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{
"title": "Freelance journalist shoved by law enforcement in while covering protests in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-shoved-by-law-enforcement-in-while-covering-protests-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-12T20:28:51.512766Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:22.289382Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:22.202662Z",
"date": "2020-08-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hdsry\">Freelance journalist Alissa Azar was shoved and shot with pepper balls by law enforcement while documenting protesters getting arrested outside the Penumbra Kelly Building, in northeast Portland, Oregon on Aug. 30, 2020, according to social media posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"nwtg6\">Azar was documenting one of the many nightly protests held in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"p6qmt\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led the city to agree to <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">a preliminary injunction</a> in July to not arrest, harm or impede the work of journalists or legal observers of the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"9rqsb\">The Kelly building has been a repeated focus of demonstrators because it houses the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and some Portland Police Bureau units. The Aug. 30 protest was declared an “unlawful assembly” at 10:40 p.m. after protesters threw rocks and eggs at officers, according to the local <a href=\"https://katu.com/news/local/protesters-gather-in-ne-portland-at-kelly-building\">KATU news station</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"07pmv\">Azar <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy/status/1300313375247745024\">tweeted</a> that she “got shot with a pepper bullet for recording an arrest, pushed down to the ground aggressively.”</p><p data-block-key=\"rl4mg\">Griffin Malone, another independent journalist, captured the scene from across the street in a video he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GriffinMalone6/status/1300315878014160896\">posted</a> on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"bihc1\">The MCSCO didn’t respond to a request for comment. The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Alissa Azar (Freelance)"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist hit with paintballs while covering a pro-Trump caravan in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-with-paintballs-while-covering-a-pro-trump-caravan-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-12T20:11:46.120523Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:23:36.340446Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:23:36.236299Z",
"date": "2020-08-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gh2wu\">Cory Elia, an editor at Village Portland and host of a KBOO podcast said he was hit with projectiles that he identified as paintballs while covering a pro-Trump caravan that went through downtown Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"432kv\">Elia was covering the “Trump cruise rally,” which began at the Clackamas Town Center parking lot, about nine miles outside of Portland. Trump supporters were met with counterprotesters as they drove through the downtown, sparking confrontations, according to local <a href=\"https://katu.com/news/local/hundreds-gather-at-clackamas-town-center-for-cruise-rally\">news outlet KATU</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ctiwu\">Oregon Public Broadcasting <a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/30/portland-trump-cruise-rally-protest-rogue-river-pendleton/\">reported</a> online videos showing the “flag-adorned trucks driving through groups of protesters, firing paintball guns at crowds and deploying what appears to be pepper spray,” leading to “dangerous, tense confrontations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"g5alr\">Elia tweeted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheRealCoryElia/status/1299910101684244480?s=20\">video</a> of a Trump flag-adorned truck driving away. “This truck start shooting at counter-protesters and then came under attack. I got shot right in the corner of my mouth by a projectile.”</p><p data-block-key=\"i1h2p\">Elia told the Tracker that they had been firing projectiles before his video even started and had been for quite a while. “I was struck in the cheek with the paintball and it left a small welt,” he said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This truck start shooting at counter-protesters and then came under attack. I got shot right in the corner of my mouth by a projectile. <a href=\"https://t.co/iqcWgSgOFT\">pic.twitter.com/iqcWgSgOFT</a></p>— Cory Elia (@TheRealCoryElia) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheRealCoryElia/status/1299910101684244480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 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=\"af4tk\">He also tweeted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheRealCoryElia/status/1299910622633537538?s=20\">photo</a> of an orange round, writing “This is the exact projectile that hit me. I’m good.” Elia said he had a large press marking on his bulletproof vest and several credentials around his neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"w2k5d\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests that have broken out across the country in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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"tags": [
"election",
"Election 2020",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Cory Elia (Village Portland)"
],
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{
"title": "ACLU sues Washington, D.C., police for violating photojournalist’s rights during protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/aclu-sues-washington-dc-police-for-violating-photojournalists-rights-during-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-08-31T15:25:29.143156Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-14T21:24:29.713575Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-14T21:24:29.494977Z",
"date": "2020-08-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bt06d\">Bryan Dozier, an independent photojournalist, was covering Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 29, 2020, when he was targeted by chemical irritants and stun grenades by Metropolitan Police officers, according to an American Civil Liberties Union of DC <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.234410/gov.uscourts.dcd.234410.1.0.pdf\">lawsuit</a> filed on Dozier’s behalf.</p><p data-block-key=\"0uu2q\">In August 2021, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the D.C. government and the MPD officers, based on this incident and another involving independent photographer Oyoma Asinor. The Tracker documented Asinor’s <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/aclu-files-for-false-imprisonment-against-washington-dc-police-after-photojournalist-arrested-equipment-seized/\">arrest, assault and equipment seizure here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"uwt1w\">Dozier was documenting the BLM protests in central D.C. when police deployed chemical irritants and stun grenades, even though these tactics have been <a href=\"https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/aclu-sues-dc-police-officers-over-tactics-used-on-journalists-covering-blm-protests/ar-AANfI83\">banned by the D.C. Council</a> for dispersing protesters, according to the legal documents issued by the ACLU, and reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Dozier did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"bad8o\">The Metropolitan Police Department’s use of <a href=\"https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-mayor-signs-police-reform-legislation/2369194/\">chemical irritants and stun grenades</a> violated the D.C. First Amendment Assemblies Act and D.C. common law, according to the ACLU.</p><p data-block-key=\"zrw4f\">On that day protesters gathered at about 7 p.m. and arrived at the junction of 16th Street and H Street NW, near Black Lives Matter Plaza, around 11 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"w0iu1\">At about 11.30 p.m. Dozier saw one of the officers closest to a barricade on H Street shove a demonstrator. When the protesters near the individual yelled at the officer, Dozier moved closer to film the incident, according to the document.</p><p data-block-key=\"5mpnw\">Dozier, whose work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, the Financial Times, and The Guardian, did not see any demonstrator touch the officers, throw objects at the officers, or do anything other than continue to verbally protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"2zp0o\">But a Metro Police officer who was standing farther west on H Street, by or behind the H Street barricade, released a munition into H Street. Dozier heard “a hissing sound, like pressure being released, and then saw some form of gas or smoke with chemical irritants ascend rapidly,” the report said.</p><p data-block-key=\"x625v\">The smoke prompted Dozier and many protesters to back farther away from the barricade. As protesters were moving back, a second officer released another munition, causing more smoke or gas with chemical irritants to fill the air.</p><p data-block-key=\"nhppi\">The document stated: “Despite Mr. Dozier’s attempt to retreat, the irritants made contact with him and caused him to cough. Dozier ran east on H Street toward its intersection with Vermont Avenue to escape. Many demonstrators started running in that direction too.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dpwmp\">Near the intersection, Dozier saw officers wearing riot gear with helmets and batons marching forward in a line spanning the width of H Street. As Dozier was looking for an exit, the riot officers marched through the intersection and past him.</p><p data-block-key=\"2pgkc\">But suddenly one police officer grabbed Dozier, “lifted him, and pushed him west on H Street, through the line of riot officers that had just passed by him, and back near the clouds of chemical irritants produced by the two munitions Mr. Dozier had been running from.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gdivv\">Dozier was forced to continue west on H Street, through the clouds of irritants. He “struggled to breathe as he moved through the chemical irritants. He continued to cough, his nose ran, and he felt burning across his face. He continued west on H Street, then turned north onto 16th Street.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0wy37\">Another officer began deploying a series of at least six stun grenades in close succession, near the intersection of 16th and H Streets. At that time, Dozier said he had not seen any protester make contact with officers, throw objects at them or engage in any violent behavior, the document reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"ef70e\">Dozier, who was described in the document as terrified and disorientated, feared that “either the officers or explosive devices deployed by the officers” would hit him. At that point Dozier left the protest and went home.</p><p data-block-key=\"mbsxd\">For about 30 minutes after returning to his apartment, “he felt intense burning in his eyes and could feel the sting of the irritants in his nose and throat. He took a shower to wash off the irritants but continued to feel a burning sensation on his skin. After the shower, he dry heaved for approximately half an hour,” the document stated.</p><p data-block-key=\"xr64q\">The Aug. 29 attack caused Dozier “significant psychological distress, the effects of which continue to this day.” The legal document reported that Dozier met with a psychologist after the incident, who noted that he had several symptoms consistent with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and that he continues to experience some of the PTSD symptoms, including “heightened sensitivity to loud noises, sudden, unexpected anxiety attacks, and a fear of being trapped with no ability to exit. He additionally continues bi-weekly therapy sessions, which help him deal with his PTSD symptoms.”</p><p data-block-key=\"y4enu\">MPD told the Tracker they did not comment on active cases.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"l3iv4\">A police officer sprays chemical irritant at a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C., on August 29, 2020. Photojournalist Bryan Dozier sued the D.C. police after his assault while documenting the protest.</p>",
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"updates": [
"(2022-08-29 12:50:00+00:00) Judge dismisses photojournalists’ lawsuit against DC government, police",
"(2024-08-09 00:00:00+00:00) Appeals court reverses dismissal of journalist’s lawsuit against DC police"
],
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
