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{
"title": "Independent journalist struck by multiple crowd-control munitions fired by federal agents in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-struck-by-multiple-crowd-control-munitions-fired-by-federal-agents-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-08T14:03:32.580217Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-12T19:24:05.711929Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-12T19:24:05.318077Z",
"date": "2020-07-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mvfwj\">Independent journalist Jasper Florence said they were hit with crowd-control munitions fired by federal agents while covering protests in Portland, Oregon, in the early hours of July 28, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"r29oh\">Florence was covering one of the many protests that had broken out across the U.S. in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement after the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"yv79i\">The Portland protests, held nightly since late May, had <a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\">grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23. Conley is a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/07282020_declarations_motion_sanctions.pdf\">plaintiff</a> in the class-action lawsuit, which was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon.</p><p data-block-key=\"3aslu\">On the evening of July 27, protesters gathered at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse downtown, a nightly flashpoint for confrontations between protesters and federal agents, and demonstrated into the early hours of the morning of the next day.</p><p data-block-key=\"aetge\">Florence was struck in the early morning of July 28 while covering the demonstration in front of the federal courthouse. With protesters gathered at least 40 feet behind them, Florence was hit with a less-lethal munition while standing on the sidewalk in front of federal agents, they told the Tracker. Florence was hit near the hip, below their protective paintball vest, by what they believe was a baton round.</p><p data-block-key=\"yip0r\">At 1:17 a.m., Florence<a href=\"https://twitter.com/JFlorencePDX/status/1288025826609389568\"> tweeted,</a> “I have just been shot.” About 10 minutes later,<a href=\"https://twitter.com/JFlorencePDX/status/1288028547563495425\"> they tweeeted</a>, “Feds got me in the side pretty bad dunno how bad but it fucking hurts yalls.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I have just been shot</p>— Jasper Florence (They/Them) (@JFlorencePDX) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JFlorencePDX/status/1288025826609389568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 28, 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=\"96vtj\">Florence had trouble getting around “for days” after getting hit and that the pain made them stop covering protests that night, they said, but didn’t have the injury examined by a medical professional due to financial circumstances.</p><p data-block-key=\"t7f4o\">Florence was wearing a three-by-eight-inch “press” badge on their paintball vest as well as a helmet marked “press” in bright white letters, they said, adding that a press ID card was also visible.</p><p data-block-key=\"0cx5i\">“It was absolutely targeted both personally and as press,” Florence said. “I was very clearly marked with large lettering, so I feel like it’s kind of hard to miss.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wnfxz\">Florence was also struck with pepper balls, which caused irritation, but the vest provided some protection from the impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"s9g00\">Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the U.S. Marshals Service, which both have had federal agents in Portland, responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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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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"Jasper Florence (Independent)"
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{
"title": "Reporter shot in thigh, ankle with projectiles during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-shot-in-thigh-ankle-with-projectiles-during-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-10T14:28:48.340475Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:35:49.709223Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:35:49.625938Z",
"date": "2020-07-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tu262\">Roman Mendoza, a reporter for the California-based nonprofit news organization the Davis Vanguard, was shot in the thigh and ankle with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in downtown Portland, Oregon, on July 28, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ukzv0\">The protest was held in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"v6rog\">The Portland protests, held nightly since late May, had<a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\"> grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was<a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\"> expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"oducu\">On the night of July 28, protesters gathered downtown at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, which had emerged as a nightly flashpoint between protesters and federal agents. The protest continued past midnight and into the next day.</p><p data-block-key=\"f92yp\">Mendoza told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he had been recording protests that night in front of the courthouse and in the park across the street. As he exited the park, Mendoza said officers were spraying people with crowd-control munitions, and he was struck in the ankle and thigh. Mendoza said he believes a rubber bullet struck his thigh, but he couldn’t identify what had struck his ankle.</p><p data-block-key=\"bj2i7\">“I didn’t feel it very much in the moment because of the adrenaline,” Mendoza said. “I didn’t even recognize what had happened.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jt5b2\">In Mendoza’s <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNnMu-8ogQ4\">footage of the incident</a>, he appears to be walking through a cloud of tear gas near the edge of the park as more than a dozen protesters walk and run through the frame. The camera appears to suddenly shake and Mendoza can be heard exclaiming in pain. Immediately after, Mendoza continues filming as he walks towards a line of unidentified law enforcement officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"pq78x\">Mendoza said both the helmet and backpack he was wearing that night were labeled “PRESS.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kva50\">The PPB declined to comment when emailed about this incident. The Department of Homeland Security, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, also didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Roman Mendoza (Davis Vanguard)"
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{
"title": "Independent Portland multimedia journalist tackled, maced and arrested by federal agents",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-portland-multimedia-journalist-tackled-maced-and-arrested-federal-agents/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-06T17:15:23.655663Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-12T19:24:22.534290Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-12T19:24:22.430135Z",
"date": "2020-07-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hfpce\">Independent multimedia journalist Grace Morgan was hit with pepper spray, thrown to the ground and detained for hours by federal agents while covering protests on July 27, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"5qmm1\">Morgan was documenting the nightly protests in downtown Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"truhr\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"9e8oh\">In the early morning hours of July 27, Morgan was covering a protest in front of the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse. Demonstrators had gathered outside of the fence surrounding the building. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gravemorgan/status/1287662646997655552?s=20\">video</a> Morgan tweeted at 1:14 a.m., federal agents can be seen walking outside of the fenced area, after firing <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gravemorgan/status/1287660618577612800?s=20\">tear gas, pepper balls and flash bang grenades</a> at protesters from inside.</p><p data-block-key=\"mkqit\">“I was filming a pretty violent arrest of a protester, <a href=\"https://www.newsweek.com/portland-protester-kneeled-left-bleeding-floor-1520898\">Noelle Mandolfo</a>,” Morgan told the Tracker. “There were at least 20 other members of the press all surrounding her.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2bfki\">Morgan said she and other journalists followed closely as Mandolfo and another protester were walked back to the courthouse.</p><p data-block-key=\"w24zh\">“I remember thinking I was physically pretty close to the agents, but that wasn’t unusual for how the protests have been going,” Morgan explained.</p><p data-block-key=\"rjfpg\">As they walked, federal agents began firing more tear gas into the crowd and one canister landed next to Morgan’s feet, which she said she immediately kicked to her right.</p><p data-block-key=\"y5khi\">“The next thing I know, I was being tackled to the ground, initially by one agent and then another,” she said. Elijah Schaffer, a reporter at Blaze Media, was walking behind Morgan at the time and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ElijahSchaffer/status/1287666044245381126?s=20\">recorded the incident</a>, posted at 1:28 a.m. A federal agent can be seen spraying mace into Morgan’s eyes right before another slams her to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"6c7no\">She said she told them that she was a member of the press. She also had two laminated press passes displayed as well as labels on her helmet and backpack. The agents gave no response as to why she was being detained, and walked her along with several protesters to a concealed parking lot at the back of the federal courthouse. When they arrived, agents cut Morgan’s backpack off of her, ruining the straps, and took her gas mask.</p><p data-block-key=\"3hr4b\">“We never got read our rights. The only way I found out why I was being detained was because they put masking tape on our backs and had written on it,” Morgan told the Tracker. “After we were put in our holding cells, we read each other’s backs to each other and that’s how I found out I was being detained for assault on an officer.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hf0r2\">Several times throughout the morning, Morgan said federal agents would tell them all to face the wall and an agent would forcefully push their heads into the wall.</p><p data-block-key=\"dxb23\">“It wasn’t a full on slam, but it was enough that it was painful and super unnecessary,” she said. That happened at least three times.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kidvn\">Morgan also asked for medical attention to address the mace in her eyes, which burned, but received no response. Eventually, she tried to wash off the residue with the toilet water in the cell, the only water available, which made her eyes burn even worse.</p><p data-block-key=\"310cf\">When she was released around 5 a.m., Morgan said she received her gas mask back, but the straps were cut off, even though agents had already removed the mask from her face.</p><p data-block-key=\"l8u9n\">She told the Tracker that on her release, she was told, “the evidence in your case has been reviewed, and the attorney general has decided to drop all charges.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d1mba\">A <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/ninth-circuit-rules-federal-agents-cant-target-journalists-at-portland-protests/\">preliminary injunction</a> a judge put in place in July that bars federal agents from harming or impeding journalists was upheld by an appeals court in October. Morgan isn’t sure which federal agency detained her, but the Department of Homeland Security, which coordinated the federal presence, didn’t respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2bib\">In a tweet sent at 10:45 a.m., Morgan wrote, “I went to urgent care this morning after release – just a light concussion, fractured knee cap and mild chemical burns on my arms from the mace. Which means! I can probably go back out again tonight if I rest up today!”’</p></div>",
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"chemical irritant",
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{
"title": "Journalist hit in leg with crowd-control munition at Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-in-leg-with-crowd-control-munition-at-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-08T13:40:44.628584Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:36:28.619751Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:36:28.545304Z",
"date": "2020-07-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"v8ybd\">Justin Yau, a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the Daily Mail and The New York Times, said he was hit in the right leg with a marker round fired by federal officers while he was covering protests in downtown Portland, Oregon, during the early hours of July 27, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"sgy82\">Yau was covering one of the many demonstrations that have broken out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"824x9\">The Portland protests, held nightly since late May, had <a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\">grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"ne233\">On the night of July 26, demonstrators gathered in the area around the Multnomah County Justice Center and the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse, where clashes with the Portland police and federal officers escalated into the next morning, according to <a href=\"https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/portland-protests-continue-for-sixtieth-night/283-90c70915-3166-4947-9645-adf6913b3280\">local news outlet KGW8</a>. Federal officers declared an “unlawful assembly” at 12:16 a.m., according to a <a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/27/portland-riots-read-out-july-27\">statement</a> from the Department of Homeland Security.</p><p data-block-key=\"fmbdt\">Sometime after midnight, Yau was documenting the protests around the northwestern corner of Lownsdale Square, which is near the courthouse, when federal officers fired impact munitions through the smoke, he told the Tracker. A FN303 marker round bruised him in the right leg, he said, adding that it “bent some of my keys in my pocket at the time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wueu8\">Officers also fired a tear gas canister at a light fixture near him, said Yau, adding that it “shattered glass on top of us.” In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm-RSwmkxfc&feature=youtu.be&has_verified=1\">video</a> posted to Youtube, the canister can be seen hitting at about 50 seconds in, causing Yau to duck. He was wearing a bright yellow vest with “press” labeled across the front and a black helmet with similar markings, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"zc6a9\">DHS, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, said in a <a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/27/portland-riots-read-out-july-27\">statement</a> about the night’s enforcement actions that officers used crowd-control tactics to respond to “attacks” against the courthouse and law enforcement officers by demonstrators. The agency didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incidents.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Journalist hit in arm with projectile during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-hit-with-crowd-control-munitions-fired-by-federal-officers-while-covering-a-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-22T15:58:38.453807Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:36:14.925831Z",
