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{
"title": "Photographer held in multiple kettles by LA police while covering Wi Spa protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-held-in-multiple-kettles-by-la-police-while-covering-wi-spa-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-27T17:16:48.758165Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-21T22:51:02.650262Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-21T22:51:02.583070Z",
"date": "2021-07-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"185q7\">Freelance photographer Joey Scott said he and other members of the media were twice corralled and stopped from moving by police as they covered a protest in Los Angeles on July 17, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"fcqbi\">Scott said and other journalists were reporting on protests around the Wi Spa when they were held by police using <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/journalists-covering-protests-us-risk-getting-caught-police-kettling-tactic/\">a crowd-control technique called kettling</a>, which corrals and restricts people from dispersing. The spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate <a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"c0xaj\">In the first kettle, Scott and other media were told by the Los Angeles Police Department they would be arrested, but were later let go, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “They wouldn't let us disperse out of the kettle despite telling them this is where we were told to go.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3yqkf\">In the second kettle they were told by a police officer that they had been there all day and refused to leave, so they were being arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"z8cxx\">Scott said he was wearing press identification and a helmet with PRESS on it.</p><p data-block-key=\"5tux0\">“Media was threatened with arrest initially but we were able to convince someone else to let us out with our press credentials,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tp7r\">An LAPD spokesperson said arrests had been made on July 17 around Rampart Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard after people failed to leave the area following a dispersal order.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbzq2\">“We do not have information specific to Joey Scott or statements being made that media would be arrested, so we are unable to confirm it occurred.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sq5kv\"><i>This article was updated to remove a tweet that referenced a different detainment. The Tracker also documented the</i> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-detained-shoved-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\"><i>kettling and detainment of Scott</i></a><i> while he covered a protest around the eviction of a homeless encampment in Los Angeles in March.</i></p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"kettle",
"LGBTQ+ rights",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
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"Joey Scott (Freelance)"
],
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{
"title": "Guardian reporter thrown to the ground during protest at LA’s Wi Spa",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/guardian-reporter-thrown-to-the-ground-during-protest-at-las-wi-spa/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-27T12:21:12.966380Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T20:16:29.237665Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T20:16:29.151996Z",
"date": "2021-07-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"sr172\">Guardian reporter Lois Beckett was pushed to the ground by protesters around the Wi Spa in Los Angeles, California, on July 17, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"ymdpo\">The spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video that police are now treating as a hoax, Slate <a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\">reported</a>. Beckett was covering protests and counterprotests around the spa on Wilshire Boulevard.</p><p data-block-key=\"qav49\">Beckett, a senior reporter at the Guardian’s West Coast bureau, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1416467648364220418\">said on Twitter</a> that she was thrown to the ground “as a crowd converged on me and chased me. They threw water at me and screamed about Jesus and said to grab my phone.”</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 right-wing anti-pedophile protesters as a crowd coverged on me and chased me. They threw water at me and screamed about Jesus and said to grab my phone. Police would not let me through the police line but after I got thrown on the ground they did. <a href=\"https://t.co/LDGqkua3fi\">pic.twitter.com/LDGqkua3fi</a></p>— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1416467648364220418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 17, 2021</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=\"jh2a7\">She added that officers initially wouldn’t let her through the police line, but did after she was thrown to the ground. Beckett told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she couldn’t comment immediately.</p><p data-block-key=\"orvzw\">“I’m doing okay — if I had been left alone to run from the right-wing crowd in the street, rather than let through the police line, not sure that would be the case,” she tweeted later, adding <a href=\"https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1416469737383493632\">she was wearing her press credential</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"b0kcx\">The Guardian said in a statement that it was alarmed by the treatment of Beckett, and that it was essential that she and her colleagues in the U.S. be protected as they carry out their jobs. “At a time when journalists and press freedom are under even greater threat around the world, we are concerned for the safety of journalists, who have a right to keep the public informed without facing danger.”</p></div>",
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"protest"
],
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{
"title": "Photojournalist attacked, has $1,000 of gear stolen while covering Wi Spa protests in LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-attacked-has-1000-of-gear-stolen-while-covering-wi-spa-protests-in-la/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-27T17:22:37.278252Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:23:15.611817Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:23:15.503253Z",
"date": "2021-07-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bjf6k\">Photographer and journalist Eric Levai said he was surrounded and had around $1,000 of equipment taken from him after he photographed individuals at the Wi Spa, in Los Angeles, California.</p><p data-block-key=\"317pe\">The spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate <a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"qmvg7\">Levai, who said he doesn’t wear press identification as he believes it attracts harassment, said it was around noon and he was covering what was happening at the Wi Spa when he spotted a photo opportunity. He stepped forward to take a shot of some masked individuals and a car around 50 feet away.</p><p data-block-key=\"dz7ov\">“I was doing my job and they just attacked me, screaming I was taking their picture,” Levai told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “Also, when they surrounded me, I kept telling them I was a journalist, but they kept attacking me.</p><p data-block-key=\"dl448\">Levai, who works regularly for the Daily Dot and Forensic News, as well as hosting a podcast, told the Tracker that he heard a shout, and then was charged by seven or eight people, who took his backpack including items which he valued in total at around $1,000. The items included a gas mask, goggles and a tripod.</p><p data-block-key=\"4qzl5\">“They grabbed the bag and phone,” he said. “They took pictures of me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"i7hp9\">Levai said he wasn’t injured in the incident, and that he had managed to take the phone with his photos out of the backpack, though another phone was stolen. The masked individuals then took off with his equipment, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ot4eq\">He said that going forward he would reconsider wearing a press ID, though he felt it could mean he gets targeted.</p></div>",
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{
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},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "equipment bag"
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"name": "California",
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Five indicted in connection with plot to kidnap NY-based Iranian journalist",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/five-indicted-in-connection-with-plot-to-kidnap-iranian-american-journalist/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-22T19:18:11.504908Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-25T20:48:04.770504Z",
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"date": "2021-07-13",
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"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rn3a7\">Brooklyn, New York-based Iranian journalist and writer Masih Alinejad was the target of an international kidnapping plot, according to a <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1411366/download\">federal indictment</a> unsealed on July 13, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"bu100\">Four Iranian nationals allegedly involved in the country’s intelligence network were indicted with conspiring to kidnap Alinejad, who <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/opinion/iran-hijab-feminist.html\">fled the country in 2009</a> and has been critical of the Iranian government, The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/13/nyregion/iran-masih-alinejad-kidnapping.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=New%20York\">reported</a>. A fifth individual was indicted on charges of providing financial support for the plot, but wasn’t alleged to have participated in the kidnapping conspiracy; she was arrested in California on July 1.</p><p data-block-key=\"uq8id\">In <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/10/iranian-officials-have-declared-they-want-kidnap-me-its-happened-others-before/\">an op-ed</a> published by The Washington Post in August 2020, Alinejad wrote that “the Iranian government had unleashed a social media campaign calling for my abduction.” According to the Times, the Iranian government had attempted to induce Alinejad’s relatives into luring her into an abduction in 2018 and began plotting her kidnapping in earnest as early as June 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"5rdds\">“As alleged, four of the defendants monitored and planned to kidnap a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin who has been critical of the regime’s autocracy, and to forcibly take their intended victim to Iran, where the victim’s fate would have been uncertain at best,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-kidnapping-conspiracy-charges-against-iranian\">news release</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"830ja\">According to the indictment, the defendants used private investigators to surveil Alinejad’s residence in Brooklyn, capturing photographs and video of her and other members of her household. They also reportedly researched means of transporting Alinejad out of the country, including using military-style speedboats to travel from New York to Venezuela, the government of which has friendly relations with Iran.</p><p data-block-key=\"k0qsg\">Alinejad <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/14/us/iranian-nationals-charged-kidnapping-journalist/index.html\">told CNN</a> after the indictment was unsealed that she has been under FBI protection since the end of 2020, and had been staying at different safe houses.</p><p data-block-key=\"9et6n\">The four defendants were each charged with conspiracies related to kidnapping, sanctions violations, bank and wire fraud and money laundering and face life in prison, but remain at large, according to a <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-kidnapping-conspiracy-charges-against-iranian\">news release</a> from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.</p><p data-block-key=\"u6qht\">“This is not some far-fetched movie plot,” William F. Sweeney Jr., the head of the FBI’s New York office, said in the <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-kidnapping-conspiracy-charges-against-iranian\">news release</a>. “We allege a group, backed by the Iranian government, conspired to kidnap a U.S. based journalist here on our soil and forcibly return her to Iran. Not on our watch. When we find you, you will be brought here and held accountable under U.S. law.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hhycp\">In a statement published by The Iranian Students’ News Agency, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson dismissed the allegations as “baseless and ridiculous,” CNN reported.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mc74n\">Iranian journalist and women's rights activist Masih Alinejad speaks at the 2019 Women In The World Summit. In July 2021, the federal government unsealed an indictment revealing a kidnapping plot against Alinejad.</p>",
