-kristen-graham-20200602.html\"> personal account</a> written for the Inquirer. Police deployed tear gas around 5 p.m. into a crowd near Graham. She continued to report despite the stinging in her eyes.</p><p data-block-key=\"cbzo5\">As the curfew set in by 6 p.m. and the protesters dissipated, Graham wrote that she decided to walk back to her car near the Inquirer office. After passing dozens of police officers, one approached her to ask where she was going. The officer urged her to keep her press credentials prominently displayed. So she did.</p><p data-block-key=\"4a69v\">After she photographed some police buses near City Hall, another officer told her she was not allowed there. So Graham turned around to walk the other way around the building.</p><p data-block-key=\"pu01g\">A minute later, she wrote, two officers confronted her and put her hands behind her back. Despite Graham trying to explain she was a reporter, the officers cuffed her in zip ties. Graham told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the officers placed her helmet and phone inside her backpack.</p><p data-block-key=\"sxg9w\">The<a href=\"https://www.phila.gov/documents/emergency-order-to-implement-curfew/\"> curfew order</a> explicitly excludes working media as essential personnel. But Graham told the Tracker that the officers “brushed aside” her explanation that she was working as a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"ycw6j\">Graham wrote in her account for the Inquirer that she was brought to an empty bus that soon was filled with more than 20 women, including Miller from The News Journal. Like Graham, Miller and Neiburg were detained near City Hall and brought to buses segregated by gender, Neiburg said in an <a href=\"https://975thefanatic.com/episodes/delware-onlines-jeff-neiburg-breaks-down-the-protests/\">interview</a> with the local radio station 97.5 The Fanatic. The journalists, with the other detainees, were then driven to the 22nd District Headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"qywg4\">Graham told the Tracker that she was brought into the station for processing. But a police supervisor told the officers there was no room and ordered her taken back to the bus.</p><p data-block-key=\"z3kxz\">For two hours, the journalists remained on the buses, their outlets reported. In her Inquirer account, Graham described how the buses were not air conditioned and one woman urinated herself after not being allowed to use the bathroom. Another woman had a medical emergency and was eventually taken to receive medical care.</p><p data-block-key=\"tvdgf\">An officer informed the detainees on Graham and Miller’s bus they would be issued citations for violating the curfew and released by the end of the night, both journalists <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jennamargaretta/status/1267635481317183488\">said</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0pvba\">Graham wrote in the Inquirer that she was eventually able to maneuver her hands in order to send texts to her husband and editor on her smartwatch. A lawyer for the Inquirer contacted city officials. Around 9 p.m., the journalists were released without charge but with an apology from officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"ioq8g\">City spokesperson Mike Dunn told the Tracker that Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney is “extremely troubled” by the detentions and has called some of the journalists. Both Mayor Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw “are strongly committed to allowing press access so the public can be fully informed,” Dunn said.</p><p data-block-key=\"yz1hj\">Toward that end, Dunn said Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw ordered an investigation into the detentions. And police protocols that ensure “properly credentialed press are essential workers and not subject to restrictions of a curfew, as long as they are not impeding public safety or police operations […] have been reiterated repeatedly in internal communications to officers.”</p><p data-block-key=\"p89xz\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Philadelphia Police Department",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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"targeted_journalists": [
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},
{
"title": "Asbury Park Press journalist arrested covering protests, released the next day",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/asbury-park-press-journalist-arrested-covering-protests-released-next-day/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-09T13:52:37.487049Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:51:02.217180Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:51:02.098917Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Asbury Park",
"longitude": -74.01208,
"latitude": 40.22039,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"175vk\">Gustavo Martínez Contreras, a multimedia journalist with the New Jersey daily Asbury Park Press, was arrested while covering an anti-police violence protest in Asbury Park on the night of June 1, 2020. He was released after spending the night in custody.</p><p data-block-key=\"nozcd\">The city of Asbury Park had imposed an 8 p.m. <a href=\"https://www.cityofasburypark.com/DocumentCenter/View/1578/20200601_Disaster-Declaration?bidId=\">curfew</a> ahead of planned protests, part of the national wave of unrest since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody on May 25. The curfew, <a href=\"https://www.app.com/story/news/2020/06/01/curfew-set-asbury-park-ahead-justice-george-floyd-protest/5311591002/\">which explicitly excluded credentialed media</a>, did not stop protesters from <a href=\"https://www.app.com/story/news/local/how-we-live/2020/06/01/app-reporter-apparently-arrested-asbury-park-george-floyd-protest/5314750002/\">marching</a>, according to the Asbury Park Press.</p><p data-block-key=\"2r4ja\">Throughout the night, Martínez <a href=\"https://twitter.com/newsguz/status/1267632790536728577\">posted</a> videos of the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/newsguz/status/1267632700996886528\">protest</a> in Asbury Park on Twitter. In his last <a href=\"https://twitter.com/newsguz/status/1267638156368719874\">video</a>, Martínez captured his own arrest while livestreaming.