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"date": "2020-07-27",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6m3r2\">Emily Molli, a reporter for SCNR, an independent video-based outlet previously known as Subverse News, said she was hit in the right arm with crowd-control munitions fired by federal officers while she was covering protests in downtown Portland, Oregon, during the early hours of July 27, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"5mvo9\">Molli was among dozens of reporters covering one of the many demonstrations that have broken out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"bgyg2\">The Portland protests, held nightly since late May, had <a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\">grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"mazla\">On the night of July 26, demonstrators gathered in the area around the Multnomah County Justice Center and the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse, where clashes with the Portland police and federal officers escalated into the next morning, according to <a href=\"https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/portland-protests-continue-for-sixtieth-night/283-90c70915-3166-4947-9645-adf6913b3280\">local news outlet KGW8</a>. Federal officers declared an “unlawful assembly” at 12:16 a.m., according to a <a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/27/portland-riots-read-out-july-27\">statement</a> from the Department of Homeland Security.</p><p data-block-key=\"n6won\">Molli was hit with a marker round in the right arm, which she said caused bleeding and left a scar. “It hit my forearm muscle so hard that...I couldn’t grip with my right hand,” she told the Tracker. “It caused pretty nasty lacerations that took several weeks to finally heal.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qy2eh\">She had a press ID visibly displayed, she said, as well as press markings on her helmet.</p><p data-block-key=\"z2hpn\">DHS, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, said in a <a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/27/portland-riots-read-out-july-27\">statement</a> about the night’s enforcement actions that officers used crowd-control tactics to respond to “attacks” against the courthouse and law enforcement officers by demonstrators. The agency didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incidents.</p></div>",
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"shot / shot at"
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"authors": [],
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{
"title": "Journalist maced, shoved by federal agents during Portland protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-maced-shoved-by-federal-agents-during-portland-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T15:26:46.554928Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T19:57:55.354591Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T19:57:55.265412Z",
"date": "2020-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pzx1m\">Independent journalist Garrison Davis said he was maced and shot with rubber bullets fired by federal agents, then later shoved by Portland police officers while he was covering protests in Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours of July 26, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"pkl18\">Davis was one of the many covering protests that broke out in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"23c10\">The Portland protests, held nightly since late May, had <a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\">grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"rif2d\">One of the <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/night-58-many-sites-of-portland-protests-for-black-lives-matter/\">main demonstrations</a> taking place the night of July 25 — and stretching into the next morning — was held outside the Mark O. Hetfield federal courthouse, where federal law enforcement officers were stationed.</p><p data-block-key=\"2yeq3\">Around 2 a.m., Davis was documenting a line of officers advancing down the street from the courthouse when he was hit with a chemical irritant, which he identified as mace, by a federal agent. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1287312203045978112\">Video published</a> by Davis on Twitter shows officers walking down a street near the federal courthouse. Then one officer raises his hand and fires the irritant spray directly at Davis.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A federal officer sprays mace directly at me other press. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#blacklivesmatter</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Protests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Protests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/pdx?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#pdx</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/oregon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#oregon</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/blm?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#blm</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/acab?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#acab</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDXprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PDXprotest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandStrong?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandStrong</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/WallOfVets?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WallOfVets</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/wallofmoms?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#wallofmoms</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MomsAreHere?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MomsAreHere</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/GM3Y0UOwpV\">pic.twitter.com/GM3Y0UOwpV</a></p>— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1287312203045978112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 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=\"3zb90\">A few minutes later, Davis was shot by a rubber bullet that he believes was fired by a federal agent. “I got shot with a rubber bullet, I’m standing in a crowd of just other press people,” he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1287312892140765184\">tweeted</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0sija\">About a half an hour later, Davis was pushed to the ground by a PPB officer. Posting blurry <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1287319072862920705\">footage</a> of the incident on Twitter, he wrote, “Footage doesn’t look great cause my camera is still covered in mace at this point.”</p><p data-block-key=\"q1svu\">“I’m on the sidewalk here. I’m not even on the street. And they still walk up and totally knock me over for no reason,” Davis told the Tracker. “Then when I try to get up, they continued to shove me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"n8uxd\">The Department of Homeland Security, which coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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},
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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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],
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},
{
"title": "Correspondent sprayed with irritant by federal agents during Portland protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/correspondent-sprayed-with-irritant-by-federal-agents-during-portland-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T15:26:17.673767Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T19:57:15.671239Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T19:57:15.570056Z",
"date": "2020-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fnmzv\">Tuan St. Patrick, a national correspondent for Ruptly, said he was sprayed with a chemical irritant by federal agents while he was covering protests in Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours of July 26, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"8v3vh\">St. Patrick was one of many covering the protests that broke out in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"b7oih\">The Portland protests, held nightly since late May, had <a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\">grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"yxz8k\">One of the <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/night-58-many-sites-of-portland-protests-for-black-lives-matter/\">main demonstrations</a> taking place the night of July 25 — and stretching into the next morning — was held outside the Mark O. Hetfield federal courthouse, where federal law enforcement officers were stationed.</p><p data-block-key=\"zl488\">St. Patrick was <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/Ruptly/videos/4684405358243584\">livestreaming</a> near the courthouse as federal agents tried to disperse people after an <a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/26/portland-riots-read-out-july-26\">unlawful assembly</a> was declared just before 11:30 p.m. Sometime between midnight and 1 a.m., a federal agent pepper sprayed him in his eyes while he was crossing a street, St. Patrick told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"7x7zv\">At the time, St. Patrick had NYPD-issued press credentials around his neck and was wearing a bulletproof vest, mask and goggles. He also had his recording equipment strapped on, as seen in a <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CDK6Ew5pq1b/?igshid=14917om9duwn7\">photo</a> he posted on Instagram.</p><p data-block-key=\"ncp1n\">Before he was sprayed with the irritant, St. Patrick saw officers targeting and pointing people out, he said. “I definitely felt targeted, there was no question that I was press when the officer came up to me point blank and sprayed me in the eyes,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"d4j7k\">Despite wearing goggles, St. Patrick said he was completely blinded. A nearby ACLU legal observer helped get him clean. Soon after, he rejoined the group of media. “If we stop [reporting], that does more damage,” said St. Patrick</p><p data-block-key=\"i526a\">A little after 1 a.m. Portland police <a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/26/portland-riots-read-out-july-26\">declared a riot</a> after a section of the fence surrounding the federal courthouse was torn down.</p><p data-block-key=\"cbrd6\">The Department of Homeland Security, which coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Tuan St. Patrick (Ruptly)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "The Oregonian photographer struck with crowd-control weapons during Portland protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/the-oregonian-photographer-struck-with-crowd-control-weapons-during-portland-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T15:25:55.991129Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:38:26.970940Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:38:26.871293Z",
"date": "2020-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"h0u39\">Dave Killen, a staff photographer for The Oregonian, said he was struck with a rubber bullet fired by federal law enforcement officers while he was covering protests in Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours of July 26, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"48nli\">Killen was one of the many covering protests that broke out in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"0dhdo\">The Portland protests, held nightly since late May, had <a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\">grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"m4spz\">One of the <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/night-58-many-sites-of-portland-protests-for-black-lives-matter/\">main demonstrations</a> taking place the night of July 25 — and stretching into the next morning — was held outside the Mark O. Hetfield federal courthouse, where federal law enforcement officers were stationed.</p><p data-block-key=\"qou60\">A little after 1 a.m. Portland police <a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/26/portland-riots-read-out-july-26\">declared a riot</a> after a section of the fence surrounding the federal courthouse was torn down.</p><p data-block-key=\"nh77i\">Killen documented what he described to the Tracker as a “huge” response to the fence removal by federal agents, who began deploying “tons and tons” of tear gas. After retreating a block west for a few minutes, Killen returned to the area around the courthouse, where there appeared to be a “slight lull” since protesters had largely scattered.</p><p data-block-key=\"kixis\">When a fresh standoff soon appeared to be brewing, Killen started taking photos of federal agents as they moved down the street. That’s when he was struck on the side of the stomach by what he believes was a rubber bullet.</p><p data-block-key=\"hq1d3\">“I suddenly got hit by something big,” he said. “It just sort of dropped me. I realized right away what it must have been because I’m very familiar with all the munitions and I’ve been hit by pepper balls dozens and dozens of times over the years, so I knew it wasn’t a pepper ball.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">After the fence came (sort of) down, things got pretty wild. Lots of gas & munitions fired in the FC area. Eventually ppl fell back, officers in camo pushing west on Main. At 4th & main I got a rubber bullet to the love handle, which is probably best case scenario, but hurt a lot <a href=\"https://t.co/MO48DowRR8\">pic.twitter.com/MO48DowRR8</a></p>— Dave Killen (@killendave) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/killendave/status/1287306079857020928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 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=\"24kvy\">Killen believes he was targeted, since he was well in front of most protesters, and the agents were just just 20 or 30 feet away when he was hit. While some protesters may have been in the area, he said he didn’t have to worry about bumping into anybody as he walked around taking photos without looking where he was going.</p><p data-block-key=\"l4q83\">“I feel like at that distance, with that weapon, I don’t think there’s any way he wasn’t aiming for me,” Killen said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3hfnv\">His gear also made it obvious that he was press, said Killen, noting that he had press credentials around his neck and was shooting photos with one camera and while another camera was hanging at his side.</p><p data-block-key=\"os6x8\">Killen said he was knocked off his feet by the impact, but was able to continue working. After he informed his newsroom of the incident, he was pulled back for the night.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is it from me tonight. These pix are a mix from earlier. Can’t help but think that if it weren’t for this damn pandemic and the extra 10 pounds I’ve put on that rubber bullet would’ve missed me entirely 😬 <a href=\"https://t.co/gNAO7wn7ey\">pic.twitter.com/gNAO7wn7ey</a></p>— Dave Killen (@killendave) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/killendave/status/1287311668582551555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 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=\"yxsxm\">Killen said the munition left a huge bruise in the immediate aftermath, and that he still had a scar more than four months later.</p><p data-block-key=\"besty\">The Department of Homeland Security, which coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Dave Killen (The Oregonian)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist struck with pepper balls fired by federal officers while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-pepper-balls-fired-by-federal-officers-while-covering-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-19T14:33:15.010426Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:38:11.287926Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:38:11.127348Z",