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"(2022-07-28 15:21:00+00:00) Man armed with AK-47 arrested outside Iranian journalist’s Brooklyn home",
"(2023-01-27 14:30:00+00:00) DOJ charges three men in murder plot targeting Brooklyn-based Iranian journalist",
"(2023-04-07 11:42:00+00:00) California resident sentenced for assisting in plot to kidnap Iranian journalist in NYC",
"(2024-10-17 00:00:00+00:00) Four more arrested for plotting to murder Iranian-born US journalist"
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1pgo9\">Independent journalist Justin Pulliam was barred from attending an open-air press conference by Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan in Richmond, Texas, on July 12, 2021. Pulliam subsequently filed a civil rights suit against the county and members of the sheriff’s office over the barring and a later arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"9t954\">Pulliam lives in Fort Bend County near Houston and independently reports on local government and law enforcement for his social media channels, including on YouTube and Facebook. <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txsd.1898419/gov.uscourts.txsd.1898419.33.0_2.pdf\">According to the lawsuit</a>, he arrived at Jones Creek Ranch Park to film as officers responded to reports of a submerged vehicle connected to a missing persons case.</p><p data-block-key=\"6m33l\">Sheriff’s deputies closed the park, directing Pulliam and other media to a designated area at its entrance for a press conference with a representative of the sheriff's office. Afterward, Pulliam went to his vehicle but returned when Fagan approached the designated area, according to his <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxcv6YZaNT4\">footage from that day</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"40gt4\">Fagan was then filmed gesturing in Pulliam’s direction and saying, in part, “... if he don’t do it, arrest him. He’s not a part of the local media so he has to go back.” Moments later, two officers — identified in the lawsuit as Robert Hartfield and Jonathan Garcia — approached Pulliam, saying, “You are not media, so at the sheriff’s request could you step back this way with us please.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fsj78\">Hartfield then gestured in the direction of Pulliam’s vehicle and escorted him approximately 85 feet away, where Pulliam said he could not hear what was being said by Fagan or the other journalists, according to the lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"9khga\">Public interest law firm Institute for Justice <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66612909/pulliam-v-fort-bend-county-texas/\">filed the lawsuit on Pulliam’s behalf</a> on Dec. 5, 2022, against the county, Fagan and four others. The suit alleges violations of his First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights by barring him from the July 2021 press conference, as well as by arresting him and seizing his equipment during a subsequent <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/texas-journalist-files-suit-following-arrest-equipment-seizure/\">incident in December 2021</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"5vv9k\">“The Defendants did not have a compelling, or even legitimate, governmental interest in removing Justin from the open-air press conference, which occurred at a public park,” the lawsuit stated. “Instead, the Defendants removed Justin because they did not deem him a member of the media, disagreed with his viewpoint, and disliked that he was critical of the police both earlier that day and in his work generally.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2esgk\">Pulliam told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the experience has significantly chilled his willingness to cover incidents involving the sheriff’s office or to attend its press conferences.</p><p data-block-key=\"8sjhe\">“I basically don’t film Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office anymore; I’ve greatly reduced my direct coverage of filming live police incidents,” Pulliam said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2elii\">On June 29, 2023, District Judge David Hittner denied the county’s motion to dismiss the majority of Pulliam’s claims. Hittner <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txsd.1898419/gov.uscourts.txsd.1898419.48.0.pdf\">ruled that</a> Pulliam had sufficiently argued that he had been singled out for exercising his First Amendment rights and that the officers are not protected by qualified immunity at this time.</p><p data-block-key=\"qb83\">The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment when reached in July 2023, citing the ongoing litigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"5impi\">Christie Hebert, one of the attorneys at the Institute for Justice representing Pulliam, <a href=\"https://ij.org/press-release/citizen-journalist-wins-first-round-of-his-first-amendment-lawsuit-against-fort-bend-county-sheriff/\">said in a statement</a> following the ruling that Hittner recognized the gravity of Pulliam’s claims.</p><p data-block-key=\"bfq3g\">“The heart of the First Amendment is the right to speak out about government, and Fort Bend County does not get to pick and choose who will cover their activities,” Hebert said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q0hj\">Hebert told the Tracker that the case is tentatively scheduled to go to trial in early 2024.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Justin-Pulliam-0481.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"oqbcw\">Independent journalist Justin Pulliam reviews footage from a law enforcement investigation in Richmond, Texas, on July 12, 2021. A local sheriff ordered officers to bar Pulliam from attending a press conference about the investigation that day.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "4:22-cv-04210",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-09-24 00:00:00+00:00) Court rules Texas journalist’s rights were violated by news conference ejection"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
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"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Law enforcement: Local"
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"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
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"Justin Pulliam (Independent)"
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"Government event"
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist charged with grand larceny following filing assault complaint against NYPD officer",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-charged-with-grand-larceny-following-filing-assault-complaint-against-nypd-officer/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-15T15:12:31.781802Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-02-21T18:22:01.380749Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-02-21T18:22:01.250487Z",
"date": "2021-07-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2l3qd\">Independent photojournalist Gabe Quinones said he was arrested on charges of grand larceny by the New York City Police Department on July 6, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"fqwnw\">The department alleges that Quinones attempted to steal an NYPD officer’s baton on June 5, the photojournalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. On that evening, Quinones was covering demonstrations in Washington Square Park, which had been the site of both protests and street parties in the weeks preceding. Gothamist <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/citing-disorder-nypd-enforce-10-pm-curfew-washington-square-park\">reported</a> that for several months the NYPD had <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/nypd-clears-washington-square-park-clubs-and-arrests-during-rare-curfew-sweep\">attempted to enforce</a> the park’s largely ignored midnight curfew, and had announced a 10 p.m. curfew at the end of May.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Riot cops just cleared Washington Square Park, arresting one person because he has a speaker playing Fuck The Police, and swinging batons at a teenager. Because the park closes at midnight <a href=\"https://t.co/nrGDDEQYba\">pic.twitter.com/nrGDDEQYba</a></p>— Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jangelooff/status/1324946178539220992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 7, 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=\"r0td8\">Quinones told the Tracker that officers arrived well before the closure of the park and advanced on the crowds gathered there shortly before 10 p.m. As officers attempted to enforce the curfew and clear the park, Quinones said an officer ran up behind him as he walked down the sidewalk and shoved him into a wall with his baton. The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-by-nypd-officer-struck-with-baton-while-covering-protest/\">that incident here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"pulfq\">Quinones told the Tracker he filed a complaint against the officer and was contacted by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Office to provide his footage and answer questions about the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"yt117\">On July 6, Quinones said officers arrived at his apartment and arrested him on charges of grand larceny, alleging that he had attempted to steal the officer’s baton during the June 5 incident. Quinones denied the allegations unequivocally.</p><p data-block-key=\"7m5og\">“There’s no humanly possible way that I could have stolen anything,” Quinones said. “I got assaulted by that baton: I didn’t try to steal it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when I walked in there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4ve4r\">Quinones said he was taken to the NYPD’s 6th Precinct where he was held for three to four hours before being released with a hearing scheduled for July 26.</p><p data-block-key=\"jbj7f\">The NYPD didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "New York City Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-11-01 11:23:00+00:00) Charge of grand larceny against photojournalist dropped"
],
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"tags": [
"protest"
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Gabe Quinones (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Woman smashes Connecticut TV station’s camera",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/woman-smashes-connecticut-tv-stations-camera/",
"first_published_at": "2023-11-22T17:15:13.777193Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-22T17:15:13.777193Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-22T15:40:25.983012Z",
"date": "2021-07-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Hartford",
"longitude": -72.68509,
