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{
"title": "Portland police shove journalist covering protest over Breonna Taylor grand jury decision",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-say-they-were-shoved-portland-police-while-covering-protest-over-grand-jury-decision/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-21T19:52:18.516688Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-17T15:28:18.749274Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-17T15:28:18.663620Z",
"date": "2020-09-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dowh4\">Independent photojournalist Ariston Vallejos said he was shoved by local police officers while covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 23, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"xknns\">Vallejos was covering one of the many protests that have broken out across the U.S. in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and others. 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=\"y3cxi\">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=\"s5nwv\">The Sept. 23 protest was called in response to a Kentucky grand jury’s decision that day to not prosecute Louisville police officers for shooting and killing Taylor.</p><p data-block-key=\"p8an2\">Demonstrators <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/09/portland-protest-grows-downtown-on-eve-of-breonna-taylor-grand-jury-decision.html\">gathered</a> in downtown Portland outside the Multnomah County Justice Center, a focus of Portland protests because it houses a jail, courtrooms and a police station. According to a <a href=\"https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/09/portland-protest-grows-downtown-on-eve-of-breonna-taylor-grand-jury-decision.html\">report in The Oregonian</a>, sometime after 9 p.m., some protesters threw rocks at the windows to the Central Precinct station, located on the Second Avenue side of the Justice Center.</p><p data-block-key=\"btjel\">In response, Portland police declared the protest a riot and used crowd-control munitions on demonstrators. At around 10:30 p.m., a protester threw a Molotov cocktail at officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"yl8mw\">Throughout the night, Vallejos filmed and tweeted from the protests. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/mr1mportant/status/1308998866671464448\">Twitter message</a> posted at 10:17 p.m., Vallejos wrote he was “repeatedly shoved and screamed at,” despite his being marked as press.</p><p data-block-key=\"wpcjd\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/mr1mportant/status/1309012645224349697\">video Vallejos posted</a> about an hour later captures an officer arresting someone on the ground. After Vallejos gets closer, a police officer pushes him back, and tells him to “get the fuck out of here.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ul33m\">Vallejos confirmed the videos to the Tracker and that he felt targeted.</p><p data-block-key=\"v5p8h\">The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p><p data-block-key=\"afdc2\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ariston Vallejos (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Camera kicked by individual during Rhode Island protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/camera-kicked-individual-during-rhode-island-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-20T18:30:57.116337Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:11:31.916549Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:11:31.815910Z",
"date": "2020-09-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Providence",
"longitude": -71.41283,
"latitude": 41.82399,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"a39xt\">WLNE-TV ABC 6 cameraman Paul Duddy had his camera kicked by an individual during a protest in Providence, Rhode Island, on Sept. 25, 2020, according to social media posts by station employees.</p><p data-block-key=\"trij9\">An ABC 6 news crew had been following a protest march against the Sept. 23 announcement that a Kentucky grand jury would not be filing charges against police officers for the killing of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old unarmed Black woman who was shot and killed during a botched police raid on her Louisville apartment on March 13. The announcement rekindled racial justice protests across the country, including in Providence.</p><p data-block-key=\"ucomn\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> documenting arrests, assaults and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"xjyg2\">At 10:11 p.m., ABC 6 reporter Brittany Comak <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BComakABC6/status/1309676999645048832\">tweeted a video</a> showing an individual in white sneakers breaking off from the march, running toward the lens of a camera as it filmed the scene and kicking it.</p><p data-block-key=\"pu09u\">“Many of the protesters were hostile to the media. This happened walking the Brown University Campus. We are okay. Please remember we are just trying to do our jobs,” she wrote.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Many of the protesters were hostile to the media. This happened walking the Brown University Campus. We are okay. Please remember we are just trying to do our jobs. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ABC6?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ABC6</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/8haz790vaz\">pic.twitter.com/8haz790vaz</a></p>— Brittany Comak (@BComakABC6) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BComakABC6/status/1309676999645048832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 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=\"5grxk\">She later<a href=\"https://twitter.com/BComakABC6/status/1309838469187936256\"> wrote on Twitter</a> that the kick was “dangerously close to my photographer’s head.”</p><p data-block-key=\"u5lni\">Kim Kalunian, a reporter at WPRI 12 who was also at the march, reported seeing the incident as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"t5ug8\">“One of the protesters just kicked the lens of a camera being manned by a photojournalist from @ABC6,”<a href=\"https://twitter.com/KimKalunian/status/1309664843847397378\"> she wrote on Twitter</a> at 9:23 p.m. “We heard them saying they should smack our cameras just moments before.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ntxy\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShiinaHL/status/1309664915569938432\">Shiina LoSciuto, another WPRI 12 reporter, tweeted</a>: “It sounded like a few people were threatening to scratch our cameras because we are ‘not on their side.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"becsv\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/APittsABC6/status/1309677311764070403\">A later tweet from ABC 6 reporter Amanda Pitts</a> identified the cameraman whose camera was kicked as Paul Duddy.</p><p data-block-key=\"o4e65\">Staff at ABC 6 and WPRI 12 did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "private individual",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Rhode Island",
"abbreviation": "RI"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Paul Duddy (WLNE-TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist arrested while reporting on homeless encampment in Oregon",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-arrested-while-reporting-homeless-encampment-oregon/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-20T19:59:38.764014Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-02-21T18:26:24.189970Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-02-21T18:26:24.027763Z",
"date": "2020-09-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Medford",
"longitude": -122.87559,
