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[
{
"title": "French television correspondent arrested for curfew violation in Minneapolis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/french-television-correspondent-arrested-curfew-violation-minneapolis/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-18T13:56:04.355271Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T21:13:55.819124Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T21:13:55.724283Z",
"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=\"2dd79\">A French television correspondent was arrested for curfew violations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020, after police fired rubber projectiles at the car she was riding in, damaging the windshield and sending small shards of glass inside the vehicle. The <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/french-videographer-arrested-colleague-curfew-violation-minneapolis/\">videographer from her team was arrested</a> at the same time.</p><p data-block-key=\"aeyfy\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all arrests separately.</p><p data-block-key=\"yq162\">Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were 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=\"3plkd\">Amandine Atalaya, a Washington-based correspondent for TF1, a major French television station, was riding in a rental car driven by her colleague, videographer Mathieu Derrien, in Minneapolis just after 11:15 p.m. when an officer fired a foam projectile at the windshield, damaging it and sending small shards of glass flying inside the car, Derrien told the Tracker in an interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"ayxs6\">Atalaya did not return an interview request as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"qdwxu\">Derrien quickly brought the car to a stop, as a few smaller projectiles—perhaps pepper balls—hit the car, leaving behind a white powder.</p><p data-block-key=\"l9bmi\">Officers then approached the car shouting for them to get out and put their hands up, and they complied. They immediately told officers they were French journalists, but the officers said they did not care and that they were in violation of the city’s curfew, Derrien said. The officers pointed their weapons toward the journalists, who showed them their press credentials, issued by the U.S. Senate, but the officers were unmoved.</p><p data-block-key=\"x0omq\">After securing their hands behind their backs using zip ties, the officers took them to a law enforcement facility across town, Derrien said, where they were fingerprinted and briefly placed in metal handcuffs. She received a citation for misdemeanor curfew violation, which is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail.</p><p data-block-key=\"z2shw\">Derrien said that he was unsure which agency the officers who arrested them were from. Emails sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department inquiring about this matter were not returned as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"mvlvu\">Jeremy Zoss, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, wrote in an email to the Tracker that Derrien and Atalaya were cited at the Hennepin County jail, but the sheriff’s office was not the arresting agency. Upon review of the citation, Zoss said that the arresting agency was not listed, something he termed “unusual” and was likely a result of this being a mass arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"jwo9f\">The arrests occurred despite the fact that members of the media were specifically exempt from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s<a href=\"https://mn.gov/governor/news/#/detail/appId/1/id/434117\"> executive order</a> implementing the curfew.</p><p data-block-key=\"g9tlb\">Derrien and Atalaya were released around 2 a.m. and had to find their way back to their car without their cellphones, which were locked inside their vehicle with their gear. A protester who was released at the same time gave them a ride back to the general area where their car was. When they returned to the car, they discovered that one of the tires had been deflated.</p><p data-block-key=\"pekho\">In France, Derrien and Atalaya’s colleagues were very concerned when they were unavailable for the live shot they were supposed to do at midnight and called their phones multiple times in search of them, Derrien said.</p><p data-block-key=\"v8epd\">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": "",
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"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-05-31",
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"case_number": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"subpoena_type": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-07-22 11:39:00+00:00) Charges dropped against French television correspondent arrested during protests in Minneapolis"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Amandine Atalaya (TF1 [France])"
],
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},
{
"title": "Two Wisconsin reporters caught in tear gas, pepper spray while reporting on Madison protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-wisconsin-reporters-caught-tear-gas-pepper-spray-while-reporting-madison-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-17T19:42:49.651177Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:42:00.445300Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:42:00.371335Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Madison",
"longitude": -89.40123,
"latitude": 43.07305,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3a16p\">Two Wisconsin reporters were caught up in tear gas clouds and pepper-sprayed by police while reporting on protests against police violence in Madison, Wisconsin, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"u3c3l\">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=\"syk0z\">Reporting for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Molly Beck and Lawrence Andrea were stationed near State Street, a central business district area, from around 6 p.m. until midnight. Beck estimates that tear gas was deployed by police six or seven times during that period, she told the Committee to Protect Journalists in a phone interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"o076l\">Tweets posted by Beck and Andrea that evening documented the use of both tear gas and pepper spray. Andrea <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lawrencegandrea/status/1266914315619176448\">tweeted</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lawrencegandrea/status/1266916698692747265\">videos</a> around 10 p.m. that showed tear gas being deployed. Nearly two hours later, Andrea <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lawrencegandrea/status/1266939157315817472\">tweeted</a>, “We are getting pepper sprayed.” At 1:20 a.m., Beck <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MollyBeck/status/1266962728880672769\">noted</a>, “I can still taste it an hour later.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lui88\">Beck doesn’t believe that she and Andrea were targeted for being journalists. Instead, they were caught up in tightly packed crowds of protesters who were tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed.</p><p data-block-key=\"p9b4q\">“When the spraying started, we were hit with it, and then we started running away,” said Beck. “[The police] were walking down the line spraying and it got on us, in our mouth and eyes. It wasn’t point-blank in our face or anything like that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"o3h2e\">Beck told CPJ that she believes that the tear gas was deployed by Wisconsin State Patrol officers, while the pepper spray was deployed by Madison police. She added that the tear gas could have been deployed by a mix of state and city police.</p><p data-block-key=\"9lk53\">Beck had press credentials hanging around her neck, but they were likely not visible to police.</p><p data-block-key=\"kpile\">“I would doubt that they saw that and immediately identified me as press,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"io1xp\">Beck told CPJ that the pair stopped reporting after they were pepper-sprayed.</p><p data-block-key=\"muhag\">A Madison Police Department incident report <a href=\"https://www.cityofmadison.com/police/newsroom/incidentreports/incident.cfm?id=26562\">published</a> on May 31 about protests the previous day outlines the actions of some of the crowd, including damage to property and vehicles and attacks on police officers. The report states that “chemical agents were utilized [by Madison police] as officers attempted to move the crowd from the area.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cnxty\">Joel DeSpain, public information officer for the Madison Police Department, told CPJ in an email that pepper spray is a “chemical agent” used by the Madison Police Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"w9nk7\">The Wisconsin State Police did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"452sk\">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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"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Wisconsin",
"abbreviation": "WI"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Molly Beck (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)",
"Lawrence Andrea (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Camera equipment stolen from Chicago Tribune photographer during protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/camera-equipment-stolen-chicago-tribune-photographer-during-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-17T13:14:39.863005Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:38:03.727836Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:38:03.606861Z",
"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=\"cjoo4\">A photographer for the Chicago Tribune was shoved and had her cameras stolen by two unidentified men while covering protests in downtown Chicago, Illinois, on the night of May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"5sai1\">The protests were sparked by a video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"78vdm\">Tribune photographer Erin Hooley said she had been photographing protests and altercations between demonstrators and the police when looting broke out. While photographing the looting of a CVS at the intersection of South Wabash and East Monroe Street around 9 p.m., she said she overheard a woman yell, “Get that bitch’s cameras!” Suddenly, she said, two men shoved her to the sidewalk, grabbed the cameras she had strung around her neck and shoulder, and ran off. Hooley said she was bruised but otherwise uninjured in the attack.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Looters in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chicago?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Chicago</a> shoved me on the sidewalk and took my cameras tonight. Thanks guys. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChicagoProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ChicagoProtests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloyd</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChicagoScanner?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ChicagoScanner</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/riots2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#riots2020</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/chicagotribune?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@chicagotribune</a></p>— Erin Hooley (@erinhooley) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/erinhooley/status/1266928544132796417?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=\"k9uue\">After picking up both herself and her press badge, Hooley said she walked down the street to see if the men had dropped the cameras but they were gone. She called her editor to report what had happened and then went home. Hooley said she saw police officers around the corner from where she was attacked but that they didn’t appear to be intervening to stop the looting.</p><p data-block-key=\"r3qwv\">Hooley said her cameras were owned by the Tribune company, which did not ask her to file a police report. The photographer said a Canon representative sent her loaner gear and that she returned to cover the protests in the following days.</p><p data-block-key=\"8vqle\">According to the photojournalist, what bothered her most was the loss not of physical equipment, but rather several hours’ worth of photographs she had taken prior to the assault. Hooley said she had transferred about eight images to her editor while still in the streets, but that the rest were gone. “I was pretty angry about losing that stuff because it’s very historical,” she said. “It robbed me of being able to share this crazy time we are living in, and that’s very frustrating.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ci3p\">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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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "private individual",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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{
"quantity": 2,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 2,
"equipment": "camera lens"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Illinois",
"abbreviation": "IL"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"robbery"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Erin Hooley (Chicago Tribune)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Police fire pepper balls at photographer in Buffalo, make grab for camera",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-fire-pepper-balls-photographer-buffalo-make-grab-camera/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-17T02:10:58.360968Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:37:38.047722Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:37:37.946311Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Buffalo",
"longitude": -78.87837,