"date": "2020-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"m069a\">Independent journalist Teebs Auberdine said she was hit with impact munitions fired by federal officers while covering protests in downtown Portland, Oregon, on July 26, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"au44i\">The protests were among many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"ct7dw\">The Portland protests, held nightly since late May, had <a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\">grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"e1v5l\">On the night of July 26, demonstrators gathered in the area around at the Multnomah County Justice Center and the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse, where clashes with the Portland police and federal officers escalated later in the night, according to <a href=\"https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/portland-protests-continue-for-sixtieth-night/283-90c70915-3166-4947-9645-adf6913b3280\">local news outlet KGW8</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"43kgo\">Auberdine was livestreaming near the Justice Center, wearing a vest clearly labeled with press markings, when she was hit.</p><p data-block-key=\"y55uw\">“Had to end stream early tonight after getting hit in the head with a pepperball. Still clearly marked Press,” she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TeebsGaming/status/1287660448196640768?s=20\">tweeted</a>. “I'm well geared for this and was not injured, but it was fairly spicy and got all in under my helmet and around my neck.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Had to end stream early tonight after getting hit in the head with a pepperball. Still clearly marked Press.<br><br>I'm well geared for this and was not injured, but it was fairly spicy and got all in under my helmet and around my neck.<br><br>I'll be back tomorrow~</p>— Teebs (@TeebsGaming) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TeebsGaming/status/1287660448196640768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 27, 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=\"f2bux\">She didn’t sustain any acute injuries aside from the powder and gas exposure, she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"q6hq2\">The Department of Homeland Security, which has coordinated the federal presence in Portland, said in a <a href=\"https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/07/27/portland-riots-read-out-july-27\">statement</a> about the night’s enforcement actions that officers used crowd-control tactics to respond to “attacks” against the courthouse and law enforcement officers by demonstrators. The agency didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incident.</p></div>",
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"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Photojournalist struck in the face with munitions while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-in-the-face-with-munitions-while-covering-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-19T22:59:39.276229Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T16:58:34.704533Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T16:58:34.592817Z",
"date": "2020-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"15kgq\">Independent photojournalist Trip Jennings was struck in his eye with a pepper ball that pierced one of the plastic lenses on his gas mask on July 26, 2020 in Portland, Oregon, while he covered civil unrest in the city.</p><p data-block-key=\"f3m94\">Jennings was covering one of the many protests that broke out in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"w2k30\">Protests have been held nightly in Portland since late May, which <a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\">grew more intense</a> in July as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in the city. Since July, both police and federal agents in the city have been <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">under court orders not to</a> harm journalists or otherwise impede their work.</p><p data-block-key=\"7md8y\">In a Twitter thread, Jennings said he was taking photos of the police response to demonstrations at the intersection of SW 4th Avenue and SW Salmon Street near the Multnomah County Justice Center, standing among demonstrators, when authorities gave an order to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"9xny1\">As the crowd began to disperse, federal agents fired crowd-control munitions that included pepper balls, rubber bullets and tear gas, he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"tof6w\">Jennings wrote that he was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TripPersonal/status/1287831867937325057?s=20\">ducking for cover behind a tree</a> when what he believes to be a pepper ball <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TripPersonal/status/1287828370995081217?s=20\">hit him in the face</a>, broke through one of the plastic lenses on his gas mask and cut his eye and cheek.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqaon\">The journalist <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TripPersonal/status/1287831868893626369?s=20\">found medics near the scene</a>. “‘Oh my God, that’s bad!’” one of the street medics tending to his injuries remarked, according to Jennings.</p><p data-block-key=\"8x2dn\">Jennings told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that three medics escorted him to a vehicle to drive him to the emergency room at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in northwest Portland. As the group drove away from the scene, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TripPersonal/status/1287831871380811776?s=20\">federal agents fired impact munitions</a> at the vehicle, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"9v3t8\">“On the way to the hospital, we drove through clouds of teargas so windows stayed shut and the pepper spray on my clothing and bag choked us all,” <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TripPersonal/status/1287831871380811776\">Jennings tweeted.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"3koma\">The pepper spray still clung to Jennings after he arrived at Good Samaritan, causing the doctor who treated his injury to cough repeatedly behind a surgical mask, according to Jennings. The doctor put on a respirator mask prior to sewing eight stitches into Jennings’ eyelid and face, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ckso\">The Portland Police Bureau has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation.</p></div>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "protective equipment"
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"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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{
"title": "Journalist’s camera lens broken after he’s shoved to the ground by Portland police",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-camera-lens-broken-after-hes-shoved-to-the-ground-by-portland-police/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-19T22:40:32.890832Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:37:55.453159Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:37:55.368434Z",
"date": "2020-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wivfr\">Journalist Tuan St. Patrick’s camera lens was broken after he was repeatedly shoved to the ground by Portland, Oregon police in the early morning hours of July 26, 2020, just hours after he and other journalists covering demonstrations say they were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-say-federal-agents-targeted-them-crowd-control-weapons-during-portland-protests/\">hit with crowd-control munitions</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9lr6q\">St. Patrick is a national correspondent for Berlin, Germany-based video news service Ruptly, whose sole shareholder is funded by the Russian government. St. Patrick was covering one of the many protests that broke out in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"jz36u\">Protests have been held nightly in Portland since late May <a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\">and grew more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement in the city increased. Since July, police and federal agents in the Rose City have been <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">under court orders not to</a> harm or impede journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"xvn8c\">St. Patrick was covering demonstrations that began the night of July 25 around the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse and continued on into the next morning.</p><p data-block-key=\"t5w9f\">St. Patrick and three other journalists told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they were struck with crowd-control munitions just after midnight on July 26. Their account of that incident is <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-say-federal-agents-targeted-them-crowd-control-weapons-during-portland-protests/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ymffy\">St. Patrick told the Tracker he was sprayed with a chemical irritant in that incident but continued covering the police response to the demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"ypa8m\">He said that at about 5 a.m. on July 26, he was livestreaming while he was among protesters at the intersection of SW 4th Ave and SW Yamhill Street. Police announced an unlawful assembly for the area and dispatched officers to clear the intersection with crowd-control munitions and physical force, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3pckd\">“They start running towards us,” St. Patrick told the Tracker. “I turn around and I’m like ‘this is not so safe.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"757f0\">St. Patrick told the Tracker that he was pushed to the ground twice and shoved into a tree as officers rushed through the area. He got to his feet and found pepper-ball powder on his vest and his clothing. He was carrying a Sony A7 Mark III digital photo camera and, upon closer inspection of his gear, found that his lens had been broken.</p><p data-block-key=\"ki1vd\">“It was just a messy scene,” St. Patrick said.</p><p data-block-key=\"s95sr\">Since July, law enforcement officers from the Portland Police Bureau and federal agencies have been barred by court rulings from arresting, harming or impeding journalists or legal observers of the protests. The orders were issued as part of a lawsuit that the American Civil LIberties Union filed on behalf of journalists who allege that law enforcement officials targeted them with arrests and physical violence.</p><p data-block-key=\"qsmys\">The Portland Police Bureau has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"links": [],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Journalist says he was tear-gassed by police while covering Oregon protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-says-he-was-tear-gassed-by-police-while-covering-oregon-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-11T21:25:53.896777Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-12T19:26:49.496491Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-12T19:26:49.389399Z",
"date": "2020-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Eugene",
"longitude": -123.08675,
"latitude": 44.05207,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9vygw\"></p><p data-block-key=\"tzl42\">Journalist Janusz Malo said he was tear-gassed by police in the early hours of July 26, 2020, while covering a protest in Eugene, Oregon.</p><p data-block-key=\"njiq4\">Malo, a writer for Double Sided Media, an independent media collective, was covering one of the protests that broke out in Eugene in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"npx1g\">The demonstration, organized in “<a href=\"https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/2020/07/24/demonstration-saturday-at-eugenersquos-federal-courthouse-in-support-of-portland-protests/42032379/\">solidarity</a>” with the Portland protests that have been held almost nightly, began at the federal courthouse around 8 p.m. on the night of July 25 and stretched past midnight. Several hundred protesters were met by about a hundred counterprotesters who were openly carrying large firearms, according to the local paper, <a href=\"https://www.registerguard.com/picture-gallery/news/2020/07/26/eugene-protest-declared-riot-following-night-of-confrontations/112723308/\">The Register-Guard</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"99doh\">Late into the evening, after some properties had been vandalized, police <a href=\"https://www.eugene-or.gov/4496/July-25-Protests-and-Riot-Response\">declared a riot</a> and told the press to gather on the south side of protesters to avoid being struck by munitions, Malo told the Tracker. About 30 minutes after police warned over a Long Range Acoustic Device that they would use tear gas, he said, they deployed the canisters toward the group of press.</p><p data-block-key=\"76v8a\">Malo <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Lopaka_Shaka/status/1287284388296892416\">tweeted</a> a video at 12:11 a.m. describing how he “stopped breathing” after getting tear-gassed</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://t.co/HMBXrcQvHW\">pic.twitter.com/HMBXrcQvHW</a></p>— Janusz M. (@Lopaka_Shaka) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Lopaka_Shaka/status/1287284388296892416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 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=\"3knsr\">“I started coughing, my lungs closed up, I fell to the ground, and I started crawling out of the cloud,” Malo told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"f2jo8\">“It was my first time being tear gassed,” Malo said. “I didn’t have goggles on, I didn’t have a gas mask on, all I had was just a face mask.”</p><p data-block-key=\"oldx7\">Malo, who was wearing press identification around his neck at the time of the incident, said it was clear he was part of the group of media covering the protest. “I do believe they hit us on purpose,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8548a\">The experience of covering protests and witnessing the turmoil stemming from police brutality has inspired Malo to run for city council in the Oregon town he spent his adulthood in, he said. “It’s made me want to do more for my community.”</p><p data-block-key=\"iqqdu\">The Eugene Police Department didn’t provide a specific comment on the incident. Instead, they referred the Tracker to Mayor Lucy Vinis’ comments about the event: “We must work harder and faster to address systemic racism and police reform,” she said in a <a href=\"https://www.eugene-or.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=4539&ARC=9411\">statement</a>, but did not address the use of tear gas.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Portland journalist struck in the arm with a projectile while covering protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-journalist-says-she-was-struck-arm-projectile-while-covering-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-27T21:38:10.727989Z",
