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[
{
"title": "Man charged after smashing equipment of NYC TV station",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-charged-after-smashing-equipment-of-nyc-tv-station/",
"first_published_at": "2023-12-08T19:59:49.591149Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-18T22:09:57.062850Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-18T22:09:56.842858Z",
"date": "2020-09-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ajnhh\">New York City police arrested a man on criminal mischief charges for damaging a WPIX television crew’s equipment on Sept. 9, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"3t15a\">The criminal charges allege that Jerry Velez, 41, pushed over a light pole that WPIX had set up outside Manhattan’s Hudson Yards on the morning of Sept. 9, causing it to crash into a set of LED lights and a battery pack and causing $2,000 worth of damage, according to court papers shared by the district attorney’s office.</p><p data-block-key=\"8c7i9\"><a href=\"https://nypost.com/2020/09/10/man-hurls-profanity-covered-rocks-at-abc-studio-in-nyc/\">The New York Post reports</a> that a reporter and a photographer were present for the attack on WPIX’s equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"3f7oi\">About two hours later, Velez was allegedly caught on camera as he tossed rocks at two windows of <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-charged-with-throwing-rocks-at-wabc-studios-in-manhattan-during-broadcast-damaging-wpix-equipment/\">WABC-TV</a>’s studio in Manhattan’s Upper West Side while the channel’s noon broadcast was underway. One of the rocks had “Fuck ABC 7” written on it and the other carried the message “Whore 666,”<a href=\"https://nypost.com/2020/09/11/nypd-arrests-man-accused-of-hurling-rocks-at-abc-studio/\"> the Post reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"3svjr\">The attacks touched off a brief manhunt before the New York City Police Department tweeted on Sept. 10 that<a href=\"https://twitter.com/NYPD20Pct/status/1304189396883775489?s=20\"> officers arrested Velez</a> in connection with the incident at WABC.</p><p data-block-key=\"9hf3l\">According to court records, Velez told an NYPD detective that he was the culprit in both attacks. He faces three charges of second-degree criminal mischief, a felony charge.</p></div>",
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"case_number": null,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "private individual",
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"assailant": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera equipment"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "external battery"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-10-25 00:00:00+00:00) Case sealed for man who smashed NYC TV crew’s equipment"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"WPIX"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Judge bars Pennsylvania reporters from court proceeding",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-bars-pennsylvania-reporters-from-court-proceeding/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-26T18:38:11.360734Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-20T22:01:47.802837Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-20T22:01:47.583202Z",
"date": "2020-09-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "York",
"longitude": -76.72774,
"latitude": 39.9626,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1iyis\">A district judge in Pennsylvania barred reporters from two local newspapers from observing a preliminary arraignment at the York County District Court on Sept. 9, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"o6hl7\">Dylan Segelbaum, a reporter for the daily newspaper the York Daily Record/Sunday News, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and Logan Hullinger, a reporter for the morning newspaper York Dispatch, were prevented from entering the courtroom to observe the arraignment of Mike Cleveland. Cleveland is accused of embezzling almost $23,000 while serving as general manager of the York Ice Arena.</p><p data-block-key=\"wt6zx\">Segelbaum declined to comment further and Hullinger did not respond to an emailed request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"pt9io\">Segelbaum <a href=\"https://www.ydr.com/story/news/watchdog/2020/09/09/york-county-district-judge-bars-reporters-public-hearing/5761944002/\">reported in an article</a> for the Daily Record that preliminary arraignments are held by judges to inform the accused of charges and the right to counsel, as well as to set bail. Such proceedings are “presumptively public proceedings,” Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, told the Daily Record. That means the proceedings are always assumed to be open to the public unless it would jeopardize the defendant’s right to a free trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1wdn\">The Daily Record reported that County District Judge Linda Williams refused to unlock the door to the courtroom for the reporters, saying that it was a hearing, not an arraignment. Williams also cited the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as justification and said she had arraignments via video scheduled for after the Cleveland proceeding.</p><p data-block-key=\"guea6\">“You can have all the information when I’m finished,” Williams said, according to the Daily Record.</p><p data-block-key=\"0sf92\">Melewsky told the Daily Record that district judges do not have the authority to seal a record or proceeding that is defined as “presumptively public.” She noted that ensuring public access is crucial to equal treatment under the justice system.</p><p data-block-key=\"d2o8e\">“Public access guarantees that everyone is treated equally by the justice system, because everyone is subject to the same process — and anyone who’s interested can view,” Melewsky said. “The press functions as the eyes and the ears of the community they serve.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
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"assailant": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"coronavirus"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Judiciary: District Court"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Dylan Segelbaum (York Daily Record/Sunday News)",
"Logan Hullinger (York Dispatch)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": [
"Other"
]
},
{
"title": "Man charged with throwing rocks at NYC’s WABC-TV studios",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-charged-with-throwing-rocks-at-wabc-studios-in-manhattan-during-broadcast-damaging-wpix-equipment/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-05T14:23:30.477879Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-18T22:09:08.767255Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-18T22:09:08.344199Z",
"date": "2020-09-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2fwwr\">New York City police arrested a man on criminal mischief charges for throwing rocks marked with profanities at the windows of the WABC-TV news studios on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Sept. 9, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"1clk3\">Jerry Velez, 41, was allegedly caught on camera as he tossed rocks at two windows of the channel’s studios while its noon broadcast was underway.</p><p data-block-key=\"aeuc5\">One of the rocks had “Fuck ABC 7” written on it and the other carried the message “Whore 666,”<a href=\"https://nypost.com/2020/09/11/nypd-arrests-man-accused-of-hurling-rocks-at-abc-studio/\"> the New York Post reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"78epa\">Police said that the attack caused $40,000 worth of damage to the station’s windows. The criminal charges also allege that earlier that day, Velez had pushed over a light pole that TV station <a href=\"/all-incidents/man-charged-after-smashing-equipment-of-nyc-tv-station/\">WPIX</a> had set up outside Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, causing it to crash into a set of LED lights and a battery pack and causing $2,000 worth of damage, according to court papers shared by the district attorney’s office.</p><p data-block-key=\"2lpu0\">The attacks touched off a brief manhunt before the New York City Police Department tweeted on Sept. 10 that<a href=\"https://twitter.com/NYPD20Pct/status/1304189396883775489?s=20\"> officers arrested Velez</a> in connection with the incident at WABC.</p><p data-block-key=\"a928i\">According to court records, Velez told an NYPD detective that he was the culprit in both attacks. He faces three charges of second-degree criminal mischief, a felony charge.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
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"actor": "private individual",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "building"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-10-25 00:00:00+00:00) Case sealed for man who threw rocks at WABC-TV studios"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"WABC-TV"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Livestreamer arrested, assaulted during LA protest; phone searched",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/livestreamer-arrested-assaulted-during-la-protest-phone-searched/",
"first_published_at": "2023-09-25T16:44:59.569652Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-14T20:16:57.817992Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-14T20:16:57.663193Z",
"date": "2020-09-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r3ezr\">Livestreamer Hugo Padilla was allegedly struck with crowd-control munitions and assaulted by law enforcement before being arrested while documenting protests in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 8, 2020. Deputies later obtained a search warrant for one of his cellphones.</p><p data-block-key=\"620tu\">Padilla subsequently joined as a plaintiff in <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.799610/gov.uscourts.cacd.799610.9.0.pdf\">a lawsuit</a> with three others in October 2020 against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles County and then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva, alleging violations of his Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.</p><p data-block-key=\"ettus\">Colleen Flynn, an attorney representing Padilla, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Padilla attended the protest to broadcast it on his YouTube channel, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@alienalphabet\">Alien Alphabet</a>, while providing audio narration.</p><p data-block-key=\"8oflf\">Protesters had gathered outside the South Los Angeles Sheriff's Station following the Aug. 31 <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/us/dijon-kizzee-los-angeles-no-charges/index.html\">fatal shooting</a> of Dijon Kizzee, a Black man, by deputies in a nearby neighborhood.</p><p data-block-key=\"c6v6m\">Flynn said that Padilla began filming the demonstration from the parking lot of a nearby 7-Eleven, and confirmed to the Tracker that throughout the protest Padilla was wearing a black bicycle helmet with “PRESS” written in silver lettering on multiple sides.</p><p data-block-key=\"2k834\">Approximately an hour into the protest, deputies declared the protest unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse. According to the lawsuit, officers began to advance on the demonstrators and shortly after fired crowd-control munitions. The crowd dispersed and many individuals — including Padilla — fled into the neighborhood.</p><p data-block-key=\"6n513\">In Padilla’s <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3iFkuOWpYY\">livestream from the protest</a>, he said that he was attempting to circle around to the far side of the crowd, but as he did, a law enforcement helicopter shined a searchlight on him. Within seconds and without warning, Padilla was shot with a crowd-control munition, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ts51\">The lawsuit claimed the hard projectile struck Padilla in the knee, knocking him off his bicycle and onto the ground. Deputies then “jumped” on him and one of them punched him in the face, splitting his lip, Flynn said. Padilla was tightly handcuffed — his lawsuit states that restraint marks were still visible weeks later — and forced into the back of a large truck where loose pepper ball munitions caused his eyes to water painfully.</p><p data-block-key=\"9h6l5\">According to Flynn, Padilla had no opportunity to identify himself verbally as press before he was arrested, but he did tell deputies he was a journalist while in the truck and in an interrogation room.</p><p data-block-key=\"1d9cu\">Padilla’s bicycle was seized, as was his personal iPhone, which was booked into evidence and later searched. But a Samsung cellphone Padilla was using to livestream fell from his hand and, his suit claimed, deputies did not retrieve it.</p><p data-block-key=\"avhbk\">Flynn told the Tracker that she believed deputies deliberately left Padilla’s phone and that of freelance photographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-assaulted-arrested-during-la-protest/\">Julianna Lacoste</a>, who is also her client, because they were livestreaming.</p><p data-block-key=\"190be\">“It appears that the deputies that abandoned Mr. Padilla and Ms. Lacoste's cell phones on the street while they were livestreaming did so to get rid of the evidence that may have recorded their actions, including their use of excessive force and violation of my clients' constitutional rights,” Flynn wrote in an email.</p><p data-block-key=\"2he6c\">Padilla’s lawsuit states that once he arrived at the South Los Angeles Sheriff's Station, some of the officers used personal cellphones to photograph Padilla and the other detainees while laughing. Lacoste and student journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-photojournalist-arrested-equipment-seized-during-l-protest/\">Pablo Unzueta</a>, who were also arrested that evening, said the same.</p><p data-block-key=\"fvl3g\">Padilla was ultimately released from a county jail in downtown LA midmorning the following day with a citation for failure to disperse. His wallet, headphones and a set of keys — not his — were returned to him; the remainder of his equipment was not. Deputies ultimately returned Padilla’s bicycle in December 2020 and his iPhone in June 2021; his bicycle helmet was never returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"e317j\">When Padilla appeared for his hearing date at the Inglewood Courthouse on Sept. 11, 2020, according to his lawsuit, a court clerk told him that no charges had been filed.