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{
"title": "Journalist hit with tear gas and crowd-control rounds during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-with-tear-gas-and-crowd-control-rounds-during-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-10T16:06:20.048455Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:30:34.654536Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:30:34.570499Z",
"date": "2020-08-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yrqon\">Law enforcement officers hit Juniper Simonis with pepper spray and impact rounds as the independent journalist and scientist reported on protests in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 16, 2020, they told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"kwh6b\">On the night of Aug. 15 and early into the morning of Aug. 16, Simonis was covering demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Simonis has been publishing information for several months about law enforcement’s use of chemical irritants at protests on Twitter and on the website <a href=\"https://www.chemicalweaponsresearch.com/\">chemicalweaponsresearch.com</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"642tp\">Law enforcement officers in Portland 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 ACLU suit led to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">temporary restraining order</a>, and later a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">preliminary injunction,</a> barring the Portland Police Bureau from harming or impeding journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"4zcic\">Shortly after midnight on the 16th, Simonis was outside the Penumbra Kelly Building on East Burnside Street when a confrontation flared up between a line of police officers and protesters. Simonis told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker they saw a police officer pull a woman into a bush and arrest her. Another protester ran across the street toward them to intervene, but was met by a group of several officers who fired tear gas at him.</p><p data-block-key=\"gn46w\">Simonis was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JuniperLSimonis/status/1294941506181017602\">filming the incident</a> from the sidewalk when a group of officers approached and noticed the equipment Simonis said was for scientific documentation. In footage of the incident that Simonis filmed with a body cam and later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JuniperLSimonis/status/1295129601836908544\">posted on Twitter</a>, the journalist can be heard yelling “I am press and that is scientific equipment!” as a police officer tells him, “well it’s a weapon right now.” Simonis said the equipment consisted of a metal bucket filled with sand and fireplace tongs used to extinguish and examine hot objects, such as gas canisters.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">good morning!<br>here's what happened last night while i was scientifically documenting the use of chemical weapons in Portland, as a member of the press<br>stuff really escalated (i got sprayed and shot) when an officer grabbed my clearly marked and stated equipment aka "my own shit" <a href=\"https://t.co/uvgCTOsvJj\">pic.twitter.com/uvgCTOsvJj</a></p>— Dr. Juniper L Simonis; The Professor (@JuniperLSimonis) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JuniperLSimonis/status/1295012942543454214?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 16, 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=\"jpbj5\">The journalist said they were wearing a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JuniperLSimonis/status/1294876081715949568\">helmet</a> and hazard vest that had “press” written on them in black permanent marker.</p><p data-block-key=\"1cgm8\">As the officer grabbed the bucket and tongs from Simonis, the two struggled until an officer sprayed the journalist with pepper spray, Simonis told the Tracker. At that point, Simonis said, the equipment and cellphone went flying. With tear gas on their face and back, Simonis approached the officers and began yelling angrily. Simonis was then hit in the thigh and rear with two <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JuniperLSimonis/status/1294967205646409728\">crowd-control rounds</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8kkrp\">Simonis then walked to where their car was parked nearby and washed off the tear gas. The journalist was missing their phone and car keys, which had been attached to the bucket with a carabiner. Several hours later, Simonis said a friend returned to the scene and convinced the officers to return his bucket and fireplace tongs. Simonis also said an unidentified individual found and returned the cellphone but didn’t provide more information.</p><p data-block-key=\"a1pne\">Simonis posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JuniperLSimonis/status/1294931539143213057\">photos to Twitter</a> showing bruises on their thigh and hip area from the impact rounds.</p><p data-block-key=\"okc75\">Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Kevin Allen declined to comment on the incident, citing continuing litigation involving the City of Portland.</p><p data-block-key=\"z0ccu\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"abbreviation": "OR"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
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"Juniper Simonis (Freelance)"
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{
"title": "Portland photojournalist says she was thrown to the ground by police while covering protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-photojournalist-says-she-was-thrown-ground-police-while-covering-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-28T20:24:44.171495Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-12T19:14:08.776750Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-12T19:14:08.696716Z",
"date": "2020-08-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kigh0\">Independent photojournalist Maranie Staab said she was thrown to the ground by police in Portland, Oregon, while covering protests in the city’s downtown on Aug. 16, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"vnoc6\">Staab, whose photos of the 2020 protests in Portland were published by <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/clashes-between-rival-groups-of-demonstr-idUKRTX7REOH\">Reuters</a>, <a href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-can-you-do-if-trump-stages-a-coup\">The New Yorker</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AFPphoto/status/1303739949036994565?s=20\">Agence France-Presse</a>, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was documenting a protest in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis.</p><p data-block-key=\"sd8e7\">At approximately 1:30 a.m. that Sunday the 16th, Staab was documenting protests outside the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office when Portland police deployed tear gas. According to <a href=\"https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/night-80-of-portland-protests-begin-with-march-from-laurelhurst-park/283-5b90dbf7-81d4-4112-9c09-34be1cde30f1\">news reports</a>, police declared the gathering a riot at midnight and eventually came in tactical gear to disperse the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mqxs\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaranieRae/status/1295168110958280705?s=20\">video</a> Staab posted on Twitter, a police officer can be seen pushing a protester into a wooden pole, ripping off their gas mask and throwing Staab to the ground. She said she was wearing a large vest marked “press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6zklr\">“When he saw that I was filming, he very casually threw me to the ground,” Staab told the Tracker. She continued filming even though she hit her head and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaranieRae/status/1295168112933736449?s=20\">scraped her elbows</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"xwxcb\">In an email, Portland police spokesman Derek Carmon said he reviewed the video and that, among other questions, it wasn’t clear whether the journalist was thrown down or tripped. He said the department was committed to upholding civil rights for all individuals. He detailed the PBB’s crowd-control policies and noted any use of force prompts a lengthy review.</p><p data-block-key=\"ari9y\">“We have made a very intentional effort to share additional information with the public about the entire context of each nightly event,” Carmon wrote. “If you look at our press releases, you’ll find nightly summaries that discuss why the Incident Commanders gave the direction that they did, including the use of crowd control munitions.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mws7a\">At the time, a<a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\"> preliminary injunction</a> issued by a U.S. District Court judge barred Portland police officers from harming, arresting or impeding journalists. Carmon declined to comment on pending litigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"w3a1u\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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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",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Maranie Staab (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photographer says was assaulted twice by Chicago police during protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-says-was-assaulted-twice-chicago-police-during-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-11T17:27:20.798426Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-17T16:33:28.021711Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-17T16:33:27.902193Z",
"date": "2020-08-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"z8obk\">Freelance photographer Dominic Gwinn said he was physically assaulted by two police officers in separate incidents while covering a protest against police violence in Chicago on Aug. 15, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"4w813\">A stringer for <a href=\"https://www.zumapress.com/\">Zuma Press</a>, Gwinn had been following protesters as they marched down Michigan Avenue. He said he stood atop the <a href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8880614,-87.6246239,3a,75y,165.6h,84.13t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sxQIKq9Bcfzs-buWlrWmCAg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192\">median in the center of the street</a> taking pictures around 6 p.m. when a police officer shoved him off the median. In a picture Gwinn tweeted, the police officer can be seen pulling his shirt as the photographer’s hands are raised.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">08/15/2020<br><br>Credit: <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dudgedudy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@dudgedudy</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/sile3OX2lN\">pic.twitter.com/sile3OX2lN</a></p>— Dominic Gwinn (@DominicGwinn) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DominicGwinn/status/1295437148116725760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 17, 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=\"vzlp5\">In the photo, Gwinn is wearing press credentials from The Smoke Eater, a Substack newsletter, around his neck. Gwinn was also wearing a backpack that he said had a “press” patch affixed to it.</p><p data-block-key=\"hb16y\">Gwinn said he threw up his hands immediately. “I’m just like, you know, ‘Dude, that’s fine, but you can’t throw me down,’ because he starts grabbing and tugging at me and trying to shove me down off the flower bed,” Gwinn told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview. Gwinn said he was cautious because the surface where he stood was concrete. ”It’s wet, it’s raining, I could very easily slip and fall and crack my skull open,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"xscew\">Gwinn told the Tracker that the officer let him go, but shortly thereafter, he was assaulted by another officer as he sought to photograph a woman, who was being dragged and arrested by police.</p><p data-block-key=\"sjpmt\">“A young officer and his colleague, they move forward towards me...and they’re like you can’t be here, you gotta move,” Gwinn said. The photographer said he again threw up his hands and told police he was moving. “Then the guy starts shoving me [...] and pushing me hard on the back and is whaling on my back with what feels like a baton,” Gwinn said.</p><p data-block-key=\"qy8xc\">According to Gwinn, the officer continued pushing him towards the protesters and through a cloud of <a href=\"http://directives.chicagopolice.org/directives/data/a7a57b9b-15f2592c-33815-f25c-5c8e6a6716bbf194.html\">pepper spray</a>. “Everything just starts burning,” Gwinn said .</p><p data-block-key=\"dw0yc\">Gwinn tweeted a video he took as he ran, pursued by police, with other individuals down LaSalle Street, near the cross street of Adams Street.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Kettled.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChicagoProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ChicagoProtests</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/tXkrksEkQp\">pic.twitter.com/tXkrksEkQp</a></p>— Dominic Gwinn (@DominicGwinn) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DominicGwinn/status/1294791318317740032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 16, 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=\"k653z\">Police eventually surrounded the crowd in a kettle, a police tactic used in protests to exert crowd-control by trapping protesters within a circle of officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"qlfjj\">Gwinn tweeted a video showing protesters trapped at the southwest corner of Marble Place and LaSalle Street, where police demanded to inspect the bags of people inside the kettle.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Attack ppl. pinning in. Can't move.send help making us open bags. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChicagoProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ChicagoProtests</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/oFgZLhwSVf\">pic.twitter.com/oFgZLhwSVf</a></p>— Dominic Gwinn (@DominicGwinn) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DominicGwinn/status/1294792483772268550?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 16, 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=\"3gcaw\">The photographer said police let another member of the press out of the kettle but that he opted to stay in and continue documenting the situation. Gwinn said he was not searched, and that when the police action ended, he was given a police escort outside the confines of the protest area.</p><p data-block-key=\"wefm3\">Gwinn said he opted not to file a complaint with the Civilian Office of Police Accountability due to fears of retaliation from the Chicago Police Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"0i62c\">A request for comment from the CPD was not answered.</p><p data-block-key=\"dt8rg\">The Aug. 15 protest drew hundreds of people and was organized by a number of local groups, including GoodKids MadCity, Blck Rising, March For Our Lives Chicago, Increase the Peace and others according to the <a href=\"https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-downtown-protests-violent-20200816-v7yrehiibnbkvfpqxsijgz4cme-story.html\">Chicago Tribune</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "Reporter arrested while covering a Proud Boys rally and counterprotest in Kalamazoo",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-arrested-while-covering-proud-boys-rally-and-counter-protest-kalamazoo/",