"latitude": 42.32652,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"lhjw3\">Jefferson Public Radio reporter April Ehrlich was arrested while covering police evictions of a homeless encampment in a public park in Medford, Oregon, on Sept. 22, 2020.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Medford police arrested JPR reporter April Ehrlich as she was covering the MPD's operation this morning removing campers from the city's Hawthorne Park. She was one of 11 people arrested during the police action. We'll have more details as they become available.</p>— JPR News (@JPRnews) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JPRnews/status/1308497204659793927?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 22, 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=\"lhwyr\">JPR Executive Director Paul Westhelle said in a <a href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/media-society/2020-09-23/jpr-statement-on-the-arrest-of-reporter-april-ehrlich-at-the-hawthorne-park-camp-sweep\">statement</a> that Ehrlich had arrived at Hawthorne Park near downtown Medford in the early morning to interview some of the nearly 100 unhoused people who had taken up residence in the park. Police arrived at approximately 8 a.m. to enforce a 24-hour eviction notice.</p><p data-block-key=\"84h1m\">Officers directed members of the press to a “media staging area” located at one of the entrances to the park, Westhelle said. He added that “it was not possible to adequately see or hear interactions between police officers and campers, or gather audio” from the staging area.</p><p data-block-key=\"yek9z\">MPD’s Lt. Mike Budreau told the Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, that Ehrlich was arrested after reportedly refusing to go to the media staging area. Budreau added that members of the press “had full access to the park up until the public closure and the media staging location was well within view of the officers’ interactions with campers.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8o244\">JPR reported that Ehrlich was released later that afternoon with charges for criminal trespassing, interfering with a peace officer and resisting arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"k4mv4\">If convicted, Ehrlich could face more than a year in prison and fines up to $7,500.</p><p data-block-key=\"uamtl\">“April is a professional journalist and part of her job is being present during charged situations that sometimes involve law enforcement,” Westhelle wrote. “She knows how to be close enough to report without interfering.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4mioe\">“JPR stands by April’s award-winning journalism and supports the courage it can take to tell compelling stories that don’t echo the narratives the institutions we cover sometimes lead us to.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mzi28\">The Oregon Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists <a href=\"https://www.spjoregon.com/news/spj-oregon-statement-on-arrest-of-jpr-reporter-april-ehrlich\">issued</a> a statement condemning the arrest, as did <a href=\"https://cpj.org/2020/09/journalist-april-ehrlich-facing-criminal-charges-over-reporting-on-homelessness-in-oregon/\">CPJ</a> and <a href=\"https://rsf.org/en/news/us-journalist-facing-criminal-charges-reporting-homeless-encampment-oregon\">Reporters Without Borders</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"q1ono\">JPR News Director Liam Moriarty told the Tracker that Ehrlich has a preliminary court appearance on Oct. 22.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Ehrlich.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"kcxm5\">In police body camera footage obtained by her attorneys, Medford Police officers confront and arrest then-Jefferson Public Radio reporter April Ehrlich during an encampment sweep on Sept. 22, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Medford Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "1:22-cv-01416",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [
"(2022-09-20 16:34:00+00:00) Reporter cleared of charges files lawsuit alleging wrongful arrest",
"(2021-11-18 11:48:00+00:00) Trial date set for Jefferson Public Radio reporter",
"(2022-08-26 17:26:00+00:00) Charges dropped against reporter nearly two years after her arrest"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"April Ehrlich (Jefferson Public Radio)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist assaulted, threatened with firearm while covering Pittsburgh protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-assaulted-threatened-firearm-while-covering-pittsburgh-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-01T17:43:18.094876Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:31:33.728522Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:31:33.634412Z",
"date": "2020-09-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Pittsburgh",
"longitude": -79.99589,
"latitude": 40.44062,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dynbl\">Freelance photojournalist Ed Thompson said he was assaulted and threatened with a firearm by an individual while covering a protest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 22, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"4eajl\">Thompson was covering one of the many protests that broke out across the U.S. in 2020 in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. 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=\"00k83\">On Sept. 22, <a href=\"https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2020/08/22/City-police-arrest-man-during-protest-in/stories/202008210143\">protesters demonstrating against</a> police violence and the arrest of a prominent activist marched on the home of Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto in the city’s Point Breeze neighborhood.</p><p data-block-key=\"vrbsp\">Thompson told the Tracker in an interview that as protesters were leaving Peduto’s home, he ran ahead to get better shots of them. As he did, he said, a resident of the neighborhood about a block down from the mayor’s residence began to spray him with a hose. Speaking to the Tracker, Thompson said the man then threw a handful of small rocks at him before charging him and punching his hand. Thompson said the assault pushed his camera into his face but left him uninjured.</p><p data-block-key=\"6jtdt\">Following that altercation, Thompson said the man retreated into his residence before reemerging on his balcony, where he threatened to shoot Thompson and others in the crowd before briefly producing what appeared to be a handgun in a holster.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Covering a protest tonight in Pittsburgh when a older man first punched me and threw a hand full of rocks at me. Then, continued to his porch and said he’ll shoot me if I don’t get off his property. Subsequently pulls a handgun on me and points it at me. This world in messed up. <a href=\"https://t.co/Jb25iSk4jz\">pic.twitter.com/Jb25iSk4jz</a></p>— Ed Thompson (@ThompsonFoto12) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ThompsonFoto12/status/1308626550175272960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 23, 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=\"m7q0i\"><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GufRvlBWKsk&feature=youtu.be\">In video</a> Thompson recorded of the incident, the man can be seen standing on a balcony that had signs hanging from it reading “VOTE TRUMP ALLRED,” “NO DEM COMIE CHAOS” and “ALL USA LIVES MATTER.” Apparently speaking to Thompson, the man says, “Get off my property.” Thompson informs him he is on the sidewalk. Seconds later, the man says, “Get off my grass right now. I’ll shoot you.”</p><p data-block-key=\"74mbz\">“He’s got a gun! He’s got a handgun!” Thompson can be heard shouting as he backs up.