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{
"title": "Social media journalist hit with projectile while covering DC protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/social-media-journalist-hit-with-projectile-while-covering-dc-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-08T14:04:59.168053Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:20:41.055108Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:20:40.963122Z",
"date": "2020-08-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3p444\">A social media journalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was shot in the leg with a projectile while reporting on a protest in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mgrry\">Regular protests over racial justice held in Washington and across the country since the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis were amplified by anger over the Aug. 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In addition, thousands had gathered in the nation’s capital on Aug. 28 for the 57th anniversary of the civil rights era March on Washington.</p><p data-block-key=\"vl9j6\">The Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting arrests, assaults and other obstructions</a> to journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"7icj6\">Marchers on the evening of the 29th converged on Black Lives Matter Plaza, just north of the White House, and protests continued into the morning of the 30th.</p><p data-block-key=\"cggzk\">The journalist, who requested the Tracker identify him by his Twitter handle Rawsmedia, posts video and photos of protests on social media. He said he was covering the march as it ended at Black Lives Matter Plaza on the 29th.</p><p data-block-key=\"8zyow\">Between 9 and 10 p.m., he said, protesters gathered near barricades on the edge of the plaza. He said he suddenly heard police start to deploy flash-bang grenades and tear gas canisters, prompting the crowd to start running away.</p><p data-block-key=\"62r38\">Rawsmedia said he was trying to move out of the area when he was hit in the right shin near his ankle with a crowd-control projectile that he described as a rubber puck. The injury was extremely painful, he told the Tracker, and he needed to be carried out from the area.</p><p data-block-key=\"9b2fy\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ChuckModi1/status/1299932775408074754\">video posted on Twitter</a> by journalist Chuck Modiano shows Rawsmedia wearing a helmet and vest, both marked “PRESS,” being helped by a group of people toward a tent where protest medics were treating people, while someone asks for medical assistance for him.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Police injure local journalist, bodies literally falling everywhere & running out of medics as flash-bangs go off. This is crazy. Forget the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchOnWashington?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#MarchOnWashington</a>. Welcome to the real <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/DCProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DCProtests</a> last 90 days <a href=\"https://t.co/F2v5d2O6aK\">pic.twitter.com/F2v5d2O6aK</a></p>— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ChuckModi1/status/1299932775408074754?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 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=\"mr50e\">Rawsmedia told the Tracker that medics put ice on his leg at the protest. He didn’t seek further treatment that night, but he decided to go to the hospital the next day. He said his wound was treated with seven stitches, and it took about three weeks to fully heal.</p><p data-block-key=\"3tv8z\">Rawsmedia said he believes he was targeted because he was a journalist. He said that in addition to having the word “press” written on his helmet and vest, he shouted out to identify himself as a journalist. He said that he was in a gap in the crowd at the time that he was hit, and was not immediately near any protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"n2y0a\">“I was the only person in that open space, so I felt like I was targeted by that,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4wnfx\">The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "New York Times bureau chief hit with paintball while covering pro-Trump rally in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-hit-with-projectiles-while-covering-a-pro-trump-caravan-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-06T18:05:01.610463Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:23:12.517803Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:23:12.436718Z",
"date": "2020-08-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"oeyb6\">Mike Baker, Seattle bureau chief for The New York Times, said he was hit with less-lethal munitions, identified as paintballs, while covering a pro-Trump caravan that went through downtown Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"8b00m\">Baker was covering the “Trump cruise rally,” which began at the Clackamas Town Center parking lot, about nine miles outside of Portland. Trump supporters were met with counterprotesters as they drove through the downtown, sparking confrontations, according to local <a href=\"https://katu.com/news/local/hundreds-gather-at-clackamas-town-center-for-cruise-rally\">news outlet KATU</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gs4gz\">Oregon Public Broadcasting <a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/30/portland-trump-cruise-rally-protest-rogue-river-pendleton/\">reported</a> online videos showing the “flag-adorned trucks driving through groups of protesters, firing paintball guns at crowds and deploying what appears to be pepper spray,” leading to “dangerous, tense confrontations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"plqk4\">Baker was filming the pro-Trump caravan at the intersection of Southwest Fourth Avenue and Southwest Washington Street downtown when a man riding in the bed of a black pickup truck flying a Trump flag opened fire with a paintball gun.</p><p data-block-key=\"ibz1j\">“The person in the back of the truck just started shooting their paintball gun into the crowd, just kind of shooting indiscriminately at anyone,” Baker told the Tracker. He was hit by a paintball in the back of the shoulder as he was turning away, he said, adding that it caused bruising but no serious injury. Baker was wearing body armor with press markings at the time he was hit, he told the Tracker</p><p data-block-key=\"4qoc0\">Baker captured <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ByMikeBaker/status/1299908467457622016\">footage</a> of the incident, which he posted on Twitter at 8:15 p.m. As pickup trucks adorned with Trump and American flags drive through the intersection, a counterprotester can be seen trying to light a Trump flag on fire and another extends their middle finger at the caravan. A clear liquid of some kind can be seen being sprayed towards the caravan from the anti-Trump crowd, as a man in the back of a pickup fires a paintball at Baker and other people gathered on the sidewalk. Then a man in the next pickup deploys a yellow-tinted chemical irritant.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Clashes. Trump people unload paintballs and pepper spray. They shot me too. <a href=\"https://t.co/PwU5pZMLnV\">pic.twitter.com/PwU5pZMLnV</a></p>— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ByMikeBaker/status/1299908467457622016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 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=\"31sef\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests that have broken out across the country in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"election",
"Election 2020",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"targeted_journalists": [
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},
{
"title": "Portland journalist shoved by police while filming arrest of protester",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-journalist-shoved-police-while-filming-arrest-protester/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-15T19:21:14.061666Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:59.121286Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:22:59.006171Z",
"date": "2020-08-29",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fn1pg\">Independent reporter Garrison Davis was shoved by a police officer while filming a protester getting arrested near the police union building in north Portland, Oregon, in the early hours of Aug. 29, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"s50yj\">Davis, a contributor to iHeartRadio, was covering one of the many nightly protests held in Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"m0vid\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">temporary restraining order</a>, and later a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">preliminary injunction,</a> barring the Portland Police Bureau from harming or impeding journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"eco5e\">Sometime after midnight on Aug. 29, the door to the Portland Police Association building was <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/night-92-solidarity-with-kenosha-portland-protests/\">set on fire</a>. After a riot was declared, police chased protesters into the parking lot of a gas station across the street, tackling and arresting some of them, Davis told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ab7nb\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1299629458299609093\">video</a> tweeted by Davis, an officer can be seen confronting him as he moves closer to film an arrest in front of the gas station. The officer can be heard yelling, “Move back! Move back!” Then the video goes dark as the officer shoves Davis.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Police approach me & begin to shove this reporter back as I’m walking in the open area around where arrests are happening. My phone is turned off in the process. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#blacklivesmatter</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/protest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#protest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/pdx?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#pdx</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oregon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Oregon</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BLM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BLM</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/pdxprotest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#pdxprotest</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/portlandpolice?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#portlandpolice</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/WhKBnrgJqO\">pic.twitter.com/WhKBnrgJqO</a></p>— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1299629458299609093?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 29, 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=\"8tta1\">Robert Evans, a journalist for Bellingcat and iHeartRadio, captured the rest of the incident in a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1299622638222860289\">video</a> he posted on Twitter. “Police officers very likely violate the TRO by shoving Garrison back to stop him from filming an arrest,” tweeted Evans.</p><p data-block-key=\"qvqpq\">Evans’ video shows the officer pushing Davis, who is holding his arms in the air. “Stay back over here where you were told to stay,” the officer can be heard telling Davis, who is clearly marked “press” on his helmet. Police can also be heard giving instructions over an LRAD warning protesters and press not to “interfere.”</p><p data-block-key=\"csia6\">Davis told the Tracker that he felt targeted as press by the PPB in this instance.</p><p data-block-key=\"akac4\">“He’s acting like I was repeatedly told to stay somewhere and I’m not, which isn’t what happened,” he said. “I wasn’t told to stay anywhere previously.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aub1z\">The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Garrison Davis (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist pepper sprayed, pushed by police while covering San Diego protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-pepper-sprayed-pushed-by-police-while-covering-san-diego-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-24T15:32:39.472720Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:23:57.360571Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:23:57.274000Z",
"date": "2020-08-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "San Diego",
"longitude": -117.16472,
