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[
{
"title": "HuffPost reporter arrested while covering protest in Brooklyn",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/huffpost-reporter-arrested-while-covering-protest-brooklyn/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-03T03:39:03.772761Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:28:48.527350Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:28:48.421997Z",
"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=\"fbtm9\">Christopher Mathias, a senior reporter with HuffPost, was arrested by police while covering anti-racism protests in Brooklyn, New York, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"u4cm8\">The protests in New York began as demonstrations spread across the country since May 26, sparked by a video of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest. Floyd was pronounced dead at the hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"if5xu\">Mathias was covering protests in the Flatbush area on the night of May 30, where he <a href=\"https://www.huffpost.com/entry/more-protests-across-us-justice-george-floyd_n_5ed2e847c5b620016b08408f\">told HuffPost</a> that a dumpster and at least two police cars were set on fire when police began arresting people. Freelance journalist Phoebe Leila Barghouty posted<a href=\"https://twitter.com/PLBarghouty/status/1266922618122354690\"> photos on Twitter</a> that appeared to show a New York City police officer restraining Mathias shortly before 11 p.m. and<a href=\"https://twitter.com/PLBarghouty/status/1266927400425832453\"> confirmed a short time later</a> that it was Mathias who had been detained.</p><p data-block-key=\"ii3zr\">In an interview with<a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/business/media/reporters-protests-george-floyd.html?referringSource=articleShare&fbclid=IwAR1FJjZ1qUgPiZ1v8PKhNINtbEwC96ml8d5y1qVj9MhmO9eOGW_Dz04YAo4\"> The New York Times</a> about the incident, Mathias said that a police officer ran into him, telling him to move out of the way. Mathias told the Times that he insulted the officer, who then turned around and hit him in the stomach with a baton. Mathias was then taken into custody.</p><p data-block-key=\"a016v\">Mathias was wearing a press badge at the time of his arrest, according to<a href=\"https://www.huffpost.com/entry/huffpost-reporter-chris-mathias-arrested_n_5ed320d9c5b640cb8341c921\"> HuffPost</a> and photographs of the incident. Other journalists who witnessed police taking him into custody told HuffPost that Mathias was clearly identifying himself as a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"2o36q\">HuffPost reports that, according to Mathias’ wife, his phone was knocked from his hand during the encounter.</p><p data-block-key=\"tj7vk\">HuffPost condemned Mathias’ arrest <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HuffPost/status/1266934050415095808?s=20\">on Twitter</a> shortly after he was taken into custody and demanded he be released.</p><p data-block-key=\"blvc8\">Mathias was released from police custody at around 1 a.m. on May 31. The Times reports that he was issued a summons.</p><p data-block-key=\"kvmqy\">Mathias did not return requests for comment about his arrest and HuffPost did not immediately reply to an inquiry seeking more details. The New York City Police Department did not reply to a request for more information about the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"thppj\">Mathias posted on Twitter on May 31 that he was home after he had been taken into custody. He did not offer details about his arrest, but described it as “bogus.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I'm home & overwhelmed by all your messages of love & support. Thank you. <br><br>I'll explain more about my arrest later but for now just know it was bogus, as were the arrests of all the brave New Yorkers protesting against a police force that routinely terrorizes this city.</p>— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/letsgomathias/status/1267137171301023744?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=\"u3buc\">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/Mathais_arrest_barghouty.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ywjz0\">The arrest of HuffPost senior reporter Christopher Mathias during protests in New York on May 30, 2020, was captured by freelance journalist Phoebe Leila Barghouty.</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": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"subpoena_type": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-09-30 00:00:00+00:00) Charges dropped against HuffPost journalist"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Christopher Mathias (HuffPost)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist arrested while covering Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-while-covering-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-03T03:27:40.451788Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T22:44:40.604298Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T22:44:40.499896Z",
"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=\"v85sc\">Freelance photojournalist Stephen Maturen was arrested alongside two other journalists while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"qo8nm\">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. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find arrests of journalists covering protests related to the death of George Floyd <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-05-25&date_upper=2020-12-31&tags=protest%2CBlack+Lives+Matter&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"qbrei\">Maturen told the Tracker that he had met up with fellow photojournalists at around 9 p.m. Approximately 10-15 minutes later, they were walking north on Nicollet Avenue toward 28th Street when they saw a “parade” of police cruisers driving to where the majority of protesters had scattered.</p><p data-block-key=\"kpax6\">“[A police cruiser] stopped abruptly and a number of members of the Sheriff’s Department poured out shooting either markers or gas canisters at the handful of people on that block,” Maturen said.</p><p data-block-key=\"5352w\">Maturen — along with European Pressphoto Agency photojournalist Tannen Maury and freelance photojournalist Craig Lassig — identified themselves as members of the media, and were initially told to keep moving.</p><p data-block-key=\"7h07g\">“There was a moment where it seemed as though we would just be pushed out of that block, but then someone decided to call for us to be arrested,” Maturen said.</p><p data-block-key=\"emnte\">The photojournalists were all ordered to get on the ground face down with their hands out.</p><p data-block-key=\"ml511\">Maturen said that he was not injured in the course of the arrest and that things “were relatively smooth, all things considered.” He added, however, that when his hands were zip-tied he was still wearing his backpack, and officers cut its straps instead of redoing the ties.</p><p data-block-key=\"i97qk\">Maturen, Lassig and Maury were taken to the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility in downtown Minneapolis and cited with breaking the <a href=\"http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@mpd/documents/webcontent/wcmsp-224728.pdf?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=e79ba958c566d7286ac6ce6a49e48a8debc864ff-1591053711-0-AbxSmTv2ccfMkA-Ihij2ze3vyQB_FlzT2sWib_sDWXdj1_9fWG561AalJ7ccxwpndoYYiAwVHZjd70wbg6NrI2Z9_3yVfW-dJ47MWePXz3idZGVayasnd2zzE575XoDPazkntl7vQPymCrqtWQq0PXiJ7vIsuxHhwdLjsnMfOGc_BK5zGAw2QcSTR1nOGLOXRCVit7iDtXQmk9W3QSxjUT-2tzRTbvZLSkJHD_3xQbCUve6svgQ9GEjaYKSyFUZbePQgCPZcbtOpdgM5p5zn3Gd8K5JX558orzXCKswZlC9Qww0TL03Wgh9NEj2uFf67nmXu_BPoTHdzRCQiZV1wQClYtzfeOrrmylnCxh0_UnRU\">city’s curfew order</a>, a misdemeanor which is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail. The curfew order specifically exempted members of the news media, however.</p><p data-block-key=\"ngsx9\">They were in police custody for approximately two hours, and Maturen said that his belongings — including his damaged backpack and camera — were returned to him upon his release.</p><p data-block-key=\"adfbe\">Neither the Minneapolis State Patrol nor the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department could immediately be reached for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"igyzh\">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/RTS39P8O_-_REUTERS_-_Lucas_Jackso.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"kjj58\">Law enforcement at a Minneapolis protest on May 30, 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd. Photojournalist Stephen Maturen was documenting protests when he was arrested for breaking a curfew order that specifically exempted members of the media.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "0:20-cv-01302",
"case_type": "CLASS_ACTION",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-02-08 12:01:00+00:00) Journalists reach settlement agreement with Minnesota State Patrol, rest of suit ongoing",
"(2024-02-08 00:00:00+00:00) Journalists get nearly $1M settlement over Minneapolis BLM protest attacks",
"(2020-07-30 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance photojournalist joins ACLU suit following arrest while covering Minneapolis protest",
"(2020-07-22 16:10:00+00:00) Charges dropped against photojournalist arrested while covering Minneapolis protests"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing",
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Stephen Maturen (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Freelance photojournalist arrested while covering Minneapolis protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-arrested-while-covering-minneapolis-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-03T03:23:07.491717Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T22:38:43.748948Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T22:38:43.641891Z",