</p><p data-block-key=\"cdbex\">The video, posted around 10 p.m., shows a suddenly tense scene compared to his previous footage. Asbury Park police began to enforce the curfew by advancing in riot gear and making arrests. A police officer shoved Martínez, apologized with no explanation, and returned attention to protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"nc3g4\">Minutes later on the feed, Martínez filmed police arresting two young protesters when two police officers approached him shouting “Go home” and “This shit is fucking over.” A third police officer off-screen said “Fuck him, he’s the problem” and tackled Martínez to the ground. “You're under arrest. Put your fucking hands behind your back," the officer said. The video then cut out.</p><p data-block-key=\"e93ro\">In a personal <a href=\"https://www.app.com/story/news/local/emergencies/2020/06/03/gustavo-martinez-contreras-arrest-george-floyd-protest-asbury-park/3126798001/\">account</a> on the Press website, Martínez wrote that one police officer yelled “take down his fucking phone” and slapped it out of his hand. Police escorted him to a van transporting arrested protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ue11\">On the way to the van, an officer asked Martínez what was hanging around his neck, Martínez wrote. His press badge, he replied. It was one of several times Martínez identified himself as a journalist to the police before, during, and after his arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"xlk1w\">The van took the prisoners to Belmar Police Department. Martínez told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that a plainclothes officer asked him if he knew about or had any interaction at the protest with the radical left-wing activist movement antifa, a group President Donald Trump vowed to declare a terrorist organization, even though he reportedly may lack the legal authority to do so. Martínez said he was familiar with the group because of his work as a journalist. He said the officer warned him to avoid antifa because it is a terrorist organization.</p><p data-block-key=\"9gwxw\">Martínez was released the following morning after five hours in custody, he wrote. Police returned his belongings, including his phone, backpack, safety goggles, and helmet.</p><p data-block-key=\"k9h9q\">Martínez had been booked on charges of failing to obey an order to disperse, according to a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/MCProsecutors.Office/posts/3019661608116684?__tn__=-R\">summons</a> posted on the Monmouth County Prosecutor Office’s Facebook page. The charges were quickly dropped by morning. The police request to dismiss the charge, also posted on the prosecutor’s Facebook page, claimed that Martínez had failed to identify as a reporter, which Martínez disputes.</p><p data-block-key=\"cotmt\">The Asbury Park Police and the Belmar Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"y74of\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/NewJerseyOAG/status/1267823567476908034\">On Twitter</a>, New Jersey State Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal pledged to “figure out why this happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again [because] in America, we don’t lock up reporters for doing their job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"t2gu6\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Asbury Park Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-06-02",
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "3:20-cv-08710",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New Jersey",
"abbreviation": "NJ"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-06-08 10:27:00+00:00) Reporter settles civil suit against New Jersey police",
"(2020-07-13 07:14:00+00:00) Reporter sues New Jersey police following investigation that cleared officers of wrongdoing"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Gustavo Martínez Contreras (Asbury Park Press)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Reporter detained while covering Oakland protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-detained-while-covering-oakland-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-04T12:52:03.832079Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:50:41.721133Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:50:41.627883Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Oakland",
"longitude": -122.2708,
"latitude": 37.80437,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qdffd\">Police briefly detained KPIX 5 News reporter Katie Nielsen while she was documenting protests in Oakland, California, on June 1, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"m8zax\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"9irr9\">Nielsen told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was documenting a peaceful protest organized by Oakland Tech High School students. Approximately 15,000 people had gathered with a plan to march to the Oakland Police Department on 7th Street, but were stopped by a police barricade a block away.</p><p data-block-key=\"widt5\">“Protesters started yelling. Officers masked up, and as soon as a protester threw something across the police line, they fired back with tear gas and flash bangs,” Nielsen said.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ky7i\">Police gave dispersal warnings as the 8 p.m. curfew approached; Nielsen said that about a dozen protesters were still in the area at curfew, and police rushed in to make arrests.</p><p data-block-key=\"bj399\">“I was grabbed by an officer and told to put my hands behind my back. I kept repeating that I was a reporter and had my credentials right here, visible,” Nielsen said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ar62\">A second officer approached her, but walked away after he heard that she was a reporter. The initial officer continued to walk her into the middle of the intersection and handcuffed her.