"first_published_at": "2020-09-08T21:35:55.145212Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-07-18T21:41:54.563724Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-07-18T21:41:54.490652Z",
"date": "2020-08-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Kalamazoo",
"longitude": -85.58723,
"latitude": 42.29171,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"urrj4\">MLive reporter Samuel Robinson was arrested while covering a rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Aug. 15, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"cpjqj\">Robinson, who did not respond to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s requests for comment, was livestreaming from a downtown rally organized by members of the far-right group the Proud Boys and which drew counterprotesters, <a href=\"https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2020/08/mlive-reporter-arrested-while-covering-violent-proud-boys-rally-released-from-police-custody.html\">MLive reported</a>. Violence between the two groups began to escalate around 1:30 p.m., according to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/samueljrob/status/1294688930827247617\">tweet</a> posted by Robinson.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hell has broken loose <a href=\"https://t.co/SBj5GqdhFq\">pic.twitter.com/SBj5GqdhFq</a></p>— Samuel J. Robinson (@samueljrob) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/samueljrob/status/1294688930827247617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"3opsb\">In a subsequent <a href=\"https://twitter.com/samueljrob/status/1294690720184438789\">tweet</a>, Robinson noted that as violence broke out, he was caught in pepper spray deployed by members of the Proud Boys amid the melee.</p><p data-block-key=\"2pzss\">After about half an hour, dozens of police officers arrived at the rally, MLive reported. In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=580088119333349\">Facebook Live broadcast</a> captured by Robinson, who is Black, he can be heard identifying himself as a reporter as officers took him to the ground. As he repeatedly states that he is being arrested, the video feed abruptly cuts out.</p><p data-block-key=\"qv8mj\">Robinson was charged with impeding traffic and released from police custody on a $100 bond shortly after 5 p.m., according to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/samueljrob/status/1294741751425568771\">tweet</a> he posted.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Apologize for the delay. Police arrived as Proud Boys retreated to a parking garage nearby the Raddison HotelI. I was arrested and charged with impeding traffic while reporting live on Facebook for <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MLive?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MLive</a>. <a href=\"https://t.co/KcGL7v2crg\">pic.twitter.com/KcGL7v2crg</a></p>— Samuel J. Robinson (@samueljrob) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/samueljrob/status/1294741751425568771?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"j3xis\">John Hiner, vice president of content for MLive Media Group, condemned Robinson’s arrest in a statement to the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"t6j1r\">“The working press must be assured the right to cover public events that clearly are in the public interest, without reprisals,” Hiner said.</p><p data-block-key=\"aw7zg\">At a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Shm9eTL4kk&feature=youtu.be\">press conference</a> on Aug. 16, Kalamazoo Mayor David Anderson announced that the charge against Robinson had been dropped and the city’s police chief issued a public apology.</p><p data-block-key=\"bxgfv\">“I want to make an apology here and I want to address the arrest of the MLive reporter who they believed to be interfering and obstructing with their operations to restore the order,” Public Safety Chief Karianne Thomas said.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3cs8\">“I personally want to apologize for that event. The reporter was wearing a visible credential and should not have been arrested. I apologize for the trauma that it caused this young man.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"l1zza\">MLive reporter Samuel Robinson was arrested while covering a rally in downtown Kalamazoo organized by members of the far-right group Proud Boys and which drew counterprotesters on Aug. 15, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety",
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"name": "Michigan",
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Police officers rushed, shoved journalist covering Portland protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-officers-rushed-shoved-journalist-covering-portland-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-08T15:41:12.999713Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:34:46.375362Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:34:46.282694Z",
"date": "2020-08-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4e9wr\">Independent journalist Jacob Prescott said he was shoved to the ground by police officers while covering protests in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 15, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"x1ubi\">Prescott, who livestreams on social media, was filming demonstrations in Portland against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on the night of Aug. 14 and early into the morning of Aug. 15. At around 1 a.m, on the 15th, freelance journalist Justin Yau posted a video to Twitter with the caption “Portland Police executed a running charge across the bridge after a short standoff with protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hsd8d\">In the video, a line of police officers is seen running across the bridge, instructing protesters to disperse and telling the press to stay off to the side. A man in a long sleeved gray shirt, later identified as Prescott, is running on the sidelines and then begins running backwards in the middle of the bridge while filming the officers.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Portland Police executed a running charge across the bridge after a short standoff with protesters. The crowd continues to splinter as the police continues it's pursuit. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDXProtest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PDXProtest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BlackLivesMatter</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/WM66T3BCwl\">pic.twitter.com/WM66T3BCwl</a></p>— Justin Yau (@PDocumentarians) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDocumentarians/status/1294546208766083072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"3411a\">In a subsequent post, freelancer Yau wrote “One Portland Police officer shoved a livestreamer who dropped his equipment after the bullrush. I assumed from the audio it was because he didn't stay back far enough away from officers.” In the accompanying video, Prescott is seen picking up what appears to be a phone from the ground and then walking backward as he reattaches his phone to a tripod. Without any apparent warning, an officer approaches him from behind and pushes him to the ground.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">One Portland Police officer shoved a livestreamer who dropped his equipment after the bullrush. I assumed from the audio it was because he didn't stay back far enough away from officers. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDXprotests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PDXprotests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BlackLivesMatter</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/SNxJ4mcmPx\">pic.twitter.com/SNxJ4mcmPx</a></p>— Justin Yau (@PDocumentarians) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDocumentarians/status/1294584539201695744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"zyjxa\">In another video of the incident posted to Twitter by photojournalist Dave Blazer, Prescott is seen being pushed by one officer, after he picked up his phone from the ground, and then is shoved hard a few seconds later by a different officer whose action pushed Prescott to the ground.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Press person repeatedly attacked by the Portland Police, eventually thrown on the ground (if someone can identify him, it would be much appreciated). Then an officer squares up with a woman who is fearless.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIGHTUntilLastBREATH?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FIGHTUntilLastBREATH</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDXprotests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PDXprotests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtesters?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtesters</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/vtKaH0DqxV\">pic.twitter.com/vtKaH0DqxV</a></p>— Dave Blazer Photography (@dave_blazer) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dave_blazer/status/1294827934239174657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 16, 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=\"3wbqp\">Prescott later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_jacobprescott/status/1294937145501655040\">retweeted Blazer’s post</a> and identified himself as the person in the video.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ka0g\">Prescott also <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_jacobprescott/status/1294736287975448576\">retweeted footage</a> of the incident taken by another journalist, with the caption “Portland Officer assaults me from behind.” In a subsequent message he posted a photo of a man he believed to be the officer who pushed him to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"q9e1w\">Prescott did not respond to Twitter and email messages from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker seeking comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"p7efa\">Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Kevin Allen declined to comment on the incident, citing continuing litigation involving the City of Portland. Since July, 2020, law enforcement officers from the PPB and federal agencies have been barred by court rulings from arresting, harming or impeding journalists or legal observers of the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"k2nkn\">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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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jacob Prescott (Independent)"
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{
"title": "Independent journalist’s equipment searched while reporting on Chicago protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalists-equipment-searched-while-reporting-on-chicago-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-19T19:21:50.366370Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-12T19:16:24.400385Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-12T19:16:24.305488Z",