"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=\"2e5qt\">Freelance photojournalist Craig Lassig was arrested alongside two other journalists while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"j4vfe\">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. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find arrests of journalists covering protests related to the death of George Floyd <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-05-25&date_upper=2020-12-31&tags=protest%2CBlack+Lives+Matter&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1l8eu\">At just after 9 p.m., Lassig was walking with photojournalists Stephen Maturen and Tannen Maury on Nicollet Avenue toward 28th Street where a “parade” of police cruisers was driving, according to Maturen.</p><p data-block-key=\"3c9bg\">Maturen told the Tracker that a police cruiser had stopped abruptly on their block and began shooting less-lethal rounds at the handful of people around them.</p><p data-block-key=\"suycv\">The three photojournalists identified themselves as members of the media, and were initially told to keep moving.</p><p data-block-key=\"nyhdz\">A moment later, Maturen said, someone made the call to arrest the journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"atekd\">Lassig told the Tracker that the arrest was uneventful.</p><p data-block-key=\"v38ns\">“The cop that handled me was professional and was careful with my gear,” Lassig said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8rtmt\">Aside from the fact that there was no reason to detain the three of them, he said, they were treated well and only in police custody for approximately two hours.</p><p data-block-key=\"8lc9h\">The journalists were taken to the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility in downtown Minneapolis and cited with breaking the <a href=\"http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@mpd/documents/webcontent/wcmsp-224728.pdf?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=e79ba958c566d7286ac6ce6a49e48a8debc864ff-1591053711-0-AbxSmTv2ccfMkA-Ihij2ze3vyQB_FlzT2sWib_sDWXdj1_9fWG561AalJ7ccxwpndoYYiAwVHZjd70wbg6NrI2Z9_3yVfW-dJ47MWePXz3idZGVayasnd2zzE575XoDPazkntl7vQPymCrqtWQq0PXiJ7vIsuxHhwdLjsnMfOGc_BK5zGAw2QcSTR1nOGLOXRCVit7iDtXQmk9W3QSxjUT-2tzRTbvZLSkJHD_3xQbCUve6svgQ9GEjaYKSyFUZbePQgCPZcbtOpdgM5p5zn3Gd8K5JX558orzXCKswZlC9Qww0TL03Wgh9NEj2uFf67nmXu_BPoTHdzRCQiZV1wQClYtzfeOrrmylnCxh0_UnRU\">city’s curfew order</a>, a misdemeanor which is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail. The curfew order specifically exempted members of the news media, however.</p><p data-block-key=\"5buvs\">Maturen told the Tracker that all of their belongings were returned to them upon their release.</p><p data-block-key=\"00p23\">Neither the Minneapolis State Patrol nor the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department could immediately be reached for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"qszo2\">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/RTS39P1T_-_Reuters_-_Lucas_Jackso.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"y0fby\">Law enforcement at a Minneapolis protest on May 30, 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd. Photojournalist Craig Lassig was documenting protests when he was arrested for breaking a curfew order that specifically exempted members of the media.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "0:20-cv-01302",
"case_type": "CLASS_ACTION",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-02-08 00:00:00+00:00) Journalists get nearly $1M settlement over Minneapolis BLM protest attacks",
"(2022-02-08 12:00:00+00:00) Journalists reach settlement agreement with Minnesota State Patrol, rest of suit ongoing",
"(2020-08-03 16:08:00+00:00) Charges dropped against freelance photojournalist arrested while covering Minneapolis protest",
"(2020-06-08 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance photojournalist sues following arrest while covering Minneapolis protest"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing",
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Craig Lassig (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "European Pressphoto Agency photojournalist arrested during Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/european-pressphoto-agency-photojournalist-arrested-during-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-03T03:16:48.645734Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-03T22:43:18.682030Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-03T22:43:18.579602Z",
"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=\"j7zct\">A European Pressphoto Agency photojournalist was assaulted and later arrested alongside two other journalists while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"7lvf5\">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. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find arrests of journalists covering protests related to the death of George Floyd <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-05-25&date_upper=2020-12-31&tags=protest%2CBlack+Lives+Matter&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"mu1ej\">Tannen Maury told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was documenting a peaceful protest when Minnesota State Patrol troopers began to enforce the 8 p.m. curfew, warning all those still present to disperse.</p><p data-block-key=\"ow0nr\">“Five minutes later, they started marching up the street, launching tear gas and I guess rubber bullets, and everything else they have, and I got hit in the back with a projectile,” Maury said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7wrlx\">He believes he was struck with a tear gas canister judging from the large, white residue mark on his shirt and bulletproof vest. Because of his protective gear, Maury said, he was uninjured and able to continue working.</p><p data-block-key=\"cgd2j\">At just after 9 p.m, Maury was walking with freelance photojournalists Stephen Maturen and Craig Lassig on Nicollet Avenue toward 28th Street where a “parade” of police cruisers was driving, according to Maturen.</p><p data-block-key=\"xl2p4\">Maturen told the Tracker that a police cruiser had stopped abruptly on their block and began shooting less-lethal rounds at the handful of people around them.</p><p data-block-key=\"ogjj6\">The three photojournalists identified themselves as members of the media, and were initially told to keep moving.</p><p data-block-key=\"ewc6x\">A moment later, Maturen said, someone made the call to arrest the journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"y9i50\">Sheriff’s deputies ordered all three to get on the ground face down with their hands out, and they complied.</p><p data-block-key=\"cdv08\">Maury said they explained that they were journalists and exempt from the curfew. “They were gentle, they weren’t rough with us at all,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"m0yi6\">The photojournalists were taken to the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility in downtown Minneapolis and cited with breaking the <a href=\"http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@mpd/documents/webcontent/wcmsp-224728.pdf?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=e79ba958c566d7286ac6ce6a49e48a8debc864ff-1591053711-0-AbxSmTv2ccfMkA-Ihij2ze3vyQB_FlzT2sWib_sDWXdj1_9fWG561AalJ7ccxwpndoYYiAwVHZjd70wbg6NrI2Z9_3yVfW-dJ47MWePXz3idZGVayasnd2zzE575XoDPazkntl7vQPymCrqtWQq0PXiJ7vIsuxHhwdLjsnMfOGc_BK5zGAw2QcSTR1nOGLOXRCVit7iDtXQmk9W3QSxjUT-2tzRTbvZLSkJHD_3xQbCUve6svgQ9GEjaYKSyFUZbePQgCPZcbtOpdgM5p5zn3Gd8K5JX558orzXCKswZlC9Qww0TL03Wgh9NEj2uFf67nmXu_BPoTHdzRCQiZV1wQClYtzfeOrrmylnCxh0_UnRU\">city’s curfew order</a>, a misdemeanor which is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail. The curfew order specifically exempted members of the news media, however. They were in police custody for approximately two hours.</p><p data-block-key=\"ozd3i\">Maury confirmed that all of their belongings were returned to them upon their release.</p><p data-block-key=\"yv1bv\">Neither the Minneapolis State Patrol nor the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department could immediately be reached for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"osfwd\">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/RTS39OZE_-_Reuters_-_Carlos_Barri.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hinet\">Law enforcement at a Minneapolis protest on May 30, 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd. Photojournalist Tannen Maury was hit with a tear gas canister fired by a state trooper and arrested while documenting protests in the city.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "0:20-cv-01302",
"case_type": "CLASS_ACTION",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-02-08 12:03:00+00:00) Journalists reach settlement agreement with Minnesota State Patrol, rest of suit ongoing",
"(2020-07-22 11:37:00+00:00) Charges dropped against European Pressphoto Agency photojournalist arrested during Minneapolis protests",
"(2020-07-30 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance photojournalist joins ACLU suit following arrest while covering Minneapolis protest",
"(2024-02-08 00:00:00+00:00) Journalists get nearly $1M settlement over Minneapolis BLM protest attacks"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing",
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Tannen Maury (European Pressphoto Agency)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist struck with baton while covering LA protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-covering-protests-los-angeles-assaulted/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-02T12:49:03.502275Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:16:36.541465Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:16:36.452635Z",
"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=\"hbva4\">Freelance multimedia journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray was struck in the stomach with a baton while covering protests in Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"d5ae0\">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=\"8930g\">Ray told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he was standing at the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and Third Street documenting the confrontation between protesters and Los Angeles Police Department officers on Saturday afternoon when an officer hit him. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"wc99q\">“Unprovoked and kind of out of nowhere, the police officer took the baton and jabbed it into my stomach, which sent me flying back a couple feet,” Ray said.</p><p data-block-key=\"0wo3e\">He posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1267158399772491777\">a video</a> of the encounter to his Twitter feed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here's a short clip of the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LAPDHQ</a> officer jabbing me in the stomach with a baton, sending me flying back into a crowd of people. <a href=\"https://t.co/R3qUiBgZ5L\">https://t.co/R3qUiBgZ5L</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/IIi9Yf9gOd\">pic.twitter.com/IIi9Yf9gOd</a></p>— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1267158399772491777?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=\"o7qi9\">Ray said that prior to the attack he had identified himself as a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"tdmfr\">“I went out of my way to identify myself as a member of the press and kind of separate myself from protesters,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"nvtm5\">Ray, who had two cameras around his neck, told CPJ he was not wearing a press pass at the time, but doubted that would have helped under the circumstances. The blow “came out of nowhere. It wasn’t a situation where I was being asked to show credentials or anything.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hy6yr\">The pain from the injury grew throughout the day but had dissipated by the next morning, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ctcr8\">LAPD did not respond to an email requesting comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"8qe2f\">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/Screen_Shot_2020-06-02_at_7.40.57.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"eromc\">Lexis-Olivier Ray recorded this footage as he was hit in the stomach by a Los Angeles Police Department officer wielding a baton on Saturday, May 30.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Lexis-Olivier Ray (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Fox News photojournalist, crew chased from park while documenting DC protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-news-crew-chased-park-while-documenting-dc-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-02T12:08:39.044484Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:16:00.870746Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:16:00.756521Z",