"latitude": 41.76371,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fdjhz\">A woman grabbed and repeatedly smashed a video camera belonging to Connecticut station WVIT-TV and threw it against the station’s vehicle outside the Hartford Police Department, where a WVIT reporter and photographer were parked in the early hours of July 6, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"eemgc\">WVIT reporter Jennifer Joas <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1155371744967546\">posted a video</a> of the incident on Facebook shot from inside the station’s vehicle, where she and a WVIT photographer, who was not fully identified, were sitting. Joas wrote in her post that the woman began smashing the station’s camera against the ground shortly before 5 a.m. and that it was unclear why she was doing it.</p><p data-block-key=\"1outo\">In the video, the woman can be seen throwing the camera to the ground multiple times, walking away, then returning, picking up the camera and throwing it at the window of the news vehicle, continuing to do so as the crew drives out of the parking lot.</p><p data-block-key=\"5bjg9\">Joas later wrote on Facebook that the woman’s blows dented the vehicle, though they did not break the windows. She also wrote that “police have the video & screen shots.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u16m\">“The past few years have been difficult as journalists,” Joas wrote on Facebook. “This is the third time in two months that a person has become agitated for unknown reasons & prevented me from doing my job.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4b84t\">Joas did not respond to emailed requests for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. But she wrote on Facebook that she and the photographer had “gone through extensive training & have been told no matter what — leave the gear behind. So we had to leave it to protect ourselves. But it's so difficult seeing our camera being used as a weapon against us.”<br/></p><p data-block-key=\"34m53\">A spokesperson for the Hartford Police Department told the Tracker by email that the department was unable to identify or locate a suspect for the incident.</p></div>",
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"actor": "private individual",
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"links": [],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "vehicle"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Connecticut",
"abbreviation": "CT"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"WVIT-TV"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
],
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},
{
"title": "San Antonio TV reporter shot at while covering suspicious fire",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-antonio-reporter-shot-at-while-covering-suspicious-fire/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-19T15:47:42.829120Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-09T22:29:51.173840Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-09T22:29:51.107547Z",
"date": "2021-07-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Antonio",
"longitude": -98.49363,
"latitude": 29.42412,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mfux3\">Reporter Dillon Collier was shot at from close range by a man with two handguns as he covered a story about a house fire in San Antonio, Texas, on July 5, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"9aun2\">Collier, who is an investigative reporter for KSAT News 12 in San Antonio, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and video journalist Joshua Saunders were assigned to cover a fire that took place overnight Sunday into Monday, after shell casings had been found at the scene and arson investigators were looking into whether someone had shot into the home or started the fire intentionally. Saunders' <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-antonio-tv-video-journalist-shot-at-while-covering-suspicious-house-fire/\">assault is documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hsv1\">Collier and Saunders arrived to find people standing around the fire-damaged home. As Saunders gathered footage, Collier — who said he was wearing a shirt emblazoned with the station logo — interviewed the owner of the house.</p><p data-block-key=\"6rwie\">“She was very emotional, said she had grown up there, but had lost track of who had been staying there in recent years, after her father had gotten sick and had been forced to move in with a sibling.” After the interview ended they moved closer to the home to shoot additional footage.</p><p data-block-key=\"vupqz\">Collier, a two-time Houston Press Club Journalist of the Year, said a female family member came running toward them as Saunders set up his camera, screaming that a relative had a gun and was going to kill them. The journalists quickly moved behind an SUV.</p><p data-block-key=\"s94ss\">“The man then emerged from the home holding two large handguns, one in each hand. He said something to the effect of us not asking his permission to be there,” Collier told the Tracker. Collier ran away down a sidewalk as the man fired toward Saunders, who had run in the opposition direction.</p><p data-block-key=\"14pih\">“I remember him firing two shots at us from very close range, less than 10 feet away,” Collier said. “I then ran to my left and headed east from the home along a sidewalk as the man fired shots in the opposite direction from me, toward where Josh was running.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rtxyt\">An SUV containing family members overtook Saunders. A second car carrying more people associated with the home pulled up to Collier after he had run a few blocks and offered to drive him to safety. Both Collier and Saunders called 911 to report the shooting.</p><p data-block-key=\"qazav\">As Collier’s group found Saunders near a parked vehicle, the gunman rode in front of them on bicycle and ditched it on the sidewalk. He then jumped a metal gate and entered a home a block from the burned home.</p><p data-block-key=\"vwvgy\">San Antonio police officers then arrived and set up a perimeter, Collier said. A homicide detective interviewed everyone targeted by the gunman, <a href=\"https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/07/05/investigators-working-to-determine-cause-of-house-fire-on-west-side/\">as a standoff lasting several hours took place.</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DEVELOPING In the 200-300 block of Noria for a barricaded man. He fired a handgun at our photographer, me and his own family then took off on a bike and entered another home. Authorities had been here overnight for a suspicious fire <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/KSATnews?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#KSATnews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/eqc0fcKRwX\">pic.twitter.com/eqc0fcKRwX</a></p>— Dillon Collier (@dilloncollier) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dilloncollier/status/1412092512530059269?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 5, 2021</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=\"34381\">“A few hours later the San Antonio police chief showed up and informed the media that the gunman had been killed by officers after firing at them in the backyard of the home he went into,” Collier said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7vmo8\">The San Antonio Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"k3snu\">Collier said he believed he and Saunders had been targeted because they were members of the media. He said KSAT management had repeatedly asked whether they were OK, and had offered them counseling.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Dillon Collier (KSAT-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "San Antonio TV video journalist shot at while covering suspicious house fire",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-antonio-tv-video-journalist-shot-at-while-covering-suspicious-house-fire/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-19T15:52:51.636865Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-09T22:30:13.556149Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-09T22:30:13.490534Z",
"date": "2021-07-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Antonio",
"longitude": -98.49363,
"latitude": 29.42412,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5n0jy\">Television video journalist Joshua Saunders was shot at while he covered<a href=\"https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2021/07/05/investigators-working-to-determine-cause-of-house-fire-on-west-side/\"> a story about a house fire in San Antonio, Texas</a>, on July 5, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"6lh74\">A man with two handguns fired on Saunders and reporter Dillon Collier from less than 10 feet away as they spoke to the owner of the fire-damaged home. Saunders, an Emmy Award winner, and Collier work for KSAT News 12 in San Antonio. Collier’s <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/san-antonio-reporter-shot-at-while-covering-suspicious-fire/\">assault is documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0xjkr\">Collier told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and Saunders were assigned to cover the fire after shell casings had been found at the scene and arson investigators were looking into whether someone had shot into the home or started the fire intentionally.</p><p data-block-key=\"tshxu\">After an interview with the owner of the home ended they moved closer to the scene to shoot additional footage. Collier said that after Saunders — who didn’t reply to a request for a comment — had set up the camera, one of the female family members came running out screaming that her relative had a gun and was going to kill them. The journalists moved behind an SUV.</p><p data-block-key=\"uv9r0\">“The man then emerged from the home holding two large handguns, one in each hand. He said something to the effect of us not asking his permission to be there,” Collier said. “I remember him firing two shots at us from very close range, less than 10 feet away. I then ran to my left and headed east from the home along a sidewalk as the man fired shots in the opposite direction from me, toward where Josh was running.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b2wjr\">An SUV containing family members overtook Saunders, who was later rejoined by Collier. Both journalists called 911 to report the shooting.</p><p data-block-key=\"t8gmj\">San Antonio police officers then arrived and set up a perimeter, Collier said. A homicide detective interviewed everyone targeted by the gunman, as a standoff lasting several hours took place.</p><p data-block-key=\"mzw7u\">“A few hours later the San Antonio police chief showed up and informed the media that the gunman had been killed by officers after firing at them in the backyard of the home he went into,” Collier said.</p><p data-block-key=\"m99ja\">The San Antonio Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"uxzww\">Collier said KSAT management had repeatedly asked whether they were OK, and had offered them counseling.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
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"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Joshua Saunders (KSAT-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent videographer shoved with baton during protest at LA’s Wi Spa",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-shoved-with-baton-during-protest-at-las-wi-spa/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-05T16:18:06.701738Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-21T22:53:58.903571Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-21T22:53:58.847678Z",
