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{
"title": "Journalist hit with police baton while photographing protests in Philadelphia",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-police-baton-while-photographing-protests-philadelphia/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-15T20:11:41.288033Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T17:55:21.968046Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T17:55:21.894305Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Philadelphia",
"longitude": -75.16362,
"latitude": 39.95238,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0h578\">A Philadelphia police officer hit freelance photojournalist Sam Trilling with a baton while Trilling was covering protests in the city on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"h7hcq\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"yvrpw\">Trilling told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he was standing on a barricade taking pictures of the line between police and protesters when an officer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SamInPrint/status/1266919513666265088/photo/1\">struck him</a> once with a baton across his <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SamInPrint/status/1267227022692102146/photo/4\">abdomen</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"s9vpo\">Trilling’s injuries did not require medical attention, and he continued reporting, the journalist told CPJ. He said he was able to identify the officer who struck him, though had not yet filed a police report as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"y5nhz\">The Philadelphia Police Department declined to comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"tbw1w\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting damage of equipment and multiple journalists arrested or struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas while covering related protests across the country. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/trilling_assault0530_floyd.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qpfep\">Photojournalist Sam Trilling captured the moment before a Philadelphia police officer hit him with a baton during protests in the city on May 30, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sam Trilling (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist shot with rubber bullet while covering Baltimore protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shot-rubber-bullet-while-covering-baltimore-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-15T03:54:16.147144Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T17:54:42.722272Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T17:54:42.637297Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Baltimore",
"longitude": -76.61219,
"latitude": 39.29038,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"w8uxm\">Freelance photojournalist Timothy Wolfer was tear-gassed and shot with a rubber bullet while covering a protest outside Baltimore City Hall on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"c03pn\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"yvpe6\">Wolfer told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that at approximately 9:45 p.m. police started spraying tear gas at a crowd of around 150 people.</p><p data-block-key=\"vwdst\">“Somebody had probably thrown something, because police had started to tear-gas back at protesters,” Wolfer said.</p><p data-block-key=\"o0zat\">As he was running away from the gas, with his press ID clearly hanging from his neck, he says he was hit in the upper hip with a rubber bullet, which left a 5-inch bruise.</p><p data-block-key=\"fw5t1\">The Baltimore Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ixg6n\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2020-06-14_at_10.17.1.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"s169g\">While documenting a protest in front of city hall in Baltimore, Maryland, freelance photojournalist Timothy Wolfer was hit with a rubber bullet and tear gassed.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Timothy Wolfer (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "KATV reporter assaulted on air amid Little Rock protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/katv-reporter-assaulted-air-amid-little-rock-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-14T03:16:05.448354Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:35:25.153580Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:35:25.018124Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Little Rock",
"longitude": -92.28959,
"latitude": 34.74648,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bwp46\">Shelby Rose, a reporter with KATV Channel 7 News, was assaulted during a live broadcast while covering protests in Little Rock, Arkansas, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ox8rh\">Protests in Little Rock began as demonstrations erupted across the country, sparked by a video of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest in Minnesota on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"c764o\">Rose was covering a protest near the Arkansas Capitol, where the crowd was “agitated,” she said. Some protesters had been clear that they were not happy the journalists were there, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"wgvvb\">Rose was preparing for a live broadcast when a woman began screaming near her and in front of the camera. When the broadcast began, the photographer zoomed in on Rose, while the woman stood to her right, shouting at her and using profanities.</p><p data-block-key=\"hccw3\">Video shows that as Rose tried to move away, the woman followed her, getting closer. As Rose directed the broadcast back to the anchor, the woman raised her arm and struck Rose over the head with an object.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This was the moment I got assaulted on live TV tonight. I cannot express my gratitude to the entire team behind the scenes with me. Journalists are here to inform, not be the enemy. <a href=\"https://t.co/XlkMkWxGdZ\">https://t.co/XlkMkWxGdZ</a></p>— Shelby Rose (@KATVShelby) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KATVShelby/status/1266971544082841600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"dcyr8\">Rose said she didn’t see the object she was struck with but believes it was a water bottle because water sprayed around her. After she was hit, Rose said she ducked and ran away from the woman. The assault left her with an injury in her neck, for which she subsequently sought medical attention.</p><p data-block-key=\"67bp5\">A spokesperson for the Little Rock Police Department said law enforcement was aware of the incident, but declined to comment because the investigation is ongoing.</p><p data-block-key=\"2c17f\">Rose said she and four other members of the KATV team were clearly identified as press. She was wearing a shirt with the KATV News logo on it and carried a microphone also marked with the station’s logo. Before the broadcast in which Rose was hit, a different protester had confronted a member of the team, who was recording<a href=\"https://twitter.com/paige_cushman/status/1266977774675296259?s=20\"> video</a> on her phone, and repeatedly hit the phone out of her hand.</p><p data-block-key=\"xzees\">Rose previously covered the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in North Dakota in 2016, where, though she’d had a few tense interactions, she says she never experienced hostility like she did covering the George Floyd protests in Little Rock. “It’s incredible to see the switch of the mentality of the general public toward journalists from then until now,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"nr8s7\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting damage of equipment and multiple journalists arrested or struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas while covering related protests across the country. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2020-06-13_at_9.46.26.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"s19nr\">While reporting live from protests in Little Rock, Arkansas, an unidentified individual harassed and assaulted KATV Channel 7 reporter Shelby Rose.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Arkansas",
"abbreviation": "AR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Shelby Rose (KATV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Police fire projectiles at NBC News correspondent during Louisville protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-fire-pepper-balls-and-rubber-bullets-news-crew-move-them-during-louisville-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-11T23:01:24.810396Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:34:50.115417Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:34:49.988191Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Louisville",
"longitude": -85.75941,
"latitude": 38.25424,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r3vny\">NBC News correspondent Cal Perry and producer Kailani Koenig were shot at with pepper balls while covering protests in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"flvw8\">Protests in Louisville have centered around the deaths of Breonna Taylor, shot and killed inside her home by Louisville police in March, and the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"na9vx\">Perry told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news team and their security guard were reporting from a bus stop with plexiglass barriers in downtown Louisville shortly after 8:30 p.m. when police began to disperse the crowd. Both news crew members were wearing press passes, Perry said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5xprc\">“As the police moved, they just turned and started firing at the bus stop,” Perry said. “We took off running and then as we were running a kid right in front of me got hit with a rubber bullet, and I thought for sure that I was next.”</p><p data-block-key=\"46bos\">When they made it around the corner and out of the midst of the police advance, Koenig turned around and Perry noticed that her bag had been hit with pepper balls anywhere from six to 12 times. The Tracker documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nbc-news-producer-hit-with-multiple-projectiles-during-louisville-protests/\">Koenig’s assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"0w62p\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CalNBC/status/1267108873216933893\">tweet</a> posted the following day, Koenig’s backpack can be seen with numerous residue marks where it was struck by the less-lethal pepper ball rounds.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Producer <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kailanikm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@kailanikm</a> backpack marked by the many spots pepper pellets hit as we were running away last night in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Louisville?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Louisville</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MSNBC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MSNBC</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/ynQBuDjoQf\">pic.twitter.com/ynQBuDjoQf</a></p>— Cal Perry (@CalNBC) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CalNBC/status/1267108873216933893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"r2glb\">Perry said that while Koenig’s bag had prevented her from being hit by any of the rounds, the security officer with them was struck in the center of his back with a rubber bullet, causing a large welt.</p><p data-block-key=\"5gx5m\">“There was no question: they were moving us along by firing the little pepper rounds and rubber bullets at us,” Perry said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7zqgn\">The Louisville Police Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecyt1\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS39KOZ.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"07me5\">People march past the city hall in Louisville, Kentucky on May 29, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Kentucky",