"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=\"2uizc\">Fox News photojournalist Christian Galdabini and his news crew were chased out of Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Park by a mob on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"uzu9m\">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=\"zqrcm\">Fox correspondent Leland Vittert told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he arrived with Galdabini and two Fox security officers to report on the protests near the White House at about 8:30 p.m. Galdabini did not respond to an email requesting comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"n4519\">The protest was “entirely peaceful” during the early evening, Vittert said, but grew more restless later into the night.</p><p data-block-key=\"0svt1\">Around midnight, one protester wearing a black and white bandana kept approaching them, questioning which outlet they worked for and why they were there. An hour later, Vittert said he noticed that the protester had stopped recording them and was looking at his phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"nciz5\">As photojournalist Galdabini <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/media/fox-news-dc-videographer-recounts-being-attacked-by-protestors\">told Fox</a>, “Somehow he figured out that we were Fox News and decided that that should be announced.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ahl7v\">Vittert told the Tracker that shortly after, “A crowd of about 50 people surrounded us, a number of them stopped throwing things at the Secret Service [officers] and started beating on us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9nfuc\">In <a href=\"https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/30/george-floyd-protest-white-house-fox-news-leland-vittert/\">footage</a> captured by The Daily Caller, Vittert, Galdabini and their security officers can be seen making their way out of the park while numerous voices call out curses and shout “Fuck Fox News!”</p><p data-block-key=\"jtkll\">Vittert told the Tracker that while they attempted to leave, individuals threw objects at them, grabbed their microphone and used it as a club against them. One of their security officers was punched in the face, and Vittert received more than one blow to his stomach.</p><p data-block-key=\"9p3mq\">The camera Galdabini was carrying was also broken when one of the individuals attempted to grab it. The crew eventually found refuge near a police cruiser outside the park, Vittert said.</p><p data-block-key=\"r6v0p\">“We were all pretty roughed up,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"b7fqp\">Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott denounced the assault in a statement published by the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"b5470\">“We strongly condemn these actions against FOX News Media reporting teams as well as all other reporters from any media outlets who are simply trying to do their jobs and report the news during an extraordinary time in our country’s history,” Scott said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ufua4\">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": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/DC_5-30_FOX_assault_equip_damage.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"it36p\">On May 30, U.S. Secret Service uniformed division officers face demonstrators during a rally near the White House in Washington, D.C. A Fox News crew was assaulted, its equipment damaged.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "private individual",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "recording equipment"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Christian Galdabini (Fox News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist covering protests hit by foam round at Colorado state capitol",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-covering-protests-hit-foam-round-colorado-state-capitol/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-02T02:10:56.155896Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-17T20:21:55.923326Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-17T20:21:55.786323Z",
"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=\"y7qxl\">An investigative reporter for 9News KUSA covering protests outside the state capitol in Denver, Colorado, was hit by a non-lethal round just after completing a live shot on the 10 p.m. news on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"6oxaw\">Jeremy Jojola, who works for Denver’s NBC affiliate, told the Committee to Protect Journalists he was wearing a 9News hat and standing next to his photographer down the hill from the state capitol after completing his live stand up when the incident occurred.</p><p data-block-key=\"rq3jm\">Jojola said he was looking down at his phone when he felt a “hard impact” on his back, hitting the backpack he was wearing. Jojola audibly groaned after being hit, which can be heard in a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNLZ7exVxq4\">video of the incident</a> he posted on YouTube. He then shouted, “I'm media! We're press! We're press! We're press! We're press! Don't shoot at us!”</p><p data-block-key=\"c17s9\">“I knew what it was immediately, it was a projectile and it came from the capitol direction, it came from the hill,” he recounted. “I didn’t hear any warning.”</p><p data-block-key=\"brejf\">He then walked with photographer Austyn Knox up the hill towards the capitol, shouting “media coming through” and came upon a group of about 15 members of Colorado State Patrol, responsible for policing the state capitol, Jojola told CPJ. He asked to speak to a supervisor, and was able to speak with an officer he had previously interviewed. The officer, according to Jojola, said, “I made the call to fire upon you guys, you didn’t look like media.”</p><p data-block-key=\"byjab\">Jojola said he accepted him at his word and left, but on his way down, marveled at how well-lit the area he had been standing was. “I feel that they should have known we were press. We were [just] live on TV,” Jojola told CPJ.</p><p data-block-key=\"u3hhd\">Jojola <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jeremyjojola/status/1266947819778322435\">tweeted</a> out a photo of an orange, nonlethal round that he found in the area he was standing when he was hit.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I went back to where I was hit and found this. This may or may not be the round that hit me. But it’s right where I was standing. I’m clearly with a photographer and wearing a 9NEWS hat. <a href=\"https://t.co/42BC8jrxLz\">pic.twitter.com/42BC8jrxLz</a></p>— Jeremy Jojola (@jeremyjojola) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jeremyjojola/status/1266947819778322435?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=\"4e45v\">Sergeant Blake White, a public affairs officer for the Colorado State Patrol, said in an email to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the incident occurred while officers were trying to clear the area of protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"0v3cn\">“There was a male, who was later identified as a member of the media, not responding to commands to clear the area,” he wrote in an email. “The male appeared to be rummaging through things, facing away, and wearing a backpack. There were no clear indications the male was a member of the media. A second male was next to him as well with no press markings either. One foam round was fired to gain compliance and struck the first male in the backpack.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e81pc\">“[The supervisor] explained to the reporter there was no indication he was with the media and that the camera was not visible and was apologetic,” White wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"1lm3l\">“We do not and will not target members of the media for capturing what is going on in the state and around the country, and we respect and believe in the freedom of the press,” White concluded.</p><p data-block-key=\"c216u\">Jojola told the Tracker via text that he did not hear any warning from the officers, and the shot was fired a minute and 30 seconds after he went off the air.</p><p data-block-key=\"u7yeo\">“These officers, if they were observant, would have seen me and a photographer. I was also standing in a lighted area.” He said the supervisor offered him an explanation, but did not apologize. He added that he is filing a records request for the Colorado State Patrol’s “less than lethal deployment policy.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hbbnj\">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 here.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/jojola_assault_5-30_CO.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"gcug6\">Jeremy Jojola posted on Twitter that he was fired upon with an object like this. "I was clearly with a photographer just after I went live with a large camera and light."</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Colorado",
"abbreviation": "CO"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jeremy Jojola (KUSA)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "WCCO photojournalist shot with rubber bullet, arrested in Minneapolis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wcco-photojournalist-shot-rubber-bullet-arrested-minneapolis/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-02T01:48:31.653149Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:06:23.566529Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:06:23.461239Z",