"date": "2021-07-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2iyxr\">Vishal Singh, a videographer who works on Netflix documentaries and has been covering demonstrations in Los Angeles since May 2020, said he was shoved with a baton and aimed at with a crowd-control weapon by a police officer while covering demonstrations outside a spa in Los Angeles, California, on July 3, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"9s0o9\">Wi Spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate<a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\"> reported</a>. A loose coalition of LGBTQ, antifa and leftist demonstrators had assembled outside the spa shortly before 10 a.m. in support of transgender individuals’ rights.</p><p data-block-key=\"mkfro\">Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was covering the confrontations between the anti-transgender demonstrators and pro-LGBTQ counterprotesters outside the spa, which included the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentarian-struck-over-the-head-with-baton-by-man-at-la-demonstration/\">assault of documentarian Rocky Romano</a> and the stabbings of at least two demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"mboie\">“After all of that went down, the LAPD came in and declared an unlawful assembly and tried to divide the sides, but not very well,” Singh said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e8u3z\">“At some point I was just walking by the police line and an officer just stepped out of line to push me, and I said, ‘What was that for?’ and they started shoving me and shoving a bunch of other people with batons,” Singh said. He also said that later in the day an officer deliberately aimed a less-lethal weapon at him from only a few feet away.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Me: “Put your gun down!”<br>LAPD: *raises gun at me* <a href=\"https://t.co/uccqvsuht0\">pic.twitter.com/uccqvsuht0</a></p>— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@VPS_Reports) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1411456071730753536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 3, 2021</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=\"4dd5h\">Singh said he was wearing his full collection of protective gear — including a helmet and flak jacket labeled with “PRESS” — in addition to his press badge. Singh can be seen in a photo from that day <a href=\"https://twitter.com/xashgiggles/status/1411517945163894788/photo/1\">posted to Twitter</a> by independent photojournalist Ashley Balderrama.</p><p data-block-key=\"aq2k7\">The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to an email requesting comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"tags": [
"LGBTQ+ rights",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Vishal Singh (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Man fleeing authorities steals TV station’s car in North Carolina",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-fleeing-authorities-steals-tv-stations-car-in-north-carolina/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-19T17:58:03.512195Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-01T14:24:37.683547Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-01T14:24:37.594364Z",
"date": "2021-07-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Raleigh",
"longitude": -78.63861,
"latitude": 35.7721,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zc0zm\">A man fleeing from the North Carolina State Highway Patrol stole a car from TV station WRAL reporter Keenan Willard and photographer Lucas Nelson just after they finished a live report to the 11 p.m. newscast on July 3, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"kiwjz\">According to <a href=\"https://www.wral.com/four-arrested-from-chatham-county-chase-after-one-steals-wral-news-car-to-escape-authorities/19756118/\">a report on WRAL</a>, the Raleigh, North Carolina NBC affiliate, a man had approached the journalist and photographer and offered them cash to drive him to a gas station in the station’s car. When they refused, he jumped into WRAL’s car and drove down U.S. Highway 64.</p><p data-block-key=\"9mzuk\">A State Highway Patrol trooper saw the incident and pursued the man, who shortly after crashed head-on into a trooper’s car and was taken into custody, WRAL reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"4e7pv\">Willard, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, wrote on Twitter just after the incident that the journalist were shaken up.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">First off, I’m okay.<br><br>One of the two suspects in the Chatham County manhunt just stole my car and crashed it head-on into a State Trooper after a short chase.<br><br>We’re shaken up, but we’re coming back live on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WRAL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WRAL</a> in a few minutes. <a href=\"https://t.co/kkao3EpfTP\">pic.twitter.com/kkao3EpfTP</a></p>— Keenan Willard (@KeenanWRAL) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KeenanWRAL/status/1411526180973514759?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 4, 2021</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=\"lzg56\">WRAL posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KeenanWRAL/status/1411526180973514759?s=20\">video</a> of the incident as it unfolded, adding it wouldn’t make any further statement about the theft of the car.</p><p data-block-key=\"sxnto\">Four people were later taken into custody, according to the report.</p><p data-block-key=\"smrfo\">The NCSHP didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"equipment_seized": [],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "vehicle"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
"abbreviation": "NC"
},
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"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [
"WRAL-TV"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
],
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{
"title": "Documentarian struck over the head with baton by man at LA demonstration",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/documentarian-struck-over-the-head-with-baton-by-man-at-la-demonstration/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-19T16:56:48.162106Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-13T19:57:34.936467Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-13T19:57:34.749915Z",
"date": "2021-07-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5e892\">Documentary writer, director and producer Rocky Romano was struck over the head with a baton while he was documenting protests outside a spa in Los Angeles, California, on July 3, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"e2xzx\">Wi Spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate <a href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/07/wi-spa-la-transphobic-protest.html\">reported</a>. Romano told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email that a loose coalition of LGBTQ, antifa and leftist demonstrators had assembled outside the spa shortly before 10 a.m. in support of transgender individuals’ rights.</p><p data-block-key=\"ybnra\">Romano said he and his team at Winters Rock Entertainment are working on a feature-length documentary on the civil rights movement in LA since the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Romano said he and his team discussed the potential dangers when they arrived in the area, as had become routine with their coverage of dozens of protests over the past year.</p><p data-block-key=\"desfw\">“We knew that there had been threats issued by far right extremists and, as always, we came prepared with our limited protective gear, which thankfully included my helmet,” Romano said. “What we did not know was the extent of the danger we would be facing.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bzmji\">Shortly after the documentarians arrived, several more groups Romano described as QAnon believers, Trump supporters and religious zealots arrived at the spa. Animosity between the groups of protesters and counterprotesters escalated.</p><p data-block-key=\"tq9dh\">“As tensions rose, fights began to break out and I ended up being hit with a cloud of mace as I filmed,” Romano said. “As the acts of violence began to escalate even more, I began to try and de-escalate certain situations where violence could reach the point of major bodily harm or death.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c1bnd\">“Just as I stepped in to allow a far-right protester to get to his feet after falling to the ground after a confrontation, I was hit from behind by some sort of blunt instrument,” Romano said.</p><p data-block-key=\"odr5j\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg/status/1411770220683792385\">footage</a> captured by independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg, an individual in a plaid shirt can be seen advancing down the street toward a crowd of scuffling protesters. Approximately 15 seconds into the clip, the individual appears to deliberately approach Romano, who is wearing a flak jacket labeled with “PRESS” and a helmet while filming, and strike him across the head with what appears to be a club.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">More footage from yesterday's WiSpa anti trans demonstration. An anti trans agitator approaches a man wearing a press flack jacket from behind and hits him with a pipe on the back of his head <a href=\"https://t.co/IRoLQYGHNu\">pic.twitter.com/IRoLQYGHNu</a></p>— Lefty-Desiree McLefty Face, Milkshake Whisperer (@TinaDesireeBerg) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TinaDesireeBerg/status/1411770220683792385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 4, 2021</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=\"7oz6h\">The individual can then be seen running back down the street, and appears to taunt Romano and the crowd before turning down a side street and getting into a vehicle parked nearby.</p><p data-block-key=\"qur0t\">Romano said that the individual dropped the club as he fled and that someone was able to recover it. Romano subsequently identified the weapon as a “<a href=\"https://www.bigrigdefense.com/products/tire-thumper?_pos=1&_psq=tire&_ss=e&_v=1.0\">Tire Thumper</a>” — a hickory wood baton weighted with three inches of iron rivet embedded inside — which qualifies as a “generally prohibited weapon” under the <a href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=16590.\">state’s penal code</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/IMG_9858.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"1749\" alt=\"Courtesy of Rocky Romano\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"1w1yv\">After hitting journalist Rocky Romano in the head with this club, identified as a 'tire thumper,' the assailant dropped it while fleeing.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — Courtesy of Rocky Romano\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=\"zsu7p\">Following the assault, Romano told the Tracker he didn’t seek medical attention but followed best practices for someone suffering from a concussion. Later that night, Romano said, he could feel that his scalp had split slightly because of the force of the impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"28n4u\">Romano said he has been in contact with the Los Angeles Police Department and is consulting with Winters Rock Entertainment’s legal counsel about the best way to move forward.</p><p data-block-key=\"f80he\">The LAPD didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/IMG_7091_4.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"vr5z5\">Winters Rock Entertainment documentarians, Miranda Winters, left, and Rocky Romano film at a protest in L.A. in November 2020. Romano was hit over the head with a baton while filming another protest on July 3, 2021.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-09-14 09:19:00+00:00) Man charged with assault after documentarian struck over the head with baton at LA demonstration",
"(2022-02-03 09:46:00+00:00) Man sentenced to probation after striking documentarian over the head with baton at LA demonstration"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"LGBTQ+ rights",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Rocky Romano (Winters Rock Entertainment)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent videographer arrested while documenting LA homeless camp cleanup",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-arrested-while-documenting-la-homeless-camp-cleanup/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-27T17:34:28.531205Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-01-03T15:05:00.499055Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-01-03T15:05:00.452850Z",