</p><p data-block-key=\"2fbzt\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ThompsonFoto12/status/1308629327567822853\">video</a> shot by photographer and videographer Dan Lampmann showed the man flash what appears to be a holstered weapon more clearly.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here is some video of the man pulling out a hand gun briefly after he says he’s going to shoot me. Video via <a href=\"https://twitter.com/danlampmann?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@danlampmann</a>. Thank you for having my back tonight. You could have been injured too if he had carried out his threats <a href=\"https://t.co/F3QIJqJcLr\">https://t.co/F3QIJqJcLr</a></p>— Ed Thompson (@ThompsonFoto12) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ThompsonFoto12/status/1308629327567822853?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 23, 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=\"87s0b\">The incident had Thompson scared for the safety of himself and those around him, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"1l6an\">“If he would have shot, he probably would have hit me,” he said. “I was 20 feet away. Even if he was a bad shot, if he pulled off five or six rounds he probably would have got me. But I was worried about the crowd, too.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aqz39\">While police officers were nearby, Thompson described their response as “nonchalant” and “real chill.”</p><p data-block-key=\"51lg2\">Thompson said that the man involved in the incidents had previously harassed protesters on other marches to the mayor’s residence. He said the man, who is white, had at times turned to racial taunts.</p><p data-block-key=\"bv9iv\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/csnyderj/status/1308580858111107073\">A video recorded</a> by independent journalist Christian Snyder and uploaded to Twitter at 9:36 p.m. shows the man standing on the balcony shouting, “I’ll shoot you, you fucking cocksuckers!”</p><p data-block-key=\"a9kzt\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/csnyderj/status/1308580523938385925\">Another video shot by Snyder</a> shows the man being confronted by police while holding a hose and yelling at protesters. He eventually drops the hose and walks away while shouting at the protesters, “If it was up to me, you’d all be dead!”</p><p data-block-key=\"dis8h\">Thompson is unsure whether he was targeted for being press. Part of him thinks that he was just the closest of the crowd to the man. But given the pro-Donald Trump signs on the man’s balcony, he said he worries that the president’s anti-media rhetoric played a role.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2o6c\">“Who knows, maybe it was because I had a camera. I had three cameras and a badge saying I was a journalist. I can’t say either. You can probably assume both,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"uju1u\"><a href=\"https://www.wtae.com/article/protesters-and-a-neighbor-clash-in-pittsburgh-mayors-neighborhood/34131012#\">Speaking to WTAE-TV</a> the following day, the man, whom the station identified, claimed he “slipped” and hit Thompson’s camera and did not punch him. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ThompsonFoto12/status/1308988036097728514\">A video later posted by Thompson</a> that he says was filmed by Snyder showed the man approaching the photographer and appearing to reach up toward him before Thompson stumbles backward.</p><p data-block-key=\"o3h5d\">In the interview with WTAE-TV, the man said he had a microphone in his hand, not a gun, but did say he had threatened to shoot protesters to “protect myself.” He said he may have “accidentally squirted” protesters with his hose or “maybe the hose had a mind of its own.” He added: “They needed a bath anyway.” During the interview, he wore a “Make America Great Again” hat.</p><p data-block-key=\"wnvzi\">Thompson said police took his information down at the scene and said they would be in touch with him regarding the incident. He said at the time they noted that he had video of the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"dkxmj\">But “to the date, I haven’t been called by a detective or a police officer yet regarding that case,” he told the Tracker in mid-December, nearly three months after the march.</p><p data-block-key=\"dkt7f\">On Sept. 23, the Pittsburgh Current, where Thompson is a contributing photojournalist, reported that police <a href=\"https://www.pittsburghcurrent.com/photojournalist-assaulted-threatened-with-gun-by-man-opposed-to-blm-protests/\">told the paper</a> that they were “aware of the incident and are investigating.”</p><p data-block-key=\"z0oq8\">Responding to a request for comment from the Tracker, Cara Cruz, a spokesperson for Pittsburgh’s Department of Public Safety said the incident had been investigated by detectives but “after a review of available video, it was determined that no charges would be filed.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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"Ed Thompson (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent filmmaker arrested while covering anti-ICE protest in New York City",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-arrested-while-covering-anti-ice-protest-new-york-city/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-06T16:34:20.024191Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-21T22:10:21.800647Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-21T22:10:21.683857Z",
"date": "2020-09-19",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4zu3w\">Ronald Weaver II, an independent filmmaker, was arrested while covering a protest against immigration policy and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York City on Sept. 19, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"fei2e\">The protest, which began in Times Square, was prompted by a <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/us/ICE-hysterectomies-whistleblower-georgia.html\">whistleblower’s allegation</a> that immigrant women held at a privately run detention center in Georgia were forced to undergo hysterectomies. Weaver, a New York-based filmmaker, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker the protest was part of a broad protest movement against racial injustice that swept across the country over the summer.</p><p data-block-key=\"5iv9g\">Weaver said he began documenting racial justice protests in New York City in June. He said he initially attended protests as a participant with his camera, but by late June he said he was primarily attending to photograph and video the protests with the goal of making a documentary project. He has worked in the past as a commercial videographer and photographer, and has been documenting protests in New York and in other parts of the country on <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/rw2productions/\">Instagram</a>. He said he has sold his footage to outlets including the<a href=\"https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-2235192/Video-Surfers-remember-Breonna-Taylor-paddle-Rockaway-beach.html\"> Daily Mail</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NBCNewsNow/status/1284910879650152448?s=20\">NBC News</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"thsgx\">Weaver said there was a heavy police presence as the protesters gathered midday in Times Square. When protesters on bicycles started to lead a march, Weaver said police began stopping and arresting them. In response, he said, other protesters moved off the sidewalk and sat in the middle of Seventh Avenue, prompting police to make more arrests.</p><p data-block-key=\"n0qu2\">Weaver said he left Times Square for police headquarters in Lower Manhattan to film the release of arrested protesters from One Police Plaza. However, he said, as more protesters started showing up, police started to restrict movement. Weaver said it appeared police were preparing to block the street, a tactic known as “kettling,” to restrict protesters’ movements.