"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=\"69t4b\">WCCO photojournalist Tom Aviles was shot with a projectile and later arrested while covering the fifth night of protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"h92se\">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. Thousands gathered around the convenience store where Floyd had been detained and at the police department’s Third Precinct building in the days that followed.</p><p data-block-key=\"hggez\">At approximately 8:45 p.m., Aviles was reporting at the intersection of Nicollet and E. Franklin avenues with WCCO producer Joan Gilbertson. In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wgkGLmphLE\">video captured by Aviles</a>, he is positioned to the side of their news vehicle when a line of Minnesota State Patrol troopers advanced down the street firing crowd-control ammunition.</p><p data-block-key=\"udu7n\">In the video, a shot is heard firing just before Aviles shouts in pain and the camera shakes. Aviles then moves off the street and into a nearby alley way and parking lot.</p><p data-block-key=\"qviv7\">As Aviles repositions to film the advancing troopers, one officer breaks out from the line and approaches him, shouting “Get moving! Get gone! Go!”</p><p data-block-key=\"ca6x4\">Aviles can be heard identifying himself as a WCCO photojournalist and asks the trooper where he should move. He also identifies the vehicle that has moved down the road as belonging to the station.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7xac\">“OK, OK, OK!” Aviles says as two additional officers make their way toward him. He begins to turn around and walk away from the officers and into the parking lot</p><p data-block-key=\"zl7wr\">“Joan! Joan! Get over here!” Aviles shouts to producer Gilbertson, who was presumably still in the car.</p><p data-block-key=\"ott01\">An officer then approaches Aviles from behind and tells him he’s under arrest, forcing him to the ground. Aviles complies and multiple times assures the officer that he’s not fighting.</p><p data-block-key=\"vzdd2\">Gilbertson <a href=\"https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/05/30/wcco-photojournalist-tom-aviles-arrested-in-south-minneapolis/\">told WCCO</a> that a patrolman told her, “You’ve been warned, or the same thing will happen to you.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s3h21\">She said she put her hands up and said, “Don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bwxtm\">Aviles was released approximately two hours later, WCCO reported.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Photojournalist Tom is free, after being arrested and shot with a rubber bullet. This true blue, AMAZING journalist even managed to share a smile. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/wcco?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#wcco</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/XrbnCKo3tb\">pic.twitter.com/XrbnCKo3tb</a></p>— Susan-Elizabeth (@susanelizabethL) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/susanelizabethL/status/1266945758995062786?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=\"zryqs\">WCCO could not immediately be reached for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"1zunl\">At a news conference late that evening, Minnesota Commissioner of Corrections Paul Schnell said Aviles’ arrest was “regrettable,” CBS News <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tom-aviles-arrested-wcco-photographer-arrested-and-shot-with-rubber-bullet-2020-05-30/\">reported</a>. He added that it is difficult to identify journalists amidst the challenges of crowds, smoke devices and police tactics.</p><p data-block-key=\"s7mk4\">“We value and know the importance [of journalists],” Schnell said.</p><p data-block-key=\"tgvqj\">The Minnesota State Patrol was not immediately available for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"p41es\">Multiple other reporters were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-05-30&date_upper=2020-05-30&city=Minneapolis&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">arrested in Minneapolis that day</a>, and a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cnn-news-crew-arrested-air-while-documenting-minneapolis-protests/\">three-man CNN news crew was arrested</a> by state troopers the day before, on May 29.</p><p data-block-key=\"e1erp\">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": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Minnesota State Patrol",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
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"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
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"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-07-22 13:20:00+00:00) City Attorney drops unlawful assembly, curfew charges from Minneapolis protests"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Tom Aviles (WCCO-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "KDKA-TV photojournalist attacked by protesters in Pittsburgh, camera smashed",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kdka-tv-photojournalist-attacked-protesters-pittsburgh-camera-smashed/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-02T01:30:04.749144Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:15:14.638685Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:15:14.507407Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Pittsburgh",
"longitude": -79.99589,
"latitude": 40.44062,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"95lon\">Ian Smith, a photojournalist for CBS News affiliate KDKA-TV, was attacked by protesters while covering unrest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"0c1qk\">Protests in Pittsburgh occurred as demonstrations that started in Minnesota on May 26 spread across the country. The protests were sparked by video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest. Floyd was pronounced dead at the hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"ejzub\">Smith, who has worked for <a href=\"https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/\">KDKA-TV</a> for 15 years, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was following groups of protesters near the PPG Paints Arena, a hockey arena, after an organized, peaceful demonstration ended.</p><p data-block-key=\"knxec\">He said he was near a police car that had been set on fire when multiple protesters yelled at him that he wasn’t allowed to film. As he started to move away to try to film from a different spot, he said he felt multiple people pull on his camera. After he lost his balance and fell to the ground, a group of people — he estimated between four and six — began punching and kicking him, while others were nearby. He said he heard them chant, “Kill him, kill him.”</p><p data-block-key=\"01ogf\">Smith said his attackers took his camera and “smashed it into 1,000 pieces.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rw9v8\">Another group of protesters intervened, forming a wall around Smith to protect him, then helping him to outside the nearby arena where there was a medic, he said. Those demonstrators told him the attackers were not a part of their group. Smith said he found out later he was helped to a safer area by the CEO of the Pittsburgh Penguins, confirmed by the <a href=\"https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/penguins/2020/05/30/It-was-pretty-heroic-what-he-did-Penguins-president-CEO-David-Morehouse-saves-KDKA-cameraman-amid-violent-protests/stories/202005300079\">Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"3yvin\">Smith was taken by ambulance to a hospital, evaluated and later released. He said he was struck several times in the head and sustained bruises and scrapes on his face, arms and legs.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I’m was attacked by protestors downtown by the arena. They stomped and kicked me. I’m bruised and bloody but alive. My camera was destroyed. Another group of protesters pulled me out and saved my life. Thank you! <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KDKA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@KDKA</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/clyANKodth\">pic.twitter.com/clyANKodth</a></p>— Ian Smith (@ismithKDKA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ismithKDKA/status/1266843839890952193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 30, 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=\"ksu7g\">KDKA-TV reporter Paul Martino, who was covering the protests with Smith, wrote in a<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/Paulmartinokdka/\"> Facebook post</a> that demonstrators threatened him as he tried to approach Smith during the attack. He was hospitalized after the incident with severe chest pains.</p><p data-block-key=\"x2ecp\">A spokesperson for the Pittsburgh Police Department said police were aware of the incident, and said the department does not discuss ongoing investigations.</p><p data-block-key=\"s7byt\">Smith said he was grateful to the people who had stepped in to protect him.</p><p data-block-key=\"l9bav\">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/Smith_PA_assault_5_30.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"0tuls\">Photojournalist Ian Smith shows some of his wounds on Twitter after being attacked by protesters in Pittsburgh on May 30.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
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"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
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"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,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ian Smith (KDKA-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Student journalist chased, pepper sprayed during protests in Columbus",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-chased-pepper-sprayed-during-protests-columbus/",
"first_published_at": "2020-06-01T02:02:18.097177Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:14:48.722797Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:14:48.634622Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Columbus",
"longitude": -82.99879,
"latitude": 39.96118,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9lq6x\">A student journalist at the University of Maryland was chased by police and maced three times while covering protests in Columbus, Ohio, in the early hours of May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"epg8w\">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 on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"i5orp\">Student journalist Julia Lerner told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that at about 1 a.m. she was making her way toward her car after documenting protests near the courthouse in Columbus. Three or four people were on the sidewalk near her, but most protesters had dispersed, at least from that area.</p><p data-block-key=\"r4xoe\">Lerner told the Tracker that she had stopped on the sidewalk to put her camera away when she noticed a line of police officers up the block, including two on bicycles. The officers began shouting at those still present to leave the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"du89z\">“[The officers] started screaming. The woman next to me took off running in the other direction and I put my hands up — with my camera in my hand — and yelled, “I’m a journalist, I’m just trying to go to my car,” Lerner said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1pfst\">She said that one of the bicycle officers responded, “It’s too fucking late to leave.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4aoht\">The officer then came at her, Lerner said, and pepper sprayed her, primarily hitting her arms and camera as she held her hands in front of her face.</p><p data-block-key=\"yonx3\">Lerner said the officer pepper sprayed her at least two more times as she attempted to run away, only letting up once Lerner rounded another street corner into an alleyway. She told the Tracker she hid in the alley for approximately 20 minutes before finally making her way to her car.</p><p data-block-key=\"xzke2\">Lerner said that her camera appears to still be in working order.</p><p data-block-key=\"zc8vc\">“As journalists, we have the responsibility to expose violence and corruption within our systems. We have the responsibility to stand steadfast when threatened,” Lerner <a href=\"https://twitter.com/julialwashere/status/1266730683730362369\">tweeted</a> after the incident. “We can’t let cops chase us away.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6uwe1\">The Columbus Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"dc3cc\">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/OH_Floyd_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"obnwx\">A Columbus, Ohio, police officer on a bike chased student journalist Julia Lerner and pepper sprayed her multiple times after she identified herself as press.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"student journalism"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Julia Lerner"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Raleigh broadcast station offices damaged during protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/raleigh-broadcast-station-offices-damaged-during-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-15T19:52:34.496716Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:09:19.938474Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:09:19.850156Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Raleigh",