</p><p data-block-key=\"a6c4k\">“The photographer I was with, Erin Baldassari, was not just a few feet away shooting everything that was happening to me,” Nielsen said. “They just held me there standing in the middle of the intersection.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Police rushed in and started arresting everyone present <a href=\"https://t.co/jATY8xjasM\">pic.twitter.com/jATY8xjasM</a></p>— Erin Baldassari (@e_baldi) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/e_baldi/status/1267652640529235970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"rfocl\">Five to ten minutes later, a police lieutenant approached Nielsen, verified her credentials and released her without charges, she said. Nielsen said she was only in custody for a few minutes, but, “it was enough to keep us from reporting and shooting the arrests that were happening with the protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4tly3\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KatieKPIX/status/1267716744870678533\">an interview</a> on KPIX 5 News after the incident, Oakland Police spokesperson Johnna Watson apologized to Nielsen for the arrest.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here is the 11pm story about the protest, my detainment, and a statement from OPD regarding the incident. <a href=\"https://t.co/mg9FRaYnz0\">pic.twitter.com/mg9FRaYnz0</a></p>— Katie Nielsen (@KatieKPIX) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KatieKPIX/status/1267716744870678533?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"1equ0\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting damage of equipment and multiple journalists arrested or struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas while covering related protests across the country. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Nielsen_Erin_Baldassari_-_KQED2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"evjtk\">Police in Oakland, California, detain KPIX 5 News reporter Katie Nielsen on June 1, 2020. The interaction was captured by another photographer with whom Nielsen was documenting protests in the city.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Oakland Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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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"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
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"targeted_journalists": [
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],
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{
"title": "Australian cameraman assaulted by police amid chaotic crackdowns in DC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/australian-cameraman-assaulted-by-police-amid-chaotic-crackdowns-in-dc/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-19T15:36:10.717252Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:55:33.622134Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:55:33.535061Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"479qo\">A news crew for Australia’s 7News was assaulted by law enforcement while covering protests against police violence in Washington, D.C., on June 1, 2020, a chaotic day for demonstrations throughout the nation’s capital.</p><p data-block-key=\"d4472\">Cameraman Tim Myers and correspondent Amelia Brace were reporting live on-air amid a group of protesters facing a police line when officers rushed the crowd. An officer wearing riot gear can be <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sunriseon7/status/1267592137735991296?s=20\">seen pushing</a> Myers with a shield and hitting his camera. As Myers and Brace fled the scene, an officer can be seen swinging a baton at Brace.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Watch the shocking moment <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/7NEWS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#7NEWS</a> reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AmeliaBrace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AmeliaBrace</a> and our cameraman were knocked over by a police officer LIVE on air after chaos erupted in Washington DC. <a href=\"https://t.co/R8KJLnfxPN\">pic.twitter.com/R8KJLnfxPN</a></p>— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sunriseon7/status/1267587976986427393?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=\"pcrer\">“They were quite violent and they do not care who they’re targeting at the moment,” Brace told in-studio anchors during a <a href=\"https://7news.com.au/sunrise/on-the-show/scary-moment-as-sunrise-reporter-caught-up-in-us-violence-c-1073136\">subsequent report for 7News</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"llbbk\">“We were trying to move on. The last thing we ever want is to get in the way, but there was just no opportunity,” she continued. “There was really no choice but to try to hide in that corner, hoping that they pass by ... as you can see in those pictures, they did not.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lv0hg\">Brace also told the anchors that a rubber bullet hit her “on the backside” and that another round struck Myers on the neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"1d5xs\">7News did not respond to requests for comment or make its journalists available for interviews.</p><p data-block-key=\"tdkue\">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. The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia did not respond to requests for comment on these incidents as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"y0q7b\">Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter 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=\"8s699\">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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"name": "District of Columbia",
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"updates": [
"(2023-05-24 00:00:00+00:00) Investigation finds that officers used excessive force against Australian photojournalist, correspondent"
],
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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{