</p><p data-block-key=\"2waix\">Around 3:30 p.m., Weaver said he was filming police as they physically restrained a young woman, when a New York Police Department officer in riot gear suddenly shoved him in the back. Weaver said he kept his balance, despite holding his heavy equipment at the time. He said he then noticed a second officer, who was about 10 feet away from him, had started to run toward him.</p><p data-block-key=\"auyyz\">“It was obvious that they were targeting me because of what I was filming,” Weaver said.</p><p data-block-key=\"jis11\">Weaver said he believed he was about to be tackled, so he ran away. As he ran, he said he shouted, asking what he did wrong. A group of about five other police officers came around a corner in front of him, he said, and stopped him. Weaver said the officers allowed him to put down his camera, and then arrested him.</p><p data-block-key=\"vdxlb\">Weaver said the officers asked if he had press credentials, which he didn’t. He said he explained to his arresting officer that he was there to observe, not participate, and had been documenting and filming protests through the summer.</p><p data-block-key=\"0oq9j\">New York Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"4u87u\">Weaver said police took his camera equipment when he was arrested and returned it to him, undamaged, when he was released after 8 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"nurow\">Weaver was charged with disorderly conduct. He said his original court hearing scheduled for Dec. 18 was postponed because of court closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a new date hasn't been scheduled.</p><p data-block-key=\"o2lt0\">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. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
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},
"updates": [
"(2021-09-20 00:00:00+00:00) Charge dropped against New York filmmaker documenting protest"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ronald Weaver II (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist hit with crowd-control munitions, assaulted by police at protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-with-crowd-control-munitions-assaulted-by-police-at-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2024-03-06T19:58:53.158798Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-04-11T14:56:09.025091Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-04-11T14:56:08.930111Z",
"date": "2020-09-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hio7x\">Independent journalist Melissa “Claudio” Lewis was hit in the leg repeatedly with crowd-control munitions fired by law enforcement, then grabbed and thrown to the ground by a police officer while documenting a Black Lives Matter protest in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 18, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1h1c\">The protest was one of the many that broke out across the U.S. that year in response to police violence and in support of the BLM movement following the murder of George Floyd. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2020-01-01&date_upper=2020-12-31&tags=Black+Lives+Matter%2Cprotest\">As the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented</a>, an unprecedented number of journalists were assaulted and arrested at these protests, including in Oregon, where the ACLU later <a href=\"https://www.aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">filed</a> a class-action lawsuit on behalf of journalists and legal observers who were targeted and attacked by police.</p><p data-block-key=\"4d49f\">Lewis joined a separate civil suit on Nov. 1, 2020, charging that the City of Portland, Multnomah County, and various law enforcement officials violated the constitutional rights of people with disabilities during BLM protests that year.</p><p data-block-key=\"dd9p8\">Lewis and three other Oregonians with disabilities who either documented or participated in the protests accused law enforcement of assaulting them multiple times and of generally acting without regard for their disabilities. Lewis has photosensitive epilepsy and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that increases the risk of injury and makes it difficult for her to move quickly.</p><p data-block-key=\"6lruk\">In the complaint, Lewis describes Department of Homeland Security agents firing tear gas, pepper balls and Stinger grenades (which contain rubber pellets and the same ingredient used in pepper spray) into the crowd of people assembled at the Sept. 18 protest near a Portland branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"2lhgo\">Lewis, who shielded herself with a door, says she was shot in the leg seven times during the barrage.</p><p data-block-key=\"1sd8h\">Later that night, according to the complaint, Lewis was perched on the tailgate of a truck to film the actions of law enforcement agents when a police officer grabbed her by her backpack and threw her off the truck and onto the curb, where she hit her back and hips. Lewis later went to the emergency room and was diagnosed with oxycodone for the severe pain caused by the impact.</p><p data-block-key=\"3kg4l\">In October 2021, the court approved a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims in the lawsuit, ruling that they had failed to prove that the city customarily violated the constitutional rights of people with disabilities when responding to protests. The plaintiffs then filed an amended complaint, which did not include Lewis.</p><p data-block-key=\"de8m1\">Lewis told the Tracker that she ultimately withdrew from the suit because of issues with her legal representation.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"gmanv\">Police officers at a Black Lives Matter protest in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 18, 2020, where journalist Melissa “Claudio” Lewis was shot with crowd-control munitions fired by federal agents and thrown to the ground by police.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "3:20-cv-01882",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Melissa “Claudio” Lewis (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist says federal agents fired tear gas and smoke, then shoved her, during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-says-federal-agents-fired-tear-gas-and-smoke-then-shoved-her-during-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-29T16:33:06.499447Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-06T19:59:39.435961Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-06T19:59:39.213844Z",