"longitude": -78.63861,
"latitude": 35.7721,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"moj8g\">The offices of ABC11, INDY Week and The News & Observer in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, were damaged during protests in the city on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"j7ipn\">Alternative weekly newspaper INDY Week reported extensive damage to its newsroom, while ABC11 and The News & Observer newspaper both had windows smashed as protests stretched late into the night.</p><p data-block-key=\"8wp7x\">The protests in Raleigh echoed demonstrations across the country sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.</p><p data-block-key=\"zn2r5\">The newsrooms in Raleigh were damaged late in the first major day of protesting in the city. Demonstrations had been peaceful through the day, but late in the evening, after police began using tear gas to disperse crowds, a small group of people began destroying property in the city’s downtown.</p><p data-block-key=\"yuvg1\">A reporter for ABC11, Bridget Condon, posted videos on Twitter showing windows smashed out on the station’s street-level studio. Fragments of glass littered the sidewalk outside.</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/ynDigPKBIN\">pic.twitter.com/ynDigPKBIN</a></p>— Bridget Condon (@BridgetABC11) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BridgetABC11/status/1267031037244211203?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=\"jze7v\">ABC11 didn’t respond to requests for comment about the damage.</p><p data-block-key=\"6crjf\">The three offices were just some of many businesses damaged in the city. According to <a href=\"https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article243135136.html\">an article in the News & Observer</a>, “nearly every” business in Raleigh’s downtown area was damaged overnight.</p><p data-block-key=\"n4nqv\">A spokesperson for the Raleigh Police Department said police were aware of damage to INDY Week and the News & Observer. There haven’t been any arrests related to the incidents, according to the department.</p><p data-block-key=\"rgexs\">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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"actor": "private individual",
"border_point": null,
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "building"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "North Carolina",
"abbreviation": "NC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"WTVD"
],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
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},
{
"title": "LA Times photographer targeted with pepper spray while covering Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-times-photographer-targeted-with-pepper-spray-while-covering-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T16:20:24.684725Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-07-08T12:51:57.288584Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-07-08T12:51:56.988242Z",
"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=\"1or3y\">Los Angeles Times photographer Carolyn Cole was one of more than a dozen journalists fired at with crowd-control munitions and pepper spray while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ftpen\">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=\"8t5aa\">Half an hour after the 8 p.m. curfew began, Minnesota State Patrol officers fired pepper spray and rubber bullets at a group of at least 20 journalists including Cole, according to Cole’s account of the incident <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-06-01/they-came-toward-us-firing-pepper-spray-and-rubber-bullets\">in the LA Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"vjdgw\">Cole wrote that many of the journalists were wearing clearly marked press vests, and that another journalist loudly identified the group as journalists. Cole wrote that an officer came very close to the group and fired pepper spray, and that she “could feel the full force of the pepper spray go into my left ear and eye.”</p><p data-block-key=\"73bxv\">Cole wrote that a local resident helped her get to a hospital for assistance after being pepper-sprayed.</p><p data-block-key=\"e2a57\">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=\"i5aw5\">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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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS39PTA.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hey3t\">Minnesota State Patrol advanced on protesters in Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd on May 30, 2020. An officer directly pepper-sprayed Los Angeles Times photojournalist Carolyn Cole that day, causing a chemical burn and corneal abrasion.</p>",
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"(2024-04-05 14:50:00+00:00) LA Times reporters reach $1.2 million settlement with Minnesota State Patrol",
"(2021-05-25 00:00:00+00:00) Los Angeles Times photographer sues Minnesota State Patrol following assaults at protest"
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{
"title": "Video journalist struck with projectiles at Tucson protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/video-journalist-struck-with-projectiles-at-tucson-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-18T17:46:45.538615Z",
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"date": "2020-05-30",
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"city": "Tucson",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ggdf3\">Eric Rosenwald, a freelance video journalist, was struck with crowd-control munitions while documenting protests in Tucson, Arizona, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"0bqle\">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=\"7v0wj\">Rosenwald told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he had been photographing a group of 10 to 20 individuals who had begun violently engaging with police. They had erected a makeshift structure in the middle of the road that they were sheltering behind as they threw rocks and water bottles toward a line of officers some 100 yards away. Nearby, someone had set a dumpster on fire.</p><p data-block-key=\"b6of7\">Rosenwald said he was moving around, photographing other individuals who were throwing rocks from behind a building, when police began to advance toward the makeshift structure. When they advanced, Rosenwald found himself standing very close to the protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"nt8gr\">“My backpack got hit as I was moving away,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d545s\">He was identifiable as a journalist, carrying his cameras as well as a backpack adorned with “PRESS” patches, but does not feel as though he was targeted. “I was so close to the people who were constructing these barrier structures to throw rocks from, that I had no sense I was being targeted.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qe5rr\">Rosenwald did not suffer any injuries from the pepper balls, nor was his equipment damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"yqx7b\">Tucson Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on this incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"rzz9j\">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": "Arizona",
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"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Fox News correspondent, crew chased from park while documenting DC protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-news-correspondent-crew-chased-from-park-while-documenting-dc-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-24T20:31:45.546415Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:44:06.808393Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:44:06.681501Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
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"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"s0yp4\">Fox News correspondent Leland Vittert and his new crew were chased out of Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Park by a mob of people on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"nwtp0\">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=\"ss1kn\">Vittert told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he arrived with photojournalist Christian Galdabini and two Fox security officers to report on the protests near the White House at about 8:30 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"pafmt\">The protest was “entirely peaceful” during the early evening, Vittert said, but grew more restless later into the night.</p><p data-block-key=\"lrcvc\">Around midnight, one protester wearing a black and white bandana kept approaching them, questioning which outlet they worked for and why they were there.</p><p data-block-key=\"mcfne\">“Typically when that happens in the field it’s not really a good sign,” Vittert said. “My answer typically is to demure and move on and not really address anything.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6a4cn\">An hour later, Vittert said he noticed that the protester had stopped recording them and was looking at his phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"ta4zd\">As photojournalist Galdabini <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/media/fox-news-dc-videographer-recounts-being-attacked-by-protestors\">told Fox</a>, “Somehow he figured out that we were Fox News and decided that that should be announced.”</p><p data-block-key=\"n4b93\">Vittert told the Tracker that soon after, “A crowd of about 50 people surrounded us, a number of them stopped throwing things at the Secret Service [officers] and started beating on us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"srot3\">In <a href=\"https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/30/george-floyd-protest-white-house-fox-news-leland-vittert/\">footage</a> captured by The Daily Caller, Vittert, Galdabini and their security officers can be seen making their way out of the park while numerous voices call out curses and shout “Fuck Fox News!”