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ddt3\">Sheriff's Deputy Trina Schrader, a spokesperson for the department, told the Tracker in the days following the protest that an investigation had been launched into the events that day. “The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department values the media and highly respects the freedom of the press,” she added.</p><p data-block-key=\"e2n8g\">The day following the protest, sheriff’s deputies obtained a <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-05-18-Search-Warrant-Docs_Redacted.pdf\">search warrant</a> for cellphones belonging to more than a dozen individuals, including Padilla. The search warrant and an affidavit in support of the warrant were only released in May 2023, more than 2 1/2 years after the incident, and following an August 2022 <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/FAC-Knock-LA-Motion-to-Unseal-Search-Warrant-Norwalk-filed-copy.pdf\">motion to unseal</a> filed by the First Amendment Coalition and independent news organization Knock LA.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ra0m\">The <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/2023/05/l-a-sheriff-agrees-to-unsealing-of-warrant-to-search-photojournalist-and-black-lives-matter-protesters-cell-phones/\">media organizations said</a> that the sheriff’s department had fought the release of the materials for more than two years, in violation of California state law and the First Amendment. The release only came after Villanueva was ousted in a November 2022 election and replaced by Robert Luna, who acceded to the unsealing.</p><p data-block-key=\"alrh1\">Susan E. Seager of the UC Irvine School of Law, who represented Knock LA and FAC in the case, said the timing shows that the department never had a good reason to seal the warrants in the first place.</p><p data-block-key=\"8a4lp\">Photos accompanying the warrant materials included the helmet marked “PRESS,” which Padilla’s attorney confirmed belonged to him. FAC noted in a <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/2023/06/unsealed-newly-released-warrant-reveals-flimsy-basis-for-l-a-sheriff-targeting-press-protesters/\">later statement</a> that police records confirmed that the LASD knew journalists were included as targets, which raises press rights concerns.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media right\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2023-09-20_122945.width-828.png\" width=\"762\" height=\"992\" alt=\"SCREENSHOT\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"a54mv\">The search warrant obtained by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputies authorizing the search of 17 cellphones following a September 2020 protest included an image of livestreamer Hugo Padilla’s helmet marked “PRESS.”</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — SCREENSHOT\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r3ezr\">“Those photos, along with the fact [the] journalists have said they verbally identified themselves as press, should have put pause on the probe or, at a minimum, prompted the department to make disclosures to the judge to ensure press rights were protected,” the FAC statement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"14c1a\">David Snyder, executive director of FAC, also <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/2023/05/l-a-sheriff-agrees-to-unsealing-of-warrant-to-search-photojournalist-and-black-lives-matter-protesters-cell-phones/\">commented</a>: “While we are grateful the public can finally see these documents, they should have been able to do so long ago. There can be no real accountability without knowledge – what did the police tell the judge who issued this warrant? Now this crucial question can be answered, and accountability for any unjustified arrest and seizure can at long last begin.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bms02\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include additional details concerning the seizure and return of some of Padilla’s equipment.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"djdi5\">Livestreamer Hugo Padilla, extreme left, filmed multiple protests outside a Los Angeles Sheriff’s station in 2020. During a Sept. 8 protest, he claims deputies shot him with a munition, then arrested him and seized his equipment.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-09-09",
"detention_date": "2020-09-08",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "2:20-cv-09805",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in part",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": true,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
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"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": "State",
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"links": [],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "protective equipment"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "bicycle"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage",
"Equipment Search or Seizure",
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Hugo Padilla (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist shot with projectile and pepper ball at South Los Angeles protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shot-with-projectile-and-pepper-ball-at-south-los-angeles-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-16T01:57:55.643421Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:13:33.769634Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:13:33.686965Z",
"date": "2020-09-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"sw6te\">Photojournalist Brian Feinzimer was shot with crowd-control projectiles while reporting on a protest in Los Angeles on Sept. 8, 2020, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"n9a32\">Racial justice protests, held regularly in Los Angeles since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, were renewed in early September after Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies shot and killed 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee on Aug. 31.</p><p data-block-key=\"bzkk5\">Demonstrators gathered outside the South LA sheriff’s station several days in a row in early September, and tensions escalated between demonstrators and police, the <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-09/demonstrators-arrested-dijon-kizzee\">Los Angeles Times</a> reported. On Sept. 8, the sheriff’s department declared an unlawful assembly at around 8 p.m. and deployed crowd-control munitions on demonstrators, according to the Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"jbzsv\">Feinzimer, whose work has been published by LAist, Capital & Main and other publications, told the Tracker he was photographing a line of deputies facing off with protesters. After a while, he said, the sheriff’s department issued a dispersal order and rushed the crowd, firing pepper balls and flash-bang grenades.</p><p data-block-key=\"s9t7l\">Feinzimer said he was facing the deputies directly, from a distance of about 15 feet, as he photographed them. He said he wasn’t initially hit with any of the crowd-control measures but decided to move away when the deputies neared him. He said he turned to walk in the same direction as the deputies, staying to the side, and continued to take photos while many nearby protesters ran from the officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"7y8pt\">As Feinzimer was walking away, he said, he was hit in the hand with a pepper ball, which also covered his camera with residue. He was then struck in the back of his right thigh with a crowd-control munition, which he believes was either a foam baton or a 40-millimeter rubber bullet.</p><p data-block-key=\"wkpex\">Feinzimer said that although the impact from the projectile was painful, he was able to continue covering the protest that night. He said he had a large bruise where he had been hit, and his leg remained sore for several weeks.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ygr2\">Feinzimer said he was wearing a press credential issued by the LASD around his neck, and was carrying two cameras at the time he was hit.</p><p data-block-key=\"z6a5s\">Feinzimer told the Tracker he believes he was targeted because he was a journalist. He said he was clearly identifiable to the deputies just before he was shot because he was facing them and photographing them.</p><p data-block-key=\"pe40t\">“I figure that there was no way that they didn't know who I was or what I was doing based on my previous moments before that,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"dpe0d\">LASD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"5bn0j\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting arrests, assaults and other obstructions to journalists</a> covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Freelance journalist assaulted, arrested during LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-assaulted-arrested-during-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-13T16:48:46.968187Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-09-20T18:44:51.492295Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-09-20T18:42:54.008371Z",
"date": "2020-09-08",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3rz45\">Freelance journalist and National Press Photographers Association member Julianna Lacoste was struck with crowd-control munitions, assaulted by law enforcement and arrested while documenting protests in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 8, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"pwuai\">Lacoste told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that at around 7:30 p.m. she’d arrived at the intersection of Normandie Avenue and West Imperial Highway, where protesters had gathered outside the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department following the fatal shooting of Dijon Kizzee, a Black man, by deputies on Aug. 31.</p><p data-block-key=\"rt5if\">According to Lacoste, at approximately 8:30 p.m., the deputies declared the protest unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse. Shortly thereafter, she said, they began to advance on the crowd and fire crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tvd4\">“I began to run down Normandie trying to escape the clouds of tear gas, rubber/foam bullets, pepper balls, stinger grenades and sand bags being fired,” Lacoste said. “I kept running, but it seemed like I couldn’t get away from the action.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fpdnv\">Lacoste said that as things began to calm down, about an hour later, she saw some people walking to their cars and that no deputies were in sight. Lacoste said she continued to move and had just passed a group of individuals when she felt a crowd-control munition strike her hand and knock her phone away.</p><p data-block-key=\"h33lo\">“Then my head was shot, but I was luckily wearing a helmet,” she said. “Then my shoulder was shot as well. At that point I was only looking to find shelter because I was simply getting pelted with shots.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8dfnv\">Lacoste said she was eventually able to crouch behind a nearby car, but almost immediately after hunching down, two deputies appeared beside her. Lacoste said one aimed a weapon at her as the other forced her onto her stomach.</p><p data-block-key=\"l0eea\">“I said, ‘I’m not resisting. I’m press. OK, OK, I’m not resisting,’” Lacoste recounted. She said she had a press badge in her bag and her helmet featured a “PRESS” label.</p><p data-block-key=\"v9wke\">Lacoste said that the camera she was wearing around her neck broke from the weight of the deputies during the course of the arrest. “Their knee was on my back and neck as they wrestled for the cuffs,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8xu2b\">Lacoste said the deputies secured the handcuffs incredibly tight, which worsened the pain in her injured hand.</p><p data-block-key=\"yz1lk\">She said they refused to pick up her cellphone from where it had fallen and escorted her to an LASD vehicle, where she waited as others were loaded in “like sardines.” The detainees were taken to a van and then transported to the Imperial Sheriff’s station, Lacoste said. There, she said, deputies used a knife to cut the straps of both her backpack and camera in order to pull them off without removing her handcuffs.</p><p data-block-key=\"i40vz\">Lacoste also alleged that at the station some of the officers used personal cellphones to photograph her and other detainees. Student journalist Pablo Unzueta, who was also arrested that evening, made similar allegations. The Tracker has published his case <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-photojournalist-arrested-equipment-seized-during-l-protest/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"whl33\">“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department values the media and highly respects the freedom of the press,” Deputy Trina Schrader, a spokesperson for the department, told the Tracker in an emailed statement when asked for comment on Unzueta’s arrest. Schrader also noted that an investigation had been launched into the events that day. The department did not respond to an emailed request for comment about Lacoste’s arrest as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"x9560\">Lacoste said she was detained for more than an hour before being transported to a hospital for treatment. At approximately 6 a.m. the following day, she said, she was transported back to the sheriff’s station.</p><p data-block-key=\"i68yq\">Lacoste said that at around 10 a.m. she was finally able to speak with her lawyer, who informed her that her bail had been posted and she should be released within two hours. According to Lacoste’s bail paperwork, which was reviewed by the Tracker, she posted a $5,000 bond.</p><p data-block-key=\"0v6vl\">Before her release, Lacoste said, she was transferred to the women’s jail and asked about her injuries. Upon detailing them, the officer processing Lacoste rejected her paperwork and instructed deputies to transport her back to the hospital so her injuries could be fully documented. According to Lacoste, deputies did not transport her back to the hospital, however, and placed her in a cell at the sheriff’s station.</p><p data-block-key=\"wdbrg\">“After hours of begging for a phone that worked they finally let me use the phone,” Lacoste said. “At that point I called my boyfriend and he informed me that I was going to get out soon and they had been making hundreds of calls on my behalf. During that phone call is when I got released.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5xkfy\">Lacoste was charged with misdemeanor failure to disperse and ordered to appear in court on Jan. 6, 2021. Lacoste hasn’t responded to the Tracker’s latest requests for comment, and the status of her case remains unknown.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2021-04-13_at_11.31.3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ovef7\">Freelance photojournalist Julianna Lacoste photographed the multiple injuries she sustained when she was assaulted, arrested and her equipment damaged and seized by sheriff’s deputies while documenting a protest in Los Angeles on Sept. 8, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-09-09",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "2:23-cv-04917",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