"date": "2020-09-18",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"sax63\">Freelance journalist Laura Jedeed said federal law enforcement officers fired tear gas and smoke towards her, and then shoved her, while she was covering a protest outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 18, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"hjzdz\">Jedeed, a contributor to Portland Monthly and Willamette Weekly, was covering one of the many Portland protests in response to law enforcement violence that first erupted after 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=\"lnmgq\">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 case resulted in a temporary restraining order on July 2 barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists, which was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents</a> later that month.</p><p data-block-key=\"qtrgv\">The Sept. 18 demonstration began in the evening, as demonstrators marched several blocks south from Elizabeth Caruthers Park in the South Waterfront district to the ICE building, and stretched past midnight. The demonstration came after a whistleblower <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/09/16/913398383/whistleblower-alleges-medical-neglect-questionable-hysterectomies-of-ice-detaine\">alleged</a> that ICE was medically neglecting detainees at a private detention center in Georgia and overseeing hysterectomies on detained women. Demonstrators also chanted against the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from parents, in place from 2017 to 2018, and the <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/family-separation-parents-chosen-homeland-security-chad-wolf/\">lack of progress</a> in reuniting all of the families.</p><p data-block-key=\"mh2ot\">Jedeed was <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1307176190411644933\">documenting</a> the scene as federal agents dispersed the crowd to the north after protesters started pushing at the gates of the ICE building. Then the Portland police joined in the enforcement effort and <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/smoke-clears-and-protests-resume-in-portland/\">declared</a> the protest an “unlawful assembly,” according to local news outlet KOIN. Eleven people were arrested by the police on a range of charges, and law enforcement officers fired crowd-control munitions at the crowd to drive them away from the ICE building.</p><p data-block-key=\"qat65\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1307191954493431810\">video</a> published by Jedeed on Twitter at 10:37 p.m. shows tear gas enveloping a street where protesters were retreating. After her camera pans to capture law enforcement officers standing on a street, a munition bounces close to her, and green smoke comes out.</p><p data-block-key=\"tdy7j\">“It landed right near me, and it was a plume of green smoke. It made it impossible to film, and there was only press there,” Jedeed told the Tracker, adding that believes federal officers targeted her to stop her from filming.</p><p data-block-key=\"nmsg1\">Earlier in September, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler had <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/wheeler-orders-ppb-to-stop-using-tear-gas-immediately/\">banned</a> the Portland Police Bureau from using tear gas for crowd-control, and he <a href=\"https://twitter.com/tedwheeler/status/1307426135278383105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1307426137417547776%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.koin.com%2Fnews%2Fprotests%2Fsmoke-clears-and-protests-resume-in-portland%2F\">tweeted</a> the day after the protest that the police had abided by his order. Federal agents, however, have continued to deploy tear gas during Portland protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"7apei\">After pulling back to the ICE facility, law enforcement officers again rushed the crowd and made an aggressive arrest around midnight. Jedeed was pushed to the ground during the rush, she told the Tracker, adding that believes a federal law enforcement officer shoved her.</p><p data-block-key=\"qg3g9\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/LauraJedeed/status/1307217753741246465\">Footage</a> published by Jedeed on Twitter shortly after shows a group of officers running down a street near the ICE facility. About nine seconds in, the camera points downward and then shuts off as she is pushed. “I get shoved and skid along the asphalt,” wrote Jedeed in a post accompanying the video.</p><p data-block-key=\"uqvbf\">The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incidents.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
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],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Al Jazeera’s AJ+ ordered to register as foreign agent",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/al-jazeeras-aj-ordered-to-register-as-foreign-agent/",
"first_published_at": "2020-09-30T14:08:40.345848Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-04-06T15:27:30.600872Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-04-06T15:27:30.529927Z",
"date": "2020-09-14",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ujery\">The U.S. Department of Justice ordered Al Jazeera’s U.S.-based social media division, AJ+, to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act on Sept. 14, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"rtpg8\">In a letter <a href=\"https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/09/trump-doj-al-jazeera-fara-uae-qatar/\">obtained by Mother Jones</a>, Jay Bratt, chief of the DOJ’s counterintelligence and export control section, wrote that AJ+ acts “at the direction and control” of the leaders of Qatar.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ya8p\">“Despite assertions of editorial independence and freedom of expression, Al Jazeera Media Network and its affiliates are controlled and funded by the Government of Qatar,” Bratt wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"i69km\">Al Jazeera <a href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/17/al-jazeera-condemns-aj-fara-registration-order-in-us/\">condemned the order</a>, referencing “relentless lobbying efforts” by the government of the United Arab Emirates to shutter the outlet. Since 2108, Republican members of Congress have sent three letters requesting that the DOJ compel Al Jazeera’s registration, Mother Jones reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"denyj\">Entities registered under FARA must include disclaimers about their government connections in their reporting and provide details about operations and funding to the Justice Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"rgvmb\">The Trump administration has ordered bureaus of multiple other foreign outlets to register <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/us-based-news-outlets-funded-russia-ordered-register-foreign-agents/\">under</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rt-america-compelled-register-foreign-agent-department-justice/\">FARA</a> or the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/state-department-classifies-five-chinese-state-run-outlets-as-foreign-missions/\">Foreign Missions Act</a>, in some cases leading to retaliation against journalists in those countries.</p><p data-block-key=\"v0hj9\">A spokesperson for Al Jazeera said in a statement to Mother Jones that the act effectively “hobbles” the outlet.</p><p data-block-key=\"0v3y8\">“We are deeply disappointed by the Department’s decision, which runs counter to the extensive factual record we provided demonstrating that FARA registration is not applicable to AJ+,” the statement reads. “The legal structure, editorial structure, editorial policies, budgeting process and content of AJ+ clearly demonstrate its independence.”</p><p data-block-key=\"g7ao9\">The statement added that the outlet is reviewing the determination and considering its options moving forward.</p></div>",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
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"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"name_of_business": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"AJ+"
],
"tags": [
"Department of Justice"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Journalist arrested while covering break-up of LA protest encampment",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-arrested-while-covering-break-la-protest-encampment/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-06T14:20:12.713130Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:17:35.338936Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:17:35.239810Z",