"abbreviation": "KY"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Cal Perry (NBC News)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist demands response as to why she was shot with projectile when her press gear was visible",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-demands-response-why-she-was-shot-projectile-when-her-press-gear-was-visible/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-11T17:07:05.460473Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T22:36:28.709487Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T22:36:28.612863Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Oakland",
"longitude": -122.2708,
"latitude": 37.80437,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hak1x\">Independent journalist <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahBelleLin?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">Sarah Belle Lin</a> was shot with a less-lethal round by a law enforcement officer while documenting protests in Oakland, California, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"yiu3w\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"yx1hu\">Lin told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was documenting protests in downtown Oakland at around 11:30 p.m. A group of protesters confronted a line of officers who stood at a distance from them; the protesters complied when officers ordered them to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"1b2ou\">In <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahBelleLin/status/1266980899301683200\">a video</a> by Lin posted to Twitter, a handful of demonstrators can be seen walking away from the law enforcement line. Suddenly — and after it appears many protesters had left the area — an officer shoots a crowd-control munition at Lin. She told the Tracker she believes the officers were with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office.</p><p data-block-key=\"9xlc8\">“I’m a journalist! I’m a journalist!” Lin can be heard shouting in the video. “You just hit a fucking journalist!”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I was hit by the police by in the inner thighs. I am injured. I repeated my First Amendment rights. Oakland <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloyd</a> protest. <a href=\"https://t.co/1Gm6Se1LQ8\">pic.twitter.com/1Gm6Se1LQ8</a></p>— Sarah Belle Lin (@SarahBelleLin) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahBelleLin/status/1266980899301683200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"vi1dl\">“As I crossed the street to get a different vantage point, I was shot in my right inner thigh by a projectile,” Lin told the Tracker. “I instantly fell to the ground upon impact and yelled out that I am a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5saeq\">Shortly after Lin had moved to the sidewalk to catch her breath and compose herself, she said the officers continued to shove her forward with their riot shields.</p><p data-block-key=\"sh82x\">In a video posted to Twitter, she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahBelleLin/status/1266984607737495552\">confronts</a> the line of officers. She told the Tracker that she demanded to know the identity of the officer who had shot her and the decision behind it when both her press pass and DSLR camera were visible around her neck. The officers did not respond, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"0a49d\">“I’m not fully recovered but healing gradually and still documenting every night since,” Lin said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5wylw\">A photo Lin posted 12 hours after the incident shows a large, multicolored bruise forming over much of her thigh.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here is the bruise I got reporting at the Oakland George Floyd protest 12 hours after getting hit with a projectile by Contra Costa County police. I’m grateful for pals who are sending me Arnica and I so appreciate everyone who has reached out to me and offered words of support. <a href=\"https://t.co/aIGzfDWOVM\">pic.twitter.com/aIGzfDWOVM</a></p>— Sarah Belle Lin (@SarahBelleLin) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SarahBelleLin/status/1267193193793085440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"y8lvc\">The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ucj7\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Lin_assault_0530_Floyd.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4mriq\">Journalist Sarah Belle Lin said when she asked these officers for the identity of who shot her while her press credentials were visible that she did not receive any response.</p><p data-block-key=\"000p3\"></p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
"updates": [
"(2021-11-16 00:00:00+00:00) Journalist settles suit against police department after she was shot with projectile",
"(2021-02-10 09:03:00+00:00) Journalist files suit against Caalifornia police department"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
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"tags": [
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"shot / shot at"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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"targeted_journalists": [
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{
"title": "Blade photojournalist struck with projectiles during Ohio protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/blade-photojournalist-struck-with-projectiles-during-ohio-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-18T17:40:09.029464Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:10:11.390151Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:10:11.308954Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Toledo",
"longitude": -83.55521,
"latitude": 41.66394,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vmnvk\">Blade photojournalist Kurt Steiss was struck with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Toledo, Ohio, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"bdiy7\">The protest was held in response to a video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for more than eight minutes during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The incident sparked anti-police brutality and Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"bm7ev\">Steiss reported on Twitter he was fired upon by police while documenting the police advance from the Lucas County Courthouse toward the police headquarters that afternoon. In a series of tweets, he recounted being struck multiple times with pepper balls, which left a welt on his arm.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Been hit a few times as police advanced their line between the Lucas County Courthouse and the Safety Building (TPD HQ). Heading in to edit and file. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AmyEVoigt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AmyEVoigt</a> is taking over for now on photo. <a href=\"https://t.co/vitIM4ZNkQ\">pic.twitter.com/vitIM4ZNkQ</a></p>— Kurt Steiss ⚔️ (@kurtsteiss) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kurtsteiss/status/1266896124054573056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"373br\">Steiss, who did not respond to an emailed request for comment, was also struck on the forehead.</p><p data-block-key=\"md50z\">“Ironically there isn’t much of a mark there (compared to my arm), but I can still feel soreness on my head while my arm feels fine,” he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/kurtsteiss/status/1267010616994287616\">wrote</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"rt982\">Lt. Kellie Lenhardt, who commands the Toledo Police Public Information Section, told the Tracker over email that the department did not receive complaints from Steiss or other journalists that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"ych77\">Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said <a href=\"https://www.toledoblade.com/local/police-fire/2020/06/22/Police-banned-from-wearing-military-style-camouflage-city-plans-to-move-internal-affairs-by-August/stories/20200622099\">during a press conference</a> on June 22 that there was an investigation into officers’ conduct during the protests. Kapszukiewicz also announced that officers will no longer be permitted to wear military-style camouflage.</p><p data-block-key=\"thkzx\">On July 22, Toledo police announced that three officers were <a href=\"https://www.wtol.com/article/news/local/toledo-police-officers-riot-discipline/512-c4ac369d-3a86-4d62-893d-48f5e516b787\">disciplined</a> for misconduct during the May 30 protests. One officer received a written reprimand while the other two were suspended and given last chance warnings, meaning they could be fired following another infraction.</p><p data-block-key=\"6oces\">“Police legitimacy cannot improve if departments fail at policing their own,” Police Chief George Kral said in a <a href=\"https://toledopolice.com/images/Press_Releases/News_Release_-_Officers_Disciplined_for_May_30_Riot_Actions.pdf\">press release</a> announcing the disciplinary measures. “I will ensure that officers are held accountable when their actions are found to violate department policies, and I will always support the hundreds of officers that positively represent Toledo Police.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5dlba\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "Ohio",
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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"Kurt Steiss (The [Toledo] Blade)"
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{
"title": "Getty photojournalist and colleague robbed at gunpoint after documenting Oakland protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/getty-photojournalist-and-colleague-robbed-gunpoint-after-documenting-oakland-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-11T15:28:09.508079Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:29:12.867608Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:29:12.760182Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Oakland",
"longitude": -122.2708,