</p><p data-block-key=\"qly93\">Vittert told the Tracker that while they attempted to leave, individuals threw objects at them, grabbed their microphone and used it as a club against them. One of the security officers was punched in the face, and Vittert received more than one blow to his stomach.</p><p data-block-key=\"zfrok\">A Fox camera was also broken when one of the individuals attempted to grab it. Galdabini’s <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-news-crew-chased-park-while-documenting-dc-protests/\">assault and damage to the news equipment is documented here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"77mwc\">“What was different here was we became the prey,” Vittert said. “We weren’t reporting on an event, the attack on us was the event. And that was a very big difference.”</p><p data-block-key=\"kvyxu\">The crew eventually found refuge near a police cruiser outside the park, Vittert said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ps5ig\">“We were all pretty roughed up, to the point of — you woke up the next morning pretty damn sore,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"y78mu\">Vittert said that another news crew reporting in the park that night later found Fox’s microphone and returned it.</p><p data-block-key=\"dwf6c\">Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott denounced the assault in a statement published by the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"enlq6\">“We strongly condemn these actions against FOX News Media reporting teams as well as all other reporters from any media outlets who are simply trying to do their jobs and report the news during an extraordinary time in our country’s history,” Scott said.</p><p data-block-key=\"tsqie\">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>",
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"name": "District of Columbia",
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"tags": [
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"Leland Vittert (Fox News)"
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{
"title": "Dallas Morning News reporters targeted by law enforcement with tear gas",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dallas-morning-news-reporters-targeted-by-law-enforcement-with-tear-gas/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-28T19:22:47.358326Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:46:32.554061Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:46:32.464124Z",
"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=\"itnge\">Two Dallas Morning News reporters said a Texas state trooper rolled a can of tear gas at them while they covered protests in downtown Dallas on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"7wxrm\">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=\"xf3t7\">On May 30th, Dallas Morning News reporters Jesus Jiménez and Corbett Smith were documenting police efforts to clear out protesters from outside of their newspaper’s office.</p><p data-block-key=\"fvbze\">Smith told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the incident happened just after 8 p.m., when a state trooper, who was standing 20 to 25 yards away, made eye contact with Smith as the pair stood on South Harwood Street near the The Dallas Morning News headquarters.</p><p data-block-key=\"qymjf\">“There's a state trooper who turns and looks right at me,” Smith said, “and pulled the pin on the gas.” The trooper <a href=\"https://twitter.com/corbettsmithDMN/status/1266899262719303681\">rolled the canister</a> toward Jiménez and Smith, but the canister “kind of skittered off to the west underneath a car that was 10 feet away.” The pair was able to quickly retreat, avoiding being enveloped by the gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"ywrny\">There was no one standing between the journalists and the trooper at the time he rolled the canister at them, Smith said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ezksa\">Both Jiménez and Smith said they were clearly identifiable as members of the media. “I feel like they could easily distinguish us as press,” Jiménez said. “We had our press passes on, our notebooks out and we were standing right in front of our office.”</p><p data-block-key=\"wxfgt\">Smith identified the officer as a state trooper, part of the Texas Department of Public Safety, based on the shield he was carrying. The Tracker documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dallas-morning-news-reporters-targeted-by-state-trooper-with-tear-gas/\">Smith’s assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8a8ce\">In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson from the Texas DPS wrote in an email that the department “does not have a record of any of our personnel deploying a gas canister in the area of the Dallas Morning News offices in Dallas on the evening of May 30, 2020.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nfd3n\">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><p data-block-key=\"u77d0\"><i>This article was updated to reflect comment from the Texas Department of Public Safety.</i></p></div>",
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{
"title": "Swiss videographer shot at with crowd-control munitions amid Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/swiss-videographer-shot-at-with-crowd-control-munitions-amid-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-14T15:28:38.147879Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:08:33.947994Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:08:33.865222Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
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"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"t5g85\">While covering the fifth night of protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, three Swiss journalists were shot at with crowd-control munitions shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew went into effect on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"q6cdl\">Journalists were specifically exempt from the curfew by Gov. Tim Walz’s order. The curfew followed protests in response to a video showing a white 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. 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=\"qgte0\">Shortly after 8:30 p.m. in Minneapolis, officers fired foam rounds at the journalists after they held up their press passes and yelled that they were members of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"q885h\">Massimiliano Herber, the Washington-based television correspondent for RSI (Radiotelevisione svizzera), an Italian-language channel of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, told the Tracker in an interview that he and videographer Jean-Pascal Azaïs had been reporting on protests downtown with Gaspard Kühn, a Washington-based correspondent for RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse), the public broadcaster’s French-language channel. Neither Azaïs nor Kühn could be reached for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"w1wy2\">Police had begun to throw tear gas and shoot foam rounds at protesters, according to Herber. Some of the tear gas wafted toward the Swiss journalists, stinging their eyes.</p><p data-block-key=\"l7jfd\">As the journalists attempted to reach their car, he said, they found police lines on either end of the block, preventing them from moving.</p><p data-block-key=\"fg5ji\">Standing in the middle of the road, the journalists held up their press passes issued by the U.S. Congress and shouted, “Media! Media! Press!” toward the police and asked if they could pass by to reach their car. Azaïs was holding a small video camera. They had taken a couple steps forward, Herber said, when the officers told them to “back up”. The officers then began to shoot at the journalists, firing off four or five foam rounds, all of which missed the journalists, Herber said.</p><p data-block-key=\"o12d9\">They were able to flee to the safety of a nearby parking lot, but when they tried to move, the officers again opened fire, firing two to three foam rounds, Herber said. Eventually, with the help of a local resident, they found a safe route back to their car.</p><p data-block-key=\"5kd3k\">The officers in the area were from the Minneapolis Police Department and the Minnesota State Patrol, Herber said, but he was not sure who fired the rounds.</p><p data-block-key=\"hveq2\">The broadcaster filed a complaint about the matter with the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland on June 1, Herber said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8rryg\">Requests for comment on these incidents sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department were not returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"hcpy1\">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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},
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"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Reuters producer struck with multiple projectiles during Minneapolis protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reuters-producer-struck-with-multiple-projectiles-during-minneapolis-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T16:40:25.725658Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:59:32.405686Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:59:32.318630Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
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"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9u0l4\">Reuters producer Julio-César Chávez was struck with multiple crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"pkooy\">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=\"h9k38\">Shortly after an 8 p.m. curfew began on the 30th, police fired rubber bullets that hit Chávez in his neck and left arm, according to an account of the event published by <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protest-update/reuters-cameraman-hit-by-rubber-bullets-as-police-disperse-protesters-idUSKBN237050\">Reuters</a> and a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JulioCesrChavez/status/1266980841441419265\">tweet</a> from Chávez.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tonight I was shot in the arm and the back of my neck with rubber bullets in the middle of covering the Minneapolis protests. My security advisor was shot in the face; his gas mask protected him.<br><br>Here’s what happened: <a href=\"https://t.co/fwwVLAxFIY\">https://t.co/fwwVLAxFIY</a><br><br>Here’s what it looks like: <a href=\"https://t.co/UwSBqpHv5N\">pic.twitter.com/UwSBqpHv5N</a></p>— Julio-César Chávez (@JulioCesrChavez) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JulioCesrChavez/status/1266980841441419265?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=\"huw5v\">“A police officer that I’m filming turns around points his rubber-bullet rifle straight at me,” Chávez told Reuters. According to the Reuters report, minutes later Chávez and Reuters security advisor Rodney Seward were both struck with crowd-control munitions as they took shelter at a nearby gas station.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ptdn\">Seward yelled that he had been hit in the face by a rubber bullet, and was later treated by a medic for a deep gash under his left eye, according to Reuters.</p><p data-block-key=\"bebs7\">Chávez was holding cameras and had a press pass around his neck; Seward was wearing a bulletproof vest labeled “press,” according to their employer.</p><p data-block-key=\"pxpsx\">“We strongly object to police firing rubber bullets at our crew in Minneapolis and are addressing the situation with the authorities,” a Reuters spokesperson told the wire service. “It was clear that both our reporter and security advisor were members of the press and not a threat to public order. Journalists must be allowed to report the news without fear of harassment or harm.”</p><p data-block-key=\"q4aqr\">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=\"qgd3m\">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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"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTS39P2B.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"b1sux\">A photographer runs amid tear gas during demonstrations in Minneapolis on May 30, 2020.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Julio-César Chávez (Reuters)"