"date": "2020-08-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zdtyh\">Independent journalist Raven Geary said her bag was searched by police without her consent while she reported on a protest in Chicago, Illinois, on Aug. 15, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"j16k3\">Geary, a freelancer who later wrote about the demonstration for the <a href=\"https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/we-just-want-to-go-home/Content?oid=83201246\">Chicago Reader</a>, was covering a protest against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Protests against racial injustice had been held across the United States since George Floyd was killed during an arrest 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=\"joeza\">Geary was following protesters in downtown Chicago when she first noticed that police had the group surrounded on all sides, she told the Tracker. She was toward the back of the group of protesters when she saw people running and police chasing people, she said. On LaSalle Street, she said, police moved in to form a ring around the group to block protesters from leaving — a tactic called “kettling.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tewxl\">While one line of officers closed in tightly to restrict the group of protesters, another line of police formed an outer ring, she said, adding that she was stuck in the “no man’s land” between the two rings.</p><p data-block-key=\"gulxz\">Geary estimated that she was in the space between the two lines of police for about five minutes. At first, she tried to film police arresting people from the group of protesters who had been restricted against the side of the building, she said, but police officers kept her back by swinging their bicycles at her in an aggressive way.</p><p data-block-key=\"z6fhj\">After a few minutes, she said police forced her to move away. A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dudgedudy/status/1294792334207520769\">video</a> she posted on Twitter shows multiple officers with bicycles walking toward her and a few other people along the street, repeating, “Move back! Move back!” Geary shouts out, “I’m press! I’m press!” multiple times.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">They're forcing people to dump their bags before they can leave. <br><br>Lost some items. <br><br>Pandemonium in the Loop rn. <br><br>Saw some arrests. They attacked the crowd they kettled. I couldn't see much from where I was. <br><br>This is hell. <a href=\"https://t.co/Petq0Gvp1j\">pic.twitter.com/Petq0Gvp1j</a></p>— Angry Woman Who Isn't Funny & Ruins Everything Fun (@dudgedudy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dudgedudy/status/1294792334207520769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 16, 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=\"e4l5p\">Geary told the Tracker that once she had been pushed to the outer ring of police, officers demanded that she and protesters who had been in the same area hand over their belongings in order to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"fpbi9\">A <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgRpuTOneV4\">video</a> published by the Chicago Reader on YouTube shows Geary, wearing a black helmet with bright green tape marked “press,” standing near a wall in front of a line of police officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"wjwjn\">One officer grabs her backpack, which is also marked “press,” from her, turns it upside down and shakes it repeatedly, spilling her belongings onto the ground. In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgRpuTOneV4\">YouTube video</a> posted by Chicago Reader, Geary can be heard saying, “I am a reporter! I am a reporter!”</p><p data-block-key=\"hk3c7\">Geary said she was able to grab some of her items, but couldn’t get everything before she was forced to leave. She lost an insulated water bottle, a pair of shoes and a bike tool, she said. The phone she was using to report that day wasn’t searched or seized, she said, and she had no other reporting equipment with her at the time.</p><p data-block-key=\"thhxi\">Geary said she didn’t report the incident to the police because she believed it would be a waste of time.</p><p data-block-key=\"lbhyr\">A spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department said in a statement that anybody who feels they were mistreated by an officer can file a complaint. The department “strives to treat all individuals our officers encounter with respect and remains committed to ensuring members of the press are able to do their jobs safely,” the spokesperson said in an email.</p></div>",
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"actor": "law enforcement",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "equipment bag"
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],
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
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"tags": [
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"protest"
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"categories": [
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
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{
"title": "Journalist shoved by police officers while covering Portland protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-shoved-by-police-officers-while-covering-portland-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-22T18:29:37.111775Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:34:20.471458Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:34:20.387516Z",
"date": "2020-08-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hhnzu\">Independent journalist Alissa Azar said she was shoved multiple times by police officers while covering protests in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 15, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"6h2ui\">Azar told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Portland police officers were “being super aggressive with members of the press” that night. She posted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AlissaAzar/status/1294583176535240704?s=20\">tweet</a>, alongside a video of officers repeatedly calling “Move!” and pressuring people to walk in one direction; Azar called the confrontation “terrifying.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5zq2y\">“People almost fell off the railing from how hard the cops were pushing. We were not even next to the protesters,” she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"r1e8z\">Azar said officers pushed her several times, including pushing her into a car at one point.</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/PDocumentarians?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PDocumentarians</a> got maced and they wouldn’t let us get to him to help. I just got pushed into a car</p>— alissa azar (@AlissaAzar) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AlissaAzar/status/1294555183918137345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"rzmqm\">“I’m still shaken. I honestly was afraid for everyone’s safety,” Azar said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bue1f\">She said she had been wearing a vest and helmet, both labelled with press markings, as well as a credential from Pacific Northwest Press Corps, which describes itself as an association of independent journalists covering ongoing protests in Portland and other parts of the Pacific Northwest.</p><p data-block-key=\"0aivd\">Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Kevin Allen declined to comment on the incident, citing continuing litigation involving the City of Portland. Since July, 2020, law enforcement officers from the PPB and federal agencies have been barred by court rulings from arresting, harming or impeding journalists or legal observers of the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"n3wgz\">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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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Alissa Azar (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Livestreamer says his equipment damaged by law enforcement officer in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/livestreamer-says-his-equipment-damaged-by-law-enforcement-officer-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-19T15:24:30.712433Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:31:12.534675Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:31:12.431567Z",
"date": "2020-08-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"91gt8\">Law enforcement damaged livestreaming equipment belonging to independent journalist Jon Ziegler while he was covering protests in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 15, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"up4gh\">On the night of Aug. 15 and early into the morning of Aug. 16, Ziegler was covering demonstrations in northeast Portland against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Ziegler, who previously worked with the media collective Unicorn Riot, has been documenting protests for his independent livestreaming account, RebZ.tv.</p><p data-block-key=\"lgox9\">Sometime after 9 p.m., law enforcement declared the gathering a riot and forced protesters to disperse, Ziegler told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. The journalist said he was walking behind a line of police officers and filming them as they chased protesters down the street, when he saw an officer shove a woman in front of him. In a recording of the incident posted to Twitter, the woman can be seen falling to the ground. Ziegler is then seen following the officer and asking for his badge number. The officer turns, yells “right up behind you” and lunges at Ziegler.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As cops chased and ran protesters down the street from the police precinct, some of the cops took out their aggression on the press trailing behind<br><br>This one tried to rip my phone off my monopod but failed at the tug of war...and the livestream kept going! (but my clip is broken) <a href=\"https://t.co/0vpzMAZjz4\">pic.twitter.com/0vpzMAZjz4</a></p>— Jon Ziegler “Reb Z” (@Rebelutionary_Z) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Rebelutionary_Z/status/1295189992650678273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 17, 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=\"5gyxt\">The officer tried to grab Ziegler’s phone, but was unsuccessful, the journalist told the Tracker. The officer pushed Ziegler’s RetiCAM smartphone tripod mount so forcefully into this chest, however, that the clamp broke and the journalist was left with a minor scrape. Ziegler said he was wearing a bulletproof vest with a fluorescent press insignia. “It was obvious from two blocks away that I was press,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"32de2\">Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Kevin Allen declined to comment on the incident, citing continuing litigation involving the City of Portland. Since July 2020, law enforcement officers from the PPB and federal agencies have been <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">barred by court rulings</a> from arresting, harming or impeding journalists or legal observers of the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"2gx5p\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera equipment"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist repeatedly pushed by a police officer while covering a rally in Georgia",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-repeatedly-pushed-by-a-police-officer-while-covering-a-rally-in-georgia/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-23T19:21:16.190826Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-21T20:36:58.736684Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-21T20:36:58.671206Z",
"date": "2020-08-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Stone Mountain",
"longitude": -84.1702,
"latitude": 33.80816,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7naxt\">Atlanta-based independent journalist Anissa Matlock was repeatedly pushed by a police officer while reporting during a rally in Stone Mountain, a city in the Atlanta suburbs, on Aug. 15, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"os3ou\">Stone Mountain’s <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-race-usa-stone-mountain-idUSKBN2441C7\">nine-story high depiction</a> of Confederate leaders, carved into the mountain that gives the city its name, is considered a shrine for white supremacists. On Aug. 15 several <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/15/georgia-stone-mountain-park-confederate-rightwing-rally-close\">far-right and white supremacist groups arrived in Stone Mountain</a> to protest against a movement calling for removal of the monument.</p><p data-block-key=\"e6riy\">Those groups were met by counterprotesters carrying signs in support of racial justice and Black Lives Matter. After a few hours officers in riot gear intervened to stop <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/police-move-in-after-fights-break-out-during-georgia-protest/2020/08/15/c5ecb7fc-df27-11ea-b4f1-25b762cdbbf4_story.html\">the altercations</a> between members from the opposite groups.</p><p data-block-key=\"iwg33\">According to Matlock, an officer who was part of a law enforcement line dispersing the crowd aggressively confronted her, pushing his riot shield against the front of her body, as she walked backwards.</p><p data-block-key=\"e055z\">“We were asked to disperse, to move back, so I started moving back but I had my camera on the police line in front of me,” Matlock told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. She said that the officer who confronted her took several strides ahead of the line in her direction. “He broke the line to get closer to me as I was moving back and then leaned the shield against my gas mask, my head and began to push forward,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"113w2\">Matlock <a href=\"https://twitter.com/matlockartist/status/1294827747059970049\">video recorded the confrontation and tweeted it that night</a>. The video shows Matlock, who was wearing her press credentials and a gas mask, being pushed back while complying with the officer’s order to move. “I have press credentials sir,” she can be heard saying as the officer forces her back, pressing his shield against her. “I’m moving, I’m complying,” she says.</p><p data-block-key=\"hzwsh\">Matlock, who posts her videos of Black Lives Matter protests on her social media channels, believes that she was targeted because she was pointing her camera on the officer’s face. “I feel that because I was zooming, he tried to get me out of the way,” she explained.</p><p data-block-key=\"pgvmn\">Matlock said she did not file a complaint about the incident. The Stone Mountain Police Department and the DeKalb County Police Department did not return requests for comment.</p></div>",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Georgia",
"abbreviation": "GA"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"white nationalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Anissa Matlock (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Police strike journalist with baton at Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-strike-baton-shove-journalists-during-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-22T16:28:00.355139Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:35:08.824210Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:35:08.721726Z",