"latitude": 37.80437,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"46ssv\">Getty photojournalist Justin Sullivan was robbed at gunpoint while covering protests in Oakland, California, in the early hours of May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"fqj3q\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"z49yd\">Sullivan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and his colleague, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-colleague-robbed-gunpoint-after-documenting-oakland-protests/\">freelance photojournalist Stephen Lam</a>, were walking back to their cars in downtown Oakland at around 12:30 a.m. after documenting the night’s protests and some looting at a nearby Target when two men approached them.</p><p data-block-key=\"fjkyb\">“We got to our cars — I got in my car, my other colleague was going to his car — and the one guy came around, blocked my door, put a gun to my chest, said, ‘Give me your cameras,’” Sullivan said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ixdhv\">He handed over his two cameras with their lenses to one of the men, who also took his backpack containing his laptop and passport.</p><p data-block-key=\"mgjr3\">The other man pushed Lam into the trunk of Sullivan’s car. He got out unharmed, but was robbed of his camera and lens.</p><p data-block-key=\"qgcv9\">“The big takeaway for both of us was that we were unharmed,” Sullivan said. “The thing that we were most upset about, to be honest, was that we had been shooting for a couple of hours and we had a lot of pictures that we lost. Just gone.”</p><p data-block-key=\"evvr3\">Sullivan said that they had alerted the police but had not been able to file a police report in the days following the robbery as police were occupied with a backlog of emergency calls.</p><p data-block-key=\"yqo0r\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"bd6gb\">Photojournalist Justin Sullivan — and a colleague who took this photograph — had been documenting the looting of this Target store and other protests in Minneapolis late on May 29, 2020, when they were robbed at gunpoint.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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{
"quantity": 2,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 2,
"equipment": "camera lens"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "computer"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"robbery"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist, colleague, robbed at gunpoint after documenting Oakland protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-colleague-robbed-gunpoint-after-documenting-oakland-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-11T15:22:09.774608Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:29:32.589177Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:29:32.474125Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Oakland",
"longitude": -122.2708,
"latitude": 37.80437,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"iv5no\">Freelance photojournalist Stephen Lam was assaulted and robbed at gunpoint by two men while covering protests in Oakland, California, in the early hours of May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"2iuqz\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"o88l1\">Lam and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/getty-photojournalist-and-colleague-robbed-gunpoint-after-documenting-oakland-protests/\">Getty photojournalist Justin Sullivan</a> were walking back to their cars in downtown Oakland at around 12:30 a.m. after documenting the night’s protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ysl6\">Lam told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they had just reached their cars when they were confronted by two men. One man focused on Lam, the other Sullivan.</p><p data-block-key=\"9qqj6\">“I turned around and there was another individual on me,” Lam said. “He had a hard time getting his gun out … He seemed to get impatient, and I told him to just give me a second, because all my cameras are clipped to my vest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fpsxt\">At that moment, Sullivan’s assailant forced him to open the trunk of his car and Lam’s assailant tried to shove Lam inside the open trunk, Lam said.</p><p data-block-key=\"59f56\">Amid the chaos, one of Lam’s cameras fell into the trunk and out of clear view, which he believes is why the man forgot about it and only got away with one camera and lens.</p><p data-block-key=\"my3j1\">Sullivan’s assailant took his two cameras with their lenses, as well as his backpack containing a laptop and his passport, Sullivan told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"oyxec\">Lam added that earlier that night someone else had tried to steal his gear, but that man didn’t succeed.</p><p data-block-key=\"es9so\">“We were really lucky,” Lam said. “Obviously it sucks to lose the pictures but it could have been a lot worse for us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"etinp\">Sullivan said that they had alerted the police but had not been able to file a police report in the days following the robbery as police were occupied with a backlog of emergency calls.</p><p data-block-key=\"gif50\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"weqgo\">Photojournalist Stephen Lam was documenting Minneapolis protests late on May 29, 2020 — including the looting of this Target store — when he was robbed at gunpoint.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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{
"quantity": 1,
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},
{
"quantity": 1,
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}
],
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"robbery"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
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"Stephen Lam (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Magazine reporter grazed by rubber bullet while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/magazine-reporter-grazed-by-rubber-bullet-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-29T17:50:02.476121Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:55:07.964707Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:55:07.855637Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fspe6\">Samuel Braslow, a reporter for Los Angeles Magazine, was struck by a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"51px1\">The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.</p><p data-block-key=\"4evtg\">Samuel Braslow, a reporter for Los Angeles Magazine, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SamBraslow/status/1266888617936355328\">tweeted</a> that was covering protests outside CBS Studios when his leg was grazed by a projectile fired by police, breaking the skin.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Grazed by a rubber bullet while covering protests in Los Angeles. Police opened fire on protesters who hand their hands up outside CBS gate. <a href=\"https://t.co/sAiG5q7193\">pic.twitter.com/sAiG5q7193</a></p>— Samuel Braslow (@SamBraslow) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SamBraslow/status/1266888617936355328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"iktu3\">Braslow, who did not immediately return a request for comment, wrote in subsequent tweets that he was “doing fine.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1je70\">The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to an email requesting comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"37euc\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Samuel Braslow (Los Angeles Magazine)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Unidentified man attacks Reuters photographer with crowbar during Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/unidentified-man-attacks-reuters-photographer-crowbar-during-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-10T23:15:33.622563Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-02T15:28:53.519004Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-02T15:28:53.431238Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mff8j\">An unidentified man wearing body armor broke Reuters photographer Lucas Jackson’s camera with a crowbar while he was covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mb04g\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"xape5\">Jackson described his attacker and posted a photo of his broken camera on Twitter:</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Photo of the camera that a man with a crowbar hit when he attacked me while working in Minneapolis today. A man dressed as a “Medic” with body armor, keep your eyes out. <a href=\"https://t.co/H4d6YXtK0K\">pic.twitter.com/H4d6YXtK0K</a></p>— Lucas Jackson (@Lucas_Jackson_) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Lucas_Jackson_/status/1266973281896235008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"c3nrj\">In a statement given to the Committee to Protect Journalists through Reuters’ press office, Jackson said that the assailant was “a young white man wearing body armor emblazoned with a red medic cross.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lheyq\">In the statement, Jackson said that the young man screamed “Get out of here!” before smashing Jackson’s camera with the crowbar. The statement did not say that Jackson was injured in the attack.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"vd0mg\">An unidentified man attacked Reuters photographer Lucas Jackson with a crowbar during protests in Minneapolis on May 30, damaging his camera.</p>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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{
"quantity": 1,
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Lucas Jackson (Reuters)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Chicago journalist pepper-sprayed in the face while holding up press credentials and screaming ‘Press!’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/chicago-journalist-pepper-sprayed-face-while-holding-press-credentials-and-screaming-press/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-10T03:04:31.329926Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:48:57.343012Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:48:57.246362Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chicago",
"longitude": -87.65005,