"latitude": 32.71571,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5828b\">Independent journalist James Stout said he was pepper sprayed and pushed with a club by police while he was covering a protest in San Diego, California on Aug. 28, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"uv6jz\">Demonstrators gathered in San Diego in the days after Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Aug. 23, the <a href=\"https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2020-08-28/downtown-protest-turns-contentious-when-chemical-irritant-deployed\">San Diego Union-Tribune</a> reported. Protests against racism and police brutality had been held across the country for months, sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and other deaths of Black people at the hands of police.</p><p data-block-key=\"sv4v3\">Stout, an independent journalist whose work has been published in Slate, The Appeal and other outlets, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was taking pictures of police arresting a woman who was driving a car that provides support for demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"bcqs4\">More protesters and police soon arrived at the scene, and Stout continued to take photographs. Stout said he was standing near a line of police officers who were blocking the intersection, looking through his camera viewfinder when he suddenly felt pepper spray on his face. He said he doesn’t know if he was targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mnyr\">Stout said he lowered his camera to try to see who had sprayed him when a police officer was suddenly in his face shouting at him.</p><p data-block-key=\"2xi85\">“He starts shoving me and I'm like, no, no I'm a journalist,” Stout said.</p><p data-block-key=\"6480p\">The officer pushed him back with his hands and with a baton, he said. At the time, Stout said he was under the impression that the officer may have been trying to get his camera, so he held it up above his head.</p><p data-block-key=\"dr408\">“I got really mad after he eventually backed off,” Stout said. “I was like, What are you doing, why are you doing this? You're not supposed to attack journalists.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fz6tn\">Stout said he verbally identified himself as a journalist several times. He was wearing a black vest with the word PRESS written in white, and he carried credentials issued by the Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union, he said. He said he didn’t have any bruises or injuries from the incident because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.</p><p data-block-key=\"dxm6d\">According to an article Stout wrote for <a href=\"https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/san-diego-police-protests-lynch-law.html\">Slate</a>, the journalist approached the captain of patrol operations for the San Diego Police Department, who was there at the time, to ask why they were targeting journalists. The official turned his back and walked away, Stout wrote. Stout told the Tracker that the San Diego Police Department has denied his requests for body camera footage of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"0p92k\">The San Diego Police Department didn’t return a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"t8mue\">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": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"James Stout (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist arrested and charged with breaking curfew in Minneapolis",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-arrested-and-charged-breaking-curfew-minneapolis/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-19T20:24:43.263877Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:26:48.342476Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:26:48.239228Z",
"date": "2020-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pye3h\">Journalist Sam Richards, a freelancer who <a href=\"https://www.vice.com/en/contributor/sam-richards\">writes</a> for Vice News and other outlets, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for breaking curfew while covering civil unrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Aug. 27, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"9zt7x\">On the night of the 27th, Richards said he was documenting the effects of the second night of a city-wide curfew, posting reports on Twitter. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey had <a href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/08/27/national-guard-activated-to-quell-unrest-in-minneapolis\">imposed</a> the curfew the day before in the wake of civil unrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"yl14i\">Richards told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that shortly after the curfew went into effect at 8 p.m., he was on Nicollet Mall, a shopping and dining district in downtown Minneapolis, when he saw a man being arrested. Richards began filming the man, and approached the group of law enforcement officers to ask them about the situation, he told the Tracker. Moments later, he said, several officers surrounded him, constrained him in zip ties, and put him under arrest for violating the curfew.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Oh hey, I know that young man <a href=\"https://t.co/ulOg9VQMrE\">https://t.co/ulOg9VQMrE</a></p>— Sam Renegade BLM (@MinneapoliSam) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MinneapoliSam/status/1299225641632628737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 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=\"0hz53\">Richards said he was not wearing any press credentials, but told the officers several times that “I am a reporter and we are exempt from the curfew.” He said he also gave them the name of the outlets he works for, as well as his Twitter handle, in hopes they would look up his work online. But they did not, according to Richards. The city’s <a href=\"https://www.minneapolismn.gov/media/minneapolismngov/content-assets/documents/Mayor-Declaration-of-Emergency-for-Civil-Disturbance-II-062620.pdf\">declaration</a> of local emergency states that members of the news media are exempt from curfew.</p><p data-block-key=\"q3oly\">Richards and the man he’d been filming were taken to the Hennepin County Jail, where they were processed and then released shortly after 9 p.m., he told the Tracker.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Was just arrested for violating curfew, already booked and released. Uploading video in a hot second. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Minneapolis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Minneapolis</a></p>— Sam Renegade BLM (@MinneapoliSam) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MinneapoliSam/status/1299168606878654471?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 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=\"a5ouc\">After being released, Richards said he took “the long route home,” and continued to document what he saw along the way. In a video he posted to Twitter on his walk he said he was told “If I was spotted out here again then I would be arrested, which was confusing because I was under the impression that I was already arrested.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Video of my curfew arrest didn't save, here is a quick summation. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Minneapolis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Minneapolis</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/5EQeo64vHm\">pic.twitter.com/5EQeo64vHm</a></p>— Sam Renegade BLM (@MinneapoliSam) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MinneapoliSam/status/1299178698265030661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 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=\"jyijx\">According to a citation notice that Richards shared with the Tracker, the journalist was charged with violating an imposed curfew and was called to appear at an arraignment on Dec. 28. Violation of curfew is a misdemeanor offense in Minneapolis and “is punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Section 12.45, and MCO Section 1.30,” <a href=\"http://news.minneapolismn.gov/2020/05/30/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-curfew-in-minneapolis/\">according to the City of Minneapolis website</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7amsf\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had 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>",
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"arresting_authority": "Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [
"(2020-11-19 22:11:00+00:00) Charges dropped against journalist charged with breaking curfew in Minneapolis"
],
"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"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Sam Richards (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Police action damages camera of journalist as he covers protests in Washington, D.C.",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-action-damages-camera-of-journalist-as-he-covers-protests-in-washington-dc/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-04T21:52:29.915114Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:27:00.003849Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:26:59.925832Z",
"date": "2020-08-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c2k8f\">Actions by Metropolitan Police Department officers led to damage of a camera used by freelancer Andrew Jasiura while he was covering protests in Washington D.C., according to the journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"s39p0\">On the night of Aug. 27, 2020, Jasiura, who has been documenting the protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement for several months, was covering demonstrations in downtown Washington D.C. Protesters were gathered in the pedestrian area outside of the White House that was <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/05/870833518/black-lives-matter-plaza-across-from-white-house-is-christened-by-d-c-leaders\">renamed</a> “Black Lives Matter Plaza,” when a man arrived at the scene wearing blackface, Jasiura told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ypjim\">When protesters started chasing the man, police officers moved to protect him, detaining a protester who allegedly assaulted the man, Jasiura said. Another protester sought to intervene and was pushed away by a police officer, according to the journalist. Jasiura had been photographing the encounter, and the officer shoved the protester in his direction, he said. “He threw that person into me and I hit a barricade. The screen on one of my cameras broke,” Jasiura told the Tracker.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">MPD broke the screen on my camera last night while I was recording an unjust arrest. The protestor was released less than two hours later with no charges. This was the occasion where MPD was protecting the white man in BLM Plaza wearing black face <a href=\"https://t.co/Pf1OkDUUyr\">pic.twitter.com/Pf1OkDUUyr</a></p>— DrewJazzyPhoto (@PhotoJazzy) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PhotoJazzy/status/1299413687950770181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 28, 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=\"re9h9\">According to Jasiura, police officers told him that if he sent in his footage they could review it and determine if any police misconduct had occurred. “But giving that footage to the police could put protesters at risk, so I didn’t do it,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"i9plp\">The Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to a Tracker request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"4a446\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or had 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>",
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{
"title": "Getty photojournalist struck in head with rubber bullet during Kenosha protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/getty-photojournalist-struck-in-head-with-rubber-bullet-during-kenosha-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-12T19:43:14.814552Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T16:19:43.411073Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T16:19:43.347599Z",
"date": "2020-08-25",
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"city": "Kenosha",