"date": "2020-08-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cnois\">Independent photojournalist Sean Bascom said he was hit by police during a protest in Portland, Oregon, on the night of Aug. 14, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"j0b0y\">Portland had experienced regular protests since the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. On the evening of Aug. 14, protesters gathered in North Portland's Peninsula Park and began marching. According to<a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/08/portland-protests-against-police-violence-racism-continue-on-79th-night-friday.html\"> The Oregonian</a>, their intended destination was believed to be the Portland police union headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"ahmql\">Just before 10:30 p.m., Bascom was filming at the intersection of Killingsworth Street and North Mississippi Avenue as Portland police officers charged a line of shield-bearing protesters and began pushing protesters and members of the media down the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"8zrd2\">Over a loudspeaker, police can be heard declaring an unlawful assembly, saying that “paint bombs and other projectiles” had been thrown at officers. They also can be heard addressing the press and legal-rights observers, saying that they would adhere to a temporary restraining order and allow them to do their jobs so long as they moved off the roadway and didn’t interfere with officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"s4ny3\">In July, <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">a U.S. district judge issued a temporary restraining order</a> barring police in Portland from using physical force against, dispersing, arresting or threatening to arrest journalists and legal-rights observers.</p><p data-block-key=\"zrn6w\">In a video Bascom shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, the journalist can be seen complying with police orders, walking on the sidewalk while continuing to film while moving north on North Mississippi Avenue.</p><p data-block-key=\"bj02g\">Meanwhile, police were making arrests in the street, “knocking people down and dragging them across the pavement” Bascom said. At one point, Bascom moved between parked cars to film a protester being thrown to the ground by police. An officer can be heard shouting: “Get out of the street now!”</p><p data-block-key=\"0aucs\">In the video, Bascom tells the officer he is a member of the press and then the camera shakes.</p><p data-block-key=\"nmacq\">“He came barreling in out of my view and just yelled “press out of the street” and then immediately hit me, it must have been with his baton, like right in my ribs,” said Bascom.</p><p data-block-key=\"xli04\">Bascom said he was wearing bright clothing and a helmet with press markings. He added he was also using a camera with a large lens and that he believed it was clear to the officer that he was a member of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"5j9os\">He told the Tracker he felt sore for about a month, experiencing pain when he breathed deeply. He didn’t get the injury checked out by a medical professional, but said it felt like he previously had bruised ribs while snowboarding and skateboarding.</p><p data-block-key=\"bgohu\">While he technically wasn’t on the sidewalk, Bascom said he wasn’t in the way of police actions and that the officer was taking advantage of a technicality.</p><p data-block-key=\"uz10q\">“I can’t be in their way because of the cars that are parked on either side of me,” he said. “The Portland police seem to have decided that when they’re clearing a street if press are on the sidewalk, then they’re fine, but as soon as they step one foot off of the sidewalk, they are totally free to use as much force as they want.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2iqj7\"><a href=\"https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=261095\">In a press release regarding the Aug. 14 protest</a>, the Portland Police Bureau wrote that “several people with ‘press’ affixed to them shined flashlights in officers eyes.” A spokesperson for the PPB told the Tracker they were unable to comment on the incidents due to ongoing litigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"jcd6e\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": 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,
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"links": [],
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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",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sean Bascom (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Police shove journalist during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-shove-journalist-during-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-08T15:20:50.087639Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:36:18.193957Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:36:18.107823Z",
"date": "2020-08-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xzxuu\">Independent journalist Brian Conley said he was shoved by police during a protest in Portland, Oregon, on the night of Aug. 14, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"6gqar\">Portland had experienced regular protests since the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. On the evening of Aug. 14, protesters gathered in North Portland's Peninsula Park and began marching. According to<a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/08/portland-protests-against-police-violence-racism-continue-on-79th-night-friday.html\"> The Oregonian</a>, their intended destination was believed to be the Portland police union headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"ac7vc\">Over a loudspeaker, police can be heard declaring an unlawful assembly, saying that “paint bombs and other projectiles” had been thrown at officers. They also can be heard addressing the press and legal-rights observers, saying that they would adhere to a temporary restraining order and allow them to do their jobs so long as they moved off the roadway and didn’t interfere with officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"jqzdt\">In July, <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">a U.S. district judge issued a temporary restraining order</a> barring police in Portland from using physical force against, dispersing, arresting or threatening to arrest journalists and legal-rights observers.</p><p data-block-key=\"gf3za\">Conley said that later that night he was pushed by a Portland police officer clearing a street in North Portland.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1294531973143097346\"> On Twitter, he wrote</a> that he and legal-rights observers had been pushed by a police officer at 11:45 p.m. for not walking fast enough. The officer “then struck me hard enough to knock the light from my camera. There was nowhere to go because too many people were in front of us,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"2407t\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDocumentarians/status/1294524426654855169\">In a video shot by freelance journalist Justin Yau</a>, officers can be seen pushing people with batons, telling them to walk down the street faster. At one point, Conley can be seen turning around to film officers as he walks backwards using a camera with a light mounted on top of it. A voice can be heard saying “stop shining this light in my eyes” as one officer’s hand reaches out towards Conley’s camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"75z26\">“I was walking. I was not on the street. I was on the sidewalk,” Conley told the Tracker. “There was a mass of people in front of me. I really couldn’t go any faster” unless he stopped filming, he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"uiasy\">Conley said the light mounted on his camera was knocked to the ground and retrieved by another journalist. It was undamaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"39l3g\">At the time, he was wearing body armor marked “press” as well as a gas mask and a helmet. He said he had verbally identified himself as press as well, adding he believes the officer knew he was a member of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"tw792\">“He was already kind of pushing me more than he should have been and there was nowhere for me to go,” he said. “I wasn’t a danger to him.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d9pdy\"><a href=\"https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=261095\">In a press release regarding the Aug. 14 protest</a>, the Portland Police Bureau wrote that “several people with ‘press’ affixed to them shined flashlights in officers' eyes.” A spokesperson for the PPB told the Tracker they were unable to comment on the incidents due to ongoing litigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"vtxuk\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"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,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brian Conley (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Police grabs at journalist’s phone during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-grabs-at-journalists-phone-during-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-08T15:20:32.598239Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:35:40.641170Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:35:40.554065Z",
"date": "2020-08-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dy4hn\">Garrison Davis, an independent journalist, said police attempted to grab his phone while he was filming a protest in Portland, Oregon, on the night of Aug. 14, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"evpqz\">Portland had experienced regular protests since the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. On the evening of Aug. 14, protesters gathered in North Portland's Peninsula Park and began marching. According to<a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/08/portland-protests-against-police-violence-racism-continue-on-79th-night-friday.html\"> The Oregonian</a>, their intended destination was believed to be the Portland police union headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"iet3r\">Over a loudspeaker, police can be heard declaring an unlawful assembly, saying that “paint bombs and other projectiles” had been thrown at officers. They also can be heard addressing the press and legal-rights observers, saying that they would adhere to a temporary restraining order and allow them to do their jobs so long as they moved off the roadway and didn’t interfere with officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"yrkfp\">In July, <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">a U.S. district judge issued a temporary restraining order</a> barring police in Portland from using physical force against, dispersing, arresting or threatening to arrest journalists and legal-rights observers.</p><p data-block-key=\"ksvdg\">That night, an officer tried to grab Davis' phone away from him as he recorded, the freelance videographer said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4cvlq\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1294523144984596481\">In a video filmed sometime before midnight</a>, a Portland police officer can be seen approaching Davis, telling him to “back off away from our van” and then moving his hand toward the journalist’s phone in an action Davis said was an attempt to grab the device. Davis repeatedly told the officer he was on the sidewalk and not in their way. He had previously shouted at officers telling him to move that he was with the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"c8zwf\">“Portland Police continuing to blatantly ignore the federal restraining order. An officer comes off of the riot van, approaches me, and grabs my phone”<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1294530884587069440\"> Davis tweeted.</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Portland Police continuing to blatantly ignore the federal restraining order. An officer comes off of the riot van, approaches me, and grabs my phone. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#blacklivesmatter</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/protest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#protest</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/PortlandProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDXprotests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PDXprotests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandStrong?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandStrong</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/7GWQojHlq0\">pic.twitter.com/7GWQojHlq0</a></p>— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1294530884587069440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 15, 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=\"ka5l6\">Davis told the Tracker he felt that he and other journalists had been targeted that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"4fldu\">“At this point I think they were mad at press because the reason why they keep getting in trouble is because the press is thoroughly documenting their crimes,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ppo4\"><a href=\"https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=261095\">In a press release regarding the Aug. 14 protest</a>, the Portland Police Bureau wrote that “several people with ‘press’ affixed to them shined flashlights in officers eyes.” A spokesperson for the PPB told the Tracker they were unable to comment on the incidents due to ongoing litigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"s5e1s\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Garrison Davis (Freelance)"
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},
{
"title": "Journalist arrested, cameras seized while covering protests in Washington, D.C.",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-arrested-cameras-seized-while-covering-protests-washington-dc/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-23T17:09:49.866610Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:32:19.454019Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:32:19.329486Z",