"date": "2020-09-13",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"00eve\">Freelance journalist Talia Jane was arrested while covering a police raid of a protest camp in Los Angeles on Sept. 13, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"6f604\">Los Angeles law enforcement officers moved in to break up the encampment in the city’s Grant Park, across from City Hall, early on the morning of Sept. 13, the<a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-13/los-angeles-police-clear-protest-encampment-grand-park\"> Los Angeles Times</a> reported. The encampment had been established in June by activists, in part to support protests for racial justice and against police brutality that began following the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minnesota on May 25.</p><p data-block-key=\"70ils\">Jane told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was reporting on the police action for social media. Jane has freelanced for publications including VICE, Elle, and Mic. Before her arrest, Jane said, she was following a standoff between law enforcement officers and protesters involved with the group Black Unity LA.</p><p data-block-key=\"c77f0\">At around 8:30 a.m., police ordered protesters to disperse, she said. Jane said she continued to film a line of police officers forming across a street, as she walked about half a block in front of the police.</p><p data-block-key=\"p2x80\"><a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tv/CFJJm7CHP7Z/?igshid=1lcnlkqcmnikz\">Video</a> she posted on Instagram shows four officers suddenly running toward her. “Put your hands behind your back,” one said repeatedly.</p><p data-block-key=\"l8e4f\">“You’re arresting me?” she asked.</p><p data-block-key=\"7rebu\">According to Jane, she was identified as press on her hat and backpack and had a digital press badge from the Freelance Journalists Union on the lock screen of her phone. She said she told arresting officers multiple times that she was a journalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"l0zwb\">Jane said she was held for eight hours before she was released without bail. She said she faces a misdemeanor charge of failure to disperse and was given a citation for $5,000. According to Jane, she was given a court date in January 2021.</p><p data-block-key=\"wboi3\">A spokesperson for the LAPD told the Tracker the department would not comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"btfez\">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": "",
"teaser_image": null,
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
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"assailant": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-07-07 15:32:00+00:00) Charges dropped against journalist arrested while covering break-up of LA protest encampment"
],
"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": [
"Talia (Jane) Ben-Ora (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist Josie Huang arrested, charged with obstructing police in Los Angeles",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-josie-huang-arrested-charged-obstructing-police-los-angeles/",
"first_published_at": "2020-09-18T20:50:11.863144Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-11-08T19:22:29.095324Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-11-08T19:22:28.805526Z",
"date": "2020-09-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"l6c3l\">On the evening of Sept. 12, 2020, deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department tackled and arrested journalist Josie Huang while she was covering officers making an arrest, she confirmed to the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"5s220\">Huang, who is a reporter for a National Public Radio member station KPCC and local news website LAist, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1305261859155505153\">wrote on Twitter</a> that she was attending a press conference led by Sheriff Alex Villanueva at the St. Francis Medical Center in Los Angeles and had just gotten in her car to head home when she heard shouting. She wrote that she got out of her car and went to investigate what was happening, noting that she was wearing a press ID around her neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"iri65\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Last night I was arrested and charged with obstructing a peace officer by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LASDHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LASDHQ</a> after videotaping their interactions with protesters in Lynwood. This is what I remember and what I have on video and audio.</p>— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1305261859155505153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 13, 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=\"j15hi\">“A handful of men were on the sidewalk. A couple were carrying large flags. Others were filming deputies and taunting them,” she <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1305262627686354944\">wrote</a>. “I started filming on my phone, standing off to the side. No one took issue with me being there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ssv1y\">Huang wrote that she followed deputies down the street and filmed as they arrested an individual, using the zoom on her camera to maintain a physical distance.</p><p data-block-key=\"a374v\">The deputies suddenly told Huang to back up and, “Within seconds, I was getting shoved around. There was nowhere to back up,” she wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"f5yn5\">A <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1305331513592967168\">video</a> published by OnScene.TV shows deputies throwing Huang to the ground and arresting her. She also tweeted that the officers stomped on her phone and damaged it, but did not break it.</p><p data-block-key=\"cezqp\">Deputies detained Huang for approximately five hours before releasing her with a citation for obstructing a police officer, according to Huang’s posts on Twitter and a copy of the citation seen by the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"tjako\">If convicted of obstructing police, a misdemeanor, Huang could face a fine up to $1,000, imprisonment in a county jail for up to one year, or both, according to the <a href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=148.&lawCode=PEN\">California penal code</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"xrhsw\">The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LASDHQ/status/1305073750895812611\">tweeted</a> the morning following Huang’s arrest that she did not identify herself as a member of the press and that she “later admitted she did not have proper press credentials on her person.” However, in <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1305265081144410112\">a video</a> Huang filmed while she was being arrested, she can be heard clearly identifying herself as a reporter for KPCC.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vhj4\">LAist published <a href=\"https://laist.com/2020/09/13/arrest_of_laist_reporter_josie_huang_in_her_own_words.php\">her full account</a> on Sept. 13.</p><p data-block-key=\"8hbpi\">Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S.Press Freedom Tracker, called the sheriff’s department for comment and was told by the person who answered that they are not answering questions at this time because there is an ongoing investigation. Deputy Grade Medrano, a department spokesperson, sent an emailed statement to CPJ that said the sheriff’s department was aware of the incident, and that an active investigation was underway.</p><p data-block-key=\"9du9f\">The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a Tracker partner, and a coalition of 65 press freedom organizations — including more than a dozen other Tracker partner organizations — <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/RCFP-LA-County-Sheriff-Letter-with-Signatories-attachments.pdf\">sent a letter</a> on Sept. 16 calling on the sheriff’s department to drop all charges against Huang. It also urged the department to take immediate action to prevent future arrests of working members of the press.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX7VBMR.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4dn1u\">Journalist Josie Huang was arrested outside of St. Francis Medical Center in Los Angeles. Protesters and law enforcement were gathered there following the shooting ambush of two LA County Sheriff's Department deputies.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-09-13",