"latitude": 41.85003,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"udovp\">Freelance journalist <a href=\"https://jonathanballew.wixsite.com/jonathanballew\">Jonathan Ballew</a> was pepper-sprayed at close range by a law enforcement officer on May 30, 2020, while covering protests in downtown Chicago. The assault occurred as he screamed “Press!” and held his press credential above his head.</p><p data-block-key=\"qrw5k\">The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for eight minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"ylb7k\">Ballew, who freelances for <a href=\"http://www.thedailybeast.com/\">The Daily Beast</a> and <a href=\"https://blockclubchicago.org/\">Block Club Chicago</a>, was walking on Grand Avenue in Chicago at 8 p.m. ahead of a police line when the attack occurred, he told the Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Ballew said he was complying with officers’ orders to walk back when an officer in a dark green uniform and a protective mask started spraying pepper spray. As the officer aimed the can in Ballew’s direction, Ballew yelled, “Don’t shoot! I’m fucking press! I’m fucking press!”</p><p data-block-key=\"m2n98\">Ballew captured the attack in a Twitter livestream.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://t.co/Tg2sH37MFQ\">https://t.co/Tg2sH37MFQ</a></p>— Jonathan Ballew (@JCB_Journo) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JCB_Journo/status/1266897672545480706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"g5clj\">“I remember making eye contact with [the officer] and then he directly sprayed me right in my face, even as I was screaming ‘Press, press, press!’” Ballew told CPJ.</p><p data-block-key=\"rwox3\">On the livestream, Ballew narrated the event: “I just got pepper-sprayed by a cop. I’ve been holding my press pass up in his face. Told him I was press. Directly pepper-sprayed me.” Ballew then addressed other officers passing by: “You guys are pepper-spraying press? Come on. I’m holding my press pass. Your brother in blue there is spraying press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eyl4f\">Ballew told CPJ he is a Marine veteran. He said that he has been trained to protect himself from pepper spray and tear gas, and was able to shield most of his face from being hit, taking much of the pepper spray onto his forearms. Ballew poured water onto his face and continued reporting that evening. But after showering, his arms “felt like someone actually set them on fire,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"9siik\">It’s unclear to which agency the officer with the pepper spray belonged. The Tracker reached out to the Chicago Police Department for help identifying the officer in Ballew’s livestream video, and for comment on the incident, but the request was not immediately returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"u3dlj\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6z65m\">While covering protests in Chicago, <a href=\"https://jonathanballew.wixsite.com/jonathanballew\">Jonathan Ballew</a> livestreamed the moment he was pepper sprayed.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": "1:20-cv-03422",
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"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-10-23 00:00:00+00:00) Journalist’s lawsuit against city of Chicago, police officer settles for $40,000",
"(2020-06-11 21:11:00+00:00) Freelance journalist files lawsuit against city of Chicago, police officer for unjustified use of force"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jonathan Ballew (Freelance)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "MSNBC host struck by rubber bullet while covering protests in Minneapolis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-target-dozens-journalists-covering-protests-minneapolis-tear-gas-pepper-spray-rubber-bullets/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-09T18:50:37.907873Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:32:54.007954Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:32:53.922954Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"b9zaj\">MSNBC host Ali Velshi was struck by a rubber bullet and caught in tear gas while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"kdrff\">Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. An 8 p.m. curfew was put into effect on May 30.</p><p data-block-key=\"44ur5\">At about 8:40 p.m., a group of Minnesota state police and National Guard officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a group of protesters, which also hit several journalists covering the demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"j9698\">Velshi was hit by a rubber bullet in his left shin and was affected by the tear gas, he told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — in a phone interview. Velshi said it was not clear whether the tear gas and rubber bullets were fired by state police or National Guard officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"zmhhq\">Velshi said in an <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_55kRMT5uc\">MSNBC broadcast</a> that he did not have time to put on his mask when the tear gas was first released. After Velashi and his crew retreated from the police line, the host was then hit by the rubber bullet, he told CPJ.</p><p data-block-key=\"g4mhx\">More than three dozen journalists were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Minneapolis&date_lower=2020-05-30&date_upper=2020-05-30\">assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged</a> while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.</p><p data-block-key=\"w26dp\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ali Velshi (MSNBC)"
],
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},
{
"title": "In ‘pandemonium,’ photojournalist arrested, held overnight in NYC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pandemonium-photojournalist-arrested-held-over-night-amid-new-york-city-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-09T04:15:54.027872Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-14T14:20:21.011678Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-14T14:20:20.764274Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vdj0c\">Adam Gray, chief photojournalist for UK-based South West News Service, was pushed to the ground and arrested while covering protests in New York, New York, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"s0w62\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"9evv8\">Gray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he had been documenting protests all day, and was photographing demonstrations in and around Union Square in Manhattan at around 10:40 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0a9j\">When Gray reached the front of a crowd of protesters on 13th Street, he said officers started charging the crowd and arresting protesters in what he described as “pandemonium.”</p><p data-block-key=\"djwz9\">“I’m photographing this happening and I turn and I see this big guy, this cop coming at me,” Gray said. As the officer pushed him to the ground, two of the three cameras he was carrying “smashed” to the ground off his shoulders. Gray noted that luckily the only damage to the equipment was a broken UV lens filter.</p><p data-block-key=\"csqum\">Two additional officers then came up and assisted the first in restraining Gray and arresting him, he said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I now have more images of my arrest whilst photographing protests on Saturday from a NYC colleague. Three cameras hanging off me and a press card in a lanyard around my neck (clear and visible on the other side) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SWNS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SWNS</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheSun?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TheSun</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GreensladeR?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GreensladeR</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KateEMcCann?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@KateEMcCann</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/uvoil0DdNT\">pic.twitter.com/uvoil0DdNT</a></p>— Adam Gray (@agrayphoto) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/agrayphoto/status/1268960407299018761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 5, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5pvwo\">“I have a lanyard that has my foreign press card in it around my neck,” Gray said. “They stood me up and another guy in white came up — I think he was a more senior officer — and I’m shouting at him as well that I’m foreign press, that I’m a photographer.”</p><p data-block-key=\"l4xp2\">Gray said they asked him whether his press pass was issued by the NYPD, and that he responded no, that it was a foreign press card issued by the US State Department. Gray told the Tracker that the officer said something to the effect of, “Alright, no no no, I’ll take him away.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ohh2h\">Officers then took Gray down the street and passed him off to another officer who was designated his arresting officer and was eventually listed on all of Gray’s arrest reports.</p><p data-block-key=\"kx1qm\">After being stripped of his equipment and re-cuffed, Gray waited on a prison transport bus with 50 to 60 others for half an hour until the rest of the seats were filled. He said he then waited an additional hour outside One Police Plaza due to the volume of arrestees that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"1h9c7\">“At this point, I feel like I’m just in the system and we’re going through with it, I’m being booked and that’s what’s happening. There’s nobody else there that I can speak to or remonstrate with,” Gray said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ugwq\">After being processed, he was placed in a holding cell with 50-70 people crammed in shoulder-to-shoulder. Gray said that he still had a face mask in order to combat the spread of coronavirus, but most others did not.</p><p data-block-key=\"5t3de\">Gray was released at around 9:30 a.m. — nearly 11 hours after his arrest — with a desk appearance ticket for unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor punishable by up to three months in jail and a $500 fine.</p><p data-block-key=\"ovg5k\">When asked for comment, an NYPD spokesperson directed the Tracker to the “30 minute mark” of <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6eUFc_kltc\">a press briefing</a> held by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea on June 3.</p><p data-block-key=\"p3ewz\">Around that point in the recording, Shea says: “The only thing that I might add on the point of the press: We’re doing the best we can, the difficult situation. We 100 percent respect the rights of the press. Unfortunately we’ve had some people purporting to be press that are actually lying, if you can believe that. So sometimes these things take a second — maybe too long — to sort out.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3anau\">The Manhattan district attorney announced in a <a href=\"https://www.manhattanda.org/d-a-vance-declines-to-prosecute-protest-arrests/\">press release</a> on June 5 that his office would not prosecute unlawful assembly or disorderly conduct arrests.</p><p data-block-key=\"7mkcj\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/arrest_gray_0530_floyd.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"iytu1\">British photojournalist Adam Gray is arrested near Union Square in New York City on May 30, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "New York City Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-05-31",
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "1:21-cv-06610",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
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"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera lens"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-02-07 00:00:00+00:00) Judge accepts journalists’ settlement with NYPD",
"(2021-08-05 16:40:00+00:00) British photographer sues NYPD for unlawful arrest, police brutality",
"(2023-09-05 16:54:00+00:00) Journalists reach ‘historic’ settlement with NYPD in First Amendment suit",
"(2023-09-08 00:00:00+00:00) Judge voids First Amendment settlement with NYPD",
"(2025-04-09 00:00:00+00:00) Appeals court affirms photographers’ settlement with NYPD"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Adam Gray (South West News Service)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist shoved by Denver police officer",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-denver-police-officer/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-09T03:46:49.944006Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:28:11.025494Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:28:10.938783Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Denver",