"longitude": -87.82119,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gvdon\">Scott Olson, a Getty photojournalist, said he was struck in the head with a rubber bullet fired by law enforcement officers while covering a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"t69bf\">Olsen was documenting clashes between law enforcement and demonstrators in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse that had continued past an 8 p.m. state of emergency curfew. In an effort to disperse protesters, officers fired pepper balls and tear gas, according to several press reports.</p><p data-block-key=\"90u88\">Olson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was hit during the same protest as he photographed demonstrators taking cover behind a dumpster. He said he was wearing a helmet and a gas mask for protection when a rubber bullet struck the side of his head, tearing cartilage in his ear and leaving him bleeding and with a temporary hearing loss. He said his hearing came back about twenty minutes later, and his physical injury did not result in long-term damage.</p><p data-block-key=\"o9lmd\">Olson said he was standing about 15 feet from protesters and roughly 30-50 feet from police officers. He added that from where he stood, the side profile of his body would have been visible to law enforcement officers, who were behind a fence surrounding the courthouse.</p><p data-block-key=\"j4m8x\">“I think they were firing in between the opening of the fence,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"6b9f1\">Because of his position, and because he was carrying two professional cameras, Olson believed it was clear that he was a member of the press. He said that there was also another photojournalist close to him.</p><p data-block-key=\"rr85q\">“I think we were pretty identifiable,” he told the Tracker, adding that, since he was far away from demonstrators, he felt that the rubber bullet that hit him had been deliberately targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"3qtbs\">“I was further up away from them [protesters] where I wouldn’t look like I was part of that group and there was really no one around me other than another photojournalist,” he said. “So not only I think I was targeted, I think I was targeted in my head.”</p><p data-block-key=\"60kf0\">The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and the police department have not responded to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"mdbuu\">Protests in Kenosha started on Aug. 23, 2020, after police officers shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in front of his three children, leaving him paralyzed. Hundreds of people in Kenosha joined public protests against police brutality and while many demonstrations were peaceful, some buildings in the city were set on fire.</p><p data-block-key=\"mm8gl\">The night Scott Olson was hit by rubber bullets, a group of armed vigilantes patrolled the streets of Kenosha. Later that night, two protesters were shot dead and another man was injured. A 17-year-old was arrested and now faces criminal charges for those killings.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "AFP reporter hit with a rubber bullet while covering unrest in Kenosha",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/afp-reporter-hit-rubber-bullet-while-covering-unrest-kenosha/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-11T14:33:28.709978Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-03-10T15:04:13.333852Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-03-10T15:04:13.265718Z",
"date": "2020-08-25",
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"city": "Kenosha",
"longitude": -87.82119,
"latitude": 42.58474,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"v06wg\">Robert Chiarito, a journalist on assignment for the news agency Agence France-Presse, said he was hit in the leg by a rubber bullet while covering a confrontation between demonstrators and law enforcement in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020. At least <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-hit-rubber-bullets-while-covering-protest-kenosha/\">two other reporters</a> were hit by rubber bullets during the same protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"r66hz\">About an hour after an 8 p.m. curfew, Chiarito said he was reporting on a clash between protesters and law enforcement in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse when he was hit in the leg. He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he thought he’d been hit with a rock, until a protester picked up a rubber bullet and gave it to him. “I think you got hit by that, you earned it,” the protester told him.</p><p data-block-key=\"j0wp2\">Chiarito later <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10158431554231438&set=a.430355046437\">posted a photo</a> of the plastic bullet, a 40-millimeter rubber baton, a type of non-lethal munition used by law enforcement. “It hit the ground first and then it hit my leg,” Chiarito told the Tracker. “I got lucky that I came out of there with a souvenir,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"95gff\">Chiarito told the Tracker that when he was hit, he was surrounded by protesters and the closest officers were about 50 feet away.</p><p data-block-key=\"ml003\">“It was dark out, I was wearing my press credential, but unless you were close to me, there was no way of knowing who I was,” he told the Tracker. “I don’t believe I was targeted, but it shows just how indiscriminate it was just firing in the crowd, because they weren’t targeting any specific person,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"cnxpn\">Hundreds of people protested in the streets of Kenosha against police brutality following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by police officers on Aug. 23. Many demonstrations were peaceful but some turned violent and some buildings in the city were set on fire.</p><p data-block-key=\"cevd7\">The same night Chiarito was hit, a group of civilian men carrying assault rifles and handguns began patrolling the streets. Later that night two demonstrators were shot dead and a third was wounded. Officers arrested a 17-year-old from Antioch who had arrived in Kenosha with an assault rifle.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1e2sa\">Law enforcement officers stand guard on Aug. 25, 2020, after protests erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man two days before.</p>",
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"name": "Wisconsin",
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
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],
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{
"title": "Rubber bullet breaks finger of photojournalist",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-hit-rubber-bullets-while-covering-protest-kenosha/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-11T14:30:16.711684Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-17T16:26:55.572716Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-17T16:26:55.478742Z",
"date": "2020-08-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Kenosha",
"longitude": -87.82119,
"latitude": 42.58474,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"m1rhe\">Rubber bullets fired by law enforcement officers injured a photojournalist from a national media outlet covering a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ahzgd\">Alyssa Schukar, who was on assignment for The New York Times, said she was hit in her left hand while documenting clashes between law enforcement and demonstrators in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse that had continued past an 8 p.m. state of emergency curfew. In an effort to disperse protesters, officers fired pepper balls and tear gas, according to several press reports.</p><p data-block-key=\"66rr7\">Schukar told U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was struck as she stood to the side of the demonstration, about 30 yards from the protesters and an equal distance from the line of police. The bullet struck the base of her index finger, shattering the bone and causing fractures.</p><p data-block-key=\"lomby\">“I went straight to the medic area and then I had to go straight to the hospital, it was very obviously broken,” she said. Since then, Schukar has had two surgeries, and she is now in physical therapy.</p><p data-block-key=\"x8yoj\">Schukar said that law enforcement officers were firing from a narrow gap behind a barricade and that when she was hit, she was standing far away from protesters. Although she said she could not be certain whether she was deliberately targeted, “it feels a bit suspect to me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zgxr1\">Schukar said she was wearing a helmet and goggles, but no body armor. She added that when she was struck, her hand was on top of her stomach, where she was carrying one of her cameras.</p><p data-block-key=\"lvdzf\">“These are highly trained law enforcement folks,” she said. “To me, it doesn’t make sense that they could [accidentally] hit me so squarely in the middle of my body.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ijapl\">Schukar said she did not file a complaint with police, but legal counsel for The New York Times submitted a letter to police and to the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department asking for an investigation into the shooting.</p><p data-block-key=\"aw67x\">“It’s important this is on the record, because this is happening increasingly,” she said. As of late October the Times had not received a response, according to Schukar.</p><p data-block-key=\"l9x8d\">The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and the police department have not responded to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"slqro\">Protests in Kenosha started on Aug. 23, 2020, after police officers shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in front of his three children, leaving him paralyzed. Hundreds of people in Kenosha joined public protests against police brutality and while many demonstrations were peaceful, some buildings in the city were set on fire.</p><p data-block-key=\"ygsvt\">The night Schukar was hit by a rubber bullet, a group of armed vigilantes patrolled the streets of Kenosha. Later that night, two protesters were shot dead and another man was injured. A 17-year-old was arrested and now faces criminal charges for those killings.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1ij78\">Law enforcement officers stand guard on Aug. 25, 2020, after protests erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man two days before.</p>",
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{
"title": "Independent journalist said she was threatened by an individual while covering a Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-said-she-was-threatened-by-an-individual-while-covering-a-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-19T14:55:30.458738Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:25:38.128358Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:25:38.052798Z",
"date": "2020-08-25",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tl5ta\">Independent journalist Teebs Auberdine said she was threatened by an individual while covering a protest in downtown Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"rl52o\">The protest was one of many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"zbye9\">Several hundred people marched to City Hall the evening of Aug. 25, and the police quickly declared an “unlawful assembly” after the property was damaged, according to <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/08/portland-protests-continue-on-3-month-anniversary-of-george-floyds-death.html\">The Oregonian</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"31hhm\">While Auberdine was livestreaming, she likely recorded some minor property crime, she said. She was approached by someone dressed in mostly black bloc, a tactic used by some protesters to conceal their identities by wearing black and baggy clothing and face coverings, wearing a helmet and respirator, she told the Tracker. They threatened her, she said, saying, "What did you see? Didn't see shit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"02x1o\">"I was in the process of moving backward and then they came after me,” she said. “They threatened me and slapped my camera, which destabilized the gimbal, but it didn’t fall out of the clip."</p><p data-block-key=\"df4s1\">"It was very physically threatening in a non-specific way, but it was very unsettling," she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ieh9q\">The individual told her that if she filmed in a way that they weren’t comfortable with, she would be "run out" or have her camera smashed, Auberdine told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"3r2fb\">She asked someone she knew to watch after her, but that person "ended up getting arrested by the Portland Police Bureau that night for standing beside me,” she said. “Initially I felt very responsible."</p><p data-block-key=\"nc0l2\">Auberdine was wearing a vest with large press markings on the front and back, she said, and also had a gimbal, microphone and reporting equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"xv4b7\">“Whoever did it needs to direct their anger somewhere other than inflicting trauma on their allies. I've spent hundreds of hours, plenty of my own $, and sacrificed my health to stream,” she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TeebsGaming/status/1298560528873213952?s=20\">tweeted</a> afterward.</p><p data-block-key=\"99rwu\">In a follow-up <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TeebsGaming/status/1298560530865508352?s=20\">tweet</a>, she added, “Tonight was a mess. I’m a mess.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"name": "Oregon",