"date": "2020-08-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zr8ap\">Freelance journalist Kian Kelley-Chung was arrested while covering protests in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 13, 2020, and held overnight in jail. Although police dropped felony riot charges against him, the journalist’s two cameras and cellphone were seized by law enforcement officers and were not returned for over two months, Kelley-Chung told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"wkcqr\">On the evening of Aug. 13 and into the morning of Aug. 14, protesters demonstrating against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement marched through the neighborhood of Adams Morgan, according to <a href=\"https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/protests/mpd-releases-dozens-from-custody-after-protests-in-adams-morgan/65-cecf9764-e239-403f-930d-80def1156856\">local news reports</a>. Protesters said they were surrounded and corralled on 18th Street NW, between Florida Avenue and Willard Street, by police officers who then began arresting people in the crowd, according to news reports. In a <a href=\"https://mpdc.dc.gov/release/arrests-made-felony-riot-acts-third-district\">statement</a>, the Metropolitan Police Department said that officers arrested 41 people on charges of “Felony Riot Acts and Assault on a Police Officer offenses” and alleged that protesters had also been involved in acts of arson and destruction of property.</p><p data-block-key=\"25hlw\">Kelley-Chung, who has been <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/photography/young-photographers-covid-protests/\">covering</a> Black Lives Matter protests for several months as an independent <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/lifestyle/magazine/the-endless-call-for-racial-equity-and-justice-in-photos-and-quotes/\">photographer</a> and filmmaker, was among those arrested and charged with felony rioting, according to <a href=\"https://mpdc.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/mpdc/publication/attachments/Unrest-Related%20Arrest%20Data%20as%20of%20August%2031%202020_1.pdf\">police records</a>. The journalist <a href=\"https://wamu.org/story/20/08/14/dc-police-protest-black-lives-matter-arrest-adams-morgan/\">told public radio station WAMU/DCist</a> that he was arrested while trying to photograph the aftermath of an altercation between police and a protester. Kelley-Chung said his camera was clearly visible and that he told officers he was documenting the protests as a journalist, according to <a href=\"https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/protests/mpd-releases-dozens-from-custody-after-protests-in-adams-morgan/65-cecf9764-e239-403f-930d-80def1156856\">television network WUSA 9</a>. “I just remember asking constantly, ‘Why am I being arrested? Why am I being arrested?...I’ve been here for months...You’ve seen my work,’ ” he was quoted as saying. Kelley-Chung <a href=\"https://wamu.org/story/20/08/14/dc-police-protest-black-lives-matter-arrest-adams-morgan/\">told WAMU/DCist</a> that he was taken into custody and held at the 7th District police precinct overnight and then detained at Superior Court before being released on the evening of Aug. 14, when the charges were dropped.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">“What am I out here doing ‘rioting’. I’m a documentarian. I’m a photo journalist. I’m a member of the media. And they violated my 1st Ammend. rights. And that’s why we’re out here. That’s why they had to let me go”<br><br>My media colleague Kian <a href=\"https://twitter.com/uncleiso?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@uncleiso</a> after release at <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DCProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DCProtests</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/vBKIfJivY0\">pic.twitter.com/vBKIfJivY0</a></p>— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ChuckModi1/status/1294423466662387714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 14, 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=\"p3owj\">In a brief video interview posted to twitter by Deadspin journalist Chuck Modi the day after his release, Kelley-Chung said, “they thought they could stop me, they can’t stop me. I’m going to continue to be out here.” But the journalist said he was using his father’s camera because the two cameras he had been using, in addition to his cellphone, were still in police custody.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Kian in action. Despite being fellow journalist, he is one of 41 arrested Thurs. Didn’t know til now, police have not given him back his camera or phone yet (which explains arrest). <br><br>He is back out w/father’s camera. Would be nice if corporate media showed solidarity <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DCProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DCProtests</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/X8iw2mV3MD\">pic.twitter.com/X8iw2mV3MD</a></p>— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ChuckModi1/status/1294820226782068736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 16, 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-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I just did the math and MPD confiscated over $3000 worth of equipment. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated and shown support. Please keep sharing. I still don't have my stuff. <a href=\"https://t.co/8ik7AKBX2V\">https://t.co/8ik7AKBX2V</a></p>— kian (@uncleiso) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/uncleiso/status/1295050703916990464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 16, 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-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DC Police still have Kian’s cameras they seized in illegal kettle arrests 10 days ago. He is press. He shares story of deep “sentimental value” of them <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DCProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DCProtests</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/l9btqsVpW9\">pic.twitter.com/l9btqsVpW9</a></p>— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ChuckModi1/status/1297659455480504322?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 23, 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=\"kqyk2\">Seven weeks later, in a letter dated Oct. 6 that Kelley-Chung shared with the Tracker, Acting United States Attorney Michael R. Sherwin wrote that the MPD, in conjunction with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, was conducting an investigation into the events in Adams Morgan on Aug. 13-14 and that they believed that the journalist’s cameras “may contain information relevant to the investigation. We are writing to inquire whether you would voluntarily turn over data in the above-described cameras or produce such information voluntarily in response to a subpoena.”</p><p data-block-key=\"iv2bv\">After objections from Kelley-Chung’s lawyer, Sherwin wrote the journalist in another letter, dated Oct. 22, that his “Office has indicated to MPD that we have no objection to its disposition of Mr. Kelley-Chung’s property,” but that, “we are formally requesting the preservation, pending potential legal process and until further written notice, of all photographs, videos, audio recordings, and other evidence, created or captured on August 13-14, 2020.” However, the letter concluded, “this request does not obligate Mr. Kelley-Chung to produce any materials to the government at this time." Kelley-Chung told the Tracker that his possessions were released to him the following day, Oct. 23.</p><p data-block-key=\"r13td\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Metropolitan Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-08-14",
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:21-cv-00116",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 2,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-04-14 10:32:00+00:00) Settlement reached in suit brought by freelance journalist who was arrested, his cameras seized while covering protests in DC"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
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"Kian Kelley-Chung (Freelance)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Memphis newspaper subpoenaed for photos, videos from July protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/memphis-newspaper-subpoenaed-for-photos-videos-from-july-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-05T15:44:02.363569Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-05-17T20:19:21.813317Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-05-17T20:19:21.774065Z",
"date": "2020-08-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Memphis",
"longitude": -90.04898,
"latitude": 35.14953,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>On Aug. 13, 2020, a judge granted a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation request for a subpoena of the Commercial Appeal for photographs and videos taken by the Memphis daily during its coverage of a protest on July 4, 2020. A gag order was also put into effect.</p><p>The protest took place outside the home of Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich amid a monthslong surge of demonstrations across the country, sparked by the May death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota.</p><p>On July 4, protesters had gathered outside Weirich’s house, calling for her firing, launching fireworks and burning American flags near her property line, the Commercial Appeal <a href=\"https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/local/the-901/2020/07/06/protesters-launch-fireworks-burn-flag-da-weirichs-house/5382418002/\">reported</a>.</p><p>Shortly thereafter, according to the paper, the Memphis Police Department requested that the Commercial Appeal turn over images from its coverage for use in the department’s investigation of the day’s events. The paper did not comply with the request. The following month, the TBI filed a subpoena for the videos and photographs.</p><p>The paper reported that it filed a motion to quash the subpoena on Aug. 19, arguing that the state shield law and state precedent protected the images as part of journalistic work product.</p><p>“Enforcement of the subpoena in this case would discredit movants as disinterested gatherers of information, would violate their rights under the cited statutory and constitutional provisions, and would have an intimidating effect on them in the reporting of events observed and investigated by them in their capacity as journalists," Lucian Pera, an attorney for the Commercial Appeal, told the paper.</p><p>On Aug. 20, attorneys from the state attorney general’s office, representing the TBI, agreed to drop the subpoena and the gag order was lifted.</p><p>Neither the TBI nor the Commercial Appeal responded to emails requesting comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Tennessee",
"abbreviation": "TN"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": null,
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Commercial Appeal"
],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"dropped"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist detained while covering DC protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-detained-while-covering-dc-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-30T21:57:01.360448Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:32:33.298267Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:32:33.217567Z",
"date": "2020-08-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1tndj\">Freelance journalist Andrew Jasiura was detained and held for two hours by law enforcement while covering protests in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 13, 2020. Jasiura was released without charges after a Metropolitan Police Department lieutenant recognized him, the journalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"e2dw0\">On the evening of Aug. 13 and into the morning of Aug. 14, protesters demonstrating against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement marched through the neighborhood of Adams Morgan, according to <a href=\"https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/protests/mpd-releases-dozens-from-custody-after-protests-in-adams-morgan/65-cecf9764-e239-403f-930d-80def1156856\">local news reports</a>. Protesters were surrounded and corralled on 18th Street NW, between Florida Avenue and Willard Street, by police officers who then began arresting people in the crowd, according to news reports. In a <a href=\"https://mpdc.dc.gov/release/arrests-made-felony-riot-acts-third-district\">statement</a>, the Metropolitan Police Department said that officers arrested 41 people on charges of “Felony Riot Acts and Assault on a Police Officer offenses” and alleged that protesters had also been involved in acts of arson and destruction of property.</p><p data-block-key=\"h6mjb\">Jasiura, who has been covering Black Lives Matter protests for several months as an independent <a href=\"https://www.rxnin.life/jazzy\">photographer and filmmaker,</a> was among those detained. Jasiura told the Tracker that he repeatedly told police officers he was a member of the press and showed them his press credential, but they ignored him. He said he also received no answer when he asked repeatedly if he was being detained or arrested, but when he asked if he could leave, he was told no. After about two hours, Jasiura said police officers began taking people one by one into custody, <a href=\"https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/protests/mpd-releases-dozens-from-custody-after-protests-in-adams-morgan/65-cecf9764-e239-403f-930d-80def1156856\">including his colleague</a> Kian Kelley-Chung, and driving them away to jail. The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-arrested-cameras-seized-while-covering-protests-washington-dc/\">Kelley-Chung’s arrest here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"k2k1d\">Jasiura said he was told to put his hands behind his back, and an officer was putting zip ties around his wrists, when another officer recognized him. That officer “knew I was press, and I had my press credentials, so he let me go,” Jasiura told the Tracker. The officers returned Jasiura’s possessions to him and <a href=\"https://wamu.org/story/20/08/14/dc-police-protest-black-lives-matter-arrest-adams-morgan/\">released him without charge</a> in the early hours of Aug. 14.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: Cops have arrested dozens of the activists they illegally kettled at 18th and S St, including press & medics. They finally released one person--journalist <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PhotoJazzy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PhotoJazzy</a>--who explained what happened and how they took his colleague <a href=\"https://twitter.com/uncleiso?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@uncleiso</a>. <a href=\"https://t.co/GA8DnuFeKN\">pic.twitter.com/GA8DnuFeKN</a></p>— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wyattreed13/status/1294140353797222400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 14, 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-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeKian?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FreeKian</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeIso?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FreeIso</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/GWZBDczLfJ\">https://t.co/GWZBDczLfJ</a></p>— DrewJazzyPhoto (@PhotoJazzy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PhotoJazzy/status/1294182529193345024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 14, 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=\"gvc3k\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Metropolitan Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"kettle",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Andrew Jasiura (Freelance)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Independent photojournalist says was pushed to the ground by Portland police",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-says-was-pushed-ground-portland-police/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-13T22:04:17.466034Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:32:51.860146Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:32:51.783430Z",