"longitude": -104.9847,
"latitude": 39.73915,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"orex6\">A journalist said he was shoved by a police officer while covering protests in Denver, Colorado, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ijkiw\">The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"16ev7\">David Sachs, who reports for Denverite and Colorado Public Radio, said he was covering protests outside of the Colorado Supreme Court when he was caught between a line of police officers and a crowd of protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"tdfmb\">He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that police advanced toward the crowd, yelling “Move! Move! Move!” Sachs, who had his bicycle with him, said he showed the officers his press credentials, shouting the names of the two outlets he works for. He said an officer then shoved him twice in the back, shouting “Move!”</p><p data-block-key=\"wln6k\">Sachs picked up his bike and ran down a set of stairs leading to the street. “There was already gas or smoke there, but one or two fresh new canisters popped right in front of me,” he said. “I was choking. I couldn’t breathe for a good 20 or 30 seconds.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lzps9\">Sachs <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DavidASachs/status/1266920122893156353?s=20\">tweeted</a> about the experience once he reached safety.</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 caught by courthouse on 14th and Lincoln. Police on one side, crowd on the other. Showed <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DenverPolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DenverPolice</a> my press badge and told them I was with Denverite/CPR and one officer shoved me twice. Only place to go was into the street where I got gassed.</p>— Dave Sachs (@DavidASachs) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DavidASachs/status/1266920122893156353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"1vg4f\">An emailed request for comment from the Denver Police was not immediately returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"euhxz\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Colorado",
"abbreviation": "CO"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"David Sachs (Denverite & Colorado Public Radio)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist shot at with crowd-control munitions amid Minneapolis protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shot-at-with-crowd-control-munitions-amid-minneapolis-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-11-22T14:42:39.730145Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:11:50.490321Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:11:50.381418Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"u05lo\">Peter Norton, photojournalist and founder of the production company RumJungle, was shot at with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"kii1g\">Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"j2ued\">According to CBS News sound engineer John Marschitz, Norton had been hired to assist a CBS crew that was covering the demonstrations. Shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew began, police began shooting rubber bullets and other crowd-control munitions at the crew.</p><p data-block-key=\"b5rig\">Marschitz told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news crew had retreated down the street and into the parking lot where the team's car was parked after police began deploying tear gas into the crowd. The protesters kept moving in the opposite direction, and were several hundred feet away when officers began shooting crowd-control munitions at the news crew.</p><p data-block-key=\"qrnxx\">"My colleagues and I were fired upon without warning and [were] clearly identifiable as journalists," Marschitz said. "We were no threat to law enforcement and in no way impeding them from doing their job. Then they just began firing rubber bullets at us."</p><p data-block-key=\"sgl7r\">One of the rounds <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs-news-sound-engineer-struck-in-arm-by-rubber-bullet-while-covering-minneapolis-protests/\">struck Marschitz in the arm</a>; a second round struck a light on Norton’s camera, but did not damage the equipment. Norton could not be reached for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"c9cw5\">When asked whether he felt police targeted the crew, Marschitz said, "I don't think they cared, they just shot at us."</p><p data-block-key=\"iyvb4\">More than three dozen journalists were<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Minneapolis&date_lower=2020-05-30&date_upper=2020-05-30\"> assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged</a> while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.</p><p data-block-key=\"j2asi\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "Minnesota",
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"Assault"
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"Peter Norton (RumJungle)"
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{
"title": "Phoenix television reporter hit by projectile; news van vandalized",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/phoenix-television-reporter-hit-projectile-news-van-vandalized/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-09T03:05:33.331964Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:32:05.713309Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:32:05.598198Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Phoenix",
"longitude": -112.07404,
"latitude": 33.44838,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5rvnd\">Phoenix television reporter Josh Sanders was hit in the thigh with a rubber projectile while reporting across from police headquarters on protests in the city on May 30, 2020. Sanders and his crew were unable to retrieve their news vehicle due to the protests, and found it vandalized the next morning.</p><p data-block-key=\"ke7as\">The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"4pvk5\">Sanders, a reporter for 12 News, Phoenix's NBC affiliate, was standing outside of Phoenix Police Department headquarters when police fired the projectile, hitting him in the thigh. In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgcKkVpMu9Q\">live broadcast</a> after the incident, he said the impact was “very painful” and that he didn’t know why police shot in his crew’s direction.</p><p data-block-key=\"39sqg\">Later, he found another such projectile on the ground and posted the photo to Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is a picture of what the rubber ball looks like that Phoenix Police fired in our direction earlier hitting me in the left thigh. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/12News?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#12News</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/uvsci1laop\">pic.twitter.com/uvsci1laop</a></p>— JOSH SANDERS (@JoshSandersTV) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JoshSandersTV/status/1266984856107376641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"ckig2\">He also posted a picture of his thigh, with a large pink, red and purple bruise.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The aftermath of being hit by a Phoenix Police rubber ball night 3 of the protests. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/12News?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#12News</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/7K5q3Tp1WD\">pic.twitter.com/7K5q3Tp1WD</a></p>— JOSH SANDERS (@JoshSandersTV) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JoshSandersTV/status/1267039352778928128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"xi1gg\">Sanders did not immediately reply to an interview request from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"it2w3\">Sanders wrote on Twitter that because of the protests his crew could not retrieve its 12 News car parked outside of Phoenix City Hall until the next morning. When 12 News retrieved it, it had been tagged in black paint with George Floyd’s name.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We had to leave one of our news cars outside of Phoenix City Hall last night due to the protests. <br><br>This morning you can see the name George Floyd in graffiti sprayed on the side of the car. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/12News?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#12News</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/wjPCOhzyg0\">pic.twitter.com/wjPCOhzyg0</a></p>— JOSH SANDERS (@JoshSandersTV) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JoshSandersTV/status/1267153256536408066?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"b9rt1\">In an emailed response to a request for comment, Phoenix Police Department spokeswoman Mercedes A. Fortune wrote that she has not briefed on that specific incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"ve9md\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS39LCC.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"p8v6t\">Protesters march toward Phoenix Police Department headquarters on May 29, 2020.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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{
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"name": "Arizona",
"abbreviation": "AZ"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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{