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"date": "2020-07-26",
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"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tn9dc\">Lesley McLam, co-host of a KBOO podcast and contributor to Village Portland, said she was struck by a crowd-control munition fired by federal officers and covered in a “toxic white powder” while covering protests in downtown Portland, Oregon, on July 26, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"x0run\">McLam was documenting one of the many protests that broke out in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"deil5\">The Portland protests, held nightly since late May, had <a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\">grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"bcj5k\">One of the <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/night-58-many-sites-of-portland-protests-for-black-lives-matter/\">main demonstrations</a> taking place the night of July 25 — and stretching into the next morning — was held outside the Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse, where federal law enforcement officers were stationed. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-say-federal-agents-targeted-them-crowd-control-weapons-during-portland-protests/\">Several other journalists</a> were targeted with crowd-control munitions after midnight as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"20dqq\">McLam said she was traversing the area between the courthouse and the parks across the street when she realized the protesters around her were crouched behind shields. “That crowd behind the shields is all hunched down, and that’s when I hear that `pop pop pop pop pop,’ and I felt it on both of my arms,” she told Tracker. “I just hunched down — I hadn’t even made it to the other side yet — hunched down and was like, `Wow, I just got fired at.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"efurf\">When she left the area, McLam noticed the white powder, which she believes was from an exploded pepper ball. In addition to getting hit in the bicep, a pepper ball that grazed her right arm left a small slice in her backpack strap, as well. Her phone was also hit by a pepper ball, she said</p><p data-block-key=\"a76tp\">Later that morning, McLam <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Human42LM/status/1287383699109998592\">tweeted</a>: “While covering the protests at the federal courthouse, a toxic white powder got all over me and my equipment.” The accompanying pictures show powder on her backpack, which is labelled “media,” on her camera, on the leg of her pants, and around press passes issued by KBOO and Village Portland.</p><p data-block-key=\"fp9cn\">In a follow-up <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Human42LM/status/1287383720932995073\">tweet</a>, she posted two photos of her left bicep, where she was hit by what she believes was a pepper ball. “This is one of the places I was hit by a round shot by #FederalPolice. It broke the skin, through cloth, and a bruise is forming,” McLam wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"041vo\">The injury caused bruising all the way down to the elbow and on the back side of her arm, McLam told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"sed7d\">Neither her camera nor her phone were permanently damaged by the powder.</p><p data-block-key=\"z4m0a\">McLam couldn’t say with certainty whether she was targeted for being press, or whether she was hit because she was standing up while others were crouching. In addition to the identification on her backpack andher press passes, she was wearing a black baseball cap with “press” in white letters.</p><p data-block-key=\"usslv\">The Department of Homeland Security, which coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
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"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": [
"Lesley McLam (KBOO-FM)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist says federal agents used targeted crowd-control weapons during Portland protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-say-federal-agents-targeted-them-crowd-control-weapons-during-portland-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-14T18:51:43.476560Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:37:17.504800Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:37:17.425216Z",
"date": "2020-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ulxbm\">Freelance journalist Laura Jedeed said she was hit by pepper balls fired by federal law enforcement while they were covering protests in Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours of July 26, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"71mfc\">Jedeed was one of many covering protests that broke out in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"euof4\">The Portland protests, held nightly since late May, had <a href=\"https://apnews.com/a2c8f23381dcc7e6902452b55c3048ce\">grown more intense</a> as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> on July 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"2u10e\">One of the <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/night-58-many-sites-of-portland-protests-for-black-lives-matter/\">main demonstrations</a> taking place the night of July 25 — and stretching into the next morning — was held outside the Mark O. Hetfield federal courthouse, where federal law enforcement officers were stationed.</p><p data-block-key=\"cyy1x\">Jedeed, who contributes to Willamette Weekly and Portland Monthly, was also covering protesters outside the federal courthouse. Wearing a neon yellow vest with the words “press” on it, she was filming protesters at the front line, who tried to form a “shield wall” with umbrellas to block federal law enforcement officers from firing on the rest of the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"qdidh\">A little after 1:10 a.m., Jedeed was hit by crowd-control munitions in the leg and the wrist, she said. Jedeed had been holding her phone in that hand, and she later tweeted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1287308011229200390\">photo</a> of the swollen wrist.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It isn't broken but it isn't pretty <a href=\"https://t.co/r8Tn7neRmU\">pic.twitter.com/r8Tn7neRmU</a></p>— Laura Jedeed, Space Professional (@LauraJedeed) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1287308011229200390?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 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=\"455wt\">“I believe they targeted me,” Jedeed told the Tracker. “They hit me in the face with pepper balls. The pepper got through [my] goggles, and I was effectively blind. I stumbled back into the park [near the courthouse], and somebody had to help me. I was completely incapacitated.”</p><p data-block-key=\"491xl\">Jedeed then yelled for a medic, who flushed her eyes out with milk to mitigate the effects of the pepper balls.</p><p data-block-key=\"13mar\">“I looked at my wrist and realized something was very wrong [because it swelled up],” she said. “I tried to power through for another half hour, but the adrenaline wore off and I had to leave.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zpqwj\">The Department of Homeland Security, which coordinated the federal presence in Portland, didn’t respond to a request for comment. The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Laura Jedeed (Freelance)"
],
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{
"title": "Sacramento reporter's charging cable cut while covering solidarity march",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sacramento-reporters-charging-cable-cut-while-covering-solidarity-march/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-14T14:53:08.682021Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-12T19:26:23.969930Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-12T19:26:23.882750Z",
"date": "2020-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Sacramento",
"longitude": -121.4944,
"latitude": 38.58157,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ulzys\">Capital Public Radio state government reporter Scott Rodd was consistently blocked while covering protests against police violence in Sacramento, California, on July 25, 2020. In the early hours of the next morning, he tweeted that an individual in the crowd had cut his charging cable. Rodd eventually removed himself from the scene to report from afar.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ui1j\">Rodd was documenting a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SRodd_CPR/status/1287388415751622660?s=20\">solidarity march</a> in downtown Sacramento in support of the protesters in Portland and the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"hy1ow\">On the afternoon of July 25, protesters had gathered at Cesar Chavez Plaza to march toward the Capitol, according to <a href=\"https://saccityexpress.com/solidarity-with-portland-a-march-through-downtown/\">news reports</a> at the time. A <a href=\"https://apps.sacpd.org/Releases/liveview.aspx?reference=20200726-070&fbclid=IwAR1XCENn_AYCevPirRUBA1ExfOjcLqG4Pk4dbW-IQqcqEXYLk7ewwtE6w6E\">press release</a> from the Sacramento Police Department stated that a second group of people in black clothing and protective gear arrived later in the evening and escalated tensions among what had been a peaceful demonstration.</p><p data-block-key=\"4r9rs\">“Different vibe than previous protests. Guy in helmet tried to grab my phone when I took this photo,” Rodd <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SRodd_CPR/status/1287272817919004673\">tweeted</a> at 11:25 p.m. “I’m now surrounded by 3 people with umbrellas intended to block my view.” Rodd declined to comment further on the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"438pb\">Throughout the night, Rodd tweeted several more photos and updates about his <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SRodd_CPR/status/1287280272128409600?s=20\">limited access</a> and the frustration protesters were directing toward him.</p><p data-block-key=\"n2jkn\">“Sensing lots of hostility I removed myself from the crowd to report from the edge of the park,” he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SRodd_CPR/status/1287284113733373952?s=20\">tweeted</a> a little after midnight. He also mentioned that someone had cut his <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SRodd_CPR/status/1287284704933113856?s=20\">charging cable</a> while he’d been surrounded in the park.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">About 100-150 are marching through midtown. <br><br>Different vibe than previous protests. Guy in helmet tried to grab my phone when I took this photo. I’m now surrounded by 3 people with umbrellas intended to block my view. <a href=\"https://t.co/9IR52soyMG\">pic.twitter.com/9IR52soyMG</a></p>— Scott Rodd (@SRodd_CPR) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SRodd_CPR/status/1287272817919004673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 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=\"w4zq3\">“Multiple demonstrators expressed concern over a recent court ruling in Seattle, which is requiring several media outlets to give police photos and videos captured during a recent protest in order to help them solve alleged arson of law enforcement vehicles and theft of firearms,” Rodd wrote in a <a href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/07/26/sacramento-demonstrators-march-in-solidarity-with-portland-protesters-some-damage-downtown/\">story</a> for CapRadio the next day. “The ruling applies to images and videos taken with professional camera equipment, but not cellphones.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zx6jo\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SRodd_CPR/status/1287311765357785091?s=20\">tweet</a> at 2 a.m. on July 26, Rodd linked an <a href=\"https://t.co/ZOUzPF2HBj?amp=1\">article</a> that described the Seattle ruling, noting, “Among the more constructive conversations I had with protesters was a about this court ruling out of Seattle,” and then adding, “In the article, one media law expert said the ruling ‘creates a “troubling precedent” that could make news media unwelcome at future protests.’”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"actor": "private individual",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "miscellaneous equipment"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Scott Rodd (KXJZ-FM)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Student reporter detained while covering Richmond protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-reporter-detained-while-covering-richmond-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-13T11:35:23.901752Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:36:50.477668Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:36:50.407169Z",
"date": "2020-07-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Richmond",
"longitude": -77.46026,