"detention_date": "2020-09-12",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
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"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-11-07 00:00:00+00:00) LA radio reporter gets $700K settlement after 2020 arrest",
"(2020-09-24 16:25:00+00:00) Charges dropped against journalist Josie Huang after arrest in Los Angeles"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Josie Huang (KPCC-FM/LAist)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist assaulted, threatened by LA sheriff’s deputies",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-assaulted-threatened-by-la-sheriffs-deputies/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-29T16:39:44.847469Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-09T17:30:26.738144Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-09T17:30:26.674745Z",
"date": "2020-09-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3nnso\">According to a claim filed against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, deputies “pushed, struck and threatened” independent photojournalist Nash Baker while he was covering officers making an arrest on the evening of Sept. 12, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"qrh0j\">Baker, who works for the video wire service <a href=\"https://onscene.tv/about-us/\">OnScene.TV</a>, filed the claim for damages in January 2021 alleging the assault. When reached by the Tracker on April 28, 2021, Baker declined to comment, citing an upcoming press conference.</p><p data-block-key=\"no23n\">According to the complaint, which was reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Baker was covering the scene outside the St. Francis Medical Center, where two deputies had been taken after being shot in their patrol car, <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/09/13/912408622/two-los-angeles-county-sheriffs-deputies-shot-in-apparent-ambush-near-train-stat\">according to NPR</a>, and where a crowd of demonstrators had gathered.</p><p data-block-key=\"7daxs\">According to the claim, at approximately 10:30 p.m., Baker captured footage of “deputies using excessive force and threatening the use of deadly force” against a group of retreating protesters. When he attempted to document the arrest of one protester he was prevented from doing so and assaulted by a deputy: “In order to prevent Mr. Baker from making a photographic record of the arrest, a deputy pushed, struck and threatened Mr. Baker,” the complaint reads. “The deputy can be heard stating, ‘Get out of here or I’ll break your f--king camera.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"yq6hz\">In <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BdWN37Mdro\">footage Baker captured of the incident</a>, the photojournalist can be heard repeatedly identifying himself as press as a deputy yells at him to leave the area and shoves him backward.</p><p data-block-key=\"uttmk\">At a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxdvInlLNZ8\">press conference</a> the day after the incident, he stated: “I feel that [the sheriff administration] should take notice that when we’re out there, when we’re filming these events, that all of us are safe.”</p><p data-block-key=\"mtwkd\">Moments after he was pushed down the street, Baker’s footage captured a second journalist, Josie Huang, being tackled and arrested, a case the Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-josie-huang-arrested-charged-obstructing-police-los-angeles/\">here</a>. Huang, who is a reporter for National Public Radio member station KPCC and local news website LAist, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1305331513592967168\">shared footage</a> captured by Baker on Twitter the following day.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thank you <a href=\"https://t.co/5ajOiRV1m6\">https://t.co/5ajOiRV1m6</a> for what is the clearest footage of my arrest by <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LASDHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LASDHQ</a>. <br><br>It’s how I remember it — like being tossed around in the ocean and then slammed into rock <a href=\"https://t.co/G3rfCR1NiI\">pic.twitter.com/G3rfCR1NiI</a></p>— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josie_huang/status/1305331513592967168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 14, 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=\"hbcf3\">Baker’s claim for damages, which is the precursor to filing a lawsuit, asks for at least $500,000 in restitution.</p><p data-block-key=\"zqrcq\">“The attack on Mr. Baker was unprovoked,” the complaint states. “The actions of the LASD served to stifle press coverage, to suppress and chill free speech, and to prevent accurate dissemination of news reports regarding the LASD’s treatment of citizens engaged in constitutionally protected, non-violent protest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"qv063\">The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment as of press time.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"release_date": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "2:21-cv-03742",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-05-03 12:58:00+00:00) Photojournalist sues L.A. Sheriff’s Department after deputies assault, threaten him",
"(2022-08-29 13:29:00+00:00) Photojournalist settles lawsuit against LA Sheriff’s Department"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Nash Baker (OnScene.TV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": null
},
{
"title": "Julian Assange subpoenaed in defamation suit",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/julian-assange-subpoenaed-in-defamation-suit/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-16T02:37:26.229109Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-04-06T15:28:48.828914Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-04-06T15:28:48.750267Z",
"date": "2020-09-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zehm0\">In the early hours of July 10, 2016, Seth Rich, a 27-year-old staffer with the Democratic National Committee, was <a href=\"https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/man-shot-killed-in-northwest-dc/2074048/\">fatally shot</a> while walking to his home in Washington, D.C. His death, while unsolved, is believed to be the result of a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/08/08/749392506/conspiracyland-debunks-theories-about-murder-of-dnc-staffer-seth-rich\">robbery gone wrong</a>. It quickly, however, became a <a href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43727858\">flash point</a> for conspiracy theories: that Rich had been behind a DNC email dump to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, and that he’d effectively been assassinated because of it. None of the claims have ever been substantiated.</p><p data-block-key=\"7lil0\">On March 26, 2018, Rich’s brother, Aaron, <a href=\"https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/27/media/seth-rich-brother-sues-washington-times/index.html\">filed a defamation suit</a> in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against a slew of defendants — Texas businessman and then-frequent Fox News guest Ed Butowsky, the Washington Times, America First Media Group and its founder, Matt Couch — who he’d alleged had shown a “reckless disregard for the truth” and falsely linked both himself and his brother to the email leak.