"date": "2020-08-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7h7r1\">Independent photojournalist Maranie Staab was pushed to the ground by Portland police while covering protests in downtown Portland on Aug. 11, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"kf4oh\">Staab, whose photos of the 2020 protests in Portland have been published by <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/clashes-between-rival-groups-of-demonstr-idUKRTX7REOH\">Reuters</a>, <a href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-can-you-do-if-trump-stages-a-coup\">The New Yorker</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AFPphoto/status/1303739949036994565?s=20\">Agence France-Presse</a>, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was documenting a protest in downtown Portland, where demonstrators had been gathering nightly in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis.</p><p data-block-key=\"1z5f8\">At 1:40 a.m. on Aug. 11, Staab said she was at the Portland Police Bureau’s North Precinct station, covering what she said was an arrest of a woman leaving the protest area. Shortly before midnight, Portland Police <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1293066450349903873?s=20\">declared an unlawful assembly</a> at the North Precinct area and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1293066450349903873?s=20\">tweeted</a> that people should leave or be subject to arrest, citation or crowd-control actions. In a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaranieRae/status/1293340721508802560?s=20\"> video</a> Staab shared on Twitter, officers can be seen running across the street, surrounding a car and yelling at individuals to “get out of the road.”</p><p data-block-key=\"am1ge\">About 15 seconds in from a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/matlockartist/status/1293113555101683714?s=20\">video</a> shared by independent journalist Anissa Matlock, Staab turns to walk away from the scene and is pushed from behind by a police officer. With a camera in her right hand and a phone on a stabilizing device for recording in her left, she falls face forward onto a bush, then turns over to continue documenting the scene. In the video Staab can be heard saying, “I’m a member of the press and you just threw me to the ground.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Last nite I was again assaultd by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PortlandPolice</a> <br><br>This is my perspective & the next video is by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/matlockartist?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@matlockartist</a><br><br>I was identifid as Press & filmng as they slashd a protesters tires. I was in no way interfering. <br><br>This was2AM. The later it gets there's less Press & more impunity <a href=\"https://t.co/0qhLkbSH0F\">pic.twitter.com/0qhLkbSH0F</a></p>— Maranie R. Staab (@MaranieRae) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaranieRae/status/1293340721508802560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 12, 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=\"hllf5\">At the time, a<a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\"> preliminary injunction</a> issued by a U.S. District Court judge barred Portland police officers from harming, arresting or impeding journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"4cn73\">Staab said the same officer who pushed her during the Aug. 11 protest had assaulted her more than five times. “I was wearing a big blue vest with white writing and there’s no mistaking me that I’m press,” Staab told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"9sm5c\">The Portland Police Bureau has said they wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Maranie Staab (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Washington Post journalist chased by looters in Chicago",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/washington-post-journalist-chased-looters-chicago/",
"first_published_at": "2020-08-26T20:41:38.384961Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:33:03.508121Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:33:03.429517Z",
"date": "2020-08-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6i5ke\">A journalist was chased by unknown individuals while covering unrest in Chicago on Aug. 10, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"fav1b\">Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Movement have been held across the country after a viral video showed a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ixkf\">Mark Guarino, the Chicago correspondent for The Washington Post, went downtown in the early hours of Aug. 10 to report on widespread looting and destruction of property, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “All of this looting has definitely turned a lot uglier,” Guarino said.</p><p data-block-key=\"pwda3\">The journalist differentiated the atmosphere on the night of the incident from the previous months of civil unrest. “It was definitely not really about any protests for equity or anything like that,” Guarino said. “It was really criminals.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gb2s2\">At around 2:30 a.m., Guarino observed about a dozen unidentified individuals vandalizing and breaking into a convenience store at Rush and Illinois streets, he told the Tracker. The journalist was the only member of the press on the scene, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"hkin6\">A few of the looters saw Guarino taking photographs on his phone from across the street and told him to stop taking pictures, he said. Guarino, who was wearing press badges around his neck, said he told them he was a journalist and not a police officer. Four men left the group to approach him, at which point Guarino turned and started walking away. When he saw that the men were continuing to follow him, he started running and the four men began chasing after him, Guarino told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"lexa0\">After running for more than a block Guarino reached an area where police officers were guarding buildings from damage. The men stopped pursuing him and left, the journalist said.</p><p data-block-key=\"xwml8\">“They were going to beat me up, no doubt about it,” Guarino said. “It was pretty scary.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gdk86\">“Since June I’ve been covering the protests as well as other looting incidents, and I never thought about my safety,” he said. “This was the first time I felt things were pretty dangerous,” Guarino said. “This week was definitely different.”</p><p data-block-key=\"v9zn4\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mark Guarino (The Washington Post)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Broadcast cameraman robbed at gunpoint in Berkeley",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/broadcast-cameraman-robbed-at-gunpoint-in-berkeley/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-12T14:54:54.945842Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-08T19:34:12.028965Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-08T19:34:11.799028Z",
"date": "2020-08-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Berkeley",
"longitude": -122.27275,
"latitude": 37.87159,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jr87h\">According to a local news report, an unidentified broadcast cameraman was robbed at gunpoint while loading gear into a news vehicle in Berkeley, California, on Aug. 10, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"aox6v\">CBS affiliate KPIX 5 <a href=\"https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/09/15/arrest-armed-robbery-tv-news-cameraman-berkeley/\">reported</a> that the incident took place outside Congregation Netivot Shalom. In security camera <a href=\"https://cbsloc.al/33xm8Zf\">footage</a> time-stamped 5:01 p.m. and published by KPIX, an individual can be seen approaching the journalist as he loads a camera into a news vehicle. After the individual draws a gun and points it at the journalist, the journalist attempts to hand the camera off before placing it on the ground. The individual then picks it up and runs away.</p><p data-block-key=\"plnn3\">According to KPIX, the camera was valued at $25,000. The Tracker was unable to verify the identity of the journalist or station.</p><p data-block-key=\"icxir\">On Sept. 10, Berkeley police arrested a man identified as Jimmy Ray, having found items in his home that connected him to the robbery, according to a <a href=\"https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/news/suspect-charged-armed-robbery\">department news release</a>. It is unclear whether the camera itself was found and, if so, in what condition it was in.</p><p data-block-key=\"fowis\">According to the news release, Ray was charged the following day on several counts, including robbery.</p><p data-block-key=\"pixtb\">When contacted for comment, the Berkeley Police Department was unable to provide further details about the condition of the camera or the cameraman's identity.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "private individual",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-10-26 00:00:00+00:00) Gunman who robbed camera operator sentenced to jail, probation"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Unidentified photojournalist 7"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist struck with baton by sheriff’s deputies at Portland, Oregon, protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-struck-with-baton-by-sheriffs-deputies-at-portland-oregon-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-03-06T14:50:44.655814Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-11T14:57:38.272684Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-11T14:57:38.174612Z",
"date": "2020-08-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9ygxb\">Independent journalist Melissa “Claudio” Lewis was shoved and struck in the ribs with a baton by sheriff’s deputies in Portland, Oregon, while documenting a Black Lives Matter protest on Aug. 9, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"1vgpr\">The protest was one of the many that broke out across the U.S. that year in response to police violence and in support of the BLM movement following the murder of George Floyd. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-01-01&date_upper=2020-12-31&tags=Black+Lives+Matter%2Cprotest\">As the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented</a>, an unprecedented number of journalists were assaulted and arrested at these protests, including in Oregon, where the ACLU later <a href=\"https://www.aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">filed</a> a class-action lawsuit on behalf of journalists and legal observers who were targeted and attacked by police.</p><p data-block-key=\"1jt2i\">Lewis joined a separate civil suit on Nov. 1, 2020, charging that the City of Portland, Multnomah County, and various law enforcement officials violated the constitutional rights of people with disabilities during BLM protests that year.</p><p data-block-key=\"3cghr\">Lewis and three other Oregonians with disabilities who either documented or participated in the protests accused law enforcement of assaulting them multiple times and of generally acting without regard for their disabilities. Lewis has photosensitive epilepsy and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that increases the risk of injury and makes it difficult for her to move quickly.</p><p data-block-key=\"8lduq\">In the complaint, Lewis describes being forcibly removed by sheriff’s deputies from the area outside the Multnomah County Justice Center in downtown Portland at the Aug. 9 protest. The deputies screamed at members of the press and protesters to clear a path to the parking lot, according to the complaint, striking and pushing them with batons. Lewis says that despite complying with deputies’ directions, she was pulled by the backpack, shoved in the shoulders and struck in the ribs with a baton for not moving quickly enough, then told to stop filming.</p><p data-block-key=\"5q9og\">In October 2021, the court approved a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims in the lawsuit, ruling that they had failed to prove that the city customarily violated the constitutional rights of people with disabilities when responding to protests. The plaintiffs then filed an amended complaint, which did not include Lewis.</p><p data-block-key=\"52qo6\">Lewis told the Tracker that she ultimately withdrew from the suit because of issues with her legal representation.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX7RELT_-_Reuters_-_Terray_Sylve.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"8bfpi\">Paint thrown at a police precinct sign during Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon, in August 2020. Journalist Melissa “Claudio” Lewis told the Tracker she was struck in the ribs with a baton by sheriff’s deputies at a protest on Aug. 9.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "3:20-cv-01882",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Melissa “Claudio” Lewis (Independent)"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist’s arm fractured by crowd-control munitions during a Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-arm-fractured-by-crowd-control-munitions-during-a-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-26T18:14:01.991868Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-12T19:18:32.542356Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-12T19:18:32.451895Z",