"date": "2021-07-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was arrested while filming a homeless camp cleanup operation in the Harbor City neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on July 1, 2021.</p><p>Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he has been documenting such cleanup operations, which aim to remove trash and encourage unhoused populations to seek out shelters, for four months as the city has responded aggressively to a <a href=\"https://abc7.com/la-county-homelessness-socal-homeless-crisis-economic-roundtable-population/9601083/\">rise in homelessness</a> in the county.</p><p>Upon arriving at the site alongside two activists, a worker with LA Sanitation & Environment approached Beckner-Carmitchel and told the group that they weren’t allowed to film in that area. After some discussion, he said, they reached an agreement that the group could observe and document the operation from a location a little further back, away from the trucks.</p><p>“Not long after, LAPD came over and told us we could not be there,” Beckner-Carmitchel said. “We were told to go one way; we complied. We were told to go the other way, and in the process of complying with that we were all detained and cited.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Was just detained, cited and released with 56.11MC despite being told the area I was in was fine to stay in. I’ll release footage along with <a href=\"https://twitter.com/FilmThePoliceLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@FilmThePoliceLA</a> who was also detained later but it’s more important to cover the proceedings going on. <a href=\"https://t.co/4Ds9PuWbNi\">pic.twitter.com/4Ds9PuWbNi</a></p>— Sean Carmitchel (@ACatWithNews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1410718335990321152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 1, 2021</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>In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ACatWithNews/status/1410730760986718210\">footage</a> Beckner-Carmitchel captured when the Sanitation Department official first approached, his National Press Photographers Association credentials can be seen on a lanyard around his neck. Beckner-Carmitchel also identified himself as press to the officer, he said, and attempted to explain why he needed somewhere to observe the operation.</p><p>Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker that while the officer was placing him under arrest, the officer deliberately threw his phone to the ground, but the device wasn’t damaged.</p><p>Beckner-Carmitchel said the officer placed him in cuffs and sat him in the back of his vehicle for approximately 30 minutes.</p><p>Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker he was cited with violating <a href=\"https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/los_angeles/latest/lamc/0-0-0-138386\">Municipal Code 56.11.10(d)</a> — “delaying/obstructing dept sanitation clean up operation” — and was ordered to appear in court on Oct. 28. If convicted, he faces a fine of up to $2,500. Beckner-Carmitchel said he believes the charges will be dropped before his hearing date.</p><p>The Los Angeles Police Department didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
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"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-10-25 00:00:00+00:00) Charges dropped against independent videographer arrested while documenting LA homeless camp cleanup"
],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Bay Area news crew approached by armed individuals, ordered to hand over equipment",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/bay-area-news-crew-approached-by-armed-individuals-ordered-to-hand-over-equipment/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-09T18:52:33.928517Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T21:32:03.481528Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T21:32:03.428633Z",
"date": "2021-06-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Oakland",
"longitude": -122.2708,
"latitude": 37.80437,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5953i\">An NBC Bay Area news crew was threatened with firearms and ordered to hand over their equipment while filming outside City Hall in Oakland, California, on June 28, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"o0b08\">The East Bay Times <a href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/06/28/oakland-violence-prevention-chief-unhurt-after-attempted-robbery-at-gunpoint/\">reported</a> that shortly after 3 p.m. the news crew was interviewing a city official about a recent surge in crime when two unidentified armed individuals confronted the cameraperson. <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/30/oakland-tv-crew-robbery/\">According to The Washington Post</a>, the individuals knocked the camera to the ground during the incident; the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker couldn’t verify whether the camera was damaged as a result of the drop.</p><p data-block-key=\"6g594\">A scuffle ensued after the individuals ordered the crew to hand over the equipment, the Times reported. The news crew’s security guard drew his firearm and told the would-be robbers to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"cn5ab\">“The suspects immediately left the area without the camera,” a police spokesperson said in a statement to the Times. The spokesperson also noted that the suspects hadn’t been apprehended.</p><p data-block-key=\"xitq8\">“Our colleagues were conducting an interview at Oakland City Hall when they were approached by two armed individuals,” Liza Catalán, a spokeswoman for NBC Bay Area, told the Tracker in an emailed comment. “Thankfully, our colleagues are safe and unharmed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"m4q7n\">Catalán didn’t respond to questions requesting additional information about the incident.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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{
"title": "Journalist shoved, his camera damaged, while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-his-camera-damaged-while-covering-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-09T18:43:52.678964Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-31T18:30:46.592805Z",
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"date": "2021-06-25",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"q09qj\">Independent video journalist Mason Lake said a Portland police officer shoved him with a baton and damaged his on-camera microphone while he was covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, on June 25, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"mtu2z\">According to <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2021/06/man-hurt-in-ne-portland-police-shooting.html\">The Oregonian</a>, protesters gathered near the Oregon Convention Center after a Portland police officer shot and killed a man outside a Motel 6. Some demonstrators shouted for officers to quit their jobs, while officers stood facing the protesters with shields and batons. The Portland Police Bureau on Twitter<a href=\"https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1408303757230624769?s=20\"> said</a> officers throughout the city responded to help with “scene security.” A few days earlier on June 16, all of the officers with the Portland Police Bureau's Rapid Response Team resigned together following news of investigations for excessive force, according to<a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2021/06/17/portland-police-officers-resign-in-mass-from-rapid-response-team/\"> Oregon Public Broadcasting</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"i23ce\">“The PPB maced & fired 40mm rounds into a crowd of protestors gathered on NE Grand Ave,” Lake<a href=\"https://twitter.com/MasonLakePhoto/status/1408320296076021764\"> wrote</a> on Twitter at 12:04 p.m. on June 25, alongside a video of officers shoving and spraying demonstrators. At the 19-second mark, it appears that an officer physically knocked the camera, cutting the audio for the rest of the clip.</p><p data-block-key=\"eq2u6\">“I was on the front line and I was nearly bear-maced before being physically shoved by & officer with a baton,” Lake wrote the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in a text message. “He hit/shoved me marking my neck & hitting my on-camera microphone damaging it.” He also<a href=\"https://twitter.com/MasonLakePhoto/status/1408349507402620932\"> tweeted</a> a photograph of his neck with a red mark across the middle and said he had multiple “press” markings across his clothes and helmet, as well as a National Press Photographers Association badge on his front strap.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A PPB officer hit/shoved me with a baton, marking the skin on my neck & damaged my on-camera microphone while I was filming them push/mace the crowd of protestors gathered tonight by the Portland Convention Center after a shooting report. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/police?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#police</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/assault?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#assault</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/press?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#press</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/rDlWYPiYSl\">pic.twitter.com/rDlWYPiYSl</a></p>— Mason Lake Media (@MasonLakePhoto) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MasonLakePhoto/status/1408349507402620932?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 25, 2021</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=\"uiyfk\">“The officer issued no orders for press to move or go to designated area,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"tylcz\">PPB didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"d42fr\">A group of police officers surround demonstrators during a protest on Oct. 1, 2020, in Portland, Oregon. Journalist Mason Lake was shoved by police and had equipment damaged while documenting protests there in June 2021.</p>",
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{
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],
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"name": "Oregon",
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},
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"(2022-06-27 00:00:00+00:00) Oregon video journalist files suit over Portland police assaults",
"(2024-05-22 00:00:00+00:00) Journalist’s claims dismissed over assault by Portland, Oregon, police"
],
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"dismissed"
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"protest"
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"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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"Mason Lake (Independent)"
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},
{
"title": "Journalist says he feared for his life while covering anti-vaccine rally in Oregon",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-says-he-feared-for-his-life-while-covering-anti-vaccine-rally-in-oregon/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-12T15:30:43.114431Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-02-01T18:04:09.572624Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-02-01T18:04:09.354161Z",
"date": "2021-06-23",
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"city": "Springfield",
"longitude": -123.02203,
"latitude": 44.04624,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e2icm\">Independent journalist James Croxton, managing editor of Oregon-based website DoubleSidedMedia, said his life was threatened as he covered an anti-vaccine rally in Springfield, Oregon, on June 23, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"7s3wi\">He said he was in the plaza in front of Springfield Library around 4 p.m. to cover the event, which was also advertised as a protest against mask-wearing to combat COVID-19, and against critical race theory. Croxton said there were around 40 protesters at the rally.</p><p data-block-key=\"okeei\">“Many of them held signs about keeping critical race theory out of schools and mask mandates,” he wrote in a post for <a href=\"https://leftcoastrightwatch.org/2021/06/journalist-threatened-with-death-at-springfield-or-antivaxxer-march/\">Left Coast Right Watch</a>, a California-based website.</p><p data-block-key=\"oatf2\">Two men approached Croxton and asked him who he worked for. Croxton wrote in the post that when he replied ”‘Double Sided Media” they muttered “fake press.” He said he was later circled by two protesters, one carrying a large pole. He wrote that the one carrying the flagpole was “notorious” for beating people with it.</p><p data-block-key=\"4wxn9\">He added that a man walked toward him and told him it would be wise if he walked away.</p><p data-block-key=\"fu6qk\">“Knowing I was largely outnumbered and the only member of the press there by this point, I agreed and stated, ‘Sure, I’ll walk away. No problem’,” Croxton wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"pqn2v\">Two of the men then followed Croxton down the road, he said, and one said: “If you ever come back, it’ll be the last thing you do.”</p><p data-block-key=\"m2jgi\">“I was physically scared for myself. I thought I was about to be ambushed as two grown men—one with a large flagpole as normal—circled me like predatory vultures,” Croxton <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jwcroxton/status/1407904723785555973?s=20\">tweeted</a> after the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"61vqc\">“In retrospect, I think this was the most dangerous situation I have found myself in so far. I say this because I was entirely alone and with a bunch of people who still think that 'the press is the enemy of the people,'” Croxton wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"ognte\">Croxton told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he had feared for his life.</p><p data-block-key=\"mn8vj\">“I felt scared due to the fact that I was all alone knowing that if anything happened, nobody was there to either document it or help me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5u44o\">He said he hadn’t filed a complaint to the police.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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"tags": [