"latitude": 37.55376,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j1f77\">Andrew Ringle, the executive editor of the Commonwealth Times, the independent student newspaper of Virginia Commonwealth University, was detained by police while covering a protest against police violence in Richmond, Virginia, on July 26, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"x3pyv\">Ringle told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in a phone interview that he and his news editor, Eduardo Acevedo, had heard about the protest in Richmond’s Monroe Park after seeing a flyer online. Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=593701714851514&ref=watch_permalink\">would later describe</a> the flyer as using the “same tone, same intimidation, same wanting to produce fear into the city of Richmond, and calling for a repeat of Saturday night,” which had be <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fires-set-windows-shattered-during-raucous-virginia-protest/2020/07/26/d21537de-cf05-11ea-99b0-8426e26d203b_story.html\">notably violent</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7vmkx\">Ringle said that, while several hundred showed up on July 25, very few people were in attendance the following night, and as such, he and Acevedo decided to leave the area, anticipating that the protest would peter out within half an hour. But just past 10 p.m., as they were walking out of the park, which had technically been closed as of <a href=\"http://www.richmondgov.com/parks/parkMonroe.aspx\">sundown</a>, the police showed up. The Daily Progress, a paper based in Charlottesville, <a href=\"https://dailyprogress.com/news/state-and-regional/watch-now-17-arrested-overnight-in-richmond-police-swarm-monroe-park-prior-to-sunday-night/article_e10c9582-3423-55a5-b992-df0894215a89.html\">reported</a> the police presence at the park was 100 officers, responding to a protest of 50 people.</p><p data-block-key=\"vs7jy\">Ringle told the Tracker that the officers organized into a line and proceeded to arrest every individual in the park related to the protests. Another reporter at the park that night, NBC12 reporter Olivia Ugino, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/OliviaNBC12/status/1287575810396872704?s=20\">tweeted</a> that she had been told by the police to move or get arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"l1lxq\">Ringle said that he and Acevedo had made it to the sidewalk circling the park when they heard, “Get ’em!” According to Ringle, police then rushed toward the two journalists. Acevedo sprinted across the street, while Ringle was put into handcuffs.</p><p data-block-key=\"g5ads\">Acevedo started to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/edace2936/status/1287574364490289152\">livestream</a> the detainment, in which he can be heard screaming at officers that Ringle was a member of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"zzcui\">Ringle explained to the Tracker that the first words out of his mouth once he was in handcuffs were “I’m not resisting,” but the officers responded by shouting, “Stop resisting!” Ringle said he understood this as an attempt to escalate the situation. The arresting officer, Ringle said, made Ringle say his name back to him because he suggested Ringle “was getting too excited or acting crazy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jhwih\">Ringle <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aeringle/status/1287577232484061184\">tweeted</a> afterward that officers first checked his Capital News Service-issued press badge, but did not initially accept it as enough proof that he was not a protester. Officers then searched his wallet for a driver’s license, which he did not have.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Officers checked my state press ID, then searched my wallet for a drivers license (which I did not have) and finally demanded I say my SSN (twice). I told them I was there to work, not to protest, and that I was trying to leave. They said city parks are closed after dark.</p>— Andrew Ringle (@aeringle) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aeringle/status/1287577232484061184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 27, 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=\"2ye3x\">“They asked for a lot of personal information that I was not comfortable giving, but then they mentioned that there were paddy wagons on the way and that they were going to start taking people to the jail,” Ringle told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"vcntu\">Ringle said he then gave the arresting officer his Social Security number, which was relayed over the radio to confirm his identity. Ringle believes that the officers also checked his press badge on an online database to confirm his identity. After 25 minutes, Ringle said, he was released and admonished for not knowing of the park’s closure.</p><p data-block-key=\"d5z9r\">Police Chief Smith <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=593701714851514&ref=watch_permalink\">referenced</a> Ringle’s detainment in the next day’s press conference, stating, “In tense situations like this ... we have to look at individuals who claim to be members of the press, and we have to look at them very carefully … For those who claim to be the media, you must abide by the laws just as well. If you are in a location that you are not supposed to be in, you can be held accountable for that as well.” Smith also stated that he thought that the protesters knew they were trespassing, because they started moving out of the park when the police came.</p><p data-block-key=\"igcrs\">According to the Daily Progress, six people <a href=\"https://dailyprogress.com/news/state-and-regional/watch-now-17-arrested-overnight-in-richmond-police-swarm-monroe-park-prior-to-sunday-night/article_e10c9582-3423-55a5-b992-df0894215a89.html\">were charged</a> that night with trespassing. The Richmond Bail Fund <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RVABailFund/status/1287587129841856512\">counted</a> 10 arrests in the park. The Richmond Police Department did not respond to the Tracker’s requests for comment on Ringle’s detainment.</p><p data-block-key=\"hes5s\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or having their equipment damaged while covering Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Find these incidents <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Richmond Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
"updates": [],
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{
"title": "Independent journalist arrested, held for eight hours by Richmond police",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-arrested-held-eight-hours-richmond-police/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-09T00:16:51.025227Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:36:40.083706Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:36:39.985569Z",
"date": "2020-07-26",
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"city": "Richmond",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p6rdg\">Independent reporter Madeleine “Molly” Conger was arrested when she arrived at Monroe Park to cover a protest against police brutality in Richmond, Virginia, on July 26, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"l3inj\">Conger — whose work has appeared in local Charlottesville outlet C-Ville Weekly and The Guardian — told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that when she arrived shortly after 10 p.m. no more than 15 people were present.</p><p data-block-key=\"rfwb7\">“There was no active protest at that point,” Conger said. Instead, those assembled were discussing where to go or what to do that evening, she said. “Then, all of a sudden, 30 cops appeared out of the night, didn’t say anything, didn’t make any announcements, and just descended upon us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8nr2o\">Conger said she was tackled to the ground by two police officers and placed under arrest. She added that though she was not wearing any “PRESS” identifiers or a press pass, officers referred to her by name and were aware that she was a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"ebomc\">In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/RichmondPolice/videos/955325174893341\">press conference</a> the following morning, Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith said that the department had acted to break up the small gathering because police did not want violence akin to that seen <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fires-set-windows-shattered-during-raucous-virginia-protest/2020/07/26/d21537de-cf05-11ea-99b0-8426e26d203b_story.html\">during a protest the night before</a>, when several hundred protesters had gathered in the same area.</p><p data-block-key=\"j89vg\">"We have to take action when we know that violence is coming," said Smith. "What we did last night, we took a proactive stance, and when the group gathered in Monroe Park and congregated there after 10 p.m., RPD moved in and began to affect arrest."</p><p data-block-key=\"f7ih5\">"In intense situations like this, we also have to look at the bigger picture. We have to look at individuals who claim to be members of the press and we have to look at them very carefully," Smith added.</p><p data-block-key=\"r9ke3\">Conger told the Tracker that the police chief’s press conference the next morning specifically focused on how they were targeting people they felt were not “real” members of the press. “It felt very personal,” Conger said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7wl4x\">Conger said she and more than a dozen others were arrested for allegedly trespassing in the park after nightfall. Conger denied that the group was violating a dusk curfew for the park, noting that they were standing on the steps of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart across the street from the park when they were arrested. She also noted that officers tightened her zip-tie cuffs to the point that she lost all feeling in her left hand.</p><p data-block-key=\"7wmd1\">The group was held for an hour in a police transport van at the protest site, according to Conger, and then held another hour in the parking garage of the city jail before being booked at approximately 12:30 a.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"ungog\">Conger said that after she was processed officers took her before a magistrate for an initial hearing on whether police had probable cause to bring charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"0qvkv\">The magistrate determined that there was sufficient evidence, Conger said, and informed her that she would be released on her own recognisance.</p><p data-block-key=\"qiu2e\">As officers led her away, Conger said she thought the door she was walking through was to the outside.</p><p data-block-key=\"ndbsk\">“Imagine my surprise when it closed behind me and it was a cell. Nobody explained to me why this was happening or how long it would be happening for,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"xp6tb\">Conger said she was held for eight hours without explanation, either during her detention or after her release. When she was released at approximately 9 a.m., Conger said she was able to retrieve her belongings from the police department’s property department.</p><p data-block-key=\"neg0k\">When asked about the detentions of several journalists over the weekend, Chief Smith said during the press conference that he will work on the department’s partnership with the media, but that members of the press must abide by the same laws as everyone else.</p><p data-block-key=\"tut88\">The Tracker is <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/arrest-criminal-charge/\">documenting all arrests here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"pjvwe\">Conger said when she appeared for her initial trial date in September, the prosecutor and her attorney reached an agreement that if she performed 24 hours of community service within the following eight weeks, the charges would be dropped.</p><p data-block-key=\"ee7jf\">“Initially they wanted me to sign an admission of guilt in exchange for this agreement, and I said I’d rather take it to trial than admit I did anything wrong. Because I didn’t,” Conger said. “I moderately pushed back on signing it and they didn’t press the issue.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vil8j\">Conger said she appeared in court on Dec. 3, having completed the community service, and the charges were dropped.</p><p data-block-key=\"ew5z5\">The 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>",
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"name": "Virginia",
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{
"title": "Reporter targeted with projectiles while covering Seattle protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-targeted-projectiles-while-covering-seattle-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T15:05:44.204474Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:38:25.631453Z",
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"date": "2020-07-25",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9grhk\">Seattle Gay News reporter Renee Raketty was targeted with a blast ball fired by law enforcement officers while covering a protest in Seattle, Washington, on July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ldm3\">According to <a href=\"https://crosscut.com/2020/07/seattle-protests-intensify-even-though-federal-agents-are-absent\">Crosscut</a>, demonstrators that day had gathered in the Capitol Hill neighborhood both as part of the wave of protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, on May 25, and in response to the Trump administration’s recent deployment of federal officers to the city. Tensions escalated throughout the afternoon, Crosscut reported, and at 4:25 p.m., police declared the gathering a riot. In the hours that followed, law enforcement repeatedly deployed chemical agents and crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"ulbl7\">The police response to the protest led the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington to file a <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/plaintiffs-motion-contempt\">motion for contempt,</a> arguing that police violated a <a href=\"https://komonews.com/news/local/ban-on-use-of-chemical-irritants-on-peaceful-protesters-expanded-through-september\">court order that had been issued in June</a> restricting them from using chemical agents and projectiles. Raketty was named in the motion.</p><p data-block-key=\"xo48x\">Raketty told the Tracker she had been photographing the front line as police and protesters were pushing one another back and forth along 11th Avenue. She said that she’d decided to perch herself on a nearby fire escape in order to take photos of the scene. To get there, she said, she’d had to walk behind an armored vehicle. She pointed to her press pass and was allowed to proceed.</p><p data-block-key=\"z3sqv\">While she was sitting on the fire escape, about 10 to 15 feet above a parking lot, an officer who had been at the front of the line parked his bike and wandered in her direction, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ayoa6\">In a <a href=\"https://m.facebook.com/robert.raketty/posts/pcb.10222276500928791/?photo_id=10222276497168697&mds=%2Fphotos%2Fviewer%2F%3Fphotoset_token%3Dpcb.10222276500928791%26photo%3D10222276497168697%26profileid%3D646970205%26source%3D48%26refid%3D52%26__tn__%3DEH-R%26cached_data%3Dfalse%26ftid%3D&mdf=1\">video</a> she posted on Facebook, the officer can be seen throwing an object, underhanded, in her direction. The video cuts off, she said, just before the object exploded.