"latitude": 42.88645,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2kas8\">Police fired pepper balls at freelance photographer Andrew Jasiura and an officer tried to grab his camera while he was reporting on protests in Buffalo, New York, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvyxu\">The demonstration in Buffalo’s Niagara Square was one of many such protests held in the days following the May 26 release of a video that showed a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest. Floyd was later pronounced dead at the hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"5gf9u\">Jasiura told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest was peaceful until a car drove through the crowd, who responded by <a href=\"https://buffalonews.com/2020/05/31/watch-now-protesters-smash-car-in-niagara-square/\">dragging the driver from the vehicle</a>. Police began to attempt to clear the square by firing nonlethal projectiles and advancing in a line. One officer asked Jasiura why he was taking pictures, and Jasiura said he pointed to his bright yellow vest that said “PRESS” in English and Cantonese (Jasiura had previously covered demonstrations in Hong Kong).</p><p data-block-key=\"oo7s6\">The photographer subsequently tried to come to the aid of a black man who had been hit with mace and pepper balls.</p><p data-block-key=\"uddy5\">“He was just pouring mucus out of his face, out of his nose, his mouth, his eyes. His whole face was red,” Jasiura said. Jasiura tried to wash the protester’s eyes out with saline spray, at which point officers shot pepper balls at him, even though his press vest was clearly visible.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I saw one young man overheating and dripping mucus out of every hole in his head in response to the police tactics. I attempted to pull him back from the frontline when I was shot multiple times by police and told to leave him in their line of fire <a href=\"https://t.co/09wnLAQ1Ss\">pic.twitter.com/09wnLAQ1Ss</a></p>— DrewJazzyPhoto (@PhotoJazzy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PhotoJazzy/status/1269055958078144514?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=\"9t7du\">Jasiura said he approached one officer to try to explain that he was a photojournalist, but that officer fired more pepper balls at him.</p><p data-block-key=\"m1od9\">“When I took pictures of his nameplate, he swiped up my camera to try to knock it out of my hands, and then shot me another 10-plus times in the legs,” Jasiura said. He <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PhotoJazzy/status/1269056626843099137\">caught a photo</a> of the officer during the encounter.</p><p data-block-key=\"3wnt3\">Jasiura said his camera was not damaged and he did not suffer serious injuries beyond bruises to his leg. He said he is considering taking legal action against the Buffalo Police Department, but added that he does not want to be the center of the story.</p><p data-block-key=\"55krk\">The Buffalo Police Department did not respond immediately to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"wdqcd\">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/photojazzy_assault_0530_floyd.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"79y05\">Freelance photojournalist Andrew Jasiura captured the moment a Buffalo police officer grabbed at his camera during an altercation in New York on May 30, 2020.</p>",
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"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"actor": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Andrew Jasiura (Freelance)"
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},
{
"title": "French videographer arrested with colleague for curfew violation in Minneapolis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/french-videographer-arrested-colleague-curfew-violation-minneapolis/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-16T04:47:12.253121Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T23:57:08.084942Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T23:57:07.966342Z",
"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=\"8e7kl\">A French videographer was arrested for curfew violations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020, after police fired rubber projectiles at the car he was driving, damaging the windshield and sending small shards of glass inside the vehicle. The correspondent from his team was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/french-television-correspondent-arrested-curfew-violation-minneapolis/\">also arrested</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cc43g\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all <a href=\"http://pressfreedomtracker.us/arrest-criminal-charge/\">arrests</a> separately.</p><p data-block-key=\"wfbvt\">Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were 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=\"ge3zs\">Mathieu Derrien, videographer for TF1, a major French television station, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview that he was driving a rental car with his colleague, TF1 correspondent Amandine Atalaya, around Minneapolis just after 11:15 p.m. looking for people to interview when he made a turn off Lake Street.</p><p data-block-key=\"fsynr\">A few seconds after making the turn, a foam projectile hit his windshield, damaging it and sending small shards of glass flying inside the car, he told the Tracker. The glass did not injure either journalist. Derrien quickly brought the car to a stop, as a few smaller projectiles—perhaps pepper balls—hit the windshield, leaving behind a white powder.</p><p data-block-key=\"mnwfh\">Officers then approached the car shouting for Derrien and Atalaya to get out and put their hands up, and they complied. “We immediately told them we were French journalists,” Derrien said. “They replied that they didn’t care and that there was a curfew in place.” The officers pointed their weapons toward the journalists, who showed them their press credentials issued by the U.S. Senate, but the officers were unmoved.</p><p data-block-key=\"qv37f\">After securing their hands behind their backs using zip ties, the officers took them to a law enforcement facility across town, Derrien said, where they were fingerprinted and briefly placed in metal handcuffs. He received a citation for misdemeanor curfew violation, which is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail.</p><p data-block-key=\"bhkz3\">Derrien said that he was unsure which agency the officers who arrested them were from. Emails sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department inquiring about this matter were not returned as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"w7kuz\">Jeremy Zoss, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, wrote in an email to the Tracker that Derrien was cited at the Hennepin County jail but the sheriff’s office was not the arresting agency. Upon review of the citation, Zoss said that the arresting agency was not listed, something he termed “unusual” and was likely a result of this being a mass arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"ivulo\">The arrest occurred despite the fact that members of the media were specifically exempt from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s <a href=\"https://mn.gov/governor/news/#/detail/appId/1/id/434117\">executive order</a> implementing the curfew.</p><p data-block-key=\"k36nd\">Derrien and Atalaya were released around 2 a.m. and had to find their way back to their car without their cellphones, which were locked inside their vehicle with their gear. A protester who was released at the same time gave them a ride back to the general area where their car was. When they returned to the car, they discovered that one of the tires had been deflated.