"title": "Independent journalist hit with projectile, shield while covering DC protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-hit-projectile-shield-while-covering-dc-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-08T18:23:50.366538Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:31:22.225613Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:31:22.117758Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"g3nf1\">Journalist Jenn Dize said law enforcement officers shot her with a projectile and pushed her to the ground twice, causing her to lose her grip on her equipment, while covering protests for progressive independent outlet <a href=\"https://statuscoup.com/\">Status Coup</a> in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"xuyja\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"xtax1\">Dize, the co-founder of Status Coup, was livestreaming the protests near Lafayette Square park on YouTube, when someone lobbed an object at police. The livestream shows police firing at the crowd. Dize was shot in the right arm by a projectile; she believes it may have been a pepper ball, she told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. The projectile left her arm bruised with a red, raised welt. Dize, who was standing outside a crowd at the time, was wearing Status Coup press credentials and was carrying a monopod and microphone. "They had to have been aiming at me," she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"932ox\">Based on the design of officers’ shields in the livestream, they appear to be with the United States Park Police. Park Police spokesman Sergeant Eduardo Delgado told the Tracker via email that this was the first he had heard of this incident; he did not provide comment on Dize’s claims.</p><p data-block-key=\"ftu6o\">Dize continued reporting. A few hours later, she said she was <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSgHRltRp8w&t\">livestreaming</a> a burning vehicle and interviewing onlookers when someone lobbed a firecracker at the feet of police. Dize started to leave, but stopped to help a protester who had fallen down.</p><p data-block-key=\"ub7sd\">Law enforcement officers advanced toward the crowd, and Dize said one of them knocked her down with his riot shield. Her monopod, phone, and microphone slipped from her fingers. She could see her phone a short distance away on the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"kq3l1\">“I didn’t want to make any sudden moves, so I asked the officers ‘Can I bend down and pick up my phone?’” she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"fofyc\">The officer who had initially knocked her down reacted by ramming her multiple times in the upper body with his shield, knocking her onto her right hip, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"xxm58\">"I will never forget the look on the cop's face who was attacking me," she said. “He did not care.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kr9m0\">Protesters intervened, grabbing her underneath her arms and helping her reach safety. “My hip is quite sore still, and all my equipment is lost,” she said. Her phone, which she could not locate, continued to livestream for 90 additional minutes. Status Coup edited a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXmIH9JcSUU&feature=youtu.be\">short video</a> on YouTube including footage from Dize’s perspective as she was knocked down the first time.</p><p data-block-key=\"uebhm\">The Tracker shared a screenshot from the video with Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia spokesperson Alaina Gertz, who confirmed that the officers depicted were part of its force. Gertz did not respond to a request for comment about Dize’s claims.</p><p data-block-key=\"hwkux\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"g6rg6\"><i>This article has been updated to reflect that Dize was hit in the right arm with a projectile, not the left arm as originally reported.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"liw5r\">U.S. Park Police and protesters gather near the White House on May 30, 2020, in Washington, D.C.</p>",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera equipment"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "recording equipment"
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"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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"targeted_journalists": [
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},
{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist hit in eye with projectile amid DC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-covering-protests-hit-eye-leg-projectiles-fired-police/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-08T03:09:10.020317Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:30:55.376728Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:30:55.283767Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1to3i\">Freelance photojournalist Wil Sands was struck with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"npxgw\">The protests were sparked by a video showing a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for 7 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"feyye\">Sands, who is based in Richmond, Virginia, was covering protests near the AFL-CIO building when tensions began rising around 11 p.m., he told the Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Individuals had set some vehicles ablaze and Sands began planning how to leave the area. He was standing behind a light post looking at his cellphone when a flying object he suspects to have been a tear gas canister bounced off the light post before hitting him squarely in the face, on his right eye. The Tracker could not confirm the type of object he was hit with.</p><p data-block-key=\"uyjx1\">A street medic in the crowd quickly found him and put gauze over the wound, and told Sands he needed to go to the hospital. Sands walked to the police cordon and, after seeing his wound, they let him through. “I pulled off the gauze, their faces changed, and the commanding officer allowed me to pass through," Sands said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ef1ek\">He told CPJ that he believes the object that hit him was launched from an area where D.C. police officers had been standing. There were officers from multiple law enforcement agencies operating in the general area at the time, according to <a href=\"https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/protesters-police-tear-gas-flames-damage-looting-the-aftermath-of-saturdays-justice-for-george-floyd-protests/65-37f183ba-2d89-421d-8edd-24b9b00502bc\">news reports</a>. Sands, a member of<a href=\"http://www.fracturesphoto.com/\"> Fractures Collective</a>, was wearing a press pass at the time he was hit.</p><p data-block-key=\"cgcgk\">He wrote in a series of <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CA_R1K3jP9L/\">Instagram posts</a> that he spent 16 hours in the emergency room, and suffered a partially torn retina and damaged cornea. He had surgery on <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CA_URImj611/\">his right eye</a> on June 1.</p><p data-block-key=\"cr6qy\">"My retina was reattached, a silicone band was permanently inserted around my eyeball, and a bubble of gas was inflated behind the retina," he wrote. "It is unclear how much of my sight in my right eyes [sic] I will get back."</p><p data-block-key=\"sokax\">Alaina Gertz, a D.C. police spokeswoman, declined to comment on the incident that led to Sands’ injury.</p><p data-block-key=\"m5rpq\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dy64d\">Protesters near the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2020.</p>",
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{
"title": "Head wound, bruised lung and concussion for photographer covering Phoenix protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/head-wound-bruised-lung-and-concussion-photographer-covering-phoenix-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-07T04:48:09.419681Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T17:54:56.114092Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T17:54:56.018107Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Phoenix",
"longitude": -112.07404,
"latitude": 33.44838,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4kbj5\">Freelance photographer <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thomasMachowicz/\">Thomas Machowicz</a> was shot with three rubber projectiles by Phoenix police, resulting in a gash on his scalp, a concussion, and a bruised lung, as he was photographing protests in the city on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mk5h2\">The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for eight minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"7vogt\">Machowicz was taking photographs in front of the headquarters of the Phoenix Police Department at roughly 10:15 p.m. when protesters began to lob fireworks at police, and police responded by shooting tear gas, pepper balls, and projectiles into the crowd, Machowicz told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"pquac\">“I realized I was in a bad spot,” Machowicz said. As he ran away from the headquarters through a cloud of tear gas, camera in hand, police began shooting rubber projectiles in his direction. The first two projectiles hit Machowicz’s lower back and the side of his ribcage. In pain, he fell down. A few seconds later as he was lying on the ground, a third projectile hit him on the back of his head, ripping an inch-long gash into his scalp, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"oqofy\">Video of the assault was captured by ABC15 Arizona news and aired live on television.</p><p data-block-key=\"w1klb\">“When I got hit in the head, I couldn’t make decisions anymore. I just curled up into the fetal position,” Machowicz said. A few seconds passed before a bystander picked Machowicz up under the arms and carried him to a safe distance from the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"qmp8i\">After bystanders alerted police to his condition, Machowicz said police accompanied him for a block where he was told an ambulance would arrive. When it didn’t, police drove him to a fire station, where an ambulance took him to a hospital. The process took 30 minutes, he said, during which his head wound bled profusely.</p><p data-block-key=\"vbb4u\">At the hospital, Machowicz said he received four staples to close his head wound, and was diagnosed with a concussion and a bruised lung.</p><p data-block-key=\"jmbs1\">“I definitely have some trauma from it that’s still sinking in,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"zlky4\">Machowicz recounted the incident in an <a href=\"https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/valley-photographer-injured-in-phoenix-protest-released-from-hospital\">interview</a> with Melissa Blasius, the ABC15 Arizona journalist who captured the assault on camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"bpijk\">Mercedes Fortune, a public information officer for the Phoenix Police Department, wrote in response to an emailed request for comment that people in the group were throwing rocks, bottles, incendiary devices and fireworks during the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"oa7bm\">“Every attempt is made to identify the suspect(s) responsible for those actions unfortunately it is very difficult during these chaotic encounters. Several announcements were given to everyone to leave the area. … There is no sure way to control the actions of a large group of people who make a conscious decision to ignore the repeated announcements and direction by law enforcement officials.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dj67h\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2020-06-06_at_11.30.3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dnfi4\">Rocks and fireworks were among the objects hurled at the headquarters of the Phoenix Police Department on May 30, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Arizona",