</p><p data-block-key=\"130r2\">“When I saw him throw it, immediately I tried to brace myself,” she said. “The video cuts. The blast goes off. There’s extreme ringing in my ears.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gdl5c\">Raketty told the<a href=\"https://southseattleemerald.com/2020/09/16/local-journalist-faces-complex-accountability-process-that-appears-to-show-spd-out-of-compliance-with-consent-decree/\"> South Seattle Emerald</a> that she was disoriented from the blast and that she’d hurt her knee while twisting away from the explosion. She told the Tracker that months later she still has hearing damage in her right ear, which her doctor told her is permanent. She said that the blast ball also contained pepper spray, which made her cough.</p><p data-block-key=\"t9x6i\">Raketty said that her press pass, which she wore on a lanyard around her neck, was clearly visible. There were no protesters around her, and the only other people in the area were legal observers.</p><p data-block-key=\"2cmdg\">“I sincerely feel that I was targeted as a member of the press — as a credentialed member who was wearing a press pass — who had been taking photos throughout the day,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"buaxq\">An investigation by the Seattle Office of Police Accountability into the use of the blast ball near Raketty found her allegations “not sustained,” but said the investigation was “inconclusive” because it is not clear whether the officer knew she was there. The report states that the officer had been instructed to dispose of a blast ball that had been activated in the parking lot, and said that the officer did not appear to notice Raketty was there.</p><p data-block-key=\"pyu3t\">The report says that police are taught to dispose of a blast ball if it is prepped and the pin has already been pulled. Raketty disagrees with the report’s conclusion, and noted that her video shows that the officer appeared to pull the pin right before throwing it in her direction.</p><p data-block-key=\"wwy54\">Raketty also filed a<a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/raketty-declaration\"> declaration</a> in the ACLU lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"wgo8s\">The ACLU motion argued that the Seattle Police Department “repeatedly targeted journalists with brutal violence” on July 25. On Aug. 10, the <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/order-clarifying-preliminary-injunction\">court issued an order</a> clarifying the initial preliminary injunction and barring police from targeting projectiles and chemical irritants at journalists, as long as they are displaying a press pass or wearing clothing that distinguishes them as members of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"pgqm7\">Julie Davidow, a spokesperson for the ACLU, said in a statement that the injunction the court approved in August strengthened protections for journalists, as well as legal observers and medics.</p><p data-block-key=\"deoyp\">“Since the clarified preliminary injunction was approved by the court, we have not seen journalists subjected to the same kinds of indiscriminate and excessive police force they faced while covering the demonstrations that took place in Seattle last summer in response to the murder of George Floyd,” Davidow said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ab3to\">Seattle Police Department spokesperson Randy Huserik told the Tracker in an email generally that the use of force and crowd-control devices were being investigated by the department and acknowledged that the SPD had used pepper spray and flash-bang grenades that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"6g5my\">“If journalists covering events choose to place themselves within a crowd where those devices may be deployed, they have the potential to be exposed to these devices,” he said<b>.</b></p><p data-block-key=\"cf6lt\">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": "Washington",
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},
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"protest"
],
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"categories": [
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],
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{
"title": "Converge Media journalist hit with projectiles during protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/converge-media-journalist-hit-with-projectiles-during-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T15:05:00.625075Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:37:58.244557Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:37:58.166456Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Seattle",
"longitude": -122.33207,
"latitude": 47.60621,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6zqop\">Omari Salisbury, the founder of Converge Media, was pepper-sprayed, hit with projectiles and shoved by law enforcement officers while covering a protest in Seattle, Washington, on July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"4mwa0\">According to <a href=\"https://crosscut.com/2020/07/seattle-protests-intensify-even-though-federal-agents-are-absent\">Crosscut</a>, demonstrators that day had gathered in the Capitol Hill neighborhood both as part of the wave of protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, on May 25, and in response to the Trump administration’s recent deployment of federal officers to the city. Tensions escalated throughout the afternoon, Crosscut reported, and at 4:25 p.m., police declared the gathering a riot. In the hours that followed, law enforcement repeatedly deployed chemical agents and crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"xhk9z\">The police response to the protest led the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington to file a <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/plaintiffs-motion-contempt\">motion for contempt,</a> arguing that police violated a <a href=\"https://komonews.com/news/local/ban-on-use-of-chemical-irritants-on-peaceful-protesters-expanded-through-september\">court order that had been issued in June</a> restricting them from using chemical agents and projectiles. Salisbury was named in the motion.</p><p data-block-key=\"ueezv\">For more than four hours on July 25, Salisbury <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/WWConverge/videos/377506619883346\">livestreamed from among the demonstrators on Facebook</a>. About two hours into his coverage, as the journalist and the crowd neared the intersection of Pine Street and 11th Avenue, near the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct, flash-bang grenades could be heard going off in the distance and a line of law enforcement could be seen forming up the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"okzkf\">At one point, Salisbury can be seen moving backward suddenly and shouting, “He just threw it right at me,” as officers seemed to be deploying flash-bang grenades toward the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"fl3br\">Throughout his coverage, Salisbury noted several times that he’d been standing with other journalists, often shouting at police and identifying the group as media. Other journalists near him can be seen in the video wearing press credentials and helmets and vests marked “PRESS.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8touz\">Shortly after the round of flash-bang grenades, police can be seen forming a line and advancing on the crowd. A row of officers holding batons moves toward the group of press. Salisbury can be heard in the video shouting, “Media, move back!”</p><p data-block-key=\"lj7fj\">In the video, an officer suddenly advances, spraying an orange mist that Salisbury had earlier identified as pepper spray, at multiple people and toward Salisbury’s camera. As Salisbury backs away, he says he couldn’t see or breathe.</p><p data-block-key=\"01304\">About five minutes later, police can again be heard firing munitions toward the crowd and Salisbury shouts out in distress. He later says that a flash-bang grenade had exploded in between his legs. He also says that at some point he’d been hit with “some kind of projectile” or shrapnel, which had cut him under his arm and caused him to bleed.</p><p data-block-key=\"21zo8\">“We’re taking the brunt of it right now, probably even more than some of the protesters,” he said of members of the press in the livestream.</p><p data-block-key=\"421ab\">About half an hour later, as police again began to fire crowd-control munitions on the crowd, a loud bang could be heard in the video. Salisbury backs to a nearby wall and says that a flash-bang grenade had exploded near his left ear and that one had hit Mitchell.</p><p data-block-key=\"ktkbg\">Half an hour later, when police again began to fire on protesters, Salisbury appears to have moved off to a side street. “They’re targeting, they’re targeting,” he says on the video. In a separate video <a href=\"https://youtu.be/tj0z0ZFNhvA?t=855\">posted to YouTube</a>, filmed later during the protest, Salisbury remarked that while walking with the crowd in front of the police line he was pushed in the back with a police baton three times.</p><p data-block-key=\"foai1\">When reached for comment, Salisbury referred the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to his published videos.</p><p data-block-key=\"gxfla\">The ACLU motion argued that the Seattle Police Department “repeatedly targeted journalists with brutal violence” on July 25. On Aug. 10, the <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/order-clarifying-preliminary-injunction\">court issued an order</a> clarifying the initial preliminary injunction and barring police from targeting projectiles and chemical irritants at journalists, as long as they are displaying a press pass or wearing clothing that distinguishes them as members of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"55p8c\">Julie Davidow, a spokesperson for the ACLU, said in a statement that the injunction the court approved in August strengthened protections for journalists, as well as legal observers and medics.</p><p data-block-key=\"j97gx\">“Since the clarified preliminary injunction was approved by the court, we have not seen journalists subjected to the same kinds of indiscriminate and excessive police force they faced while covering the demonstrations that took place in Seattle last summer in response to the murder of George Floyd,” Davidow said.</p><p data-block-key=\"epk9r\">Seattle Police Department spokesperson Randy Huserik told the Tracker in an email generally that the use of force and crowd-control devices were being investigated by the department and acknowledged that the SPD had used pepper spray and flash-bang grenades that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"otem0\">“If journalists covering events choose to place themselves within a crowd where those devices may be deployed, they have the potential to be exposed to these devices,” he said<b>.</b></p><p data-block-key=\"qerxh\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Independent journalist said he was targeted with tear gas while covering a Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-said-he-was-targeted-with-tear-gas-while-covering-a-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-06T20:12:25.089488Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-03-12T18:40:17.990824Z",
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"date": "2020-07-25",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lhzbb\">Independent journalist Brian Conley said law enforcement officers targeted him with crowd-control munitions while he was covering protests in Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours of July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"2d0lk\">The protests were among many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"10eua\">Law enforcement officers in Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The case resulted in a temporary restraining order on July 2 barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists, which was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> later that month.</p><p data-block-key=\"lu4wj\">The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t responded to requests for comment on any incidents involving its officers. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which operates under the DHS, referred the Tracker to the DHS for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"7c82m\">At about 2:25 a.m., Conley was filming as federal agents attempted to clear protesters from the intersection of Southwest Third Avenue and Southwest Salmon Street, in front of the courthouse.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1287520893078368257\"> In a video later posted on Twitter by Conley</a>, federal agents can be seen using tear gas to disperse the crowd and the sounds of other crowd-control munitions being fired can be heard. Conley stood close to federal agents as he filmed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/pdxprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#pdxprotest</a> but it looks like the gates of hell. I guess sleep deprivation made me forget just how scary the advance of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DHS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DHS</a> officers felt after 2am Saturday morning. This video has not been edited, only trimmed for Twitter's length constraints. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/portlandprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#portlandprotest</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/EQ3JzbKw6Z\">pic.twitter.com/EQ3JzbKw6Z</a></p>— Brian Conley (@BaghdadBrian) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1287520893078368257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 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=\"z6a5n\">At one point, a tear gas canister can be seen flying through the air directly at Conley from the left-hand side of his shot.</p><p data-block-key=\"c36rf\">“That’s like the second tear gas I’ve been hit with,” he says in the video. “They threw that shit right at me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w0brx\">As a tear gas canister smoked on the ground in front of Conley and two other journalists who were wearing gas masks, federal agents can be heard firing more crowd-control rounds.</p><p data-block-key=\"bom13\">Conley told the Tracker he believed federal agents deployed the tear gas in his direction, even though he was standing next to federal agents. In the video, it isn’t clear whether the canister was deployed by federal agents. Conley said he was wearing a photographer’s vest and a helmet, both of which had press markings on them.