</p><p data-block-key=\"14gap\">In France, Derrien and Atalaya’s colleagues were “worried sick” when they were unavailable for the live shot they were supposed to do at midnight. “They called our phones many times, so when we got to the car, we had 15 or 20 missed calls each,” Derrien said. “They were starting to imagine the worst.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mp1je\">Derrien later <a href=\"https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2020/06/04/la-liberte-de-la-presse-doublement-malmenee_1790362\">recounted</a> what transpired to French daily newspaper Libération and tweeted out a photo of the car’s damaged windshield, writing that the situation had left them with “more fear than harm.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"fr\" dir=\"ltr\">A Minneapolis hier soir, à proximité d’un barrage, la police a tiré une balle en caoutchouc sur notre véhicule en marche côté conducteur, puis nous a arrêtés avec <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AmandineAtalaya?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AmandineAtalaya</a> . Relâchés rapidement heureusement, plus de peur que de mal <a href=\"https://t.co/hEZtkxyDDF\">pic.twitter.com/hEZtkxyDDF</a></p>— Mathieu Derrien (@MatDerrien) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MatDerrien/status/1267095983084777472?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=\"ddaxa\">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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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/derrien_arrest_MN__floyd.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"0bjge\">While covering protests in Minneapolis for French publication TF1, Mathieu Derrien's rental car was hit with a rubber bullet shot by police. Derrien and a colleague were also arrested and charged with violating curfew.</p>",
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{
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"name": "Minnesota",
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"(2020-08-13 17:55:00+00:00) Update: Charges dismissed against French videographer arrested while covering May protests"
],
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
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"shot / shot at"
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist struck in stomach by projectile during Raleigh protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-north-carolina-photojournalists-struck-projectiles-during-raleigh-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-16T02:46:24.593543Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:37:14.367193Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:37:14.285136Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
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"city": "Raleigh",
"longitude": -78.63861,
"latitude": 35.7721,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fbvx4\">Ethan Hyman, a photojournalist for the Raleigh News & Observer, was struck by a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Raleigh, North Carolina, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"fswgo\">The protest was among several demonstrations held across the country sparked by a video showing a 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=\"iegdr\">Hyman told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that he started to cover the protest in the city at around 5 p.m. After briefly returning to the newsroom to file, he went back to cover the protest at around 7. He witnessed confrontations between protesters and police, including officers from the Wake County Sheriff’s Department and the Raleigh Police Department<b>.</b></p><p data-block-key=\"5fsj2\">Hyman says police used tear gas throughout the protest to disperse the crowd. Hyman saw protesters trying to throw canisters back at the police and putting cones over the tear gas to stop it from spreading.</p><p data-block-key=\"eokom\">At around 10:25, Hyman was shooting video when he was struck in the stomach by a projectile. He is still not exactly sure what struck him, although <a href=\"https://twitter.com/vizjourno/status/1267494648680976395\">tweets</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/vizjourno/status/1266954106998009857\">sent</a> by fellow News & Observer photojournalist Travis Long indicate it was a rubber bullet.</p><p data-block-key=\"dco29\">At the time he was struck, Hyman says, there were officers in riot gear firing tear gas from the steps of the courthouse in downtown Raleigh. He was not standing in the direct line of fire and estimates that police were 20 to 30 feet away from him at the time.</p><p data-block-key=\"ir245\">“It was not a very controlled situation,” said Hyman. “The police didn’t seem like they had control either.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tpww6\">Hyman was wearing an N95 mask and goggles with a seal when he was struck. He says he doesn’t believe he was targeted for being a journalist. Hyman was wearing his press credentials around his neck, and they were visible when he was struck.</p><p data-block-key=\"n0kia\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/vizjourno/status/1266954106998009857\">tweet</a> posted by Long shows the extent of Hyman’s injuries. The tweet, sent early in the morning of May 31, is captioned, “You’re going to feel that in the morning bud.”</p><p data-block-key=\"udonh\">The Raleigh Police Department did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"hlwa5\">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": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"tsdny\">Tear gas canisters land as protesters walk by in Raleigh, North Carolina on May 30, 2020.</p>",
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"name": "North Carolina",
"abbreviation": "NC"
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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"Ethan Hyman (The [Raleigh] News & Observer)"
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{
"title": "Reporter on assignment for New York Times targeted by law enforcement with tear gas, foam projectiles at Dallas protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-dallas-targeted-law-enforcement-tear-gas-foam-projectiles/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-15T21:21:33.539095Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:36:15.378422Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:36:15.292130Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Dallas",
"longitude": -96.80667,