"coronavirus",
"protest"
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"Assault"
],
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"James Croxton (Independent)"
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{
"title": "Reporter fined for contempt after recording NC court proceedings",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-fined-for-contempt-after-recording-nc-court-proceedings/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-14T16:16:32.723562Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-07-27T18:16:50.764245Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-07-27T18:16:50.718676Z",
"date": "2021-06-22",
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"city": "Rockingham",
"longitude": -79.77395,
"latitude": 34.93932,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Matthew Sasser, a reporter for the Richmond County Daily Journal, was charged on June 22, 2021, with criminal contempt of court for bringing a tape recorder into a courtroom while covering a murder trial, according to the charging document reviewed by the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p>The charging document states that on June 21 and 22 Sasser violated a standing administrative order from August 2019 forbidding the use of electronic equipment in the courtroom.</p><p>Resident Superior Court Judge Stephan Futrell fined Sasser $500, the maximum allowed. In the same hearing, Futrell charged Sasser’s editor Gavin Stone with contempt of court for instructing Sasser that he could bring a tape recorder into court, according to the court documents and the newspaper’s regional publisher Brian Bloom, who spoke to CPJ. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p>Both Sasser and Stone acknowledged that they violated the August 2019 order, but said they did not correctly understand that tape recorders were also prohibited inside the courtroom, according to the court document.</p><p>The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/nc-state-wire-only-on-ap-lifestyle-68aaa25949860fe366a480337c5b5a9e\">reported</a> that, under North Carolina law, courts can punish someone for criminal contempt if they had previously been warned by the court that the conduct was improper.</p><p>Stone had in January 2020 received notice in a letter from Chief District Court Judge Amanda Wilson claiming he had violated the August 2019 order by photographing in the courtroom and publishing that image in the Daily Journal.</p><p>During a June 22 court hearing, Stone was sentenced to 5 days in prison and was jailed immediately. Stone told the Tracker he was released after approximately 24 hours in custody. The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nc-editor-jailed-after-reporter-records-court-proceedings/\">his charges here</a>.</p><p>An attorney representing the journalists filed an immediate appeal, securing Stone’s release, according to the AP. Futrell lifted the initial penalties and the editor and reporter will appear before an appeals court in August, Bloom told CPJ. If their convictions are upheld, each could face a fine up to $500, 30 days in prison or both, according to the court document.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Matthew Sasser (Richmond County Daily Journal)"
],
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},
{
"title": "NC editor jailed after reporter records court proceedings",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nc-editor-jailed-after-reporter-records-court-proceedings/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-14T16:13:24.511711Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-01-30T20:47:49.485148Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-01-30T20:47:49.369607Z",
"date": "2021-06-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Rockingham",
"longitude": -79.77395,
"latitude": 34.93932,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"v1u5i\">Gavin Stone, an editor for the Richmond County Daily Journal, was charged on June 22, 2021, with criminal contempt of court for violating an administrative order that forbade the use of electronic equipment in the courtroom, according to the charging document reviewed by the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"o63ff\">Stone was charged along with Daily Journal reporter Matthew Sasser, who had brought a tape recorder into a courtroom while covering a murder trial. Stone acknowledged that he incorrectly instructed Sasser that he could bring a tape recorder into court, according to court documents and Brian Bloom, the newspaper’s regional publisher, who spoke with CPJ. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"pnqrm\">Both Sasser and Stone acknowledged that they violated an August 2019 bar on electronic devices, but said they did not correctly understand that tape recorders were also prohibited inside the courtroom, according to the court document.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3tew\">The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/nc-state-wire-only-on-ap-lifestyle-68aaa25949860fe366a480337c5b5a9e\">reported</a> that, under North Carolina law, courts can punish someone for criminal contempt if they had previously been warned by the court that the conduct was improper.</p><p data-block-key=\"lqua6\">Stone had in January 2020 received notice in a letter from Chief District Court Judge Amanda Wilson claiming he had violated the August 2019 order by photographing in the courtroom and publishing that image in the Daily Journal.</p><p data-block-key=\"piy6o\">Resident Superior Court Judge Stephan Futrell, who filed the June 2021 charges against the journalists, sentenced Stone to five days in prison and jailed the editor immediately following the hearing, according to Bloom and the AP. Stone told the Tracker he was released after approximately 24 hours in custody.</p><p data-block-key=\"9q7ub\">Sasser was fined $500, the maximum allowed, according to the same sources. The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-fined-for-contempt-after-recording-nc-court-proceedings/\">his charges here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"vul20\">An attorney representing the journalists filed an immediate appeal, securing Stone’s release, according to the AP. Futrell lifted the initial penalties and the editor and reporter will appear before an appeals court in August, Bloom told CPJ. If their convictions are upheld, each could face a fine up to $500, 30 days in prison or both, according to the court document.</p></div>",
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{
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],
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"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
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},
"updates": [
"(2022-04-01 12:32:00+00:00) NC journalist completes community service, writes apology letter"
],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
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"Gavin Stone (Richmond County Daily Journal)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter at Atlanta crime scene assaulted by security guard",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-at-atlanta-crime-scene-assaulted-by-security-guard/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-24T12:24:03.110874Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-06-24T12:24:03.110874Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-06-24T12:24:03.083842Z",
"date": "2021-06-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Atlanta",
"longitude": -84.38798,
"latitude": 33.749,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Mike Petchenik, a reporter for Atlanta’s WSB-TV, said a security guard at a local mall tried to grab his phone from his hand and assaulted him as he was reporting at the scene of a shooting on June 13, 2021.</p><p>WSB-TV <a href=\"https://www.wsbradio.com/news/local/atlanta/security-guard-shot-inside-lenox-square-mall-police-searching-gunman/HWE7XPS54BCH7DLKJAUCUIGH74/?fbclid=IwAR2UBE9bKGWrJIjx-gOdrj-0vGINfhmg3D9NucfCUvEpGYkHAPBt6ciAN9A\">reported</a> that two 15-year-olds had approached a Lenox Square Mall security guard and shot him, before fleeing to a nearby hotel where they were captured and arrested. The security guard was taken to the hospital for wounds to his chest and stomach but was recovering, <a href=\"https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/breaking-possible-shooting-at-lenox-square-prompts-large-police-presence/BYAVTILIORGRRDJ56GYTKGCLB4/\">according to</a> The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.</p><p>Petchenik told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MPetchenikWSB/status/1404246045236813830\">reporting about the incident</a> from off of mall property, but after he walked into the parking lot he saw someone running in his direction out of the corner of his eye.</p><p>In a clip Petchenik posted just before 10 p.m., a security guard can be seen walking toward Petchenik and grabbing his phone before the video suddenly stops.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">While shooting some video of the crime scene at <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/LenoxSquare?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LenoxSquare</a>, a security guard grabbed my phone out of my hand. <a href=\"https://t.co/4n6YktaIgR\">pic.twitter.com/4n6YktaIgR</a></p>— Mike Petchenik (@MPetchenikWSB) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MPetchenikWSB/status/1404256253845463041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 14, 2021</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>“You don’t know what we just witnessed out here,” the guard can be heard saying in the clip.</p><p>“I was able to wrangle my phone back from her and tell her to get her hands off of me at that point,” Petchenik said. “We were within the view and earshot of police officers but they didn’t really do anything other than tell me that I could stand there.”</p><p>Petchenik said he identified himself and was wearing a station polo shirt during the incident, but he wasn’t sure whether he had his press credentials.</p><p>In response to a comment on the video, Petchenik <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MPetchenikWSB/status/1404261043015139334\">wrote</a> on Twitter that he understood the security guard was likely frustrated because of the shooting.</p><p>“But grabbing my phone and trying to rough me up wasn’t the proper response,” Petchenik wrote. He told the Tracker he decided not to press charges or file a complaint with the security guard’s superiors.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "private security",
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"state": {
"name": "Georgia",
"abbreviation": "GA"
},
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Mike Petchenik (WSB-TV)"
],
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{
"title": "Videographer hit with pepper ball while covering demonstration against LASD",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/videographer-hit-with-pepper-ball-while-covering-demonstration-against-lasd/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-09T18:22:26.015020Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:50:41.389218Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:50:41.293766Z",