</p><p data-block-key=\"ijaig\"><a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/07282020_declarations_motion_sanctions.pdf\">In a statement that is part of an American Civil Liberties Union suit Conley joined</a>, he said agents began using tear gas for “no discernible reason” and that they gave no warnings or orders to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"dtwwp\">When reached for comment in the fall of 2020, the PPB told the Tracker it wouldn’t comment on specific incidents, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case. Then in early 2021, PPB spokesman Derek Carmon said the department was committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "Journalist struck with projectile while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-projectile-while-covering-a-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-06T20:13:28.775361Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-13T17:05:03.928863Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-13T17:05:03.841204Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"98c92\">Independent journalist Griffin Malone said law enforcement officers targeted him with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours of July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ihzbf\">The protests were among many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"80mkg\">Law enforcement officers in Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The case resulted in a temporary restraining order on July 2 barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists, which was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> later that month.</p><p data-block-key=\"3jqfd\">The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t responded to requests for comment on any incidents involving its officers. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which operates under the DHS, referred the Tracker to the DHS for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"hzqov\">At 3:05 a.m. on July 25, Malone was shot in the leg with a projectile by a Portland Police Bureau officer. He said he was standing at the intersection of Main Street and Third Avenue at the time of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"k84rb\">Malone tweeted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1286968297980755968\">video</a> of the incident, which shows a water bottle landing at the feet of the officer in the upper right frame. The office then turns and shoots directly at Malone at the eight-second mark.</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 a water bottle get thrown from IN FRONT OF HIM and then he turns to me and other press and shoots me, clearly labeled press. <a href=\"https://t.co/NcYjlKwCli\">pic.twitter.com/NcYjlKwCli</a></p>— Griffin - Live Protest News (@GriffinMalone6) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1286968297980755968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 25, 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=\"uywb1\">Malone said he was advised in conversations with the ACLU that the incident happened so quickly it would be difficult to prove that it was targeted. However, Malone felt that it was personal. “I had run-ins with that officer earlier in the day and they already acknowledged me and the other press standing in the corner,” he told Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"v7cd9\">Malone believes the projectile was a pepper ball. It hit him on part of his leg where he had additional padding, and though it left a tiny bruise he told Tracker it didn’t hurt him badly.</p><p data-block-key=\"s42vf\">When reached for comment in the fall of 2020, the PPB told the Tracker it wouldn’t comment on specific incidents, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case. Then in early 2021, PPB spokesman Derek Carmon said the department was committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"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"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist struck in ankle with projectile while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-ankle-projectile-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-09T17:30:33.841100Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:39:08.484388Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:39:08.417496Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i17g3\">A projectile fired by law enforcement struck freelance journalist Sam Slovick in the ankle as he covered a July 25, 2020, protest in Los Angeles, the journalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"e36eh\">The city had witnessed a series of racial justice protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The local TV channel CBSLA reported on July 25 that <a href=\"https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/07/25/portland-protest-downtown-la-los-angeles/\">several hundred protesters had gathered in downtown Los Angeles.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"nfbdl\">Slovick, a freelance journalist and filmmaker whose work has appeared in Los Angeles Magazine, LA Weekly and elsewhere, <a href=\"https://happs.tv/post/lEGuzGVWBzgLoxaVlMtR?fbclid=IwAR3Y_vJAju5OY_5uijXJh1-YY5H9XtsVJR-gmpjSepnaOHt3bSDqLiJsDwg\">was livestreaming the protest march that day from his phone</a> as the crowd worked its way through downtown Los Angeles. Slovick’s stream showed that at about 7 p.m., protesters clashed with police outside of a federal courthouse at 350 West First Street, with some protesters throwing objects at officers who responded by firing crowd-control munitions. Marchers retreated from the courthouse and calm appeared to return.</p><p data-block-key=\"ax6n4\">Slovick then followed the marchers through downtown Los Angeles while <a href=\"https://happs.tv/post/lEGuzGVWBzgLoxaVlMtR?fbclid=IwAR3Y_vJAju5OY_5uijXJh1-YY5H9XtsVJR-gmpjSepnaOHt3bSDqLiJsDwg\">livestreaming from his phone</a>, which was mounted on a stabilization rig, a device used by professionals and others to hold a camera steady while recording.</p><p data-block-key=\"9zaeq\">At 7:24 p.m., according to Slovick’s livestream, the journalist arrived at a federal building at 300 North Los Angeles Street, about half a mile away from the courthouse, where the protesters had reassembled. Slovick’s livestream shows the crowd listening to a protester delivering a speech about racial justice. Soon after, Slovick’s stream shows several protesters smashing some of the building’s windows with hammers.</p><p data-block-key=\"ms9ff\">When police arrived, Slovick’s livestream shows the protesters moving away from the federal building. Some remained in the street, others crossed it and remained on the opposite side of the street as protesters chanted at the officers. As police and protesters faced each other, Slovick stood at the front of the crowd, next to a protester with a megaphone who was chanting “fuck 12,” a phrase meaning “fuck police” that is heard at many anti-police brutality protests. At 7:35 p.m.<b>,</b> the livestream shows the protester shouting: “And we’re going to shut this bitch down and burn this motherfucker to the ground…”</p><p data-block-key=\"1v9qg\">As the protester speaks, a single shot can be heard before Slovik’s camera shakes and he begins limping away. “I just got fucking shot,” Slovick says on the livestream. Slovick crossed the street and sat on steps at the Los Angeles Mall to take stock of his injury. In the livestream, he is heard complaining about severe pain and attributing the shot to the Los Angeles Police Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"uuqw4\">“There was nothing threatening going on, there was no reason for them to be shooting anybody,” Slovick told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"vxnn8\">Slovick said he was not wearing any press identification, but said he was clearly filming the incident with his phone mounted on a stabilization rig. Slovick said he believes the Los Angeles Police Department officers on protest duty would have recognized him because he has been recording such events for years. Despite that, Slovick said he did not believe they were targeting him with the projectile.</p><p data-block-key=\"23nto\">A <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sam.slovick/posts/10158647958446719\">photo he posted four days after the incident</a> shows a bruised and swollen ankle where Slovick was hit. In an interview with the Tracker, Slovick said he was not sure what kind of munition struck him. <a href=\"http://www.lapdonline.org/police_commission/content_basic_view/66657\">According to the LAPD</a>, the police force utilizes both beanbags fired from shotguns as well as foam baton rounds for crowd control.</p><p data-block-key=\"u4e94\">In the October interview with the Tracker, more than two months after he was hit, Slovik said his ankle was still swollen, bruised, and painful. He said he has joined a Lawyers Guild federal class action lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department over law enforcement’s use of force during protests this year.</p><p data-block-key=\"4rhkn\">Contacted by the Tracker, the LAPD said they could not comment on pending investigations and referred the Tracker to public statements on the police department’s website. On June 10, days after the Lawyers Guild lawsuit was originally filed, <a href=\"http://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/news_view/66668\">LAPD said in a statement</a> that the department had assigned 40 investigators to look into allegations of misconduct, violations and excessive force during unrest. The LAPD also provided contact information to the general public to report complaints related to protest response.</p><p data-block-key=\"qhm2v\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these incidents here.</a></p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"unknown"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sam Slovick (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Omaha police shove, detain freelance journalist during protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/omaha-police-shove-detain-freelance-journalist-during-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-08T17:12:38.268036Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:49:42.173240Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:49:42.043287Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Omaha",
"longitude": -95.94043,
"latitude": 41.25626,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8kspp\">Journalist Melanie Buer was detained by police officers while covering protests in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"siofd\">Buer told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was held for more than two hours by officers who doubted her professional status, but she eventually was released without charge.</p><p data-block-key=\"oq2r4\">On the night of July 25, protesters had been marching for several hours in downtown Omaha while police officers accompanied them and redirected traffic, <a href=\"https://www.ketv.com/article/120-people-arrested-during-omaha-protest-saturday-demonstrators-say-police-escalated-situation/33438974\">according to local news reports</a>. The demonstrators were protesting against the killing of a Black Nebraska man, James Scurlock, who was shot dead by a white bar owner during a Black Lives Matter protest in May. They also marched in solidarity with protests in Portland, Oregon, and many other cities against police violence following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ck41\">Once protesters reached the city’s Farnam Street bridge, police officers announced that the demonstration was an “unlawful assembly and you’re all subject to arrest,” <a href=\"https://www.klkntv.com/lincoln-man-speaks-out-after-being-detained-by-omaha-police-during-a-protest/\">according to local news reports</a>. Buer, who is a freelance journalist and an associate editor at Protean Magazine, which describes itself as a nonprofit leftist media collective, told the Tracker that when protesters reached the end of the bridge shortly before 10 p.m. they were corralled by police officers who began wide-scale arrests. <a href=\"https://omaha.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/city-prosecutor-charges-filed-against-30-out-of-120-protesters-arrested-on-farnam-street-bridge/article_e9df7a84-cf37-5030-8250-0cd703e66ed2.html\">The Omaha World-Herald later reported</a> that of 120 people arrested at the protest, 30 were subsequently charged with criminal violations.</p><p data-block-key=\"zm5mv\">In a timeline of the events on July 25 later <a href=\"https://www.wowt.com/2020/07/30/omaha-police-release-details-of-midtown-protest/\">published</a> by the Omaha Police Department, the department said the protesters were marching without a permit, were putting others in danger by walking against oncoming traffic and ignored repeated warnings that they were subject to arrest. Many protesters said they heard no prior warnings, according to news reports.</p><p data-block-key=\"sznxh\">Buer and two colleagues from the magazine were on the sidewalk on the northwest side of the bridge when police officers began firing pepper balls at protesters in the street, she said. The protesters then began jumping back on to the sidewalk, so they were surrounded and had nowhere to move out of the way as officers began making arrests. The other journalists, Ashley Darrow and Kristofer Nivens, declined to comment on the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"qiosp\">Buer was filming the events on her cellphone when she was shoved by a police officer and fell to the pavement, she said. In a video she posted to Twitter the next day, police officers can be heard yelling “get on the ground!” and approaching the sidewalk area where Buer and others are gathered. The camera then shakes and the image is blurred and momentarily goes black, before resuming filming from a lower vantage point.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The first couple of minutes of the police escalation, featuring me getting shoved violently <a href=\"https://t.co/yYxvQdMOXz\">pic.twitter.com/yYxvQdMOXz</a></p>— Mel Buer (@coldbrewedtool) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/coldbrewedtool/status/1287256162732212226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 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=\"ihnyh\">Buer can then be heard yelling that she is a member of the press, to which the officer says “I don’t see anything right now.” Buer yells, “Are you kidding me? I have a press pass!” The officer responds “I don’t know that that’s real, I have no idea that that’s valid. Right now you’re getting detained.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3y7mo\">The journalist’s wrists were then constrained in zip ties and she was made to sit on the bridge for more than two hours, she said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Been detained <a href=\"https://t.co/YSrdPhOmQh\">pic.twitter.com/YSrdPhOmQh</a></p>— Mel Buer (@coldbrewedtool) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/coldbrewedtool/status/1287217846838272004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 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=\"6wj6g\">Buer said she had a press badge clearly displayed around her neck and that she repeatedly told the police officers she was a journalist, but that they didn’t believe her.</p><p data-block-key=\"2slsv\">“It would defy logic,” that they didn't realize she was press when they shoved and detained her, she said. In another video Buer posted to Twitter in the days after the incident, a police officer can be heard telling another officer that “she is saying she’s press, but I can’t verify that. We’ve got intel that they have fake press cards.”</p><p data-block-key=\"92mni\">“This is not a fake press card,” Buer responds.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Going back through footage from the bridge the other night - here’s more of the conversation where this cop didn’t believe I was press.<br><br>“We’ve got intel that they’ve got fake press cards.”<br><br>Fuck you buddy, that’s not for you to decide. <a href=\"https://t.co/ZR0imZfydg\">pic.twitter.com/ZR0imZfydg</a></p>— Mel Buer (@coldbrewedtool) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/coldbrewedtool/status/1288132566390919169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 28, 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=\"umoxe\">Shortly before midnight, Buer and her colleagues spoke with a lieutenant who asked them about the media outlet they worked for and told them they “needed to wear hi-vis safety vests in order to not be confused for protesters,” Buer said in an email.</p><p data-block-key=\"01p4v\">The lieutenant told his officers to cut off the journalists’ zip ties and take down their personal information, as well as that of the outlet they worked for. But “there was no attempt to verify our assignments with our editor or anything of that nature (though we offered it),” Buer wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"zaozz\">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>",