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"equipment": "camera"
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],
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"equipment": "cellphone"
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{
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"equipment": "equipment bag"
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{
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"equipment": "camera"
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],
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"updates": [
"(2021-01-06 15:47:00+00:00) Charges dropped against freelance journalist assaulted, arrested during LA protest",
"(2023-05-18 16:47:00+00:00) Freelance journalist’s phone searched after arrest, warrant confirms"
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],
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{
"title": "Independent journalist says she was pushed with baton by Portland police officer while filming an arrest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-says-she-was-pushed-baton-portland-police-officer-while-filming-arrest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-29T16:37:36.725134Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:17:56.001627Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:17:55.897398Z",
"date": "2020-09-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ht2mq\">Independent journalist Alissa Azar was pushed by a police officer while she was covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 8, 2020, according to the journalist and her social media posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"iu62d\">Azar was documenting one of the many protests that have been held on almost a nightly basis since late May 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=\"buxz0\">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 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=\"80y5r\">The Sept. 8 demonstration began at Waterfront Park downtown after 9 p.m., <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/night-103-portland-police-protesters-09082020/\">according</a> to KOIN, the local CBS affiliate. Demonstrators then marched to the nearby Transit Police Department Offices, where protesters threw eggs and water bottles at police officers, KOIN reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"i7e3b\">Sometime before 11 p.m., Azar was filming police officers arrest a protester when some of the officers yelled at her and other members of the press to move back. One of the officers then started pushing Azar with a baton.</p><p data-block-key=\"0rsj9\">“The cops also held back a group of press and stopped us from joining protesters twice. They pushed us pretty hard while already on the sidewalk,” Azar <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy/status/1303572284200816641\">tweeted</a> at 10:53 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ksio\">About 20 minutes later, Azar posted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy/status/1303576476743213056\">video</a> on Twitter showing the incident. About 30 seconds into the video, while Azar’s camera is trained on the arrest, an officer can be seen pushing Azar backwards with a baton. Azar can be heard responding that she was “on the sidewalk.”</p><p data-block-key=\"p0n4f\">Also around that time, a police officer threatened to arrest Azar and other journalists if they stood in the street. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy/status/1303821889211523073\">video</a> Azar posted on Twitter the next day, a police officer can be overheard saying, “If they’re press and they’re in the street, take them into custody.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3yq4x\">Azar confirmed the events to the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"vjt04\">The PPB, in a <a href=\"https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=261180\">statement</a> on that night’s protest, said several arrests were made of people who were blocking traffic or throwing projectiles at officers during the protest at the transit police offices.</p><p data-block-key=\"sovoj\">PPB spokesman Derek Carmon declined to comment on the specific incident, but said the department is committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review.</p></div>",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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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": [
"Alissa Azar (Freelance)"
],
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{
"title": "Student photojournalist arrested, equipment seized during LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-photojournalist-arrested-equipment-seized-during-l-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-01T21:09:18.138672Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T17:35:07.516417Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T17:35:07.366429Z",
"date": "2020-09-08",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mzhdp\">Pablo Unzueta, a freelance photojournalist and video editor for California State University, Long Beach’s newspaper, the Daily Forty-Niner, was arrested while documenting protests in the South Los Angeles area on Sept. 8, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ij5l4\">Unzueta told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was following a group of protesters as they gathered for the fourth consecutive night outside the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department following the fatal shooting of Dijon Kizzee, a Black man, by deputies on Aug. 31.</p><p data-block-key=\"oeex3\">At approximately 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 8, Unzueta said, deputies declared the protest unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse. Following the order, Unzueta said he saw deputies firing tear gas and flash-bang grenades into the crowd around the intersection of Normandie Avenue and West Imperial Highway.</p><p data-block-key=\"xhkxb\">Unzueta said officers pushed the crowd north on Normandie as they advanced, and that many of the protesters began splitting off and dispersing.</p><p data-block-key=\"8lgat\">“I didn’t know the area that well so I made a left into this neighborhood on this very narrow street,” Unzueta said. “The sheriffs would get on the trucks and then the truck would speed up through the street and then they would start firing more [flash-bang grenades] and then more tear gas.”</p><p data-block-key=\"57r7a\">“I kept ducking behind cars while I’m running so I wouldn’t get hit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lg0bs\">Unzueta said a few minutes passed as he kept looking for a way to get back to his car, which was parked near the Sheriff’s Department, but realized that he was stuck on a long, narrow block.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hr2b\">Two sheriff’s vehicles pulled up at approximately 9:30 p.m., Unzueta said, and deputies began arresting the demonstrators that remained.</p><p data-block-key=\"60pmg\">“This was sort of a ‘holy shit’ moment for me, and I immediately identified myself as press just to avoid getting tackled or being shot with a rubber bullet,” Unzueta said.</p><p data-block-key=\"nx8hk\">He said that after a couple of deputies saw his credentials and camera and didn’t stop him, he thought he would be allowed to leave and began to head back the way they had come to return to his vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"mfiwh\">“I start walking on the sidewalk and that’s when an officer from up above in the truck said, ‘Hey! Grab that guy!,’” Unzueta said. “Again I yelled, ‘Press, press, press!’ And that’s when the officer...just grabbed me, threw my camera on the ground and ripped my backpack off my back.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tdyn6\">Unzueta told the Tracker he was wearing press credentials from Mt. San Antonio College, where Unzueta used to be a student, and his College Media Association badge, and repeatedly told the deputies to call the newspaper’s adviser.</p><p data-block-key=\"wy2ju\">During the course of his arrest, Unzueta said that officers tightened his metal handcuffs so tightly that he lost all feeling in his hands, and that they called him demeaning names and slurs. Unzueta said deputies then pushed him into the back of a department van, causing him to fall on and rupture multiple pepper balls. The officers left him to struggle to breathe amid clouds of pepper powder, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"gpoho\">Unzueta also alleges that some of the officers used their personal cellphones to photograph him and other detainees.</p><p data-block-key=\"per4u\">“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department values the media and highly respects the freedom of the press,” Department spokesperson Deputy Trina Schrader told the Tracker in an emailed statement. “Please be aware an administrative investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding this incident. A lieutenant from South Los Angeles Station has been assigned and will be contacting Mr. Unzueta to investigate these allegations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"972a5\">Unzueta said deputies seized his iPhone and Nikon D800 camera. He said he was handcuffed for about two hours. He was transported to the South Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station where he was booked at 10:30 p.m., and then transferred to the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles.</p><p data-block-key=\"ay2bu\">Unzueta estimated he was in police custody for 10 or 11 hours. His booking data, reviewed by the Tracker, shows he was released the following day with a citation. A copy of the citation shared with the Tracker shows Unzueta was arrested for unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor, and was ordered to appear in court two days later.</p><p data-block-key=\"pavjz\">Unzueta said his equipment and cellphone weren’t returned to him upon his release.</p><p data-block-key=\"0yv8y\">The Student Press Law Center, a Tracker partner organization, connected Unzueta with the Criminal Justice Clinic at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. LAist, part of Southern California Public Radio, <a href=\"https://laist.com/latest/post/20201111/student-journalist-arrest-equipment-seized-lawsuit-threat\">reported</a> that the clinic was able to secure the release of Unzueta’s camera, but the memory card — which Unzueta told the Tracker contained two years worth of freelance work — had been removed.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2iz7\">Unzueta said deputies first claimed that the camera hadn’t contained an SD card and then that it may have fallen out when the deputy threw it to the ground during the arrest. Unzueta disputed both of these assertions, and said the design of the camera makes it nearly impossible for the memory card to fall out.</p><p data-block-key=\"jww35\">In a <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7327464-Ipat-Lasd-Letter-110420.html#document/p2/a587475\">letter</a> sent on Unzueta’s behalf, the clinic asked that the cellphone and memory card be returned and for assurance that the case wouldn’t be presented to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office for prosecution, a copy of his arrest report and an apology from the department.</p><p data-block-key=\"edmaq\">“Sheriff’s deputies had no basis to arrest Mr. Unzueta,” the letter reads. “A truck full of deputies passed by, and a deputy pointed at Mr. Unzueta and said, ‘Get him.’ Mr. Unzueta repeatedly identified himself as a member of the press and as a student journalist, displaying his student press badge, but the deputy who arrested him ignored him.”</p><p data-block-key=\"789dv\">Unzueta confirmed to the Tracker that he still hasn’t regained complete feeling in his palms more than two and a half months later, attributing the numbness to the overly tight handcuffs.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ivl4\">The Long Beach Press Telegram <a href=\"https://www.presstelegram.com/2020/11/17/lawyers-demand-csulb-student-journalists-equipment-be-returned-and-an-apology-issued-for-his-arrest-at-protest/\">reported</a> on Nov. 17 that the department hadn’t responded to the letter, according to one of Unzueta’s lawyers.</p><p data-block-key=\"supnh\">“I’ve been photographing protests since the Trayvon Martin protest, which was in 2013 and I was 17 at the time. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I never thought I’d have to experience something like I experienced on September 8th,” Unzueta said.</p><p data-block-key=\"q7dee\">Unzueta <a href=\"https://lbpost.com/news/csulb-student-journalist-alleges-he-was-wrongfully-arrested-while-covering-protests-in-los-angeles-dijon-kizzee\">told the Long Beach Post</a> that while he has always had a passion for photography, he was shaken by the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"8r7cv\">“I don’t feel safe going out anymore,” Unzueta said. “This is the last thing I want to do.”</p></div>",
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"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-09-09",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "2:21-cv-08378",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in part",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "storage device"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-03-01 19:07:00+00:00) Charges dropped against LA student photojournalist; some equipment still not returned",
"(2022-09-18 13:57:00+00:00) LA photojournalist receives $90,000 settlement in lawsuit against the county, sheriff’s department",
"(2023-05-18 16:08:00+00:00) Photojournalist’s phone searched after arrest, warrant confirms",
"(2021-10-22 00:00:00+00:00) LA student photojournalist sues the county, sheriff’s department following arrest and loss of equipment"
],
"case_statuses": [
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
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"shot / shot at",
"student journalism"
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"categories": [
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"Assault",
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"targeted_journalists": [