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"tags": [
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"protest"
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Reporter pushed by police while covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pushed-by-police-while-covering-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-10T14:40:53.150546Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:25:20.048968Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:25:19.927378Z",
"date": "2020-08-25",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"m775i\">A reporter for the Davis Vanguard, a California-based nonprofit news organization, was pushed several times by Portland Police Bureau officers while covering protests in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"frzd4\">Roman Mendoza was documenting one of the many nightly protests held in downtown Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"mw1ql\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a<a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\"> class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led to a<a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\"> temporary restraining order</a>, and later a<a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\"> preliminary injunction,</a> barring the Portland Police Bureau from harming or impeding journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"c62yx\">Mendoza told the Tracker protesters had gathered that night at a different park than usual, with plans to march to the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, which had emerged as a nightly flashpoint between protesters and federal agents in July. The protesters instead marched toward City Hall.</p><p data-block-key=\"0etgs\">“I ended up behind the protest march, and I noticed that there were some police officers on a riot van that were making their way down the street behind the protesters,” Mendoza said. “I was just recording them, so I positioned myself on the sidewalk facing the street and I was just recording the officers as they were going by.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jjg5t\">One of the officers noticed Mendoza, came up to him and told him to move. Mendoza said he repeatedly identified himself as a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"98m9n\">“I tell him I’m press and I’m just reporting. And he starts pushing me,” Mendoza said. “I keep telling him, ‘I’m press, I’m reporting, do you need to see my credentials? I’ll pull them out for you, whatever you need to see.’”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Full video of me being accosted by an officer. I was marked pressed and offered my badge, under my sweater. He would not identify himself. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtest</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/iX9EGwLfk6\">pic.twitter.com/iX9EGwLfk6</a></p>— Rome_VanWA (@oh_rome) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/oh_rome/status/1298690822452387840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 26, 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=\"jt2lk\">Mendoza said the officer pushed him half a block toward the end of the street before a group of protesters noticed what the officer was doing and started heckling him. When the officer turned his attention to the protesters, Mendoza said he made his way back to his original position, where the rest of the officers were staging.</p><p data-block-key=\"miqoq\">Mendoza asked the other officers to identify the one who had pushed him, but the officers ignored him.</p><p data-block-key=\"oopww\">“As I was asking them to identify themselves, a sheriff who was with them pointed his pepper spray at me,” Mendoza said. “He didn’t deploy it, but it was clear that he was threatening me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w0b5d\">Mendoza said he backed up a bit from the officers, and soon after they got back on the riot van and drove away.</p><p data-block-key=\"xgnjh\">Later that night, Mendoza said he was filming as officers arrested an individual. Police directed the members of the press who were present at the scene to move across the street and film from there. Mendoza said he didn’t comply with the officer’s direction, believing he was far enough away to not interfere with the officers’ actions.</p><p data-block-key=\"r6254\">“After a couple of minutes, they approached me and specifically moved me off the street, saying I couldn’t record there,” Mendoza said. “They grabbed me by my arm and just moved me across the street.”</p><p data-block-key=\"al4tx\">Mendoza said he also asked that officer for his badge number but received no response.</p><p data-block-key=\"p6ppc\">The PPB declined to comment when emailed about this incident.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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"protest"
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"Assault"
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{
"title": "CBS 58 reporter struck in neck by projectile during Kenosha, Wisconsin protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs-58-reporter-struck-neck-projectile-during-kenosha-wisconsin-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-23T14:24:08.598714Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:27:23.395491Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:27:23.304760Z",
"date": "2020-08-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Kenosha",
"longitude": -87.82119,
"latitude": 42.58474,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"p56lw\">Mark Stevens, a reporter for CBS 58 News in Milwaukee, said he was struck and injured by a projectile — possibly a crowd-control weapon — while covering a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"0nn9n\">Protests began in Kenosha after police shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, on a residential street on Aug. 23. Demonstrations against police violence and racism had been held across the country, including in Wisconsin, since late May.</p><p data-block-key=\"mnzc1\">Stevens told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was covering a protest outside the Kenosha County Courthouse with a CBS 58 photojournalist and a security guard on the evening of the second day of demonstrations. The protest was largely peaceful at the beginning, but Stevens said some protesters became more aggressive as the evening wore on.</p><p data-block-key=\"dpt8u\">In preparation for a live broadcast at 9 p.m, Stevens said he initially set up with a view of the burned wreckage of dump trucks parked near the courthouse. However, he said the CBS 58 team moved into a nearby park, farther away from protesters, when some people started pulling debris from the trucks to throw at police and the National Guard.</p><p data-block-key=\"rqi7h\">Stevens said the team kept the camera light off to avoid attracting attention, then turned it on just before the broadcast was set to begin.</p><p data-block-key=\"gdry7\">About two minutes before he was supposed to go live, Stevens said, a projectile struck him in the back of his neck, knocking him to the ground and leaving him with a bruise and broken skin.</p><p data-block-key=\"eixub\">Protest medics who came to help him told him they believed he was hit by a rubber bullet. Based on footage his colleague recorded of the incident, Stevens said he thought it might have been a bean bag, a cloth sack of lead shot that police use for crowd control.</p><p data-block-key=\"cib8h\">But Stevens said he wasn’t certain what the projectile was, or who fired it, though it may have come from police. Law enforcement parked an armored vehicle near where the journalists were filming, he said, and there were reports that police had used projectiles for crowd control during protests the previous night.</p><p data-block-key=\"mhdl2\">A spokesperson for the Kenosha Police Department said police had no report about the incident and declined to comment on it.</p><p data-block-key=\"1a57c\">Stevens said he was wearing press credentials on a lanyard around his neck when he was hit. He said his group was clearly identifiable as a television news crew because of the camera gear they carried. He said he didn’t seek further medical attention or report the incident to police.</p><p data-block-key=\"7d11t\">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 these protests across the country.<a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> Find these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "unknown",
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"state": {
"name": "Wisconsin",
"abbreviation": "WI"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
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"Assault"
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{
"title": "Journalist covering Kenosha protest hit with tear gas canister",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-covering-kenosha-protest-hit-tear-gas-canister/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-22T16:20:45.214553Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-07-17T16:27:26.845786Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-07-17T16:27:26.735659Z",
"date": "2020-08-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Kenosha",
"longitude": -87.82119,
"latitude": 42.58474,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"noymx\">During an Aug. 24 clash between law enforcement and protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, officers fired a tear gas canister at two journalists who say they were standing several feet away from any protesters. One of the journalists, Jesus J. Montero, said the canister hit him on his right arm, and that he experienced itching and difficulty breathing but did not require medical care.</p><p data-block-key=\"gfchg\">Montero, an independent reporter who was covering the protest on his social media, and Maria Guerrero, from the Chicago-based DePaul University newspaper The DePaulia, were outside the Kenosha County Courthouse as protesters defied an 8 p.m. curfew. According to the journalists, police and sheriff’s deputies warned demonstrators that they would use tear gas if the crowd didn’t leave. When demonstrators and press remained, police moved to break up the crowd, according to Guerrero, who tweeted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/themariague/status/1298102173490917378\">a video</a> of the scene. The journalists said they were about six feet away from the demonstrators and opposite the line of police, when police fired a tear gas canister that hit Montero in his right arm, causing him itching and difficulty breathing for some hours. Guerrero said she was able to run away from the gas without suffering any difficulties.</p><p data-block-key=\"pp5jt\">Both journalists say they were wearing press credentials at the time. Montero told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he does not believe he was targeted as a member of the press. He said that as he was in the area not far from demonstrators, officers may have had trouble clearly distinguishing journalists from protesters. Aug. 24 was the second day of protests in Kenosha.</p><p data-block-key=\"dtfws\">“As the weeks went on police had a better understanding that this is the press,” Montero told the Tracker. But when protests first began, he said, “there was no regard to who you were affiliated with.”</p><p data-block-key=\"w13oa\">However, Guerrero, who is also managing editor of La DePaulia, the Spanish-speaking sister newspaper of The DePaulia, said she believes that she and Montero were deliberately targeted as journalists. “I try my best to stand out from demonstrators,” she said, explaining that on that night she felt she was clearly identifiable as press because she wore goggles and press credentials and carried a professional camera. “As press we’re just there to tell a story and to tell what’s going on,” she told the Tracker.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ku7af\">Protests in Kenosha were ignited on Aug. 23 by the killing of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot seven times by a white police officer in front of his children. While many demonstrations were peaceful, some escalated into violence with some buildings being vandalized and set on fire. The evening after Montero was struck by the tear gas canister, two protesters were killed and a third was injured when civilians armed with assault rifles and guns also took to the streets claiming their intention was to protect private property. A 17-year-old was accused of the killings.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Wisconsin",