"title": "Independent photojournalist sues following arrest, assault at Des Moines protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-sues-following-arrest-assault-at-des-moines-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2022-08-16T20:16:18.860235Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-07T14:26:12.947179Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-07T14:26:12.827292Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Des Moines",
"longitude": -93.60911,
"latitude": 41.60054,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0nskf\">A photojournalist was tackled to the ground and arrested while documenting protests in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 1, 2020. Mark Nieters, who publishes under Ted Nieters, subsequently filed a lawsuit against the city, the chief of police and the officer involved in the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"5vulu\">The protest was one in a series of national demonstrations against police brutality sparked by the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As the protests continued nightly, Iowa’s Polk County Board of Supervisors implemented a 9 p.m. curfew on May 31 <a href=\"https://www.kcrg.com/2020/05/31/polk-county-announces-curfew-following-weekend-violent-protests/\">due to</a> “the violent outbreak of civil unrest” in Des Moines.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hshf\">According to Nieters’ <a href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20437484/mark-nieters-complaint.pdf\">lawsuit</a>, protesters had gathered at the Iowa Capitol on June 1 for an event called “Together We Can Make a Change: A Call to Action.” The formal event ended at 8:15 p.m., but several hundred people marched to the Des Moines Police Department and some ultimately looped back to the Capitol. Police engaged the crowd at around 11:45 p.m., according to the lawsuit, issuing an order to disperse and throwing tear gas canisters and flashbangs toward the protesters. Nieters confirmed the details of the filing to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, and his attorney was not immediately available for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"bauat\">Nieters had left the complex before officers began attempting to disperse the crowd, and was walking alone on Locust Street toward an Embassy Suites located across the street from City Hall. He stopped in one of the hotel’s driveways and began taking photos as officers ran past City Hall in his direction. One of the officers, identified as Brandon Holtan and named as a plaintiff in the suit, ran directly toward Nieters.</p><p data-block-key=\"b8387\">“As Defendant Holton approached, Mr. Nieters placed his hands in the air and stated that he was a journalist. Mr. Nieters perceived that Defendant Holton was going to run directly into him and so Mr. Nieters turned his back and tried to brace himself,” the lawsuit states.</p><p data-block-key=\"taij\">Holtan then tackled Nieters to the ground and pepper-sprayed him in the eyes. Nieters confirmed to the Tracker that while this was happening he identified himself as a journalist and said that he had his National Press Photographers Association press card in his back pocket.</p><p data-block-key=\"5iiq8\">In addition to the press card — which Holtan located and examined — the lawsuit states that Nieters was carrying two cameras and wearing a bright blue helmet at the time of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"eg1o0\">“Despite observing confirmation that Mr. Nieters was working as a photographer, Defendant Holton proceeded to tightly zip-tie Mr. Nieters’ hands together behind his back and arrest him,” the lawsuit said.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0jvb\">In an email to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Nieters said that the Des Moines Police officers repeatedly acted recklessly and without regard for the law or common sense.</p><p data-block-key=\"9logb\">“I believe I was targeted for being recognizable and in front while covering protests,” Nieters said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vqp1\">Nieters confirmed to the Tracker that he was held in police custody for 12 hours, during which time he wasn’t allowed to make any calls to arrange for bail or alert anyone to his whereabouts until after his initial court appearance at around 12:30 p.m. Afterward, he was charged with failure to disperse and released.</p><p data-block-key=\"cpo94\">According to Nieters’ lawsuit, officers lied about the course of events in both the affidavit supporting the charges and in a report about the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"8im0l\">On the morning of June 2, Gov. Kim Reynolds held a <a href=\"https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2020/06/02/des-moines-police-pepper-spray-journalist-iowa-george-floyd-protest-des-moines-register-reporter/3126478001/\">news conference</a>, where Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens answered a few questions about the protests. Bayens said law enforcement’s response to the protests had been defined by “restraint, restraint, restraint,” adding that law enforcement did not have “any desire to see anyone that is there in a peaceful capacity or as a member of the media to get caught up with that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"alm9h\">According to the Register, Nieters had to appear multiple times in court before the charge against him was ultimately dropped on Aug. 13, with all of his court costs to be paid by the prosecutors.</p><p data-block-key=\"6lgbl\">Nieters told the Tracker he was relieved by the outcome, but was alarmed by the prosecutor’s continued pursuit of charges against a Des Moines Register reporter who was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pepper-sprayed-arrested-amid-protests-des-moines/\">arrested while covering protests</a> the day before his arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"b5fo1\">“It was a relief but also bothersome because Andrea Sahouri was still being charged for her journalism and neither of us were doing anything wrong,” Nieters said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ngfo\">Sahouri was ultimately acquitted of all charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"3gj88\">Nieters filed his <a href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20437484/mark-nieters-complaint.pdf\">lawsuit</a> against Officer Holtan, Chief of Police Dana Wingert and the city of Des Moines on Dec. 23, seeking compensation for his injuries and violations of his constitutional rights as well as injunctive relief.