"date": "2021-06-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1uc7c\">Videographer Vishal Singh said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officers hit him in the leg with a pepper ball while he was covering a protest against the department on June 12, 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"re2h5\">According to<a href=\"https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/06/12/activists-protesting-la-county-sheriffs-department-briefly-stopped-traffic-no-arrests-were-made/\"> CBS Los Angeles</a>, the sheriff’s department had denied a permit to a group planning a protest to demand that <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1403961570242097158?s=20\">Sheriff Alex Villanueva</a> step down. Despite the ban, demonstrators went ahead with a march, “highlighting the many killings of LASD against the Black and Brown community — such as #DijonKizzee, a Black man who was shot and killed last year for a bicycle violation," Singh wrote on Twitter at 3:45 p.m. that day. Singh’s Twitter post accompanied a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1403845911734718464\"> video</a> of a demonstrator speaking to officers on a megaphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"e4cng\">Singh, who has worked on Netflix documentaries and covers protests in Los Angeles, said that at one point, sheriff’s deputies “started pointing me out and calling my name to each other." A<a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1403823827319066624\"> video</a> he posted shows a brief conversation Singh had with one deputy.</p><p data-block-key=\"5sy5a\">"One of them recognized me from the raid on the Black Unity autonomous protest camp last year," he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"u2y9x\">At 6:14 p.m., Singh <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VPS_Reports/status/1403883348708167681\">tweeted</a> that he was hit in the leg by a pepper ball. In a video accompanying the tweet, the sound of a gun firing can be heard, followed shortly by Singh cursing, but the pepper ball is not seen. Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he wore a press badge while reporting, but he said the officers were "kind of shooting at everybody," and thus he did not believe he was deliberately targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"hrfhe\">In a letter to the department's board, the ACLU of Southern California said the sheriff's denial of the protest request was "unconstitutional and suggested it was the result of bias," wrote<a href=\"https://laist.com/news/criminal-justice/sheriff-denies-permit-for-protest-against-lasd-raising-1st-amendment-concerns\"> LAist</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ymck5\">Two weeks earlier, on May 28, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction limiting the sheriff’s department's use of projectiles and chemical agents on protests, "finding that it has indiscriminately fired them at peaceful protesters, legal observers and journalists," according to the<a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-06-12/la-me-los-angeles-county-sheriff-department-preliminary-injunction-indiscriminate-force\"> Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ktcqv\">LASD Deputy Eva Jimenez did not respond to the specifics of Singh’s case but told the Tracker that the "deployment and use of less lethal munitions is guided by strict policy and procedure, in addition to current state and federal law. Every application and use of force is thoroughly documented, investigated, and reviewed at multiple levels throughout the chain of command."</p><p data-block-key=\"xnych\">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": "",
"teaser": "",
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"arresting_authority": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Vishal Singh (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Subpoena seeking unreleased footage issued to Chicago CBS2 News reporter",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-seeking-unreleased-footage-issued-to-chicago-cbs2-news-reporter/",
"first_published_at": "2022-05-12T16:51:28.314199Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-14T20:23:39.047413Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-14T20:23:38.949048Z",
"date": "2021-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pr52c\">A subpoena seeking reporting materials was issued to CBS2 News reporter Dave Savini on June 8, 2021, in Chicago, Illinois, as part of a lawsuit brought by a mother on behalf of her son.</p><p data-block-key=\"c6lm2\"><a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/school-beating-ruling.pdf\">According to court documents</a>, subpoenas identical to Savini’s were also served to CBS2 News’ parent company, Viacom CBS, <a href=\"/all-incidents/subpoena-seeking-unreleased-footage-issued-to-former-editor-at-cbs2-news/\">former news editor Derek Dalton</a> and a non-entity on the same date. All demanded footage from Savini’s interview with the child, who was allegedly beaten in a school bathroom with belts provided by his teacher, and the child’s relative, who is accused of the assault. Shortly after the incident, the relative answered questions from Savini after leaving a criminal court. CBS 2 aired <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUMGjihk6I8\">a segment with the interviews</a> in February 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"194cq\">Attorneys for CBS objected to the subpoena on behalf of Savini on July 12, stating that all materials were privileged newsgathering information. Attorneys also cited federal and <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/privilege-compendium/illinois/#:~:text=The%20Illinois%20Reporter's%20Privilege%20Statute,either%20that%20%E2%80%9Cdisclosure%20of%20the\">state reporter’s privilege statutes</a>, saying that collecting the files would be “unduly burdensome to produce.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7s90b\">Plaintiffs in the lawsuit eventually withdrew the subpoena issued to Viacom-CBS on Oct. 21, <a href=\"/all-incidents/federal-judge-upholds-subpoena-demanding-unreleased-materials-from-chicagos-cbs2-news/\">redirecting it to CBS Broadcasting, Inc. (CBS2)</a> and reissuing the subpoena to Savini and Dalton. Lawyers to the plaintiff also agreed to narrow the scope of the subpoenas, demanding only the video and audio outtake recordings of the interviews. The current status of Savini’s subpoena is unknown but a motion to compel CBS2 to produce the footage was ultimately upheld on April 29, 2022.</p><p data-block-key=\"2br0e\">In her decision to uphold the outlet’s subpoena, United States Magistrate Judge Sheila Finnegan wrote that “there is no federal common-law reporter’s privilege applicable in this case, and CBS 2 cannot withhold the requested audio/video outtakes on this basis.” The court ordered the outlet to produce the unreleased footage by May 13, 2022.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"arresting_authority": null,
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"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-10-20 00:00:00+00:00) Chicago CBS station ordered to turn over raw interview footage"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Dave Savini (WBBM-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"unknown"
],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Subpoena seeking unreleased footage issued to former editor at CBS2 News",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/subpoena-seeking-unreleased-footage-issued-to-former-editor-at-cbs2-news/",
"first_published_at": "2022-05-12T16:58:29.936836Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-13T21:23:13.430160Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-13T21:23:13.254676Z",
"date": "2021-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mvycn\">On June 8, 2021, a subpoena seeking reporting materials was issued to Derek Dalton as part of his former role as president and general manager of CBS2 News in Chicago, Illinois.</p><p data-block-key=\"dib5q\"><a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/school-beating-ruling.pdf\">According to court documents</a>, subpoenas identical to Dalton’s were served on the same date to CBS2 News’ parent company, Viacom CBS, <a href=\"/all-incidents/subpoena-seeking-unreleased-footage-issued-to-chicago-cbs2-news-reporter/\">reporter Dave Savini,</a> and a non-entity as part of a lawsuit brought by a mother on behalf of her son who was allegedly beaten in a school bathroom with belts provided by his teacher, and the child’s relative, who is accused of the assault. All demanded footage from an interview with the child and with the relative, who answered questions from Savini after leaving a criminal court. CBS 2 aired <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUMGjihk6I8\">a segment with the interviews</a> in February 2019.</p><p data-block-key=\"14ql3\">Plaintiffs in the lawsuit eventually withdrew the subpoena issued to Viacom-CBS on Oct. 21, <a href=\"/all-incidents/federal-judge-upholds-subpoena-demanding-unreleased-materials-from-chicagos-cbs2-news/\">redirecting it to CBS Broadcasting, Inc. (CBS2)</a> and reissuing the subpoena to Dalton and Savini. Lawyers to the plaintiff also agreed to narrow the scope of the subpoenas, demanding only the video and audio outtake recordings of the interviews.</p><p data-block-key=\"ai3d0\">In objecting to the subpoenas, attorneys for CBS claimed Dalton was not currently employed by the company and was not an employee when he was issued the subpoena. The current status of Dalton’s subpoena is unknown but a motion to compel CBS2 to produce the footage was ultimately upheld on April 29, 2022.</p><p data-block-key=\"5gcaf\">In her decision to uphold the outlet’s subpoena, United States Magistrate Judge Sheila Finnegan wrote that “there is no federal common-law reporter’s privilege applicable in this case, and CBS 2 cannot withhold the requested audio/video outtakes on this basis.” The court ordered the outlet to produce the unreleased footage by May 13, 2022.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"g412s\">A portion of the subpoena issued to the former president and general manager of CBS2 News seeking unpublished video and audio footage as part of a lawsuit against the Chicago Department of Education.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": "journalist communications or work product",
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-10-20 00:00:00+00:00) Chicago CBS station ordered to turn over raw interview footage"
],
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"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Derek Dalton (WBBM-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [
"unknown"
],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Veteran reporter arrested, strip-searched in Minnesota while covering anti-pipeline protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/veteran-reporter-arrested-strip-searched-in-minnesota-while-covering-anti-pipeline-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-06-14T17:41:05.175712Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-22T15:30:32.356033Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-22T15:30:32.275661Z",
"date": "2021-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Hubbard County",
"longitude": null,