"abbreviation": "WI"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jesus J. Montero (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Crowd harrasses, assaults photojournalist working for conservative news site at Minneapolis protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/crowd-harrasses-assaults-photojournalist-working-conservative-news-site-minneapolis-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-19T22:08:41.019675Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:37:57.964910Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:37:57.890712Z",
"date": "2020-08-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"rtxj5\">Rebecca Brannon, an independent photojournalist who was on assignment for the conservative website Alpha News, was followed, harassed and assaulted by a group of individuals during a protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Aug. 24, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mfd1u\">Protests had roiled Minneapolis regularly since the police killing of George Floyd in the city on May 25. On Aug. 24, protesters were brought to the streets by the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin the day before, an event that reinvigorated racial justice protests nationwide.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ep44\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting arrests, assaults and other obstructions</a> to journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"pun9m\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/AlphaNewsMN/status/1298352487603286016\">In a video shared by Alpha News</a>, which describes itself as a “media outlet focusing on politics and social issues you may not see in traditional media,” a crowd can be seen following and shouting at Brannon at the Government Plaza light rail station in downtown Minneapolis. Members of the crowd yell that Brannon isn’t welcome and she needs to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"49es1\">“We know who you are, get out of here Rebecca. Get out!” yells one woman.</p><p data-block-key=\"3srbw\">“Why can’t I be here?” Brannon responds.</p><p data-block-key=\"b1di6\">“You know the fuck why bitch, get the fuck out!” the woman yells back before apparently trying to grab or hit Brannon’s phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"f1nm4\">The crowd continues following and shouting at Brannon, with individuals criticizing the website Brannon works for and calling her a “Trump lover” at points.</p><p data-block-key=\"fn79r\">Nearly two minutes into the video, a water bottle can be seen flying in the air towards Brannon, who is saying “I want to stick to myself” as the crowd continues yelling at her. After four minutes, the woman who initially appeared to reach for Brannon’s phone can be seen grabbing a plastic traffic-control post as she moves towards Brannon. Somebody can be heard yelling “I’m going to kick your ass” as Brannon tries to tell them she is trying to get to her car. The woman with the traffic post appears to strike Brannon with it as Brannon shouts “get away from me!”</p><p data-block-key=\"dwkkr\">On Twitter, Alpha News wrote that her phone “was stolen & destroyed but this footage was recovered. The video abruptly ends when the phone was ripped from her hands.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qoukr\">Just after midnight on July 25, Brannon tweeted about the assault earlier that evening and said she had tried to defend herself using pepper spray.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Several protesters from the group currently at the Hennepin County Government Center assaulted me tonight. I tried to defend myself w/ pepper spray.<br><br>I asked for them to leave me alone so I could go back to my car. <br><br>I was recording the encounter but my phone was taken.</p>— Rebecca Brannon (@RebsBrannon) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RebsBrannon/status/1298110427713482752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 25, 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=\"zl08l\">According to court documents posted online by Alpha News, Brannon told police the incident occurred between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"pmbad\">Earlier that same evening, protesters had yelled at Brannon and told her she needed to leave as she filmed a confrontation with police in front of the Minneapolis Police Department’s 1st Precinct on North Fourth Street. In that incident, protesters appeared upset by her affiliation with Alpha News, calling her “right wing news” and saying she was working for “a fascist news organization.” Alpha News shared footage<a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/AlphaNewsMN/videos/1568232333363401\"> of the encounter on Facebook.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"lfqc4\">“My job is to provide video footage and let viewers interpret the footage and make their own assessment. They destroyed some very valuable equipment and have inflicted physical and emotional damage on me that at this time may prevent me from providing future coverage,” she said the day after the assault,<a href=\"https://alphanewsmn.com/video-alpha-news-journalist-assaulted-while-covering-minneapolis-protest/\"> according to Alpha News</a>. “No journalist should be subjected to harassment or violence by police, protestors or anyone.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qnlh1\">In September, a woman<a href=\"https://m.startribune.com/woman-wrongly-charged-with-assaulting-journalist/572539731/\"> was charged in Brannon’s assault</a>, but those charges were later dismissed, with prosecutors saying the woman had been wrongly identified. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the woman who was falsely charged<a href=\"https://www.startribune.com/woman-says-minneapolis-police-falsely-identified-her-as-assault-suspect-without-contacting-her/572652252/\"> was camping 140 miles from Minneapolis</a> when the incident occurred. According to<a href=\"http://www.apple.com/\"> court documents posted online by Alpha News</a>, the Complainant — a woman believed to be Brannon but only identified in court documents by the initials “R.M.B.” — told police she had received a tip naming the wrongly accused woman as a perpetrator of her assault.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbtfl\">Alpha News is controversial in Minnesota.</p><p data-block-key=\"oj8xi\">In 2015, the<a href=\"https://www.startribune.com/the-mysterious-launch-of-alpha-news/295815641/\"> Minneapolis Star Tribune reported</a> that Alpha News’ launch was first promoted by the Minnesota Tea Party Alliance.<a href=\"https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/07/27/new-sites-where-partisans-pay\"> According to Minnesota Public Radio,</a> the organization has ties to a prominent Republican donor. In 2019, the alternative Minneapolis newspaper City Pages<a href=\"http://www.citypages.com/news/alpha-news-minnesota-crime-coverage-is-just-as-racist-as-youd-expect/559256751\"> charged that Alpha News’s crime coverage was racially biased</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"h9v1s\">A website that appears to be Brannon’s own media production company takes credit for several conservative political ads from the 2020 election cycle; Two of those ads feature footage from protests and riots, with one having a voiceover about how "everything used to be okay before bad people wanted to destroy our country.” According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Brannon was a volunteer coordinator with Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. In the past, one of her Facebook pages described her as a “political consultant.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2cfsm\">Neither Brannon nor Alpha News responded to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"odos8\">The Minneapolis Police Department didn’t provide additional comment when contacted by the Tracker. When the Tracker requested the police report related to the assault, police told the Tracker to file an open records request. As of publication, there has been no response to the open records request.</p></div>",
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"name": "Minnesota",
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Rebecca Brannon (Alpha News)"
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},
{
"title": "Multimedia journalist says she was tackled by Portland police officers, her phone lost",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multimedia-journalist-says-she-was-tackled-portland-police-officers-her-phone-lost/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-11T17:09:26.819295Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:25:53.602200Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:25:53.508769Z",
"date": "2020-08-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"tq8p1\">Independent multimedia journalist Grace Morgan said she was tackled to the ground by several police officers while walking away from them during protests in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 23, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"nqnjg\">Morgan was documenting one of the nightly protests held in downtown Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"82314\">In the early morning hours of Aug. 23, Morgan was covering a protest outside of the North Precinct. She told the Tracker that the police had given protesters orders to disperse, which don’t apply to members of the press, according to a<a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-preliminary-injunction-aclu-case-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\"> preliminary injunction</a> the city agreed to in July that bars police from harming or impeding journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"ndhza\">After forming a riot line, officers began pushing protesters to the west, Morgan said. She stood on the sidewalk filming, but the riot line extended to cover the sidewalk as well, which she described as unusual. Four officers approached Morgan, who was clearly labelled as press and filming while walking backwards, and told her to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"osrd0\">“I turned around to walk quicker and disperse essentially, and then I got pushed from behind, face forward,” Morgan explained. “I fell and caught myself on my knees and hands, and that’s when four officers held me down on the ground.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5cg43\">Her phone fell out of her pocket onto the sidewalk, according to Morgan. The next thing she remembered was someone, who she later learned was a medic, lifting her up by her backpack and pulling her away from the officers. Morgan said the officers made no effort to chase or detain them.</p><p data-block-key=\"ttip1\">“I realized pretty quickly that my phone was gone,” Morgan said. “Immediately I turned on the iPhone tracker and it was tracked to the North Precinct for the duration of the night, but turned off the next morning.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mlmgw\">The next day, Morgan said she went to the Portland Police Property Room on Northwest Industrial Street to try to claim her lost phone. She told the clerk about the incident and that the phone had been tracked to the North Precinct, but the clerk didn’t find anything relevant in the evidence log. The clerk then asked for Morgan’s contact information and said she could call again for updates.</p><p data-block-key=\"0fr28\">“I kept calling the next couple of days and on the third day, the clerk said maybe an officer accidentally put it in their car or pocket and took it home,” Morgan reccounted. “I was like what? How is that a thing an officer can do?”</p><p data-block-key=\"mvz6f\">Morgan never got back her phone, which had cost $1,200. She said the clerk later suggested that a protester might have taken the phone, even though Morgan had tracked it to the police precinct.</p><p data-block-key=\"yjjrs\">The morning after the incident, Morgan went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a hairline fracture on her knee cap, she said. This was the first time she had visited a hospital for protest-related injuries despite <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_journalists=676\">previous incidents</a>. Additionally, she was bruised in several areas and had to wear a soft knee brace for a month.</p><p data-block-key=\"pzrqi\">The Portland Police Bureau has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Reporter falls while covering protest after officer removes her walker, camera",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-falls-while-covering-protest-after-officer-removes-her-walker-camera/",
"first_published_at": "2022-07-12T14:55:00.095022Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:26:41.336580Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:26:41.239891Z",