"date": "2020-08-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"eohcl\">Independent journalist Seth Dunlap said his arm was fractured after being struck with what he believed to be a flash-bang grenade tossed by a police officer while he was covering a demonstration in Portland, Oregon, in the early hours of Aug. 9, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"qk6m4\">Dunlap, a contributor to the social media news outlet <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/frontlineaccess\">FrontLine Access</a>, was covering one of the protests that had been held in Portland on almost a nightly basis since the death of George Floyd 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=\"csiu4\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon alleges in a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a>. The ACLU suit led to the city agreeing to <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">a preliminary injunction</a> in July to not arrest, harm or impede the work of journalists and other legal observers of the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"egm0x\">Late on Aug. 8, Seattle-based Dunlap was covering a demonstration outside the Portland police union headquarters in North Portland. The Portland Police Bureau <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1292350506258448384?s=20\">declared a riot</a> around 11:40 p.m., <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/08/portland-protests-continue-for-73rd-day-throughout-city-saturday.html\">after a group of demonstrators</a> lit a fire inside the Portland Police Association building. The PPB and Oregon State Police used crowd-control munitions and physical force to disperse the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"436sv\">Just after midnight, Dunlap was standing near ACLU legal observers when what he described as a flash-bang grenade was thrown in his direction by a PPB officer, injuring his arm, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"k67uf\">“Luckily I had my left arm up recording at the time, and the flash-bang went off and hit my arm,” Dunlap said. “Otherwise it probably would have hit my face, and who knows what would have happened then.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vlb1b\">Independent journalist Suzette Smith <a href=\"https://twitter.com/suzettesmith/status/1292357734357069824?s=20\">tweeted</a> a video of the chaotic scene, writing that Dunlap was struck with a “less-lethal munition.”</p><p data-block-key=\"woz27\">“He was on the ground and unresponsive for an agonizing number of seconds, during the chaos of the rush,” Smith wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"2hk4e\">Medics at the scene tended to Dunlap and Smith <a href=\"https://twitter.com/suzettesmith/status/1292357933552947201\">posted</a> a photo of his bruised arm.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thank you to everybody for their incredible help during and after. Seriously, what heroes 🙏❤️🙏❤️. I’m OK. Hurting, but OK. Direct shot from a flashbang or something in the left arm. Don’t remember being out at all, so that’s extra scary. <a href=\"https://t.co/QFxkZ4Dg8m\">https://t.co/QFxkZ4Dg8m</a></p>— Seth Dunlap (@sethdunlap) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/sethdunlap/status/1292364371423686657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 9, 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=\"lfsyx\">Dunlap said that hours after he was struck, he “one-arm drove” home to Seattle. The next day, his arm “swelled up like a balloon.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hv2jh\">He went to an emergency room and learned that the orbital bone in his left arm was fractured, he said. “So that basically put me out of work for about a month.”</p><p data-block-key=\"iorzo\">Dunlap, who was wearing a helmet and reflective clothing with markings that identified him as a journalist, said he felt targeted as a member of the press. "Considering I’m 6’7” and was wearing very visible and reflective press gear, and I was standing in a group of neon green-clad legal observers, I believe it’s pretty clear they threw that munition at us intentionally,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"cuxud\">PPB spokesperson Kevin Allen declined to comment on the incident in an email to the Tracker, citing the ongoing ACLU litigation.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"Assault"
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{
"title": "Independent journalist said she was hit with projectile, shoved while reporting on Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-said-she-was-hit-with-projectile-shoved-while-reporting-on-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-23T19:27:04.821723Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-12T19:18:14.468761Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-12T19:18:14.364402Z",
"date": "2020-08-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cz7b0\">Independent social media journalist Teebs Auberdine said she was hit with a projectile and pushed into a cactus by law enforcement officers while covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, in the early hours of Aug. 9, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"yg6g2\">Demonstrations had been held in Portland on almost a nightly basis since the death of George Floyd 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 BLM protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"vx0tk\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have 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 in July barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"41j65\">Late in the evening of Aug. 8, police declared a riot in North Portland after a small group of protesters broke into the Portland Police Association, the union that represents city police officers, and set a small fire on the floor of the office, <a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/09/portland-protesters-once-again-focus-attention-on-police-union-building/\">Oregon Public Broadcasting</a> reported. The Portland Police Bureau and Oregon State Police dispersed the demonstration from that area, though protests continued in the early hours of the morning in Kenton Park, about a half mile north.</p><p data-block-key=\"j3bq6\">Auberdine, who livestreams video of protests on her social media channels, said she was covering the protest in Kenton Park when she was hit with a metal projectile. While standing under a tree for shelter, she was struck in the arm with what she believes was a 40mm puck round fired by a PPB officer, she told the Tracker. The projectile ricocheted off of the tree and hit her from above, she said, adding that it didn’t cause her any injury.</p><p data-block-key=\"0eiwi\">Auberdine said other journalists were also standing near the tree at the time she was struck. She said she didn’t know whether the police had intended the projectile to hit anyone.</p><p data-block-key=\"aivut\">About 20 minutes later, she said, she was reporting near the front of a protest in the Kenton neighborhood, a few blocks from the park. Because of where she was standing, she said it was hard to move out of the way. Then a state trooper cross-checked her into a planter box in front of a restaurant or bar, she said. She broke her fall with her left arm by grabbing onto the side of the box. As she did, she said, the needles of a cactus stabbed through her sweater and into her arm.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Got shot in the arm by a canister tonight (clearly marked press) It ricocheted off a tree, so the impact didnt cause any significant injuries, but it ended a few day streak of me not getting shot :/<br><br>Also got pushed into a cactus by a state trooper. That sentence exists now...</p>— Teebs (@TeebsGaming) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TeebsGaming/status/1292448542624108544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 9, 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=\"fe165\">She said she pulled most of the needles out a short time later when the confrontation calmed down, but she wasn’t able to remove all of them until she went home.</p><p data-block-key=\"4f8sd\">Auberdine wore a black bullet resistant vest with the word “press” on the front and back in large white letters, she said, and also carried recording equipment, including a microphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"niimg\">“While I bet they would have shoved anyone in arms reach into that planter box, they 100 percent knew what they were doing,” Auberdine told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"0t6cy\">In response to an email inquiry, a spokesperson for the OSP didn’t specifically address the incident, but said that concerns about excessive use of force could be reported to the state police Office of Professional Standards.</p><p data-block-key=\"4d45b\">When reached by email, PPB spokesperson Greg Pashley told the Tracker that he didn’t have any information to release about the incident.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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},
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"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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],
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{
"title": "Photojournalist’s camera slapped away, blocked at rally against defunding Seattle Police Department",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-camera-slapped-away-blocked-at-rally-against-defunding-seattle-police-department/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-11T18:34:30.059635Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-21T20:35:15.220906Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-21T20:35:15.158720Z",
"date": "2020-08-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Seattle",
"longitude": -122.33207,
"latitude": 47.60621,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gp1rz\">An individual attending a rally slapped away a freelance photojournalist’s camera as he photographed an Aug. 9, 2020, rally in Seattle, Washington, according to the photojournalist and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jasonrantz/status/1292534178215391232?s=21\">a video</a> of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"xiplr\">Noah Riffe, 20, a student and freelance photographer, had been covering protests that began in Seattle in the wake of the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Riffe told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was on assignment for Turkish news platform <a href=\"https://www.anadoluimages.com/\">Anadolu Images</a> on Aug. 9, photographing a rally against the defunding of the Seattle Police Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"51naf\">The early afternoon <a href=\"https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/its-not-the-seattle-i-want-to-live-in-passion-and-deep-feelings-at-rally-to-support-police/\">rally outside Seattle City Hall</a> attracted city officials and pro-police demonstrators, as well as anti-police counterprotesters, some of whom were dressed in black clothing with black face coverings, a tactic known as black bloc that is used to conceal a person’s identity.</p><p data-block-key=\"ud1fh\">Riffe said that the street directly in front of City Hall had been closed and barricaded, and the counterprotesters were gathered just outside of the barricaded area. Riffe said he saw a pro-police protester leave the contained area and approach some counterprotesters, dumping a bottle of water over a flag they had been burning. Riffe followed, also leaving the contained area in front of City Hall.</p><p data-block-key=\"4qd57\">Riffe said that at that point, he was directly behind the pro-police protester who had dumped the water, following her and taking pictures of the counterprotesters pushing back on the woman.</p><p data-block-key=\"nkrfc\">One of the counterprotesters then “reached their hand out and smacked my camera and tried to knock it to the ground,” said Riffe.</p><p data-block-key=\"mvhmo\">Riffe said he then took a step back and “tried to have a conversation” and explain he was a member of the media, but that the person who hit his camera said he “didn’t care.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hydcs\">The brief altercation was captured <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jasonrantz/status/1292534178215391232?s=21\">on video</a> by Seattle reporter Jason Rantz. In the video, Riffe can be seen in a yellow shirt and holding a camera, with the woman in a bright green shirt; both are surrounded by counterprotesters. One of the individuals reaches out quickly and slaps the camera out of Riffe’s hand. Riffe catches it, and briefly yells back.</p><p data-block-key=\"1btu2\">Riffe said that his equipment was not damaged and he was not physically hurt, but that after the confrontation he left the area, as the counterprotesters kept pushing him back and out of the way as he tried to photograph.</p><p data-block-key=\"6juu1\">Riffe said that Seattle police officers, while present at the scene, did not intervene. The Seattle Police Department did not respond to a request from the Tracker for comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Independent videographer says he was shoved, shot in finger by law enforcement while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-says-he-was-shoved-shot-finger-law-enforcement-while-covering-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-22T14:54:11.067174Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:33:44.927217Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:33:44.841061Z",