"latitude": null,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"nqaf8\">Authorities in Hubbard County, Minnesota, detained and strip-searched journalist Alan Weisman and charged him with gross misdemeanor trespassing charges, according to Weisman and County Attorney Jonathan Frieden, who both spoke with the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"6rfx1\">At about 5 p.m. on June 7, an officer with the local sheriff’s department in Hubbard County, Minnesota, arrested Weisman, a freelance journalist on assignment for the Los Angeles Times, while he was covering a protest against the construction of an oil pipeline, Weisman said.</p><p data-block-key=\"tgml4\">The deputies brought Weisman to the local sheriff’s department, where officers strip-searched him and confiscated his phone, voice recorder, notebooks, and prescription medications, he said. He told CPJ, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, that authorities released him at about 9:30 p.m., returned his possessions, and did not inform him of any charges filed against him.</p><p data-block-key=\"7gos2\">In a phone interview, Frieden told CPJ that his office had filed<a href=\"https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.6055\"> gross misdemeanor trespassing charges</a> against Weisman, but said that the charges had not been formally approved by a judge as of today. He said he was not aware that Weisman was a journalist at the time his office filed the charges, but added that Minnesota state law does not provide special dispensation for journalists in such cases.</p><p data-block-key=\"frrob\">Under Minnesota law, the<a href=\"https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.02\"> maximum fine</a> that can be imposed for a gross misdemeanor is $3,000.</p><p data-block-key=\"hyv1w\">Law enforcement arrested about 250 people on trespassing, public nuisance, and unlawful assembly charges in relation to the protest, according to<a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-minnesota-arrests-business-1523d769d7a7e097503f4088c420065b\"> news reports</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"es4j4\">Weisman told CPJ he did not know why he was arrested. He said that he was standing in an area with other journalists and was wearing two lanyards with press credentials when a sheriff’s deputy tapped him on the shoulder and said he was under arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"tfq48\">“It was very clear that I was a journalist,” Weisman told CPJ, saying that he had a notebook in his hand and was conducting interviews at the time. He said that the officer did not give him any warning before the arrest or issue any commands to leave the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"30vuq\">The officer placed Weisman in a sheriff’s department vehicle along with eight other people who were arrested at the protest, he said. He told CPJ he was able to call his friends and colleagues from inside the vehicle, but said officers repeatedly denied his right to a phone call once he arrived at the station.</p><p data-block-key=\"wcrqo\">He added that officers initially refused to give him his medication while in detention, but eventually did so. When Weisman asked a sheriff’s deputy why he was being released, they said that he was released so he could continue taking his medication on schedule.</p><p data-block-key=\"pz0i4\">In emails to CPJ yesterday, Cory Aukes, the Hubbard County sheriff, said that deputies would not arrest a credentialed journalist who was “obviously documenting the situation,” but said, “that wasn’t the case here.”</p><p data-block-key=\"goa3r\">Aukes said that if Weisman “was in an area that he had permission to be in, we wouldn’t arrest him.” He added that the issue of whether Weisman will face any criminal charges “is between the Hubbard County Attorney and Mr. Weisman.”</p><p data-block-key=\"pa4o6\">Weisman said that, upon his release, a local religious organization that helps newly released detainees transported him back to his rental car.</p><p data-block-key=\"vbv76\">Weisman has contributed on environmental issues and other topics to news outlets including the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and The New York Times, among others, and wrote The World Without Us. Weisman is under contract for his next book with Dutton/ Penguin Random House and is a senior producer and the board treasurer at Homeland Productions, an independent, nonprofit journalism collective, according to<a href=\"https://homelands.org/team/alan-weisman/\"> his biography</a> on that group’s website.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTXD232B.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"bv1t0\">Law enforcement arrested nearly 250 people at an organized protest of the Line 3 pipeline in Hubbard County, Minnesota, on June 7, 2021, including journalist Alan Weisman, who was on assignment for the Los Angeles Times.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"(2021-06-14 10:52:00+00:00) Hearing scheduled for reporter charged with trespassing",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist pushed by NYPD officer, struck with baton while covering protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-pushed-by-nypd-officer-struck-with-baton-while-covering-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-15T15:05:41.193109Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-07-15T15:14:49.748164Z",
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"date": "2021-06-05",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Independent photojournalist Gabe Quinones said he was assaulted by a New York City Police Department officer while covering demonstrations in Washington Square Park on June 5, 2021.</p><p>The park had been the site of both protests and street parties; Gothamist <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/citing-disorder-nypd-enforce-10-pm-curfew-washington-square-park\">reported</a> that for several months the NYPD had <a href=\"https://gothamist.com/news/nypd-clears-washington-square-park-clubs-and-arrests-during-rare-curfew-sweep\">attempted to enforce</a> the park’s largely ignored midnight curfew.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Riot cops just cleared Washington Square Park, arresting one person because he has a speaker playing Fuck The Police, and swinging batons at a teenager. Because the park closes at midnight <a href=\"https://t.co/nrGDDEQYba\">pic.twitter.com/nrGDDEQYba</a></p>— Jake Offenhartz (@jangelooff) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jangelooff/status/1324946178539220992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 7, 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>At the end of May, the NYPD said that officers, coordinating with the NYC Parks Department, would enforce a 10 p.m. closure of the park on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, according to Gothamist.</p><p>Quinones told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that on June 5, officers arrived well before the closure of the park and advanced on the crowds gathered there shortly before 10 p.m.</p><p>In a <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CPxxO4WjQ5R/\">post on Instagram</a>, Quinones wrote: “The officers had instructed us to stay on the sidewalk and that’s exactly where I was when I was attacked. He shoved his baton into my chest causing bruising so I told him ‘I’m press’, before I could pull out the badge he bum rushed me pinning me to a wall and shoving his baton into me further.”</p><p>At approximately 12:55 minutes into <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgVbL2qFCEw\">video footage</a> from news agency FreedomNews.TV and filmed by @scootercasterNY, an NYPD officer appears to push Quinones against a doorframe and then take a baton swipe at him as he runs away.</p><p>“After [the officer shoved] me the first time, I sort of fell backward and I instinctively reached out for anything to sort of catch myself and so I grabbed his baton,” Quinones said. “That’s when he shoved me back into the wall.”</p><p>Quinones told the Tracker the officer who struck him never spoke to him beyond telling him to get on the sidewalk, where he already was. He said he filed a complaint against the officer and was contacted by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Office to provide his footage and answer questions about the incident.</p><p>On July 6, Quinones said officers arrived at his apartment and arrested him on charges of grand larceny, alleging that he had attempted to steal the officer’s baton during the June 5 incident. Quinones said he was held for three to four hours before being released with a hearing scheduled for July 26. The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-charged-with-grand-larceny-following-filing-assault-complaint-against-nypd-officer/\">that arrest here</a>.</p><p>The NYPD didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Unicorn Riot journalist pushed by officer while covering protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/unicorn-riot-journalist-pushed-by-officer-while-covering-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-07-09T18:16:09.205260Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:38:35.068842Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:38:34.965651Z",
"date": "2021-06-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pa9zk\">Niko Georgiades, a journalist with the nonprofit media outlet Unicorn Riot, says he was pushed from behind by a police officer as he was livestreaming a protest in Minneapolis on June 3.</p><p data-block-key=\"eph3t\">Just before midnight, Georgiades was covering protests held in the city’s Uptown area over the fatal shooting of <a href=\"https://www.startribune.com/protests-continue-into-night-after-fatal-uptown-shooting-minneapolis-winston-smith-police/600064603/\">Winston Boogie Smith Jr</a>. Smith, a 32-year-old Black man, was killed that day while members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force were pursuing him <a href=\"https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/06/04/winston-boogie-smith-32-idd-as-man-fatally-shot-by-law-enforcement-in-uptown-minneapolis/\">because he was wanted</a> on a state felony arrest warrant for firearm possession, according to media reports.</p><p data-block-key=\"foezs\">Georgiades told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: “The police were clearing protesters off of Lake St. on the first night of protests for Winston Smith.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9i9dl\">Georgiades said that as he watched police make a few arrests, he felt an officer push him from behind. The officer “then came out of the police line directly towards me and continued for about 50 feet. When he realized he was all alone, he stopped and moved back to the police line,” Georgiades said.</p><p data-block-key=\"wjhik\">The journalist said that about 15 minutes before he was pushed, another officer had approached him and struck his camera. “He pushed his hand down from the top of the camera telling me to ‘get out of here.’ I was not injured in this incident,” said Georgiades.</p><p data-block-key=\"yryrt\">Georgiades said he felt the officers were deliberately targeting media. “I had my Unicorn Riot press badge hanging around my neck and I had a large camera with lights on it and a microphone with a Unicorn Riot flag on it,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"k6pr7\">The Citizen Reporter, a Twitter feed covering protests, streamed<a href=\"https://twitter.com/TCReporter/status/1400690150405980162?s=20\"> video</a> that night and tweeted: “@UR_Ninja’s Niko, who is credentialed press, was shoved from behind by a Minneapolis police officer on Lake St. in Uptown about 20 minutes ago. He was following orders when he was shoved.”</p><p data-block-key=\"p7jq0\">The video shows Georgiades carrying a video camera and being pushed by a police officer. The words ‘I’m media” can be heard. In a video Georgiades<a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jq5HCNqKL8&t=4625s\"> made himself</a> and posted on YouTube, there are blurred images of him being pushed by an officer who looks to be running. He can be heard to say: “I’m media. What the fuck? I’m not doing anything, I’m media.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tr865\">A Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson said: “If the journalist believes that he was mistreated or that officers violated policy, I would encourage him to reach out to the Internal Affairs Unit or the Office of Police Conduct Review Board and file a complaint.” Georgiades said he had not filed a complaint.</p><p data-block-key=\"soddk\">Wilson’s death sparked further protests in a city that has seen <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">many such demonstrations</a> since the 2020 murder of George Floyd, a Black man who was pinned to the ground by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was <a href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/06/01/derek-chauvin-hearing-federal-charges-george-floyds-death/7491748002/\">convicted of murder</a> in April.</p><p data-block-key=\"y6j9b\">The area also <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-04-11&date_upper=2021-04-16&city=Brooklyn+Center&tags=Black+Lives+Matter\">saw protests</a> in nearby Brooklyn Center after the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright, a Black man, by a white police officer on April 11.</p></div>",
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"name": "Minnesota",
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