</p><p data-block-key=\"bruki\">City attorneys moved Nieters’ case from state to federal court in February 2021 and filed a motion for summary judgment in April 2022.</p><p data-block-key=\"bof9h\">On July 19, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22127564-nieters-order\">ruled</a> in favor of the Des Moines Police Department on the federal claims, finding that Holtan had “arguable probable cause” to arrest Nieters because of his proximity to the protesters not complying with orders to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"74pul\">“Even if Holtan was mistaken in believing Nieters heard the dispersal orders and was following an unlawful assembly, such a mistake was objectively reasonable given the information Holtan received about a 'large' group traveling on Locust Street,” Ebinger wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"7mavb\">She added that Nieters turning away from Holtan as he approached could reasonably have been interpreted as an attempt to flee. Ebinger declined to rule on Nieters’ state claims, however, saying they should be decided by Iowa courts.</p><p data-block-key=\"fcilr\">Gina Messamer, the photojournalist’s attorney, appealed the decision to the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on July 27. Messamer <a href=\"https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2022/08/05/courts-rule-three-des-moines-police-misconduct-lawsuits/10231495002/\">told the Register</a> that she expects the state proceedings to remain on hold until the appeal process is completed.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qbjei\">A still of police body camera video showing photojournalist Mark "Ted" Nieters after he was tackled to the ground, pepper-sprayed and arrested while documenting protests in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 1, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Des Moines Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-06-02",
"detention_date": "2020-06-01",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "4:21-cv-00042",
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"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Iowa",
"abbreviation": "IA"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-10-11 13:40:00+00:00) Appeals court revives journalist’s unlawful seizure, excessive force claims",
"(2024-08-21 00:00:00+00:00) Journalist settles suit against city of Des Moines for $100,000"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mark “Ted” Nieters (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Reuters reporter assaulted while covering DC protests on June 1",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reuters-reporter-assaulted-while-covering-dc-protests-on-june-1/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-19T15:42:04.048465Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:57:06.748451Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:57:06.649899Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"o225t\">Reuters journalists Jonathan Landay and Andy Sullivan were assaulted by unknown individuals on June 1, 2020 while covering protests in Washington, D.C.</p><p data-block-key=\"1p71z\">Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter 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=\"xdocs\">Sullivan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker the demonstrations that he and Landay encountered on June 1 were nonviolent. He said they witnessed “no vandalism or anything of that nature.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f36b5\">But at about 8 p.m., a group of unknown individuals approached Landay and Sullivan near the intersection of 14th Street NW and Rhode Island Avenue NW, Sullivan said. One of the individuals asked “in an aggressive way” if Sullivan was a police officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"6xhij\">Voice of America journalist Ani Chkhikvadze was near the scene and captured video of three males wearing black T-shirts swinging their fists at Landay as he ducked away from the assailants.</p><p data-block-key=\"fzldd\">Chkhikvadze, who reports for VOA’s Georgian language service, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/achkhikvadze/status/1267621129465876480?s=20\">tweeted that she accidentally caught footage</a> of the attack while she covered the protests. She posted two versions of the video, and in the longer one Landay is heard explaining that the individuals who tried to punch him asked “What are you doing down here?”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Group of people at <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DCprotests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DCprotests</a> attacked <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Reuters?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Reuters</a> journalist <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JonathanLanday?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JonathanLanday</a>. I accidentally caught it on camera - while covering the protests. According to him he was asked why he was there, he replied “I am here to tell you story” / which is when he was attacked. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VOANews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@VOANews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/EWZtqGcjGQ\">pic.twitter.com/EWZtqGcjGQ</a></p>— Ani Chkhikvadze (@achkhikvadze) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/achkhikvadze/status/1267621129465876480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"ailfm\">In the video, Landay tells Chkhikvadze that he replied: “I’m here to tell your story.” The assailants began swinging for Landay after he replied, Chkhikvadze wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"7scip\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/achkhikvadze/status/1267628177674899461?s=20\">In the video, Landay is seen</a> wearing a black flak vest with “PRESS” emblazoned in white block letters on the front, and he has press credentials hanging from a lanyard hanging around his neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ngvd\">Sullivan, a White House correspondent for Reuters, told the Tracker that the assailants took a “few swings” at him and at Landay but that ultimately “no damage was done.” He said that other protesters stepped in to intervene, giving the journalists time to retreat.