"Pablo Unzueta (Daily Forty-Niner)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist covering pro-Trump demonstration hit by paintballs in Oregon",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-covering-pro-trump-demonstration-hit-paintballs-oregon/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-22T17:07:22.052499Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T17:12:04.049180Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T17:12:03.933103Z",
"date": "2020-09-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Salem",
"longitude": -123.0351,
"latitude": 44.9429,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r1708\">Independent journalist Brian Conley was shot with paintballs by a person participating in a pro-Donald Trump rally in Salem, Oregon, on Sept. 7, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"gxr75\">For months, Oregon’s largest city, Portland, had witnessed frequent and heated protests over racial justice and police violence that were initially sparked by the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. At times, those demonstrations attracted counterprotesters, particularly ones who visibly claimed support of President Trump.</p><p data-block-key=\"xyuyx\">On Sept. 7, a large group of Trump supporters gathered in Oregon City, a suburb to the south of Portland. Later, some of those gathered drove nearly 50 miles south to the Oregon Capitol in Salem. Among the supporters were members of far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer. Some showed up with guns and other weapons.</p><p data-block-key=\"xl2oz\">Ahead of the election, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/rather-denounce-attacks-press-trump-doubles-down-negative-tweets/\">President Trump amplified his denunciations of the media</a> at rallies and online. As of Oct. 1, the president had tweeted negatively about the press more than 2,300 times since declaring his candidacy in 2015, according to a U.S. Press Freedom Tracker analysis.</p><p data-block-key=\"k9lec\">The pro-Trump camp was met in Salem by a smaller group of opposing protesters, chiefly supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement.</p><p data-block-key=\"85rqw\">At one point that afternoon, Conley was in the park across the street from the capitol building <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1303474350633361408\">speaking with a Trump supporter</a> who had an American flag he said he had “liberated” from the Black Lives Matter movement. The man described the flag as having been “under a vehicle, upside down” and on the ground — at which point Conley started asking why he hadn’t destroyed the flag, which Conley asserted was dictated by the U.S. Flag Code. (Although the U.S. Flag Code says the flag should never touch the ground, it prescribes destroying the flag, preferably by burning, when it “is no longer a fitting emblem for display.” The flag touching the ground alone doesn’t necessitate its burning. While the guidelines are technically federal law, they are unenforceable and remain advisory.)</p><p data-block-key=\"qfsy2\">Conley’s questions soon attracted a crowd that grew hostile.</p><p data-block-key=\"95dpc\">“Other allied protesters, they came in and one guy with a kind of GoPro on a little handheld monopod sort of thing started calling me “lying press,” “fake press” and “Antifa press,” and a couple more people came over,” Conley told the Tracker by phone. Facing increasing harassment, Conley said he lost his cool and gave that person the middle finger before trying to leave the area. Conley said he tried to ignore a crowd that followed him as he attempted to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"xvemh\">“And then I got shot, I think three or four times in the back, by this guy with a paintball gun,” said Conley, who was wearing body armor emblazoned with the word “PRESS.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xf5x0\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1303113729169485824\">In a video captured by journalist Sergio Olmos</a>, Conley can be seen walking away from a crowd shouting at him and heckling him when several shots from a paintball gun can be heard.</p><p data-block-key=\"zdd2n\">After Conley was shot with the paintballs, the Trump supporter he had been interviewing before stepped forward to protect Conley saying “I’m not going to let you get shot at” but told Conley that he had been “disrespectful.”</p><p data-block-key=\"q0tsr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Clypian/status/1303113786899927040\">A photo tweeted out</a> by the South Salem High School newspaper The Clypian at about 4:30 p.m. shows Conley standing in a crowd with the back of his body armor stained pink and orange by paintball impacts. “A member of the press corps from Portland was just shot with paintballs as protestors yelled “Antifa press” at him,” the paper’s tweet said.</p><p data-block-key=\"80qrt\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1303485598217375744/photo/1\">A photo later shared by Conley on Twitter</a> showed a man with a paintball gun who Conley says is the man that shot him. Conley said the man denied shooting him when he turned around to confront them after getting shot.</p><p data-block-key=\"x5gmn\">The paintballs hit Conley’s body armor and he was uninjured.</p><p data-block-key=\"btipe\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting hundreds of incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, hit by crowd-control munitions or having their equipment damaged at protests around the country in 2020. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these incidents here.</a></p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"election",
"Election 2020",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
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"Assault"
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},
{
"title": "Daily Caller reporter hit by projectile during LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/daily-caller-reporter-hit-by-projectile-during-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-15T14:54:49.652536Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:20:06.931750Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:20:06.831247Z",
"date": "2020-09-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8dujw\">Daily Caller reporter Jorge Ventura said he was hit by a pepper ball fired by Los Angeles law enforcement while covering a protest in South Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 7, 2020. The Daily Caller, a “conservative news and opinion site” according to <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/business/media/daily-caller-tucker-carlson.html\">The New York Times</a>, is based in Washington, D.C.</p><p data-block-key=\"whlj8\">The protest was organized several days after the Aug. 31 police shooting of Dijon Kizzee, a 29-year old Black man who <a href=\"https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/dijon-kizzee-fatally-shot-by-deputies-while-lying-on-ground-attorneys-say/2432486/\">was killed</a> after Los Angeles sheriff's officials stopped him for what they described as a vehicle code violation as he was riding his bicycle.</p><p data-block-key=\"b4l6n\">According to<a href=\"https://abc7.com/dijon-kizzee-protests-deputies-trainee/6413617/\"> news reports</a>, dozens of protesters gathered outside the South Los Angeles Sheriff's Station to protest the shooting of Kizzee. Officials declared the gathering an unlawful assembly after deploying nonlethal crowd-control munitions and giving dispersal orders, according to the<a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-09/demonstrators-arrested-dijon-kizzee\"> Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gm7tl\">Ventura arrived around 9 p.m., according to a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/VenturaReport/status/1303181315009732611?s=20\"> tweet</a> he posted, and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VenturaReport/status/1303195359011774466?s=20\">recorded</a> a standoff between protesters and sheriff's officials. He posted a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/VenturaReport/status/1303208648198430720?s=20\"> video</a> of demonstrators retreating and chanting "Black lives matter."</p><p data-block-key=\"3zde9\">"Crowd retreats after police shoot pepper bullets, tear gas and flash bangs," he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"s3wiv\">"Got hit by a pepper bullet today during the mix," Ventura wrote in a tweet at 10:59 p.m. "I'm all good and headed back home to enjoy the rest of this vacation."</p><p data-block-key=\"mpj9l\">The next morning, he shared another<a href=\"https://twitter.com/VenturaReport/status/1303389344749682688?s=20\"> photo</a> of a bruise where the munition hit him. Ventura told the Tracker he did not have press markings that night, but was reporting for the Daily Caller.</p><p data-block-key=\"lusya\">In a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/LASDHQ/status/1303130233302704129?s=20\"> tweet</a> Monday evening, the sheriff's department said it supports peaceful protests, but is concerned about individuals outside the community and state who want to "incite riots."</p><p data-block-key=\"ye9ob\">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>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jorge Ventura (Daily Caller)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist arrested while covering Portland protests, her phone damaged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-while-covering-portland-protests-her-phone-damaged/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-04T18:30:38.390510Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:18:17.199512Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:18:17.072799Z",
"date": "2020-09-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"37ka0\">Rach Wilde, an independent photojournalist working with Black Zebra Productions, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was shoved and arrested while covering protests against police violence in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 7, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"rc5dr\">Wilde was documenting protests that had been ongoing for months in downtown Portland and across the U.S. in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. The 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=\"jybsm\">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 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=\"zc3b9\">In the early hours of Sept. 7, Wilde said demonstrators had moved from PPB’s North Precinct toward a nearby parking garage. According to a<a href=\"https://ktvz.com/news/crime-courts/2020/09/07/burn-it-down-portland-protesters-light-fire-near-police-precinct-15-arrested/\"> news report</a>, officers blocked off certain streets from the march and created a closure area. Wilde said the crowd started to dwindle and there was not a lot going on.</p><p data-block-key=\"9thd8\">“Then a rush came and a bunch of folks started getting arrested and just picked off,” Wilde told the Tracker. Along with several other journalists and legal observers, she said she followed the officers to document the arrests. Soon after, officers asked them to leave and ordered them onto the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"t83yi\">“Out of nowhere, the [Portland Police] Rapid Response van arrived and they beelined [toward us],” she said. “One officer on the team had over and over again targeted me at different demonstrations. She knew exactly who I was. She would stand next to me at every demonstration and follow me specifically.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bvuv2\">Wilde said the officer pushed her off the sidewalk right as she was stepping onto it. Another Black Zebra journalist there repeatedly told the officer that Wilde was a member of the press; Wilde said she also had a press pass around her neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"m0tqt\">“I have the entire thing on camera. It was very clear that she was targeting me,” Wilde told the Tracker. Her reporting partner, whom Wilde had been “standing next to the entire time this demonstration,” was not arrested. The officer placed Wilde in temporary handcuffs, took her phone and brought her to where the demonstrators were being detained. She said she was then transported to and processed at Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office for interfering with a peace officer and disorderly conduct.</p><p data-block-key=\"18j9d\">Wilde said she was released several hours later, around 6 a.m., and that when she received her phone back, the screen was destroyed. “That was the day my charges were dropped, but I didn’t find out until a month later,” she said. Wilde was contacted by a pro bono attorney, who confirmed this information. “They [Portland police] had spelt my name wrong,” she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"tv1c6\">When reached for comment during ongoing protests in the fall of 2020, the PPB told the Tracker it wouldn’t be commenting on specific incidents, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case. Then in early 2021, PPB spokesperson Derek Carmon said the department is committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review. When reached by email about this incident, Carmon said he had no additional comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Portland Police Bureau",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2020-09-07",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"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": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
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"Rach Wilde (Freelance)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist hit with crowd-control munition during LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-crowd-control-munition-during-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-20T16:23:43.487334Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:16:52.595354Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:16:52.506225Z",