"date": "2020-08-09",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"aab7a\">Independent videographer Nicholas Lee said police officers shoved him and shot him in the finger with a crowd-control munition while he was covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours of Aug. 9, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"9tfoe\">The protest was one of many that have broken out across the U.S. in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. 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=\"cv4rb\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have 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 ACLU suit led to the city agreeing to <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">a preliminary injunction</a> in July to not arrest, harm or impede the work of journalists or legal observers of the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"gxwgw\">Lee was covering a <a href=\"https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/protests-in-portland-oregon-saturday-august-8-2020/283-3b35a461-3eed-486c-aad0-eb60714329ba\">demonstration</a> that began outside the Portland police union building in North Portland on the night of Aug. 8 and continued into the next morning. The police declared a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1292350298061586433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1292350506258448384%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kgw.com%2Farticle%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fprotests%2Fprotests-in-portland-oregon-saturday-august-8-2020%2F283-3b35a461-3eed-486c-aad0-eb60714329ba\">riot</a> shortly before midnight, after some demonstrators lit a fire inside the Portland Police Association headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvku9\">Sometime around midnight, Lee was shoved to the ground by officers while he was on the sidewalk. “I'd been grabbed by the cops, shoved to the ground again because it seems they didn't want a brutal arrest filmed,” he wrote in a tweet that has since been deleted.</p><p data-block-key=\"prket\">After a while, said Lee, law enforcement officers from the Portland Police Bureau and Oregon State Police fired sting-ball grenades that drove protesters in the direction of Kenton Park. Once the protesters had gathered in the park, police officers continued to fire crowd-control munitions, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"k634c\">At around 12:25 a.m., Lee noticed a tear gas canister on the ground in the park and approached it, he said. “I remember hearing, ‘If you touch that, you’re going to get shot,’” Lee told the Tracker. Soon he felt a rubber bullet, fired by a PPB officer, hit the tip of his middle finger.</p><p data-block-key=\"xtaxj\">“It hit my finger, and there was blood everywhere,” he said. “Another photographer took me to the emergency room.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dpl9q\">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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},
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"shot / shot at"
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Independent filmmaker pepper sprayed while covering Ferguson protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-pepper-sprayed-while-covering-ferguson-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-15T18:47:42.055308Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:33:25.326727Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:33:25.218689Z",
"date": "2020-08-09",
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"city": "Ferguson",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0kdjr\">Chris Phillips, an independent filmmaker, was hit in the face with pepper spray at close range while he covered a protest in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 9, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"sqlg2\">The demonstration was held on the sixth anniversary of the day Michael Brown, a Black teenager, was shot and killed by police in 2014. Mass protests against police violence and racial injustice were held across the U.S. for months in 2020, fueled by the killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, among others.</p><p data-block-key=\"obk8k\">Phillips, a resident of the same complex where Brown lived, made a documentary, <a href=\"http://www.ferguson365film.com/?fbclid=IwAR1EJXhxRuN7JVeTFAvFH8mxf9FwIDZ2rLoZMVd8aFOOhf1BKcspIm68z74\">Ferguson 365</a>, about the movement that followed Brown’s killing, and has been documenting the aftermath of Brown’s killing ever since. Phillips runs the production company <a href=\"http://www.maverickmediagroup.net/\">Maverick Media Group</a> and said his work has been published by outlets including The Associated Press and CBS.</p><p data-block-key=\"58nym\">Phillips said he arrived at the police department at night, where protesters and police had been in a standoff. However, he said, about an hour after he arrived, the atmosphere seemed relaxed. He remembered filming a scene of a woman sitting in a lawn chair in the police department parking lot, chatting with officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"8wsci\">He went to pick up a camera battery he had left charging on the opposite side of the street from the police department. As he pulled the plug from the outlet, he said he heard screaming and turned to see police rush into the crowd.</p><p data-block-key=\"dsug3\">Phillips said he grabbed his camera and started toward the confrontation to film it. His camera was still powering up, he said, and he was getting positioned to film two police officers who were throwing someone to the ground. Suddenly, he said, a different police officer fired pepper spray into his face from less than 10 feet away. Phillips said there were no protesters close to him at the time.</p><p data-block-key=\"rcm42\">“For me to get sprayed like that — that was a deliberate act,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"jcbbh\">Phillips said the spray was very painful and temporarily blinded him. He said he turned around and tripped, slamming his camera into the pavement.</p><p data-block-key=\"6urlg\">Protesters came to his aid and helped him to a medical station, where they tried to neutralize the impact of the spray with milk and water, he said. His eyes and face hurt for two days after he was sprayed, he said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thank you <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MissJupiter1957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MissJupiter1957</a> for capturing this. One of my eyes is still in pain this morning from the pepper spray. The police use these harsh chemicals without warning. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/policebrutality?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#policebrutality</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/policeaccountability?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#policeaccountability</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/ferguson?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ferguson</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/ferguson365?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ferguson365</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/udquiBycKa\">https://t.co/udquiBycKa</a></p>— Chris Phillips (@maverickmedia1) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/maverickmedia1/status/1292865072541437955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 10, 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=\"jtcgd\">Phillips said he heard no warning before police rushed into the crowd, or before he was sprayed. He wasn’t wearing any form of press identification, he said, but he was carrying an elaborate, professional-grade cinema camera. He said he didn’t have an opportunity to identify himself to police before he was pepper sprayed, though he is well-known as a filmmaker in Ferguson, according to<a href=\"https://twitter.com/ChuckModi1/status/1292931474191200256?s=20\"> other journalists in the area</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Chris Phillips of Maverick Media was pepper-sprayed. He is well-known media by everyone in Ferguson and STL. This is what journalists deal with in Ferguson since 2014.<br><br>6th Anniversary of Michael Brown Jr. murder. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MikeBrown?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MikeBrown</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/jhLknFsQLa\">pic.twitter.com/jhLknFsQLa</a></p>— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ChuckModi1/status/1292675536527994880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 10, 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=\"dyeu4\">Phillips said his camera rig was inoperable after the fall. The only component that still worked was the microphone. He said the RED Scarlet-W “brain” of the camera, which he purchased for $12,500, suffered significant interior and exterior damage, so he decided to replace it with a newer model, which he did with the help of an <a href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/filmmaker039s-chris-phillips039-equipment-destroyed?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_more\">online fundraiser</a>. He also needed to replace a $280 Zoom H-5 audio recorder that was damaged. He said he hadn’t been in contact with police about the incident, but he was considering his legal options.</p><p data-block-key=\"wxpvb\">St. Louis County Police Department spokesperson Tracy Panus told the Tracker in an email that the agency wasn’t familiar with Phillips or aware that he was pepper sprayed. According to Panus, police directed protesters to disperse multiple times over a loudspeaker before beginning to arrest people who didn’t follow the orders.</p><p data-block-key=\"ik2hv\">“While taking several individuals into custody, St. Louis County Police Officers did deploy pepper spray in an effort to make the arrests or prevent interference by others attempting to interfere with those arrests,” Panus said.</p><p data-block-key=\"z0bvc\">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 these protests across the country. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"09kt1\">While covering an on Aug. 9, 2020, protest in Ferguson, Missouri, filmmaker Chris Phillips was pepper-sprayed at close range by law enforcement. “For me to get sprayed like that — that was a deliberate act,” he said.</p>",
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{
"title": "Journalist arrested while covering North Carolina protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-arrested-while-covering-north-carolina-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-06T14:52:57.470838Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:33:13.493191Z",
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"date": "2020-08-09",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zt8pt\">Police arrested freelancer Veronica Coit, who was covering protests in Asheville, North Carolina, on Aug. 9, 2020, and charged the journalist with “failure to disperse on command” and impeding the flow of traffic with a vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"wn0yr\">The Aug. 9 demonstration was held to protest police brutality and the death of John Elliott Neville, who died in 2019 after a medical episode led to him being restrained in handcuffs by corrections officers in a North Carolina jail. Video of Neville in custody with the corrections officers was not released until August 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"8p394\">Coit arrived at the protest around 6 p.m., the journalist wrote in an <a href=\"https://ashevilleblade.com/?p=3904\">accoun</a>t on the local website The Asheville Blade. According to a published <a href=\"https://ashevilleblade.com/?p=3904\">note</a> from editor David Forbes, Coit had been working for the news outlet since June as a freelance journalist and videographer, helping to document local events and protests in the city.</p><p data-block-key=\"4uugh\">Around an hour after arriving, Coit wrote, the demonstrators began to march and the journalist followed them by car because of a medical condition that makes walking difficult. Coit was following the protesters along Haywood Street near the intersection with College Street, with car hazard lights flashing, when a police siren sounded. “There was a large crowd in front of me, parked cars on the street, and other cars beside me too, I couldn’t exactly go anywhere at that moment,” Coit wrote. “I was moving, but slowly. The next thing I see is a cop at my passenger door, ripping it open with no warning.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4tmrn\">In a video of the incident <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLVfyFzgXGM\">posted</a> to YouTube by a bystander, a police officer is seen pulling Coit out of the car by the arm as Coit says, “I haven’t done anything illegal…I’m press, you want my press credentials?” Coit repeatedly yells “you are arresting a member of the press” as police zip tie the journalist’s hands and lead Coit away. After being arrested and spending five hours in jail, Coit was released and charged with failing to disperse on command and impeding the steady flow of traffic, the journalist wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"2fhnq\">In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ashevillepolice/posts/1477883702421573\">statement</a> by the Asheville Police Department that was<a href=\"https://www.wyff4.com/article/5-more-people-arrested-during-a-defund-the-police-protest-in-asheville-police-say/33562045\"> reported</a> by local <a href=\"https://wlos.com/news/local/five-people-arrested-after-sunday-protests-in-downtown-asheville\">media outlets</a>, the department said that it had “asked organizers to follow traffic laws, not block or obstruct streets, and remain on the sidewalks. Organizers were notified that individuals violating these laws would be arrested.” The APD said it had arrested five people, including Coit, on charges of failing to disperse on command and for traffic infractions. Police officials said Coit was “asked by law enforcement several times to not block the intersection,” <a href=\"https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2020/09/17/asheville-protests-restraining-orders-sought-right-wing-blogger-left-wing-journalist/3482430001/\">according to the local daily the Citizen-Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"zoyf0\">In the account for the Blade, Coit wrote of being left with bruises after the incident and of being mistreated by officers and subjected to an unnecessary body search during detention. <a href=\"https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2020/09/17/asheville-protests-restraining-orders-sought-right-wing-blogger-left-wing-journalist/3482430001/\">According to the Citizen-Times</a>, representatives of the APD later called to ask if Coit wanted to make a complaint. The paper said Coit declined to do so, believing it would not have any effect. The department also said Coit was welcome to review body cam footage of the incident, the Citizen-Times <a href=\"https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2020/09/19/asheville-police-say-arrested-journalist-can-view-body-cam-footage/5829784002/\">reported</a>. Coit told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that a hearing on the charges is scheduled for early 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"swv9b\">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": "North Carolina",
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"(2021-09-09 16:54:00+00:00) Charges dropped against journalist arrested while covering North Carolina protest"
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