"date": "2020-08-23",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pziz6\">Independent journalist Heather Van Wilde was documenting protests in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 23, 2020, when a police officer briefly seized her walker and the camera attached to it, resulting in a fall that caused injuries and exposure to tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"7b18u\">Van Wilde, who publishes her journalism on <a href=\"https://raindrop.works/\">Raindrop Works</a>, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was documenting one of the many nightly protests held in the city following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"bs613\">The Tracker <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documented assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"d339m\">Law enforcement officers in Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a<a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\"> class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led the city to agree to<a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\"> a preliminary injunction</a> in July to not arrest, harm or impede the work of journalists or legal observers of the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"e2ser\">Van Wilde has fibromyalgia, vertigo and a form of traumatic arthritis, and as a result must use a walker to ensure her safety and mobility, according to a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ord.156442/gov.uscourts.ord.156442.38.0.pdf\">declaration</a> in support of a separate lawsuit against the city and law enforcement officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"33ger\">She told the Tracker that she was covering demonstrations outside of the Portland Police Bureau’s North Precinct, and positioned herself at the steps of the Boys & Girls Club nearby in order to position herself and her walker off the sidewalk and out of the way of other press, protesters and police.</p><p data-block-key=\"esioi\">According to her declaration, Van Wilde continued to document from that position, with a DSLR camera around her neck and an action camera mounted on her walker using an eight-foot selfie stick until approximately 11:36 p.m., when a crowd of protesters and police ran past.</p><p data-block-key=\"8chfm\">“I heard the tenor of the crowd change, and when I looked up everyone was running past and three cops were coming in my direction,” Van Wilde told the Tracker. “One of them yelled at me to move. I was wearing my distinctive press gear and I said I was press, which they should have known exempted me from the dispersal order.”</p><p data-block-key=\"96hqt\">She confirmed to the Tracker that she was wearing a press pass around her neck as well as a bright pink hard hat with ‘PRESS’ printed on the left and right sides, and that she had no doubt the officer was aware that she was a member of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"7sqs2\">“[The officer] was gesturing sort of a ‘go away’ gesture, which I took to mean that he didn’t care that I was press and still wanted me to go,” Van WIlde said. “Then he grabbed my walker, which was behind a handrail and wasn’t blocking his path or anything.”</p><p data-block-key=\"nhgc\">As Van Wilde attempted to retrieve her walker so she could continue reporting, she told the Tracker she fell to the ground, breaking the seal on her gas mask and exposing her to the chemical irritants in the air. She found out later that the officer had moved the walker 10 to 15 feet away from her, also causing her camera to fall.</p><p data-block-key=\"aio5i\">“Upon review of footage from other journalists on the ground that night, it appears that I was the only press member targeted for dispersal,” her declaration states. “Several press members were within arms-reach of police officers, and rarely were they asked to step back, much less told to leave or physically engaged with.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bbp7k\">Van Wilde told the Tracker she received basic aid from street medics at the scene after another journalist helped her stand and helped her retrieve her walker and camera. She went to a hospital three or four days after the incident for ongoing pain in her left shoulder and leg, as well as respiratory issues.</p><p data-block-key=\"2p4ti\">“I’ve definitely been a lot more anxious and fearful being around cops, to the point where, I think, since then I’ve only filmed one protest where there was any kind of law enforcement anticipated. And that one, I stayed so far back from the event that basically my footage was useless,” Van Wilde said. “So I ended up having to pivot everything I do to avoid protest coverage, which is still ongoing.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a798q\">The Portland Police Bureau has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing ongoing litigation.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Van_Wilde.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"35r0o\">Footage from livestreamer Eric Greatwood shows reporter Heather Van Wilde, bottom left in pink helmet, having fallen after an officer pulled her walker away from her during a protest in Portland, Oregon, in August 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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{
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],
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Heather Van Wilde (Raindrop Works)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Pennsylvania reporter assaulted while covering picket line",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pennsylvania-reporter-assaulted-while-covering-picket-line/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-08T20:57:45.808931Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-11-09T17:08:10.138254Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-11-09T17:08:10.059552Z",
"date": "2020-08-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Farrell",
"longitude": -80.49674,
"latitude": 41.21228,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"f1p91\">Michael Roknick, a reporter for The Sharon Herald, was assaulted while covering a steel union picket in Farrell, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 23, 2020, according to his.</p><p data-block-key=\"4zawb\">The Herald <a href=\"https://www.sharonherald.com/news/local_news/nlmk-picketers-rough-up-herald-reporter/article_0aa5378e-204d-5327-8015-4ef1bce31d19.html\">reported</a> that approximately a dozen union members were protesting outside NLMK Pennsylvania’s steel plant and told the outlet that they had been instructed not to speak to the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"sdztm\">When Roknick attempted to photograph the picket line using his cellphone, members blocked their faces with signs, the outlet reported. Two of the picketers then rushed Roknick, and one threw him to the ground. Roknick’s elbow was scraped during the fall, but the reporter was otherwise uninjured.</p><p data-block-key=\"r1jly\">The Herald reported that the outlet had filed an incident report with the Farrell Police Department, but did not plan to press charges.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Michael Roknick (The Sharon Herald)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "CBS 58 photojournalist hit in leg while covering Kenosha protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cbs-58-photojournalist-hit-leg-while-covering-kenosha-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-06T18:35:08.356015Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-10-10T19:29:37.614636Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-10-10T19:29:37.534733Z",
"date": "2020-08-23",
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"city": "Kenosha",
"longitude": -87.82119,
"latitude": 42.58474,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"a8a6z\">Eric Kriesel, a photojournalist for CBS 58 television, said he was struck in the leg with a brick or rock while covering protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 23, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"djhfo\">Protesters began to gather hours after police shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, in the back seven times on a residential street in Kenosha. Demonstrations against police violence and racism had been held across the country, including in Wisconsin, since late May.</p><p data-block-key=\"19tpl\">Kriesel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and a reporter with CBS 58 arrived to cover the police shooting and the community’s reaction in the evening shortly after Blake was shot. He said a couple of hundred people had gathered to protest. Police had put up police tape around the perimeter of the scene, and a few other police cars were parked outside of the perimeter, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ei3m2\">Kriesel said protesters began jumping on the police cars, damaging them and breaking their windshields. Someone threw some sort of projectile that hit a police officer and knocked the officer to the ground, he said. Other officers retrieved the one who had been hit, who Kriesel said appeared to be unconscious, and police began to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"jawaz\">Kriesel and the CBS 58 reporter started to walk away from the scene, ahead of a live broadcast at 9 p.m., he said. They were walking alongside the police vehicles that were driving away, and protesters were throwing objects at the cars.</p><p data-block-key=\"579ap\">As he walked, Kriesel said, an object struck him in the lower left shin. He said he believes a brick or a rock ricocheted off of the back windshield of a police car into his leg, and that he didn’t think it was directed at him.</p><p data-block-key=\"758hf\">Kriesel said he had a bruise and swelling on his leg for about a month. He had the injury checked at a hospital, but said he didn’t require any treatment.</p><p data-block-key=\"atkbx\">Kriesel said he was carrying a large and noticeable professional television camera at the time he was hit. He couldn’t recall whether he had his ID card issued by CBS 58 on him at the time, but said he typically carries the credentials when reporting on situations like the demonstration in Kenosha. The Kenosha Police Department didn’t return a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"z8we7\">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 these protests across the country.<a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> Find these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"5jibd\">Protesters confront Kenosha County Sheriffs Deputies outside the Kenosha Police Department in Wisconsin following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, on Aug. 23, 2020.</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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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"assailant": "unknown",
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"state": {
"name": "Wisconsin",
"abbreviation": "WI"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Eric Kriesel (WDJT-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist pushed by Portland police officers while covering protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-pushed-by-portland-police-officers-while-covering-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-12T19:22:34.570090Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T19:50:05.316655Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T19:50:05.085620Z",
"date": "2020-08-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"snqad\">An officer shoved independent photojournalist Maranie Staab while she was covering protests in Portland, Oregon, in the early mornings of Aug. 22, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"wfw0m\">Staab was documenting one of the many protests that have been held on almost a nightly basis since late May in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"4adfi\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">temporary restraining order</a>, and later a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">preliminary injunction,</a> barring the Portland Police Bureau from harming or impeding journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"y0ibr\">In the early hours of Aug. 22, Staab and a group of other journalists were covering a demonstration at the PPB’s North Precinct station. After the gathering was declared a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1297083478484246528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1297083478484246528%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.koin.com%2Fnews%2Fprotests%2Fnight-85-black-lives-matter-march-at-irving-park%2F\">riot</a> around 1 a.m., police used smoke and physical force to disperse protesters, according to <a href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/8/22/us-smoke-fills-air-as-portland-police-clear-riot-at-precinct\">Al Jazeera</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"07znl\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1297080595193851905?s=20\">video</a> shared by Oregon Public Broadcasting journalist Sergio Olmos on Twitter at 12:58 a.m., a police LRAD can be heard warning that “all persons, including press and legal observers,” must move onto Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.</p><p data-block-key=\"oc1oh\">About a half hour later, as police were using force to disperse protesters, Staab was among several journalists, clearly marked as “press,” who were pushed while trying to film an arrest. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1297090542845583360?s=20\">video</a> posted by Olmos at 1:37 a.m., Staab can be seen wearing a black baseball cap backwards, with a camera in her right hand and a phone on a gimbal in her left. An officer approaches and pushes Staab.</p><p data-block-key=\"ojms3\">A few seconds later, the officer rushes at Staab again, pushing her hard into another photojournalist, and yelling, “Stay back!”</p><p data-block-key=\"4g5l2\">“I didn’t do anything to draw attention to myself,” Staab told the Tracker. “Some officers might respect the first amendment and the TRO that’s been in place, but the majority don’t.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c84d0\">The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