"date": "2020-09-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4gr5v\">Freelance photojournalist Jintak Han said he was shot in the face with a crowd-control munition fired by a sheriff’s deputy while covering a protest in Los Angeles, California, on the evening of Sept. 7, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"7bsie\">Han was photographing a protest over the death of Dijon Kizzee, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot by deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in South Los Angeles on Aug. 31. The killing of Kizzee, who had been stopped while riding a bicycle<a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-22/dijon-kizzee-shot-15-times-attorneys-independent-autopsy\"> before he was shot 15 times</a>, reinvigorated protests over racial justice and police brutality that had been occurring regularly in Los Angeles and across the nation throughout the summer.</p><p data-block-key=\"vwc4f\">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=\"b3z26\">Speaking to the Tracker, Han said he had been at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Normandie Avenue near the sheriff’s department’s South LA station for nearly three hours when deputies began to fire crowd-control munitions at around 10 p.m. Shortly thereafter, he said, as he walked backward from law enforcement and continued to take photos, he was hit by a projectile fired by law enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"vusuj\">“All of the sudden I had a big impact right above my eye,” he said. “Luckily I had safety goggles on.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hit with a foam or rubber round above the left eye. Goggles on so I’m okay. Lost glasses though. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/pressfreedom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@pressfreedom</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/rcfp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@rcfp</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NPPA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@nppa</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aaja?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@aaja</a></p>— Jintak Han (한진탁) (@jintakhan) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jintakhan/status/1303201505017692161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 8, 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=\"orloe\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VenturaReport/status/1303208091673010176\">video</a> captured by Daily Caller reporter Jorge Ventura, Han can be seen walking backward while taking photos as protesters retreat. About 15 seconds into the video there is a bang and Han recoils before falling to the ground.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ij9ei\">Han told the Tracker that after he was hit he had trouble seeing—both from tear gas that had been deployed and as a result of losing the eyeglasses he was wearing under his goggles. After ensuring that he didn’t have too many injuries and his cameras were still working, he resumed working despite his now-limited vision. Later, after the protest had dissipated, he found his glasses smashed on the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"ryf7a\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/jintakhan/status/1303266851502223360\">In a photo</a> Han shared on Twitter early the next morning, abrasions can be seen surrounding his left eye.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Glad to walk away with just this <a href=\"https://t.co/DATwsCNa6U\">pic.twitter.com/DATwsCNa6U</a></p>— Jintak Han (한진탁) (@jintakhan) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jintakhan/status/1303266851502223360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 8, 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=\"kph42\">Given where the munition hit him, Han fears that he could have been seriously injured if he had not been wearing goggles that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"s7p93\">“I’m really glad I had the goggles on, because otherwise I have no idea what would have happened to my eye,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"kbj5x\">Han was also wearing a high-visibility vest with press markings as well as a white helmet with press markings at the time he was hit. While he was identifiable as press, he does not feel he was targeted by sheriff’s deputies.</p><p data-block-key=\"ej2ko\">“A lot of the protesters got hit, so I think they were just indiscriminately firing in that general direction rather than targeting press specifically,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ri88f\">In a statement to the Tracker, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department public information officer Shawn DuBusky said deputies began to use crowd-control munitions after protesters “became hostile and began to throw objects (i.e. frozen water bottles, concrete, bricks, rocks, and fireworks).”</p><p data-block-key=\"jfrk7\">He added: “At no time did anyone, including Mr. Jintak Han, identify themselves as being injured during this incident.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sxshl\">While Han was photographing the Sept. 7 protest independently, his shots from that night and other protests over Kizzee’s death <a href=\"https://losangelen.com/people/dijon-kizzee-protesters/\">later appeared in Los Angeleno</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jintak Han (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Broadcast journalist stabbed with scissors while reporting in Boston",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/broadcast-journalist-stabbed-scissors-while-reporting-boston/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-20T19:50:24.049413Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:59:10.881983Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:59:10.784115Z",
"date": "2020-09-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Boston",
"longitude": -71.05977,
"latitude": 42.35843,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gtqd2\">WCVB-TV reporter Ted Wayman was assaulted while reporting in Boston’s Copley Square on Sept. 6, 2020. A station spokesperson <a href=\"https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/07/metro/wcvbs-ted-wayman-stabbed-copley-square-while-working-sunday-night/\">told the Boston Globe</a> that Wayman was taken to a hospital and is “going to be fine.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jr6nu\">According to a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/BostonPoliceDepartment/posts/10157689612837685/?paipv=0&eav=Afb5sJR_3dgQgev8iNLNPsv5aBUTMItn3s171zd5LZAWr3lwEIEQSG72_HH2acB4_to&_rdr\">police report</a> posted online by the Boston Police Department, officers were called to the intersection of Dartmouth and Boylston streets shortly after 9 p.m. to investigate a stabbing. A victim said an individual had been “antagonizing” him and others throughout the day.</p><p data-block-key=\"fsq38\">“The victim stated when he asked the suspect to leave him alone, the suspect responded by taking out a pair of scissors,” the report said. The man then began stabbing at the passenger’s side window of the victim’s van, scratching the glass.</p><p data-block-key=\"ezkbt\">The report continued, “As the victim attempted to close the door to the van, the suspect stabbed him on the left forearm causing a severe laceration.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ti22r\">The Globe identified WCVB’s Wayman as the victim, and the station confirmed that he had been stabbed while reporting on a story in Copley Square. BPD told the Globe it could not comment on or confirm the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"h36rz\">Police arrested a suspect, identified as Cirilo Aldana-Peraedes, a few blocks from the scene; he has been charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon.</p><p data-block-key=\"v4oxy\">The photojournalist working alongside Wayman was uninjured in the attack and helped treat Wayman’s injuries before he was taken to a local hospital, the Globe reported.</p></div>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "vehicle"
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],
"state": {
"name": "Massachusetts",
"abbreviation": "MA"
},
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"(2022-08-12 13:01:00+00:00) Man sentenced for stabbing reporter with scissors"
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"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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"Ted Wayman (WCVB-TV)"
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},
{
"title": "Journalist tackled twice by police officer at protest in Portland, Oregon",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-tackled-twice-by-police-officer-at-protest-in-portland-oregon/",
"first_published_at": "2024-03-06T15:16:24.139114Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-11T14:57:06.553445Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-11T14:57:06.470248Z",
"date": "2020-09-06",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"qigrn\">Independent journalist Melissa “Claudio” Lewis was tackled twice in a row by a police officer in Portland, Oregon, while documenting a Black Lives Matter protest on Sept. 6, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"95uh5\">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=\"cts9i\">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=\"foavd\">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=\"bjfg\">In the complaint, Lewis describes federal and city law enforcement refusing for several hours to allow journalists and protesters to leave Portland’s Ventura Park, where the Sept. 6 protest began. At around 1 a.m., the complaint says, the Portland police announced that the park had closed three hours earlier and charged at full speed at protesters, medics and members of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"1v4bt\">As Lewis began to leave the park, an officer tackled her to the ground, then tackled her again after she got up and started to move away from him. Lewis went to the emergency room and was diagnosed with whiplash and contusions on her shoulder blade, knees and thorax, the complaint says.</p><p data-block-key=\"bmp7i\">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=\"6mmkn\">Lewis told the Tracker that she ultimately withdrew from the suit because of issues with her legal representation.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"oapuj\">Police at a Black Lives Matter protest in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 6, 2020, where journalist Melissa “Claudio” Lewis was tackled twice to the ground by an officer while documenting the protest.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
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"withdrawn"
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"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Melissa “Claudio” Lewis (Independent)"
],
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{
"title": "Reporter hit in side of head with projectile during Rochester protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-hit-in-side-of-head-with-projectile-during-rochester-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-13T15:05:07.969865Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:32:17.669127Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:32:17.577668Z",
"date": "2020-09-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Rochester",
"longitude": -77.61556,
"latitude": 43.15478,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9nm51\">News10 NBC reporter Charles Molineaux was hit with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Rochester, New York, on Sept. 5, 2020, according to social media posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"cz900\">For the fourth straight night, demonstrators marched in protest of the death of Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man who <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-ny-state-wire-racial-injustice-il-state-wire-5c2f0cf366e560b7f41ebb3c964b099c\">died by asphyxiation</a> while in the custody of Rochester police in March; details surrounding his death came to light only after police <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-death-ruled-homicide-after-rochester-police-incident/5691797002/\">body camera footage</a> was released on Sept. 2. The protest was just one of many that had occurred across the nation throughout the summer in protest of police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.</p><p data-block-key=\"p1725\">The protest on Sept. 5 seemingly started without contention, according to Molineaux’s Twitter feed. Around 8:30 p.m., he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WHEC_cmolineaux/status/1302403364861472773\">tweeted</a>, “Virtually no Rochester police presence visible as marchers preparing to step out.… except for the police drone periodically flying overhead.”</p><p data-block-key=\"l3ak5\">As the protest made its way to the Public Safety Building, police presence became visible, according to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WHEC_cmolineaux/status/1302412638589157376\">Molineaux</a>, with the street blocked off a few blocks to the east. The journalist wrote: “Police have kept their distance throughout the march. Different story at Broad Street and Exchange Boulevard where Exchange is blocked between here and police headquarters and a large detachment of police in tactical gear is behind the barricades.”</p><p data-block-key=\"n19yr\">Molineaux tweeted at 10:15 that police had <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WHEC_cmolineaux/status/1302430391924592640\">set up</a> a barricade at Broad Street and Exchange Boulevard. Around 10:20, he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WHEC_cmolineaux/status/1302431868344840193\">reported</a> that protesters had begun “throwing things” at police and that dispersal orders could be heard on loudspeakers. At 10:25, he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WHEC_cmolineaux/status/1302432645696180224\">wrote</a>: “Police repeatedly announcing the assembly has been declared unlawful and crowds must disburse. Objects being thrown at the police, police now shooting pepper balls at the crowd.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rbvpv\">In the early hours of the next morning, photojournalist Brandon Schoepfel posted a photo of Molineaux with a bloodied mark near his left ear, writing, “Our reporter @WHEC_cmolineaux was hit by what we believe was a rubber bullet earlier in the night.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WHEC_cmolineaux?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WHEC_cmolineaux</a> was hit by what we believe was a rubber bullet earlier in the night. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/news10nbc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@news10nbc</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/3Mc8ujmkR5\">pic.twitter.com/3Mc8ujmkR5</a></p>— Brandon Schoepfel (@bschoepf3) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bschoepf3/status/1302481907855360000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 6, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dv6rz\">Molineaux did not respond to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"bb3tt\">The Rochester Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment, but Spectrum News reported that it had <a href=\"https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/rochester/protests/2020/09/06/police--protesters-injured-during-4th-night-of-demonstrations-in-rochester-\">confirmed</a> that the Rochester Police Department does not use rubber bullets. In a Sept. 6 <a href=\"https://www.wwlp.com/video/mayor-warren-chief-singletary-press-conference-on-daniel-prudes-death-in-rochester-full-press-conference-%e2%80%94-september-6-2020/5827665/\">press conference</a>, city officials did not mention journalists being caught up in crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"grm66\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "New York",