],
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{
"title": "Investigative reporter targeted with pepper spray, tear gar amid Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/investigative-reporter-targeted-with-pepper-spray-tear-gar-amid-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T16:54:35.238501Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:04:37.306180Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:04:37.204577Z",
"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=\"1ws4g\">Police attacked dozens of journalists with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on May 30, 2020, during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota.</p><p data-block-key=\"w75ev\">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=\"8ltvn\">Half an hour after an 8 p.m. curfew began on the 30th, Minnesota State Patrol Officers fired pepper spray and rubber bullets at a group of at least 20 journalists including KSTP-TV investigative television reporter Ryan Raiche, according to <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2882143978738897\">social media</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ryanraiche/status/1266919035033264130\">posts</a> by the journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"1kjn8\">“Myself, photographer, and producer just made it back to the car. We were with a group of media and thought we were in a safe spot,” Raiche wrote on Twitter. “We kept saying we’re media. Police tear gassed and pepper sprayed the entire group. Everyone ran. It was insane. It happened so fast.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Myself, photographer, and producer just made it back to the car. We were with a group of media and thought we were in a safe spot. We kept saying we’re media. Police tear gassed and pepper sprayed the entire group. Everyone ran. It was insane. It happened so fast. <a href=\"https://t.co/Wl3Fzzlsnw\">pic.twitter.com/Wl3Fzzlsnw</a></p>— Ryan Raiche (@ryanraiche) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ryanraiche/status/1266919035033264130?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=\"sdbbv\">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=\"frtdh\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"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": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ryan Raiche (KSTP-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Live 5 News producer in vehicle attacked during Charleston protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/live-5-news-producer-in-vehicle-attacked-during-charleston-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2022-03-11T17:03:59.607444Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-14T18:26:08.229237Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-14T18:26:08.142826Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Charleston",
"longitude": -79.93092,
"latitude": 32.77657,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pmrlk\">A group of people hit and threw a rock into a stopped Live 5 News car carrying three journalists covering a demonstration against police violence in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ebsh6\">The protest was 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 later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence 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=\"7pup0\">The car carrying producer Allyson Cook and reporters <a href=\"/all-incidents/live-5-news-reporter-in-vehicle-attacked-during-charleston-protests/\">Rob Way</a> and <a href=\"/all-incidents/two-live-5-news-news-vehicles-damaged-one-night-charleston/\">Abbey O’Brien</a> was driving through a crowd to get to safety because downtown Charleston was becoming violent, O’Brien said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8p95k\">“We were in a Live 5 News car obviously designated as our station,” O’Brien told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “People started banging on our windows and flicking us off.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d1lkd\">Demonstrations had started peacefully but turned violent as the night wore on, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"91dh6\">“Once it got dark, it turned into rioting; that was definitely not as many people,” O’Brien said. “I truly believe that it was just two different groups of people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e2sl\">While they were stopped at an intersection, members of the crowd began to bang on the windows of the car and then a rock was thrown through the back window. No one was injured.</p><p data-block-key=\"11fgb\">At the time, the journalists weren’t sure whether it was a rock, tear-gas canister or an explosive, so once they got to safety, they all exited the car.</p><p data-block-key=\"3kcu0\">“We all jumped out and realized it was just a brick,” O’Brien said. “So, no one was hurt, which is good, but it was really scary.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Now that we’re safe... here’s a look at what just happened to our <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Live5News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Live5News</a> car. Someone threw this large rock while we were driving down King St. Very scary <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/chsnews?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#chsnews</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/scnews?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#scnews</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/0r1Fq77nZ7\">pic.twitter.com/0r1Fq77nZ7</a></p>— Abbey O'Brien (@abbeyobrien) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/abbeyobrien/status/1266934403776864257?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=\"pmrlk\">They continued to report throughout the night and made sure they didn’t leave anything valuable in the car. O’Brien said that, in a separate incident, people smashed out the front, driver’s side window of a different, unoccupied Live 5 truck. Both the car and the truck were out of commission for a few days, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0c29\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "South Carolina",
"abbreviation": "SC"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Allyson Cook (WCSC-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Canadian journalist struck with munitions while covering Minneapolis protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/canadian-journalist-struck-with-munitions-while-covering-minneapolis-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-07T17:01:21.054911Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:06:00.369669Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:06:00.279389Z",
"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=\"lm5ox\">Police attacked dozens of journalists with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on May 30, 2020, during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota.</p><p data-block-key=\"0vxwp\">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=\"19zy3\">On May 30, police fired a rubber bullet that hit Canadian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Susan Ormiston in her shoulder, and fired an unidentified canister that hit her in the buttocks, she said <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NatashaFatah/status/1266919824556535808\">in a report</a> for the broadcaster.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeorgeFloyd?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GeorgeFloyd</a> Protests: CBC in Minneapolis<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BREAKING</a> The curfew is in effect but protesters are still out so police started tear gas and rubber bullets at them. <br><br>People have been hit including our colleague, CBC Senior Correspondent Susan Ormiston. <a href=\"https://t.co/N8XcXaAyHH\">pic.twitter.com/N8XcXaAyHH</a></p>— Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NatashaFatah/status/1266919824556535808?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=\"490pr\">“For the last 10 minutes we have seen a very robust police response,” Ormiston said in her report. “Police came out, they pushed the crowd back, they were firing canister after canister of tear gas and we were right in the middle of it. They were firing rubber bullets: a bullet hit me in the shoulder.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1zg63\">Ormiston said that police opened fire on her and her CBC team while they were in a parking lot filming officers’ actions.</p><p data-block-key=\"836sp\">“The thing is we were in that parking lot all by ourselves with two other people behind us, everybody else was cleared out and they fired at us,” Ormiston said. “We clearly had our television camera visible, so they were definitely taking an aggressive action to move everybody out including us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qfjjx\">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=\"29wwq\">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",
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "HuffPost editor struck in the leg with projectile during Capitol protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/huffpost-editor-struck-in-the-leg-with-projectile-during-capitol-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-18T17:52:27.181740Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T18:11:27.424401Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T18:11:27.343842Z",