"latitude": 32.78306,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rg2li\">Freelance reporter Marina Trahan Martinez was targeted with foam projectiles and tear gas fired by police while covering protests in downtown Dallas, Texas, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"2vwqg\">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=\"7dhrz\">Trahan Martinez told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was reporting on assignment for The New York Times wearing a black shirt emblazoned on the front and back with the word “PRESS” in white uppercase letters.</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 what I was wearing <a href=\"https://t.co/0YPSUIK2lN\">pic.twitter.com/0YPSUIK2lN</a></p>— marina trahan martinez (@HisGirlHildy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HisGirlHildy/status/1266946753477193729?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=\"ml5kp\">She was standing on a street corner at around 8 p.m. in downtown Dallas, filming demonstrators who were kneeling, when a group of two to three dozen police officers in riot gear approached.</p><p data-block-key=\"cxdh7\">When someone in the crowd lobbed a water bottle in the direction of the advancing officers, one of the officers issued a warning on his bullhorn to protesters: “Leave the area or you will be arrested.” Seconds later, the police sent canisters of tear gas into the crowd, causing protesters to scatter.</p><p data-block-key=\"mm5dm\">Trahan Martinez was filming the scene on her phone from a corner opposite the action, when the officers repeated their call to leave, this time in her direction. “I shouted, ‘I’m with the press. I’m media. I’m just working. I’m here doing my job,’” she recounted. When they responded with another command to clear the area, Trahan Martinez reiterated that she was a member of the press, in case they had not heard her.</p><p data-block-key=\"73ul7\">“They screamed back, ‘It doesn’t matter,’” she said. Then they fired a canister of tear gas that landed a few feet behind her to her left.</p><p data-block-key=\"wcry7\">“They started shooting at me,” she said, recounting that dark blue foam less-lethal projectiles fell at her feet. None of them hit her. Trahan Martinez walked away and took shelter in the patio of a closed restaurant until she was able to reach safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"7melc\">Trahan Martinez, who has worked as a reporter in Dallas for 20 years and has plenty of sources inside the Dallas Police Department, described the experience as a jarring one. “This particular unit did not care who I was or what I was doing there,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"uw8c5\">Reached by the Tracker, Warren Mitchell, a spokesman for the DPD, wrote in an email that it was “challenging” to provide comment about the incident without hearing the details from Trahan Martinez. Mitchell invited the reporter to make a complaint with the department.</p><p data-block-key=\"00uki\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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],
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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": "",
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"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>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sam Trilling (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"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": "",
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"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>",
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"state": {
"name": "Maryland",
"abbreviation": "MD"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Timothy Wolfer (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"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>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "Arkansas",
"abbreviation": "AR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Shelby Rose (KATV)"
],
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{
"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>",
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"name": "Kentucky",
"abbreviation": "KY"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Cal Perry (NBC News)"
],
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},
{
"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,
"arrest_status": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "3:21-cv-01028",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"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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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sarah Belle Lin (Freelance)"
],
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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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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"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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"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>",
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"robbery"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
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"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": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS39LFD.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"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>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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{
"quantity": 1,
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},
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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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"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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"arresting_authority": null,
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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)"
],
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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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{
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"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": "",
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"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>",
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"case_number": "1:20-cv-03422",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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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"
],
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"settled"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jonathan Ballew (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"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>",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"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",
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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"
],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Adam Gray (SWNS [UK])"
],
"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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"targeted_institutions": [],
"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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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
"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": "",
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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,
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"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": "",
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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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],
"state": {
"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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{
"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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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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