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"tags": [
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"categories": [
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},
{
"title": "Journalist assaulted as Portland protest declared a riot",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-as-portland-protest-declared-a-riot/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-13T14:45:34.832606Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:31:54.191142Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:31:54.104609Z",
"date": "2020-09-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0dkwa\">Freelance journalist Brian Conley said he was hit with shrapnel and knocked to the ground by law enforcement officers as he covered the police response to Sept. 5, 2020, demonstrations in Portland, Oregon.</p><p data-block-key=\"d73w2\">Protests had been held In Portland almost nightly since late May in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. Sept. 5 was the 101st consecutive day of civil unrest in the city.</p><p data-block-key=\"b0lwy\">Conley told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was covering demonstrations on the evening of Sept. 5 just west of Ventura Park in east Portland, near the intersection of Southeast Stark Street and 113th Avenue.</p><p data-block-key=\"q65g7\">Police were deployed to block protesters who had gathered at Ventura Park from marching on a police precinct building located several blocks away at Southeast 106th Avenue, <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/09/portland-protest-declared-riot-soon-after-it-begins-in-se-portland-live-updates.html\">the Oregonian reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"hzbk0\">Protesters had targeted law enforcement buildings and surrounding areas, sometimes breaking windows, setting fires and tagging structures with graffiti. Police used tear gas on Sept. 5 for the first time in a month and made 59 arrests at the protest near Ventura Park, according to a <a href=\"https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=261171\">department news release</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ljfjg\">Conley, who has reported from conflict zones in Libya and Iraq, said that at about 9 p.m., he was struck on the back of his leg with munitions that he believed to be shrapnel from an exploding tear gas canister.</p><p data-block-key=\"e8vlp\">A short time later, Conley <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1302464110676729857\">captured video</a> of a Molotov cocktail exploding on the street, setting fire to a protester’s legs.</p><p data-block-key=\"fxlsk\">Other journalists and bystanders also filmed the scene, in which the protester is seen thrashing around the street before onlookers help to extinguish the flames crawling up his lower body. The footage went viral.</p><p data-block-key=\"eqzv3\">“When they started throwing Molotov cocktails, all hell broke loose,” Conley said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q2f1\">At that point, police that had formed a line near the scene suddenly rushed toward protesters, Conley told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"jx0kg\">Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Sergio Olmos posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1302492995585884161?s=20\">video of the police “bull rush”</a> that knocked Conley to the ground on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"34kp9\">“I tucked my shoulder and rolled,” Conley told the Tracker. “None of my equipment was damaged.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ox76s\">Conley said fellow journalists on the scene helped him to his feet. He didn’t seek medical attention after the fall, nor did he file a complaint with the Portland Police Bureau regarding the incidents.</p><p data-block-key=\"f5i2m\">PPB said protesters threw Molotov cocktails at officers and that officers at the scene had declared the protest had turned into a riot, according to a department news release.</p><p data-block-key=\"bvpe7\">“This criminal activity presented an extreme danger to life safety for all community members, and prompted a declaration of a riot,” the release states. “The crowd was advised over loudspeaker that it was a riot and they were to leave the area to the east immediately. They were warned that failure to adhere to this order may subject them to arrest, citation, or crowd control agents, including, but not limited to, tear gas and/or impact weapons.”</p><p data-block-key=\"38niv\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brian Conley (Independent)"
],
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{
"title": "Knock LA journalist shot with projectiles at Los Angeles protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/knock-la-journalist-shot-with-projectiles-at-los-angeles-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-13T13:34:18.251725Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:19:14.531971Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:19:14.399263Z",
"date": "2020-09-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"84z9j\">Alex McElvain, news coordinator for the nonprofit community news site Knock LA, said he was shot with crowd-control projectiles while reporting during a protest in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 5, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"7eywd\">Racial justice protests had been held regularly in Los Angeles since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. Demonstrations were renewed in early September after Los Angeles Sheriff Department deputies shot and killed 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee on Aug. 31.</p><p data-block-key=\"llvnt\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting arrests, assaults and other obstructions</a> to journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"xiss6\">Protesters marched on the sheriff’s South LA station on the afternoon of Sept. 5 and continued demonstrating into the evening, when law enforcement fired crowd-control munitions and chemical irritants on the gathering, <a href=\"https://laist.com/2020/09/06/dijon_kizzee_south_la_los_angeles_sheriffs_department_deputies_march_110.php\">LAist</a> reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"008u0\">McElvain told the Tracker in an email that he was not reporting on the march earlier in the day, but decided to go cover it when he saw on social media that law enforcement officers were deploying flash-bang grenades and tear gas on protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"tyqx9\">When he arrived at the LASD South LA station on Imperial Highway around 9:45 p.m., there were no protesters but there were several dozen deputies. According to McElvain, he waved at the officers and one waved back, which he understood to mean that he was not perceived as a threat.</p><p data-block-key=\"1eg16\">McElvain began taking photographs and notes at the east end of the building, but he said that the deputies shined high powered lights that interfered with his photography. The deputies told him he had to leave, according to McElvain, and one said there had been a dispersal order. McElvain said he repeatedly told them that he was there as a journalist, and asked multiple times where he should stand to observe and report.</p><p data-block-key=\"d8l05\">“When I got into specifics about whether there was a PIO I could speak with, or where would be an acceptable location (to) stand that would allow me to cover the events occurring at the station, they stopped responding and essentially pretended they couldn’t hear me, and began shining lights in my direction when I took pictures,” McElvain told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"7xe2f\">About 20 minutes after he arrived, half a dozen protesters came near where McElvain was reporting, so he said he moved across the driveway, in part to make clear that he was not with the protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"60j7m\">According to McElvain, deputies threw tear gas and flash-bang grenades toward him without any warning. He hid behind a sign for the sheriff station.</p><p data-block-key=\"j72xt\">The deputies then started firing crowd-control munitions toward the protesters, he said. He tried to leave by walking away from the station toward the street, and was hit with a projectile that he believes was a pepper ball, so he returned to shelter behind the sign. Another photographer took cover by the sign and began shouting that he was leaving, so McElvain started shouting with him.</p><p data-block-key=\"nl9dw\">A video McElvain posted on Twitter shows an empty street. Voices can be heard shouting, “I’m leaving! I’m leaving!” The video shakes as he appears to move across the street, yelling out multiple times in pain.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hit at least a dozen times as I ran with hands up <a href=\"https://t.co/HzjuCjuDVv\">pic.twitter.com/HzjuCjuDVv</a></p>— Alex McElvain (@alexmce) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/alexmce/status/1302483455851200512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 6, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wvzq5\">McElvain said he was hit roughly a dozen times on his back and the back of his legs.</p><p data-block-key=\"184fo\">McElvain told the Tracker in an email that he believes he was struck with both pepper balls and foam projectiles. He said he had bruises from the projectiles for about two weeks.</p><p data-block-key=\"5lxhi\">McElvain said he did not know if he was targeted because he was a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"4on0f\">“I think what is more likely is that as a journalist as I was considered lumped in with a group of people — the protesters I was also covering — that they felt challenged by and thus relished an opportunity to use force against,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"i1qp6\">A spokesperson for LASD told the Tracker in an email that they were unaware of the incident.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "Democrat and Chronicle photographer hit with projectiles during Rochester protests of less-lethal munitions while covering Daniel Prude protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rochester-journalists-caught-in-sprays-of-less-lethal-munitions-while-covering-daniel-prude-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-25T19:50:01.595873Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:31:12.013371Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:31:11.930160Z",
"date": "2020-09-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Rochester",
"longitude": -77.61556,
"latitude": 43.15478,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e35j2\">Democrat and Chronicle photographer Shawn Dowd was hit with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Rochester, New York, on Sept. 5, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"m1uxd\">For the fourth straight night, demonstrators marched in protest of the death of Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man who <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-ny-state-wire-racial-injustice-il-state-wire-5c2f0cf366e560b7f41ebb3c964b099c\">died by asphyxiation</a> while in the custody of Rochester police in March; details surrounding his death came to light only after police <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-death-ruled-homicide-after-rochester-police-incident/5691797002/\">body camera footage</a> was released on Sept. 2. The protest was just one of many that had occurred across the nation throughout the summer in protest of police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.</p><p data-block-key=\"a5iln\">Dowd, who had also been hit the night before, told the Tracker that he “made the conscious decision to [put himself in the front line] again.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gn2ie\">Dowd said he was hit with a volley of pepper balls, including on the heel of his right hand, which he’d been using to hold his camera to take a photo. Afterward, Dowd said, his hand was swollen and he avoided using his pinky finger for several weeks.</p><p data-block-key=\"a6y3s\">When the police officers “would open fire,” Dowd said, “it seemed like they were just spraying.” He said he saw a number of individuals who were unidentifiable as protesters or press, and connected that to the indiscriminate targeting of less-lethal weapons by the police.</p><p data-block-key=\"bo1mk\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Grmano_assault_090420.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"grh1r\">Multiple journalists were hit with munitions on Sept. 5, the fourth night of protests in Rochester, New York, following the release of body camera footage related to the death of a Black man in the city in March 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"name": "New York",
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Shawn Dowd (Democrat and Chronicle)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist struck in the neck with shrapnel on 100th day of Portland protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-struck-in-the-neck-with-shrapnel-on-100th-day-of-portland-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-04T19:04:02.636358Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:20:27.919888Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:20:27.829102Z",