"abbreviation": "AZ"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Thomas Machowicz (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "New York radio reporter assaulted after reporting live from looted liquor store",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-radio-reporter-assaulted-after-reporting-live-looted-liquor-store/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-07T04:06:44.836681Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:39:20.163157Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:39:20.078667Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bi357\">Darius Radzius, a New York radio reporter, was attacked by an unknown assailant in Brooklyn, New York on May 30, 2020, shortly after finishing a live radio broadcast.</p><p data-block-key=\"zvu76\">Radzius was covering the ongoing protests in Brooklyn for New York radio station 1010 WINS. Protests that began in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 26 spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"1yd11\">While Radzius was reporting alone, he told the Committee to Protect Journalists in a phone interview that he was near a group of reporters during the protests. The protest, one of many that took place across New York City on May 30, began at around 3 p.m. near Prospect Park and continued south to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush. Radzius characterized the protest as “largely peaceful” in a statement about the incident that he wrote for the police that he provided to CPJ. Radzius said in his interview and in the statement that he had a 1010 WINS microphone and people told him they liked the station and thanked him for reporting on the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"x9naw\">Radzius was carrying press credentials, but they were not displayed, he told CPJ. His 1010 WINS microphone flag was large and identified him clearly as media, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"srqbf\">According to Radzius’ statement to the police, a few hours into the protest, he followed a group of people who left the central location of the protest, thinking them to be protesters. The group and Radzius walked to College Wine and Liquors, a liquor store in Flatbush. Radzius witnessed a group of people loot the store, and filmed the entire incident on his cellphone for 30 seconds, before the store owner locked the door. Radzius <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DariusRadzius/status/1266937831383015424\">tweeted</a> a video clip of the looting.</p><p data-block-key=\"yg0t0\">Radzius called his editor at 1010 WINS to tell him about the looting and joined a live radio broadcast from the scene at 6:32 p.m. A few seconds after signing off, Radzius was approached by a woman who asked him who he was talking to, according to his statement. Radzius responded that he was talking to “all New Yorkers on the radio.” A few seconds later, Radzius says he heard a male voice shout, “Snitch.” Radzius was then struck from behind on the right side of his upper face.</p><p data-block-key=\"hfb1p\">Radzius does not know who hit him. A witness told him that the attacker was a man, and that he struck Radzius with an unidentified object.</p><p data-block-key=\"lm7gp\">After being hit, Radzius says he was “stunned.” He received medical assistance at the scene from a woman who identified herself as a nurse. He later went to the hospital. He sustained injuries to his face that required five stitches above his eye on the eyebrow. Radzius also has significant bruising around his right eye, and has injuries to his hands. He later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DariusRadzius/status/1266939308650438657\">tweeted photos</a> of his injuries.</p><p data-block-key=\"2vm73\">Radizus told CPJ that he thinks he was targeted for being a journalist. “What does a journalist do? They report on the news, and they didn’t like that I was reporting on the looting,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"k4cf9\">CPJ contacted the NYPD for comment and to ask if they are investigating the incident. They said there is a complaint report on file for assault and detectives are investigating.</p><p data-block-key=\"qz703\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Radzius_assault_Floyd_protest.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"actor": 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": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Darius Radzius (WINS)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Police officer strikes Unicorn Riot journalist’s phone with baton",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-officer-strikes-unicorn-riot-journalists-phone-with-baton/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-06T03:19:23.429500Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:38:55.412186Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:38:55.310942Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Philadelphia",
"longitude": -75.16362,
"latitude": 39.95238,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wg7a9\">On May 30, 2020, a police officer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, struck Unicorn Riot journalist Chris Schiano’s phone with a baton while Schiano was covering an arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"ca9ck\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"2zoex\">The incident occurred around 10 p.m. on the night of May 30, while Schiano was covering a group of police officers arresting a young black man. He had been live-streaming the protests for Unicorn Riot, a non-profit media collective based in <a href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-tiny-media-collective-that-is-delivering-some-of-the-most-vital-reporting-from-minneapolis\">known for its extensive and sympathetic coverage of street demonstrations</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"esqbq\">Unicorn Riot later published a video on Twitter showing Schiano’s interaction with the police officers.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Philly police pin young black man to the ground with their knees, swat our field reporter with a baton for filming the scene.<br><br>"Beat it."<br><br>"I'm a journalist, sir!"<br><br>"I don't care what you are. Beat it." <a href=\"https://t.co/llguNcdTlx\">pic.twitter.com/llguNcdTlx</a></p>— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/UR_Ninja/status/1266913490301792257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 31, 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=\"0hh7l\">As seen in the video, Schiano approached the officers, who had pinned the young man to the ground. As Schiano moved closer to document the man’s arrest, an officer appeared and waved his baton at Schiano.</p><p data-block-key=\"wvmu6\">Schiano identified himself as a journalist, and the officer said, “I don’t care what you are, beat it!” and struck his phone with his baton, bringing the video to an abrupt end.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7cnn\">Schiano said that, after he was forced to stop filming, one of the officers told him, “You’re not essential,” and suggested that he was in violation of Philadelphia’s 8 p.m. curfew. The curfew, which exempts “persons with essential duties,” is not supposed to apply to members of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"w6hfo\">Schiano told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was wearing a press pass during the incident. He said the altercation was “fairly minor” and he did not suffer any injuries, but he was upset that the police stopped him from documenting an arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"al6dh\">“This seems fairly egregious if the First Amendment is supposed to be real,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"wsozo\">Schiano said that Philadelphia police officers similarly attacked him with batons in 2016, while he was documenting protests around the Democratic National Convention, and in 2018, while he was documenting a demonstration outside of a federal prison.</p><p data-block-key=\"69sqp\">“Cops here are quite proficient swatting phone cameras with those little metal batons,” he said. “It was clearly a motion they are used to making for the specific reason of not getting filmed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ett1l\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2020-06-05_at_10.07.3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"wd5jv\">While filming an arrest during protests in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a police officer knocked the phone from Unicorn Riot journalist Chris Schiano’s hand with a baton, ending his recording.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Christopher Schiano (Unicorn Riot)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist arrested amid Los Angeles protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-arrested-amid-los-angeles-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-04T13:32:13.544709Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:28:53.068020Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:28:52.966134Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8jxxa\">Los Angeles police officers arrested freelance journalist Oren Peleg while he was covering protests in the city on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mtc9y\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"u1mng\">Peleg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was reporting on protests in downtown Los Angeles that had been declared an unlawful assembly the day before.</p><p data-block-key=\"q5iq0\">At approximately 7:10 p.m., officers advanced on the crowd of approximately 20 protesters, blocking off all exits and forming a kettle. As police squeezed in on them, one of the protesters called out for everyone to sit down, at which point Peleg said he identified himself to police as a member of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"q5bso\">“They told me it was too late, that ‘you’re already here, you’re already part of this, we gave you an hour to disperse, so now central booking will take care of you,’” Peleg said.</p><p data-block-key=\"m58m5\">He said that at no point did he hear officers give an order for the crowd to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"vjljn\">Officers zip-tied Peleg along with the rest of the protesters and told him to sit down on a curb to await a city bus to come by to transfer all of them to Metropolitan Detention Center.</p><p data-block-key=\"k91iv\">After approximately 30 minutes, the bus had still not arrived, Peleg said, and all of the arrestees were processed in the field. He provided an officer with his address, phone, email, license ID, social security number, and employer, and said police wrote his identifying information on an arrest card.</p><p data-block-key=\"734o7\">Peleg said he does not know whether charges for failure to disperse have been brought against him. He said an officer told him not to worry about the card, and that nothing would happen with it.</p><p data-block-key=\"8r587\">“When they released us, [the officers] said, ‘We’re releasing you now. If any are detained again you will be arrested and sent to jail,’” Peleg said.</p><p data-block-key=\"j11gy\">The Los Angeles Police Department told the Tracker that it does not have any information about Peleg’s arrest at this time.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7epd\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting damage of equipment and multiple journalists arrested or struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas while covering related protests across the country. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Oren Peleg (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "NBC producer, group of journalists targeted in assault by state patrol",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nbc-producer-group-journalists-targeted-assault-state-patrol/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-04T03:57:05.140721Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T20:53:42.671506Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T20:53:42.536370Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bfvux\">Minnesota State Patrol fired tear gas, pepper spray, and concussion grenades at NBC journalist and producer Ed Ou and a group of other journalists in Minneapolis on May 30, 2020, Ou told the Committee to Protect Journalists via phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"jzjv4\">The journalists were covering ongoing protests in the city sparked by the alleged police killing of George Floyd, a black man, on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"7soev\">Ou told CPJ that the journalists were standing apart from the protesters in an indented section of a brick wall when troopers <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/physical-attack/\">assaulted</a> them. Ou said that he held up his press badge and screamed “Press!” but the patrol continued the assault.</p><p data-block-key=\"45z8q\">"We were very explicit about saying we were press and we were nowhere close to any protesters or anyone else," Ou told CPJ. "They kept on throwing concussion grenades at us. They came up to us and maced me or pepper sprayed me on my camera and my face."</p><p data-block-key=\"ru8wz\">Ou, who was videotaping the protest, told CPJ that he was hit in the head. He said he couldn’t see the weapon or projectile as his eyes were blurred by tear gas and pepper spray. He said he stumbled past law enforcement officers asking for help, but none provided assistance. Eventually, a colleague found him, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ck88v\">Ou told CPJ he later went to a hospital and received four stitches in his head.</p><p data-block-key=\"0xlc4\">Ou said that troopers damaged his equipment in the assault. He said the XLR connector between his microphone and camera was damaged, one of his lens filters was cracked, and a UV filter is no longer usable. He said that he can no longer safely use his microphone because pepper spray reached the microphone through the windsock. His gas mask, he added, is now unusable even with a new filter because of the large amount of pepper spray that entered it.</p><p data-block-key=\"4qdke\">CPJ emailed Minnesota State Patrol for comment but did not receive an immediate reply. It also called the patrol’s press center but was unable to leave a message because the voicemail box was full.</p><p data-block-key=\"0vfuy\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting damage of equipment and multiple journalists arrested or struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas while covering related protests across the country. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2020-06-03_at_10.35.3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7qxpp\">A video posted to Twitter by journalist Ed Ou shows Minnesota State Patrol troopers coming upon Ou and a group of journalists and spraying them with tear gas and pepper spray during protests on May 30 in Minneapolis.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "0:20-cv-01302",
"case_type": "CLASS_ACTION",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
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"(2022-02-08 11:58:00+00:00) Journalists reach settlement agreement with Minnesota State Patrol, rest of suit ongoing",
"(2021-09-28 00:00:00+00:00) NBC journalist sues following arrest while covering Minneapolis protest",
"(2024-02-08 00:00:00+00:00) Journalists get nearly $1M settlement over Minneapolis BLM protest attacks"
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{
"title": "Photojournalist arrested covering Dallas protests, camera equipment seized",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-covering-dallas-protests-camera-equipment-seized/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-04T03:20:43.248216Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-14T13:25:20.657557Z",
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"date": "2020-05-30",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3spmf\">Freelance photojournalist <a href=\"https://chrisrusanowsky.com/\">Christopher Rusanowsky</a> was arrested by Dallas police while on assignment for Zuma Press documenting protests in the city on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"raxxm\">Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ct7q\">Rusanowsky, 29, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was booked in Dallas County jail on a count of obstructing a highway or other passageway and was held overnight. He was released on bail the following day.</p><p data-block-key=\"qk02i\">The count is a <a href=\"https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PE/htm/PE.42.htm\">Class B misdemeanor</a> in Texas, according to the Texas penal code. If convicted, he could face <a href=\"https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PE/htm/PE.12.htm\">up to 180 days in jail, and a fine of up to $2,000</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"43ujm\">Rusanowsky denies that he was obstructing a highway. He said he had been photographing a group of protesters as they blocked traffic on Interstate 35E.</p><p data-block-key=\"rwe80\">He said he stepped across the highway guardrail and onto the shoulder to take photographs, taking care not to step into the lanes of traffic. Soon after he moved to a grassy area near the interstate to photograph protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"e5hxg\">Rusanowsky said he began to take photographs of a police officer shooting nonlethal ammunition at a protester at close range when the officer began pointing and yelling at him. He said the officer told him, “You are going to jail too!”</p><p data-block-key=\"eygds\">In response, Rusanowsky said he held up his two cameras and showed the officer his Zuma-issued press credentials. Rusanowsky said the officer replied, “Yeah, yeah. Press, press. You are going to jail.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eolzu\">The officer then threw him to the ground, he said, where another officer handcuffed him.</p><p data-block-key=\"uqxkg\">He said an officer seized his cameras and four lenses. He later retrieved the items from police headquarters; he said they do not appear to be damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"c8up5\">He was booked into Dallas County jail at 11:38 p.m., according to booking records reviewed by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, and was released after posting $300 bail the next day. He <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/christopher.rusanowsky/posts/1125118381190803\">posted on Facebook</a> about his release.</p><p data-block-key=\"1zghr\">The experience has left him shaken, he said. “I’m terrified of cops right now,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"xs59s\">“I don’t have training in hostile environment situations,” he said. “This makes me feel very vulnerable. But I believe in this job so much and I want to do this to give people voices.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nz0oy\">An emailed request for comment on Rusanowsky’s arrest to the Dallas Police Department was not immediately returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"y4efm\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting damage of equipment and multiple journalists arrested or struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas while covering related protests across the country. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zlhxz\">Tom Fox, photographer for The Dallas Morning News, captured the arrest of photojournalist Christopher Rusanowsky while both were documenting protests on May 30, 2020, in Dallas, Texas.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Dallas Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-05-31",
"detention_date": "2020-05-30",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "3:22-cv-01132",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
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{
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"equipment": "camera"
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{
"quantity": 4,
"equipment": "camera lens"
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],
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
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"updates": [
"(2020-07-01 21:34:00+00:00) Charges dropped against photojournalist arrested covering Dallas protests",
"(2022-05-23 12:52:00+00:00) Photojournalist sues Dallas Police Department, officer following 2020 arrest",
"(2025-03-19 00:00:00+00:00) Photojournalist’s suit against Dallas Police Department dismissed"
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{
"title": "Freelance journalist struck in back by police while covering protests in Brooklyn",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-struck-back-police-while-covering-protests-brooklyn/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-03T03:51:35.918581Z",
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"date": "2020-05-30",
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"city": "New York",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8c7pq\">NYPD officers struck freelance journalist Leila Barghouty in the back while she was covering protests in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush on the night of May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"kgceu\">The protest was among the many demonstrations held in the city sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"cso8f\">Barghouty tweeted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PLBarghouty/status/1266923590739427330\">video</a> at 10:44 p.m. showing a group of journalists and protesters following police orders to move out of the way and along a sidewalk, with text saying, “Here’s us being super chill before we got clocked in the back for no reason.”</p><p data-block-key=\"que0g\">After she stopped recording that video, “We got pushed by a shield. I felt it on my whole back and arms,” Barghouty told the Committee to Protect Journalists in a phone interview. She said she had “a lot of bruises” from the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"64qu4\">Barghouty said she repeatedly identified herself as a journalist during the attack, and was holding up her press pass.</p><p data-block-key=\"nigj6\">She told CPJ that she did not believe police targeted her, but instead simply did not distinguish between protesters and members of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"6kjp8\">Earlier that night, NYPD officers only retaliated against protesters who came close to them, she told CPJ, saying she did not know why police abruptly turned aggressive.</p><p data-block-key=\"9u6sb\">“We were scared of the trample effect. People were falling down and the police were walking over them,” Barghouty said, adding that she stayed out reporting for another hour after the attack.</p><p data-block-key=\"nf7wn\">Barghouty said the assault occurred after officers <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/huffpost-reporter-arrested-while-covering-protest-brooklyn/\">arrested HuffPost reporter Christopher Mathias</a>; Barghouty <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PLBarghouty/status/1266923638822969344\">tweeted photos</a> of his arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"ph4sn\">CPJ emailed the NYPD for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
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