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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": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Maranie Staab (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Videographer pushed by Portland police officers while covering protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/videographer-pushed-by-portland-police-officers-while-covering-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-12T19:22:11.544082Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T19:49:17.412733Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T19:49:17.311351Z",
"date": "2020-08-22",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"eywp5\">Police officers shoved videographer Dustin Tolman who was covering protests in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 22, 2020, according to social media posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"ldigi\">Tolman was documenting one of the many protests that have been held on almost a nightly basis since late May in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"8elt9\">Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU suit led to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-protect-journalists-and-legal-observers\">temporary restraining order</a>, and later a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">preliminary injunction,</a> barring the Portland Police Bureau from harming or impeding journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"rqdm6\">In the early hours of Aug. 22, Tolman and a group of other journalists were covering a demonstration at the PPB’s North Precinct station. After the gathering was declared a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PortlandPolice/status/1297083478484246528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1297083478484246528%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.koin.com%2Fnews%2Fprotests%2Fnight-85-black-lives-matter-march-at-irving-park%2F\">riot</a> around 1 a.m., police used smoke and physical force to disperse protesters, according to <a href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/8/22/us-smoke-fills-air-as-portland-police-clear-riot-at-precinct\">Al Jazeera</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gcqdl\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1297080595193851905?s=20\">video</a> shared by Oregon Public Broadcasting journalist Sergio Olmos on Twitter at 12:58 a.m., a police LRAD can be heard warning that “all persons, including press and legal observers,” must move onto Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.</p><p data-block-key=\"l4dyt\">About a half hour later, as police were using force to disperse protesters, Tolman was among several journalists, clearly marked as “press,” who were pushed while trying to film an arrest. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1297090542845583360?s=20\">video</a> posted by Olmos at 1:37 a.m., an officer is seen pushing Tolman.</p><p data-block-key=\"mx8nd\">The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
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},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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],
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"Dustin Tolman (Freelance)"
],
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{
"title": "VICE freelancer hit with mace and projectiles during clash of rival rallies in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/vice-freelancer-hit-mace-and-projectiles-during-clash-rival-rallies-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-05T21:51:38.036981Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-21T20:25:27.744798Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-21T20:25:27.686151Z",
"date": "2020-08-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xk26g\">While covering rival protests in Portland for VICE News on Aug. 22, 2020, freelance journalist Donovan Farley posted a series of tweets reporting that he was maced and hit with projectiles. In his tweets, Farley identified his attackers as right-wing protesters.</p><p data-block-key=\"4t4od\">According to <a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2020/08/22/conservative-protesters-plan-rallies-in-downtown-portland/\">Oregon Public Broadcasting</a>, the protest began around noon as two groups faced off in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DonovanFarley/status/1297244331632234496\">tweet</a>, Farley characterized one group’s action as a “pro-police” rally. Countering that gathering was a group identified as anti-fascists, according to OPB.</p><p data-block-key=\"1zv5s\">At 1:07 p.m.Farley <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DonovanFarley/status/1297264271877791745\">tweeted</a> that he had been shot with paintballs “like five times” by a protester. About 10 minutes later he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DonovanFarley/status/1297266911034503169\">tweeted</a> that he was hit by a water bottle in the “dome,” apparently referring to his head, as “right folks opened fire on protester and press alike” with various projectiles. Farley did not specify which group threw the water bottle and he did not respond to multiple requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"0lmee\">“Within an hour of meeting, protesters began to push each other and throw objects,” OPB said in its report. “Some demonstrators on the pro-police side fired paintball guns and deployed pepper spray on counterdemonstrators. Other protesters used baseball bats. Many people wore helmets and body armor as they punched, kicked and tore at each other.”</p><p data-block-key=\"k2lq4\">At 1:23 p.m. Farley posted what he identified as <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DonovanFarley/status/1297268074517680128\">photos</a> of paintball stains on his clothes. His tweet showed a bright yellow helmet labeled “MEDIA” as well as a photo of his chest area, above his press pass. “I took quite a lot of hits. Got my arms too,” Farley wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"rw6py\">A few minutes later, Farley <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DonovanFarley/status/1297269738490351616\">tweeted</a> that he was “shot directly in the phone” (he did not specify with what). “It’s a bunch of things being thrown by both sides at the moment but it sure seems<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueLivesMatter?src=hashtag_click\"> #BlueLivesMatter</a> is targeting press. Not everyone mind you—it’s mostly Proud Boys. A few of the other folks have been fine,” he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DonovanFarley/status/1297269738490351616\">tweeted</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ejtpd\">He also tweeted that a group he said was mostly members of the far-right Proud Boys tried to push over a van with an unidentified member of the press on it. In a video <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DonovanFarley/status/1297272805302497281\">tweeted</a> by Farley at 1:41 p.m., the person standing on the van is clearly marked “PRESS” on their neon vest and appears to be holding a camera.</p><p data-block-key=\"s3bua\">A few minutes later Farley tweeted, “I’m now realizing I got maced at some point as all my skin is on fire.” He speculated that it might have been “bear mace” in a later <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DonovanFarley/status/1297290134736388096\">tweet</a>. Bear spray is a defense against wildlife that contains capsaicin and related capsaicinoids. Capsaicin is the active ingredient that makes chili peppers hot.</p><p data-block-key=\"yvc9e\">According to OPB, most of the right-wing demonstrators left the downtown area by 2:30 that day, before the Portland Police Bureau declared an unlawful assembly at 2:50 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"dxeoy\">At 3:28 p.m. Farley <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DonovanFarley/status/1297299680670302209\">tweeted</a> that he was feeling the effects of the mace and was leaving the downtown area. “I am on absolute fire,” he said.</p></div>",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
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"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Blue Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Donovan Farley (VICE News)"
],
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{
"title": "Journalist targeted with paintballs while covering clashing protests in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-targeted-with-paintballs-while-covering-clashing-protests-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-08T20:21:50.180752Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:40:23.198097Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:40:23.120727Z",
"date": "2020-08-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"bsbaw\">Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Sergio Olmos wrote that he was hit with paintballs fired by a right-wing activist while they were covering confrontations between protesters in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 22, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ntxwg\">Clashes erupted after more than 100 far-right protesters, including members of the extremist group the Proud Boys and supporters of then-President Donald Trump, gathered outside the Justice Center for a “Back the Blue” rally on Aug. 22, <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/22/portland-police-far-right-protest/\">The Washington Post reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1pgds\">Hundreds of counterprotesters amassed in opposition. Protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement had been held in Portland daily for months, sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.</p><p data-block-key=\"npgum\">Olmos <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1297346028669001729\">posted on Twitter at 6:32 p.m.</a> that while he was being shot with a paintball by a right-wing protester he pointed to his press pass, but the man continued to shoot paintballs.</p><p data-block-key=\"upgod\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1297346028669001729\">video</a> Olmos posted with his tweet, a man wearing a black helmet can be seen firing a paintball gun into the crowd amid clashes between far-right groups and opposing protesters. At one point in the video, several paintballs can be seen flying past Olmos’s camera as he films.</p><p data-block-key=\"i3f73\">Olmos did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"wkl0i\">In September, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office filed multiple assault <a href=\"https://www.mcda.us/index.php/news/alan-swinney-arrested-charged-for-recent-criminal-conduct-in-downtown/\">charges</a> against a man, who was arrested for allegedly attacking people with paintballs and mace at two protests, including the one on Aug. 22. The indictment against Alan Swinney alleges that on Aug. 22 he used a paintball gun to cause physical injury, pointed a revolver at a person and unlawfully discharged “mace or a similar substance” toward another person. The charges do not name any of the alleged targets.</p><p data-block-key=\"qcpyu\">In October, a judge denied a motion for Swinney’s release, and as of March 2021, he was still being held in prison, <a href=\"http://www.mcso.us/PAID/Home/Booking/1508794\">according to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Department</a>. Swinney's lawyer, Eric Wolfe, did not respond to requests for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"vp145\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
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},
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],
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]