"date": "2020-09-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"75g1f\">Tuck Woodstock was struck in the neck with what the independent journalist believes was shrapnel from a flash-bang grenade while covering a protest against police violence in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 5, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"bji5q\">Woodstock was reporting from one of many protests 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=\"pzw8t\">In Portland, nightly protests over Floyd’s death began on May 29, prompting Mayor Ted Wheeler to declare a curfew that lasted three days. Even after the nightly curfew was lifted, journalists continued to be targeted by police, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon in June. Woodstock is a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-06-30_-_woodstock_decl.pdf\">plaintiff</a> in the suit, which resulted in a temporary restraining order and an <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">agreement</a> by the city of Portland in July to not arrest, harm or impede any journalists or legal observers.</p><p data-block-key=\"rmp24\">Sept. 5 marked 100 straight days of protests in Portland. “It was wild for many reasons,” Woodstock told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, describing the events of the night.</p><p data-block-key=\"35hoh\">A large group gathered in Southeast Portland’s Ventura Park, where organizers planned a march to Portland Police Bureau’s East Precinct according to the <a href=\"https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2020/09/06/28802183/photo-essay-the-100th-day-of-protests-in-portland\">Portland Mercury</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"lle3p\">By the time people were gathering to walk, police were announcing that the march <a href=\"https://twitter.com/portlandpolice/status/1302458080291033088?lang=en\">was unpermitted</a>. Woodstock said protesters marched anyway and were met by a “riot line” of officers. Next, Woodstock said, someone in the crowd threw two Molotov cocktails. “I remember thinking this was a huge escalation,” Woodstock said.</p><p data-block-key=\"zvyen\">Woodstock, who was wearing press identification and working from among a group of other journalists, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/tuckwoodstock/status/1302468153247555584\">tweeted</a> just after 9:15 p.m. they were hit in the neck.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Posted this out of thread but you’re going to want to watch it <a href=\"https://t.co/84F0LvJdaW\">https://t.co/84F0LvJdaW</a></p>— Tuck Woodstock (@tuckwoodstock) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/tuckwoodstock/status/1302468153247555584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 6, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"y0bjg\">While Woodstock couldn’t say exactly who or what hit them, a bunch of flash-bang grenades were exploding nearby. The shrapnel “felt consistent with flash bangs.” The injury caused minor bleeding, and left a mark on their throat for months, Woodstock said. Woodstock tweeted a picture of the injury several days later. They didn’t seek medical attention.</p><p data-block-key=\"sgkwb\">After the Molotov cocktails were thrown, a man <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/portland-protesters-throw-fire-bombs-at-idUSRTX7TTO3\">caught fire</a> from one of them and police <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1302461273242648579\">declared a riot</a>. There were also fireworks <a href=\"https://twitter.com/tuckwoodstock/status/1302470305495937024\">exploding in the street</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"987p0\">“Everything was exploding everywhere...that’s what stood out, I hadn’t seen anything like that before,” Woodstock told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"t4que\">When reached for comment during ongoing protests in the fall of 2020, the PPB told the Tracker it wouldn’t comment on specific incidents, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case. Then in early 2021, PPB spokesman Derek Carmon said the department is committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "unknown",
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"name": "Oregon",
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"protest"
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Photojournalist hit with ‘dozens’ of projectiles during Rochester protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-with-dozens-of-projectiles-during-rochester-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-04T18:00:40.368271Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:18:15.496152Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:18:15.406872Z",
"date": "2020-09-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Rochester",
"longitude": -77.61556,
"latitude": 43.15478,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hnlqk\">A photojournalist said police fired what appeared to be pepper balls at him “dozens of times” on Sept. 5, 2020, while he covered protests in Rochester, New York.</p><p data-block-key=\"v0xew\">Protests in the city focused on the March 2020 <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-ny-state-wire-racial-injustice-il-state-wire-5c2f0cf366e560b7f41ebb3c964b099c\">asphyxiation</a> death of Daniel Prude by Rochester police. Details surrounding Prude’s death, ruled a <a href=\"https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-rochester-ny-police-died-march-2020-after-officers-restrained-him/5682948002/\">homicide</a>, came to light after <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-death-ruled-homicide-after-rochester-police-incident/5691797002/\">police body camera footage</a> was released by his family on Sept. 2 after a public records request. Calls for justice in Rochester joined national protests for Black Lives Matter and against police brutality following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"9m4g1\">Sept. 5 was the fourth straight night of protests and was the most shocking he had ever covered, Zach Roberts, a photographer for Nurphoto agency, told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ajhp\">“They [police] brought out dogs, LRADs and BearCats,” he said, referring to long-range acoustic devices and a type of armored vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"jmdv4\">Earlier that day, New York State Attorney General Letitia James moved Prude’s death investigation to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NYGovCuomo/status/1302363498282913794\">grand jury</a>. By that evening, around <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RochesterNYPD/status/1302443817962962945/photo/1\">1,500 people</a> had gathered, starting with a rally at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Dr. Samuel McCree Way — where Prude was restrained by police.</p><p data-block-key=\"2k4fy\">Roberts arrived at the rally around 6 p.m. and encountered a peaceful gathering, he said. The group marched along Jefferson Avenue and headed for a route stopping at various points around the city, including the City Hall building in downtown Rochester.</p><p data-block-key=\"u902k\">Tensions between police and protesters intensified, Roberts said, and he found himself hit multiple times by pepper balls fired by police.</p><p data-block-key=\"olhw1\">“I probably got shot dozens of times,” Roberts told the Tracker. He said his messenger bag took the brunt of the impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"yfe80\">“They’re supposed to shoot them [pepper balls] at inanimate objects...they’re not designed to be shot at people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wiml5\">Roberts said police could see he was a member of the press, as he was wearing multiple press badges and two large cameras around his neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"6xu3w\">Later that night Roberts followed protesters as they ended up near the Gannett building next to the Monroe County Supreme Court building.</p><p data-block-key=\"h2j17\">There was a standoff between police and protesters, Roberts said, and he was positioned off to the side. “I was standing alone when I got shot [again] doing nothing, I was far away enough,” Roberts said.</p><p data-block-key=\"pqfp5\">A Twitter user <a href=\"https://twitter.com/r2020PB/status/1305581086613868551\">posted a video</a> of the standoff and wrote that “a photojournalist was shot with impact munitions.” The thread also shows the injury to Roberts’ arm.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/RochesterProtest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#RochesterProtest</a> on 9/5: Police and protesters are on opposite sides of a metal barricade. Police pepper spray protesters and fire impact munitions without clear justification. <br><br>During the incident, a photojournalist was shot with impact munitions.<br>(Angle 2/6)<br><br>[<a href=\"https://twitter.com/AFriendlyDad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AFriendlyDad</a>] <a href=\"https://t.co/4NRgKaD4G9\">pic.twitter.com/4NRgKaD4G9</a></p>— /r/2020PoliceBrutality (@r2020PB) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/r2020PB/status/1305581086613868551?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 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=\"gjudr\">Roberts said he was stunned and injured, and returned home after the incident. The whole night was “just chaos, just [police] bringing purposeful terror,” he said</p><p data-block-key=\"fas2x\">The Rochester Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incident.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"a6tgu\">Photojournalist Zach Roberts captured this image while documenting a protest around downtown Rochester, New York, on Sept. 5, 2020. Roberts, who was injured by a projectile, said the night was “just chaos.”</p>",
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"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Zach Roberts (Nurphoto)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist pushed, threatened with arrest as Portland protest declared a riot",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-assaulted-portland-protest-declared-riot/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-20T16:31:42.371782Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:30:36.624800Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:30:36.545121Z",
"date": "2020-09-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6hui7\">KBOO podcast host Lesley McLam, who filmed demonstrations in the early morning hours of Sept. 5 in north Portland, reported on her Twitter account that police pushed her and threatened her with arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"2hpax\">Police were deployed to block protesters who had gathered at Ventura Park from marching on a police precinct building located several blocks away at Southeast 106th Avenue, <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/09/portland-protest-declared-riot-soon-after-it-begins-in-se-portland-live-updates.html\">the Oregonian reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"re9c6\">Protesters had targeted law enforcement buildings and surrounding areas, sometimes breaking windows, setting fires and tagging structures with graffiti. Police used tear gas on Sept. 5 for the first time in a month and made 59 arrests at the protest near Ventura Park, according to a <a href=\"https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=261171\">department news release</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"zdd1t\">At 12:43 a.m., McLam <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Human42LM/status/1302150471289696257\">posted a video on Twitter</a> of a police line near the police union headquarters, writing in the post that officers had driven protesters to the west from the police union headquarters on Lombard Street.</p><p data-block-key=\"3u7q8\">“Cops are moving,” McLam can be heard saying on the video as officers approach and surround a station wagon moving on the street in front of them.</p><p data-block-key=\"v3veg\">“Then this happened. An officer pushed me back off the line,” wrote McLam, who didn’t respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"9669o\">In the video, McLam can then be heard interacting with an officer who apparently orders McLam to back away from the scene.</p><p data-block-key=\"1w8eb\">“We were told ‘sidewalk,’ we’re fine,” McLam said.</p><p data-block-key=\"uj683\">“The rules can change … Back up, thank you, ma’am. Back up. Thank you,” the officer said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1tw8c\">“You’re touching me. You were talking to someone else and you just physically touched me and shoved me backwards,” McLam said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5yvjq\">McLam can then be heard interacting with another officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"8hniv\">“Ma’am you need to back up or you’re going to be under arrest,” the second officer says to McLam. “I’m not kidding.”</p><p data-block-key=\"i0n2g\">According to McLam’s statements on the video, the second officer also begins to push the journalist back onto a sidewalk, despite her insistence that she kept a six-foot distance from the group of officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"ynajr\">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><i>.</i></p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Lesley McLam (KBOO-FM)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist hit with projectiles, detained by police during Rochester protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-projectiles-detained-police-during-rochester-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-02T19:42:01.413467Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T19:46:50.775328Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T19:46:50.670661Z",
"date": "2020-09-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Rochester",
"longitude": -77.61556,