</p><p data-block-key=\"8asly\">“I started all this by accident by trying to interview these guys,” Sullivan <a href=\"https://twitter.com/andysullivan/status/1267645771018616832\">said in a retweet</a> of Chkhikvadze’s video. “Sorry @JonathanLanday!”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I started all this by accident by trying to interview these guys. Sorry <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JonathanLanday?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JonathanLanday</a>! <a href=\"https://t.co/GGpoVcDkAt\">https://t.co/GGpoVcDkAt</a></p>— Andy Sullivan (@andysullivan) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/andysullivan/status/1267645771018616832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 2, 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=\"3h07x\">Landay said in a reply to Sullivan’s tweet that Sullivan got between him and the assailants and “had me walk away.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qobdi\">“Good comrade indeed,” Landay tweeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"3gol9\">Sullivan told the Tracker that throughout the evening of June 1 he saw the same group of individuals assault a cyclist and confront motorists.</p><p data-block-key=\"yjwdz\">Landay, a national security correspondent for Reuters who has reported from conflict zones, told the Tracker that he witnessed the assailants “pushing and shoving” people several blocks away on T Street NW between 14th and 15th streets NW.</p><p data-block-key=\"ge5js\">Landay said he tried to point out the assailants to Metropolitan Police Department officers who were cordoning off 14th Street, informing them that he had video recordings of his own assault. But he said police “just ignored me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"m1xwg\">The Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"eio77\">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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},
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"tags": [
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"protest"
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "KMTV reporter detained and zip-tied by National Guard while covering Omaha protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kmtv-reporter-detained-and-zip-tied-by-national-guard-while-covering-omaha-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-20T18:08:28.408595Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-11-19T16:38:02.521361Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-11-19T16:38:02.471629Z",
"date": "2020-06-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Omaha",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Kent Luetzen, a reporter for Omaha-metro area CBS affiliate KMTV, said he was briefly detained by National Guard officers while covering a June 1, 2020 protest in Omaha, Nebraska, against police violence.</p><p>Protests against police violence had spread across the country following the May 25 death of George Floyd. On June 1, demonstrations in Omaha also protested a decision by Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine to not charge a white bar owner, who had shot and killed 22-year-old Black man James Scurlock two days earlier,<a href=\"https://omaha.com/news/local/fourth-day-of-omaha-protests-brings-more-clashes-after-curfew-but-also-signs-of-unity/article_cc3bf57a-341b-53cb-b975-b525f4b61813.html\"> according to the Omaha World-Herald</a>.</p><p>After an 8 p.m. curfew went into effect June 1, the Omaha World-Herald reported that at least 150 protesters remained on downtown streets. According to<a href=\"https://www.wowt.com/content/news/Mayor-Governor-to-speak-at-2-PM-on-Saturday-nights-protest-vandalism-shooting-570905771.html\"> Mayor Jean Stothert's proclamation</a>, as reported by WOWT 6 News, members of the media were exempt from the curfew.</p><p>Luetzen told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and his colleague, Maya Saenz, were covering protests at Howard Street and South 13th Street when they were aggressively confronted by National Guard officers. In a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/KentLuetzen/status/1267638956801380353?s=20\"> video</a> posted to Twitter at 9:07 p.m., both reporters repeatedly scream, "We are media! We are media!" as a National Guard officer grabs Luetzen.</p><p>Luetzen told the Tracker he was briefly put into zip-ties even though he had his press credentials hanging around his neck and a KMTV logo on his hat. He said he was released shortly after the Guard officer verified his identity.</p><p>According to Luetzen, reporter Saenz was told to leave, but not zip-tied. At the same time on the same block, one of their colleagues, Jon Kipper,<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kmtv-journalists-caught-arrests-omaha/\"> was tackled and also briefly detained</a>.</p><p>Approximately half an hour later, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kmtv-reporter-detained-while-covering-omaha-protest/\">Luetzen</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/omaha-news-anchor-detained-by-police-shoved-by-national-guard-while-covering-protest/\">Saenz</a> were both briefly detained by Omaha police.</p><p>The Nebraska National Guard did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p>The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
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"arresting_authority": "National Guard",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Nebraska",
"abbreviation": "NE"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kent Luetzen (KMTV-TV)"
],
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}
]