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"name": "Nebraska",
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"(2021-01-08 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance journalist sues city of Omaha, police following assault and detainment at protest"
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"settled"
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{
"title": "Omaha police detain journalist during protest, refusing to believe he is media",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/omaha-police-detain-journalist-during-protest-refusing-believe-he-media/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-08T17:14:05.028251Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:38:40.572919Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:38:40.486959Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Omaha",
"longitude": -95.94043,
"latitude": 41.25626,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"u4wy6\">Video journalist Jazari Kual was detained by police officers while covering protests in Omaha, Nebraska, on July 25, 2020, according to news reports and the journalist’s statements on social media. Kual said he was held for more than an hour by officers who doubted his professional status, but he eventually was released without charge.</p><p data-block-key=\"jpn4a\">On the night of July 25, protesters had been marching for several hours in downtown Omaha while police officers accompanied them and redirected traffic, Kual<a href=\"https://www.ketv.com/article/120-people-arrested-during-omaha-protest-saturday-demonstrators-say-police-escalated-situation/33438974\"> told the local television network KETV 7</a>. The demonstrators were protesting against the killing of a Nebraska man, James Scurlock, who died during Black Lives Matter protests in May, as well as in solidarity with widespread protests in Portland, OR, against police brutality.</p><p data-block-key=\"zqrm3\">Once protesters reached the city’s Farnam Street bridge, police officers announced that the demonstration was an “unlawful assembly and you’re all subject to arrest,” Kual <a href=\"https://www.klkntv.com/lincoln-man-speaks-out-after-being-detained-by-omaha-police-during-a-protest/\">told KLKN- TV</a> in an interview. Kual, who founded the independent media company <a href=\"https://www.kualdomcreations.com/\">Kualdom Creations</a> and frequently livestreams protests in Nebraska, said the officers gave no prior warning or order to disperse before making arrests. <a href=\"https://omaha.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/city-prosecutor-charges-filed-against-30-out-of-120-protesters-arrested-on-farnam-street-bridge/article_e9df7a84-cf37-5030-8250-0cd703e66ed2.html\">The Omaha World-Herald later reported</a> that of 120 people arrested at the protest, 30 were subsequently charged with criminal violations.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This took place on 07/25/20 on the bridge approaching the intersection of 29th & Farnam in Omaha, NE. Minors were in the crowd. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Omaha?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Omaha</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nebraska?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Nebraska</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Peaceful?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Peaceful</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Protest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Protest</a> in solidarity with <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oregon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Oregon</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/sOYUMQAjtL\">pic.twitter.com/sOYUMQAjtL</a></p>— Jazari Kual 🇸🇸 (@JazariKual) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JazariKual/status/1287399003001421826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 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=\"99vtx\">When asked by KETV about the arrests, a spokesperson for the Omaha Police Department told the network that “The protesters started walking in the street against the direction of traffic, then there were announcements made advising the crowd that they were unlawfully assembling before arrests were made.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b4zus\">Kual said in the KLKN interview that he “had my media badge on, I had everything on me. I had my company shirt on.” But police officers “didn’t believe I was media,” he said, and detained him for more than an hour. In a video Kual posted to Twitter days later, he can be heard telling an officer that he owns a media company. The officer responds that media are supposed to report from “certain locations” and tells Kual that he’ll be going to jail along with the other protesters.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/OmahaPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@OmahaPolice</a> , please provide comment on if you train your officers to use this kind of “de-escalation”. <br><br>For those who say “not all cops are bad” ... the other officers that allowed this interaction to happen, passed up the opportunity to show that they are a “good cop”. <a href=\"https://t.co/MK0Km5yQg5\">pic.twitter.com/MK0Km5yQg5</a></p>— Jazari Kual 🇸🇸 (@JazariKual) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JazariKual/status/1288593063384940547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 29, 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=\"x9zob\">In footage from the bridge later that evening that Kual <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/1829722744/videos/10214858997908377/\">livestreamed to Facebook</a>, the journalist, constrained in zip ties, can be heard having an extended conversation with another police officer about his status as a member of the media. “We don’t usually arrest media, so I don’t know what’s going on,” the officer says. “Do you have any proof you’re part of a media team?” At about 16:48 into the livestream, Kual and the officer (who later identifies himself and gives his badge number) discuss Kual’s work and professional status.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d29f\">As the officer scrolls through Google results for his name, Kual describes himself as a social media influencer, saying that “no one wanted to hire me as a reporter, so I started my own media company and got a million views.” The officer then releases Kual after telling him to get more “official” looking credentials, and to “try to delineate yourself better from the crowd.” Police then walk with Kual to his car and cut off the zip ties.</p><p data-block-key=\"3p3qp\">An <a href=\"https://journalstar.com/news/local/cindy-lange-kubick-jazari-kual-on-the-streets-with-a-camera-recording-a-historic-summer/article_fc6c829d-0ce1-5e68-8fc0-c8bb1508eb5f.html\">Oct. 16 article in the Journal Star</a> newspaper in Lincoln, Nebraska, where Kual lives, says “He’s covered dozens of marches since April [2020]. Maybe 100. He travels to Omaha to livestream marches there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"umaq5\">Kual’s detainment was mentioned in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/coldbrewedtool/status/1287575535124729859\">Twitter post</a> by journalist Melanie Buer. Buer was also detained that evening, which the Tracker has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/omaha-police-shove-detain-freelance-journalist-during-protest/\">documented here</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Kualdom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Kualdom</a> was another independent journalist who was detained on the bridge last night - they didn’t believe he was a journalist. Another journalist with Noise was actually arrested and hasn’t been released yet</p>— Mel Buer (@coldbrewedtool) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/coldbrewedtool/status/1287575535124729859?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 27, 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=\"4n2d9\">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>",
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"name": "Nebraska",
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{
"title": "Converge Media producer hit with projectiles during Seattle protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-targeted-projectiles-while-covering-seattle-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-14T18:06:43.716904Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:37:34.782703Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:37:34.696377Z",
"date": "2020-07-25",
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"city": "Seattle",
"longitude": -122.33207,
"latitude": 47.60621,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"utael\">Converge Media producer John Mitchell was pepper-sprayed, hit with projectiles and shoved by law enforcement officers while covering a protest in Seattle, Washington, on July 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2ezw\">According to <a href=\"https://crosscut.com/2020/07/seattle-protests-intensify-even-though-federal-agents-are-absent\">Crosscut</a>, demonstrators that day had gathered in the Capitol Hill neighborhood both as part of the wave of protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death, on May 25, and in response to the Trump administration’s recent deployment of federal officers to the city. Tensions escalated throughout the afternoon, Crosscut reported, and at 4:25 p.m., police declared the gathering a riot. In the hours that followed, law enforcement repeatedly deployed chemical agents and crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"18mih\">The police response to the protest led the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington to file a <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/plaintiffs-motion-contempt\">motion for contempt,</a> arguing that police violated a <a href=\"https://komonews.com/news/local/ban-on-use-of-chemical-irritants-on-peaceful-protesters-expanded-through-september\">court order that had been issued in June</a> restricting them from using chemical agents and projectiles.</p><p data-block-key=\"y7u7w\">Mitchell did not respond to the Tracker’s requests for comment, but in a <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/mitchell-declaration\">declaration</a> filed as part of the ACLU suit, he said he’d been “standing off to the side of the street with a group of members of the media,” his press badge clearly displayed, when “police began deliberately attacking our group by throwing blast balls right at us, even though our group only contained members of the media.”</p><p data-block-key=\"edaoe\">Mitchell said that as police were throwing the devices toward the group, a blast ball exploded very near him, with shrapnel hitting him in the neck and arm. A photograph included in the declaration shows a red mark on his neck under his chin.</p><p data-block-key=\"vaizm\">“Even though I was wearing a neck covering, I felt extreme pain and I had to be helped to the ground because I could barely stand,” he stated in the declaration, dated Aug. 3. “I still can’t hear correctly out of my right ear due to the explosion.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5g7px\">A couple minutes after the blast ball, he said, as he and his colleagues were trying to leave the area ahead of a line of officers, holding his press badge over his shoulder so he could still be identified as a journalist, police advanced and started to spray blue dye OC spray, also known as pepper spray, at the group. The spray hit Mitchell’s face, arm and credentials. He also stated that he did not hear a warning before the spray was used. “After being sprayed in the face with blue dye OC spray,” he said, “a colleague attempted to administer saline solution and water to flush my eyes. The police forced us to keep moving and wouldn’t let us to stop so I could get medical aid.”</p><p data-block-key=\"08a9x\">The ACLU motion argued that the Seattle Police Department “repeatedly targeted journalists with brutal violence” on July 25. On Aug. 10, the <a href=\"https://www.aclu-wa.org/docs/order-clarifying-preliminary-injunction\">court issued an order</a> clarifying the initial preliminary injunction and barring police from targeting projectiles and chemical irritants at journalists, as long as they are displaying a press pass or wearing clothing that distinguishes them as members of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"qtilq\">Julie Davidow, a spokesperson for the ACLU, said in a statement that the injunction the court approved in August strengthened protections for journalists, as well as legal observers and medics.</p><p data-block-key=\"zv554\">“Since the clarified preliminary injunction was approved by the court, we have not seen journalists subjected to the same kinds of indiscriminate and excessive police force they faced while covering the demonstrations that took place in Seattle last summer in response to the murder of George Floyd,” Davidow said.</p><p data-block-key=\"a8hyn\">Seattle Police Department spokesperson Randy Huserik told the Tracker in an email generally that the use of force and crowd-control devices were being investigated by the department and acknowledged that the SPD had used pepper spray and flash-bang grenades that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q698\">“If journalists covering events choose to place themselves within a crowd where those devices may be deployed, they have the potential to be exposed to these devices,” he said<b>.</b></p><p data-block-key=\"u65pg\">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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