"latitude": 43.15478,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0f7v5\">An independent photojournalist says police fired pepper balls at him and detained him on Sept. 5, 2020, while he was covering protests in Rochester, New York.</p><p data-block-key=\"d71fa\">Mustafa Hussain said he was detained after photographing protesters getting tackled during a demonstration protesting the death of Daniel Prude, whose killing in Rochester was ruled a <a href=\"https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-rochester-ny-police-died-march-2020-after-officers-restrained-him/5682948002/\">homicide</a> after police physically restrained him. Prude <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-ny-state-wire-racial-injustice-il-state-wire-5c2f0cf366e560b7f41ebb3c964b099c\">died by asphyxiation</a> in police custody in March 2020, but details surrounding his death only came to light after police <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-death-ruled-homicide-after-rochester-police-incident/5691797002/\">body camera footage</a> was released by his family on Sept. 2.</p><p data-block-key=\"cpahp\">Sept. 5 was the fourth straight night of protests in Rochester, and the scene was chaotic, Hussain said, as police officers clashed with protesters downtown near the Blue Cross Arena.</p><p data-block-key=\"ia0bc\">“On video...from what I saw, RPD [Rochester Police Department] fired the first round and engaged first...at that point they opened fire on the protesters,” Hussain told the Tracker. According to the Rochester First news site, police said some in the crowd had fireworks and threw bottles at officers. In response, the site said, <a href=\"https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/local-news/city-hall-windows-broken-during-daniel-prude-rally/#:~:text=ROCHESTER%2C%20N.Y.,shortly%20after%209%3A30%20p.m..\">police fired pepper balls</a> and tear gas at protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"wi7ne\">“Then they deliberately were aiming at press as well, we were getting shot at, there was tear gas everywhere,” Hussain told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"lxrce\">Hussain said he was within a group that should have been easily identified as press, because they wore press helmets and badges and some carried large, professional cameras.</p><p data-block-key=\"9wqs7\">Despite all the markings, he said he was hit numerous times by pepper balls, resulting in welts and bruises on his arms and legs. Hussain said his torso was protected by a ballistic vest. He said he received first aid from street medics for the effects of tear gas and pepper balls.</p><p data-block-key=\"0apg4\">“I do believe RPD intentionally fired upon press to prevent us from doing our job,” Hussain told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"qay85\">Later on that evening, Hussain said he watched as police “were chasing young protesters and tackling them to the ground.” He said he moved to the middle of the street to get a better photo angle, “and it was at that point that two officers came and grabbed me and took me to the ground and arrested me,” Hussain told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"hy61t\">Hussain said he was near the Kodak Tower downtown, with two other journalists, one of whom <a href=\"https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2020/09/05/daniel-prude-rochester-ny-black-lives-matter-protests-justice-police/5732337002/\">captured Hussain’s detainment</a> and posted it on Twitter. Georgie Silvarole, from USA Today, took pictures that showed Hussain lying on the ground with officers hovering over him, Hussain in handcuffs and another picture that showed an officer confiscating Hussain’s backpack and camera.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">He went across the street to get a better angle of the protesters standing in the intersection and was tackled by police. They put him in the back of a squad car, and placed his cameras and backpack in a plastic tote. <a href=\"https://t.co/00F2I6lCSD\">pic.twitter.com/00F2I6lCSD</a></p>— Georgie Silvarole (@gsilvarole) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gsilvarole/status/1302475300136259584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 6, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"io324\">“They dragged me to the ground,” Hussain said, describing the event as “very abrupt” and “very shocking.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ltwvt\">Hussain said he was not wearing press credentials, but he had his cameras with him and told police he was press.</p><p data-block-key=\"tpbb4\">Officers put Hussain in the back of a police car, he said, and while he was detained, they drove around and tried to arrest someone else. When the car headed to the police station, “They got a call from a supervisor, or a Rochester Police public relations officer,” Hussain said. “They were pretty much given an earful for arresting a member of the press.” Hussain said he believes that someone from the Democrat and Chronicle, a Rochester newspaper, had called the police department on his behalf. “So they let me go,” he said, releasing him from custody near his car and returning his photo equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"t8eyi\">Hussain said he opted not to file a complaint about his detainment. “As a journalist this is not about me,” he said. “I wasn’t beaten, they could have tackled me and they could have put their knee on my neck.” But they did not, he said, “so I didn’t feel that I needed to bring more attention to it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gty9a\">The Rochester Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on Hussain’s case.</p><p data-block-key=\"evkal\">Daniel Prude’s death on March 30 took place almost two months before the death of George Floyd 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 in the aftermath of these and other killings.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX7TQOO.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"xbhml\">Police officers in riot gear fire pepper balls during a protest over the death of Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York on Sept. 5, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Rochester Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
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"Mustafa Hussain (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Democrat and Chronicle photographer hit with pepper balls while covering Rochester protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/democrat-and-chronicle-photographer-hit-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-rochester-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-13T14:33:18.539532Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:33:51.267856Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:33:51.161568Z",
"date": "2020-09-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Rochester",
"longitude": -77.61556,
"latitude": 43.15478,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"79ioq\">Shawn Dowd, a photographer for the Democrat and Chronicle, was hit with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Rochester, New York, on Sept. 4, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ir5e\">Demonstrators that night had marched to the city’s Public Safety Building in protest of the death of Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man who <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-ny-state-wire-racial-injustice-il-state-wire-5c2f0cf366e560b7f41ebb3c964b099c\">died by asphyxiation</a> while in the custody of Rochester police in March. Details surrounding his death came to light only after police <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/09/02/daniel-prude-death-ruled-homicide-after-rochester-police-incident/5691797002/\">body camera footage</a> was released on Sept. 2. The protest was just one of many held across the nation throughout the summer in protest of police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ksiq\">Dowd told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in a phone interview that upon arriving in the area he and colleague Jamie Germano split up, to more fully document the scene. Dowd said he made his way to the front of the crowd, where police had lined up along a barricade they’d set up earlier in the evening. At one point, Dowd said, “The police opened up with pepper balls to drive the protesters back,” adding, “We all got lit up.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w3e93\">Dowd said he “took a shot to the side of the head,” as well as in the neck and ear. He said that he turned to protect himself and in a second volley “took a couple in the back, one in the back of the legs and then one to the foot.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aqlj0\">Dowd said he’d decided to avoid wearing an insignia marking him as a working member of the press due anti-media sentiment he’d encountered from demonstrators at prior protests, but he said he did have his press badge around his neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"kr3sj\">When the police officers “would open fire,” Dowd said, “it seemed like they were just spraying.”</p><p data-block-key=\"iplst\">The Rochester Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"xgh6c\">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>. Find all <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Rochester&state=38\">incidents in Rochester, New York, here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Shawn Dowd (Democrat and Chronicle)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist thrown to ground by law enforcement during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-thrown-to-ground-by-law-enforcement-during-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-12T20:59:07.581979Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-03-12T18:37:50.639308Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-03-12T18:37:50.514935Z",
"date": "2020-09-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e1rgq\">Photojournalist Mathieu Lewis-Rolland said a police officer shoved him, causing him to land on top of another journalist, while covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 4, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"4kwqf\">Lewis-Rolland, whose work has been published by outlets including Reuters and Agence France-Presse, was documenting one of hundreds of demonstrations held across the U.S. in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"eey7v\">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 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. Lewis-Rolland is a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-say-federal-agents-targeted-them-with-projectiles-as-they-covered-protests-in-portland/\">plaintiff</a> in the class-action lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"vw6jf\">On Sept. 4 protesters gathered outside of the headquarters of the Portland Police Association, the union that represents city police officers. Police declared an unlawful assembly at 11:45 p.m., KATU reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"ued4w\">Lewis-Rolland told the Tracker he was photographing an arrest across the street from the Portland Police Association building. An officer came up from behind him, grabbed him by the backpack, and threw him to the ground, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"u5i3r\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MathieuLRolland/status/1302141026329456640\">a video Lewis-Rolland posted on Twitter</a>, a police dispersal announcement can be heard while two police officers hold down an individual. The image suddenly becomes blurry and a voice can be heard saying “get back.” For a few seconds, the camera is pointed up toward a street sign, then the image refocuses facing toward the pavement.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Just got thrown to the ground by PPB while documenting an arrest. <a href=\"https://t.co/j3ga3NsJVy\">pic.twitter.com/j3ga3NsJVy</a></p>— Mathieu Lewis-Rolland (@MathieuLRolland) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MathieuLRolland/status/1302141026329456640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 5, 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=\"13lm7\">Lewis-Rolland said he wasn’t injured, but was rattled.</p><p data-block-key=\"054u6\">“There's something unique about having someone physically throw you to the ground,” he said. “It feels very violating.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5x4t1\">Lewis-Rolland said he was wearing a helmet and backpack that were both marked “PRESS.” He also wore a reflective yellow vest and carried two cameras.</p><p data-block-key=\"i4t3n\">The PPB declined to comment on the incidents. The police department has declined to comment to the Tracker on other cases in Portland due to ongoing litigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"o621c\">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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"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"
},
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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": [
"Mathieu Lewis-Rolland (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Police throw photojournalist to ground during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-thrown-to-ground-by-law-enforcement-during-september-protest-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-24T20:49:18.316875Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:21:08.528114Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:21:08.432585Z",
"date": "2020-09-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p1cne\">Photojournalist Nathan Howard said he was pushed to the ground by an officer while covering a protest in Portland, Oregon on Sept. 4, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ob3ck\">Howard, whose work has been published by Reuters, Getty Images and The Associated Press, was documenting one of hundreds of demonstrations held across the U.S. in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"mjti3\">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 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. Lewis-Rolland is a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-say-federal-agents-targeted-them-with-projectiles-as-they-covered-protests-in-portland/\">plaintiff</a> in the class-action lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"oodhh\">On Sept. 4 protesters gathered outside of the headquarters of the Portland Police Association, the union that represents city police officers. Police declared an unlawful assembly at 11:45 p.m.,<a href=\"https://katu.com/news/local/protesters-gather-outside-police-union-headquarters-on-100th-day-of-protest\"> KATU</a> reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"7c1sh\">Howard told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that police came out and started to make targeted arrests of people in the street. He said he was taking photographs of an arrest when an officer came toward him.</p><p data-block-key=\"kocj0\">Howard said he put his hands up and told the officer multiple times that he was a member of the press while he was backing up. While Howard continued to back up, he said the officer became more aggravated. Eventually the officer shoved him, he said, causing him to fall backwards. He said he landed against a metal street sign pole.</p><p data-block-key=\"1kr8i\">Howard said he was initially alright, and took advantage of his angle on the ground to try to photograph an arrest happening nearby.</p><p data-block-key=\"0f9t5\">Howard said he felt someone fall with him but couldn’t recall who landed on top of whom. He added that in the process, his head was pushed back, hitting the metal street sign pole. He said the impact was jarring, and needed to take a break for a few minutes.</p><p data-block-key=\"0l50z\">Howard said he was wearing a vest that identified him as press.</p><p data-block-key=\"nbx8b\">The PPB declined to comment on the incidents. The police department has declined to comment to the Tracker on other cases in Portland due to ongoing litigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ddvx\">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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"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "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": [
"Nathan Howard (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
}
]