"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=\"jpaew\">HuffPost editor Philip Lewis was struck by a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"wicv5\">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=\"syvzu\">Lewis told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — he was covering the protests near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute when vandals began breaking out the windows of the building.</p><p data-block-key=\"pzvhq\">Police began releasing tear gas and setting off flash-bang grenades to disperse the crowd, Lewis said, and so he decided it was time to leave the area. As he tried to leave, he said he was struck by a small object in the left leg at around 11:35 p.m. “It was definitely a stinging pain,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"zlcsh\">Lewis did not recover the projectile after it hit him, but said he believed it to be a rubber bullet, due to the size of the mark it left and the fact that he had seen one on the ground earlier in the day. The Tracker could not confirm the type of projectile he was hit with.</p><p data-block-key=\"ch8jy\">Lewis tweeted about the incident a few minutes later:</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 shot in the leg with rubber bullets. Not great!</p>— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1266938209902252043?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=\"qse6p\">Lewis, who was wearing press credentials at the time, did not believe he was the intended target. The projectile left behind a slight red bruise several days later, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"y3wek\">Kristen Metzger, a D.C. police spokeswoman, wrote in an email to the Tracker that the Metropolitan Police Department has not “deployed rubber bullets during the demonstrations.” In a follow-up email, she confirmed that the department “may deploy … when necessary,” pepper spray, sting ball grenades that expel tiny rubber balls at high velocity and tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"nmtnd\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Philip Lewis (HuffPost)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Detroit police officer aims weapon at Free Press journalist",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/detroit-police-officer-aims-weapon-at-free-press-journalist/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-29T16:56:45.165120Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:49:41.841202Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:49:41.748635Z",
"date": "2020-05-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Detroit",
"longitude": -83.04575,
"latitude": 42.33143,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"kcstb\">Two journalists who’d been reporting for the Detroit Free Press had weapons brandished at them by law enforcement officials while covering protests in the city on May 30, 2020, they told the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"7bp1y\">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=\"qxeq7\">Detroit Free Press reporter Branden Hunter, who’s no longer with the newspaper, told CPJ in an interview that he’d been reporting on May 30 with a group of Free Press reporters. At about 11:30 p.m., as he was standing near a handful of his colleagues and trying to see through a haze of tear gas, a police officer approached him with a rubber bullet gun and told him to leave, according to a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JustCallmeBHunt/status/1266955368493711361\">tweet</a> from Hunter’s twitter account and his interview with CPJ. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"eksq4\">“I put my press pass up and immediately stopped what I was doing,” Hunter told CPJ.</p><p data-block-key=\"2cyxb\">Hunter, who is Black, said he felt the officer was “100 percent” going after him because of his race.</p><p data-block-key=\"y7w4z\">In a Facebook Live hosted by the International Center for Journalists on June 5, Hunter <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/icfjorg/videos/858359181234324/?v=858359181234324\">said</a> he’d been wearing streetwear that evening, including a Black Panther jacket, and that, aside from his press badge, he “fit the description of the protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"oa02g\">According to both Hunter and a video of the incident on his Twitter account that was viewed by CPJ, a tear gas canister rolled toward the journalists from another direction immediately after the officer had stepped away from him.</p><p data-block-key=\"t7prb\">M.L. Elrick, who’d also been reporting that evening with a group of Free Press journalists, also had an officer aim a crowd-control weapon at him later that night. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/weapons-aimed-free-press-journalists-covering-detroit-protests/\">documented his assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"th8gc\">The Free Press did not respond to an email requesting comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"eiw8n\">When contacted by CPJ, the Detroit Police Department’s voicemail box was full. The department did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"35mpr\">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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"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Branden Hunter (Detroit Free Press)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Reporter for Finnish outlet struck in face with projectile during Minneapolis protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-for-finnish-outlet-struck-in-face-with-projectile-during-minneapolis-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-09-28T19:49:09.307830Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:48:32.405145Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:48:32.317354Z",
"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=\"c3jhw\">Mikko Marttinen, a reporter for Finnish outlet Ilta-Sanomat, was struck in the face with a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"j6t01\">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. On the fourth night of protests, the National Guard was called in to disperse crowds and enforce the 8 p.m. curfew in place that evening.</p><p data-block-key=\"2hgq7\">At approximately 11:30 p.m., Minneapolis Police officers near the department’s Fifth Precinct began indiscriminately firing projectiles and tear gas to disperse the crowd, Marttinen told the Committee to Protect Journalists. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"hdz0p\">One of the rubber bullets ricocheted off the ground and struck him in the face. Marttinen said his glasses, which were broken by the projectiles, saved his eye.</p><p data-block-key=\"wghha\">“I only got a few scratches on my eyelid and around my eye,” Marttinen said. “So I was pretty OK.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zlut3\">Marttinen eventually met up with other foreign correspondents in an alley, including an Australian news team sheltering with its security team.</p><p data-block-key=\"r5kwc\">The Minneapolis Police Department did not respond to multiple phone and emailed requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nw4n\">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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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mikko Marttinen (Ilta-Sanomat)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Social media journalist hit with projectile while covering Minneapolis protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/social-media-journalist-hit-with-projectile-while-covering-minneapolis-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-05-19T17:22:29.383092Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T19:37:55.791267Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T19:37:55.732073Z",
"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=\"8qomk\">Brad Svenson, a Minnesota-based journalist who runs the social media outlet Watchdog Citizen News, said he was hit with a crowd-control round fired by a Minnesota State Patrol trooper while covering a protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"zqh6m\">Months of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody. Svenson, who videos and live-streams protests, told the Tracker he was covering a protest near the intersection of Nicollet Avenue and Lake Street in Minneapolis.</p><p data-block-key=\"x7iuo\">He said he was in a parking lot near an apartment complex and saw other journalists who had apparently been hit by crowd-control munitions. As a line of law enforcement officers was coming up the street, Svenson said he and another member of the press went over to see if the other journalists were OK.</p><p data-block-key=\"ajfo5\">Svenson said he was holding up his press badge, a card he made that had his photograph and the word “PRESS” in large letters, to the officers as they advanced. He said he saw that the officers were holding weapons, so he shouted out “press” to identify himself and turned around and started walking away.</p><p data-block-key=\"9yzrb\">As he was walking, he said, a Minnesota State Patrol trooper shot him with a bean-bag round, a crowd-control projectile consisting of a fabric bag filled with lead shot. The round hit him in the back just below his left armpit.</p><p data-block-key=\"bzu99\">Svenson said the impact was painful and it hurt to breathe after he was hit, but he didn’t think it broke a rib. He said he was able to continue to cover protests for the next several weeks. Svenson said he has been in treatment for PTSD after covering protests in 2020, and believes that being shot with the munition was “the catalyst.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8eipn\">Svenson believes he was targeted for being a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"l82yd\">MSP didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brad Svenson (Watchdog Citizen News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "NBC News producer hit with multiple projectiles during Louisville protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nbc-news-producer-hit-with-multiple-projectiles-during-louisville-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-04T16:14:22.825871Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T17:55:57.503266Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T17:55:57.416495Z",
"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=\"nlp04\">NBC News producer Kailani Koenig and correspondent Cal Perry were shot at with pepper balls while covering protests in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 30, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"cywgc\">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=\"kue0e\">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=\"xaar2\">The news team took off running, Perry said, and when they made it around the corner and out of the way 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.</p><p data-block-key=\"hk41l\">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=\"4gszl\">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=\"6f2jp\">“There was no question: they were moving us along by firing the little pepper rounds and rubber bullets at us,” Perry said. The Tracker documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-fire-pepper-balls-and-rubber-bullets-news-crew-move-them-during-louisville-protests/\">Perry’s assault here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"p0ar8\">The Louisville Police Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"9wni5\">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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"actor": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Kentucky",
"abbreviation": "KY"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kailani Koenig (NBC News)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
}
]