</p><p data-block-key=\"s1xvv\">During the course of three years of litigation, attorneys for both sides collectively subpoenaed nearly a dozen news outlets and members of the press. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all subpoena requests individually; Find a complete overview of the known subpoenas for this case in the blog post, “<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/nearly-a-dozen-journalists-outlets-and-third-parties-subpoenaed-in-defamation-suit/\">Nearly a dozen journalists, outlets and third parties subpoenaed in defamation suit</a>.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cf8jt\">In January 2021, both <a href=\"https://thedcpatriot.com/statement-from-matt-couch/\">Couch</a> and <a href=\"https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/i-never-had-physical-proof-to-back-up-any-such-statements-former-fox-news-guest-apologizes-to-seth-richs-brother-for-dnc-conspiracy-theory/\">Butowsky</a> publicly apologized and retracted prior claims made about the Rich brothers, though Butowsky deleted his statement of contrition almost immediately, according to Law & Crime. Couch and Rich reached a settlement agreement on Jan. 19; Butowsky and Rich reached an agreement on March 22. The lawsuit was terminated officially when District Judge Richard Leon granted Rich’s motions to dismiss the charges against the defendants on March 29. The details of the settlement agreements were not made public.</p><h4 data-block-key=\"mj3mw\">Julian Assange | WikiLeaks founder</h4><p data-block-key=\"b8aar\">In July 2016, some four months before the U.S. presidential election, WikiLeaks “released a trove of 20,000 emails stolen from the servers of the Democratic National Committee,” <a href=\"https://www.vox.com/2016/7/23/12261020/dnc-email-leaks-explained\">according to Vox</a>. How WikiLeaks obtained those emails fueled endless speculation around Seth Rich and his death. The WikiLeaks founder proceeded to <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/10/489531198/wikileaks-offers-reward-in-search-for-democratic-party-staffers-killer\">imply</a> that Rich may have been the source of the leak, but specified that WikiLeaks does not reveal the identities of any of its sources. The outlet was also subpoenaed over the course of the lawsuit, which the Tracker has documented here.</p><p data-block-key=\"ng47i\">Assange was taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London when Aaron Rich filed the defamation suit, but during the discovery process, he was expelled from the embassy and arrested by British authorities. He remains imprisoned in the U.K. today.</p><ul><li data-block-key=\"mlwnx\"><b>July 2018:</b> Rich first attempts to serve a subpoena on Assange.</li><li data-block-key=\"6ysx3\"><b>April 2019:</b> Rich’s counsel reaches out to Assange’s criminal defense counsel to request his help in serving the subpoena; the attorney responds that he is not authorized to accept service of the subpoena.</li><li data-block-key=\"ov4tw\"><b>Aug. 18, 2019:</b> Couch lists Assange in his initial disclosure statement as someone who is likely to have discoverable information, alleging he “knows the identity of the individual or individuals who leaked the DNC emails to him” and “ knows the identity of the individual or individuals to whom payment was made for the DNC emails.”</li><li data-block-key=\"mv87p\"><b>Nov. 8, 2019:</b> Rich motions that the court issue a letter of request for assistance from the United Kingdom’s court system in requiring Assange to appear for a deposition.</li><li data-block-key=\"ysjy3\"><b>Jan. 6, 2020:</b> Butowsky submits his own request for a letter of assistance from the court.</li><li data-block-key=\"g3mgb\"><b>Jan. 24, 2020:</b> District Judge Richard Leon denies both Rich’s Nov. 8, 2019, motion and the defendants’ Jan. 6 request.</li><li data-block-key=\"zwrek\"><b>Aug. 13, 2020:</b> Rich files a motion asking Leon to reconsider his denial.</li><li data-block-key=\"vjtrj\"><b>Aug. 18, 2020:</b> Leon grants the motion to reconsider his ruling on Rich’s motion.</li><li data-block-key=\"zf7ma\"><b>Aug. 24, 2020:</b> The defendants file a similar motion to reconsider so they too can depose Assange.</li><li data-block-key=\"m0fyg\"><b>Sept. 12</b> and <b>Sept. 22, 2020:</b> Leon approves Rich’s and the defendants’ requests for international judicial assistance for the subpoena of Assange, respectively.</li></ul><p data-block-key=\"9pd0d\"><b>Status of Subpoena</b></p><ul><li data-block-key=\"6fgg8\">With the case closed, any outstanding subpoenas would become moot. Assange’s attorneys did not respond to the Tracker’s emailed request for comment, and it is unclear from the court filings alone whether his deposition was completed. Therefore, the Tracker is listing the status of the subpoena as “unknown” until further information is available.</li></ul></div>",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist surrounded, threatened with weapon, while filming Oregon fires",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-surrounded-threatened-weapon-while-filming-oregon-fires/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-19T19:57:27.889202Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-09-22T13:47:51.293682Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-09-22T13:47:51.218364Z",
"date": "2020-09-10",
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"city": "Estacada",
"longitude": -122.3337,
"latitude": 45.28957,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wcc10\">Freelance photojournalist Nathan Howard encountered a hostile group of armed individuals on Sept. 10, 2020, while reporting on forest fires in Estacada, Oregon, a city about 30 miles southeast of downtown Portland, he told the Committee to Protect Journalists in a phone interview.</p><p data-block-key=\"zsgfz\">Howard, who was on assignment for Getty Images, said that he had pulled up to a house that had clearly been evacuated, in order to take pictures. After he parked, a blue pickup truck pulled up, a man got out and Howard said he told the man who he was and showed his press pass, issued by the National Press Photographers Association.</p><p data-block-key=\"1r9vn\">“I thought he was a volunteer firefighter, and that he was angry I was working in an evacuation zone,” Howard told CPJ, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. At the time, there was a <a href=\"http://www.nlfr.org/images/ready_set_go_evacuation_levels_-_lincoln_county.pdf\">level three evacuation order</a> in effect for the area. The man who came out of the truck asked Howard why he had Washington license plates, the journalist said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ztgl3\">Howard speculated that the man may have believed he was a looter. “At that point in time, I didn’t need to be there anyway. I said there was a misunderstanding, and I said I’d leave,” Howard told CPJ.</p><p data-block-key=\"xmnzc\">The man then spoke into his lapel, as if he had a mic on, and read Howard’s license plate number, the journalist said; after that, he told Howard that he needed to go, stating that he had “boys coming.”</p><p data-block-key=\"r4vbv\">Howard said he left and noticed that the man followed in his own truck, tailgating Howard for five miles before a white pickup truck pulled up perpendicular to Howard.</p><p data-block-key=\"rkn1u\">“The guy in the white pickup truck got out with an assault rifle and his finger was on the trigger. I didn’t feel like they ever wanted to hurt me, they just wanted to intimidate me,” Howard said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bjgou\">The man from the white pickup truck asked Howard what he was doing, and the photojournalist replied that he was working. Within a couple of minutes another truck arrived. A man got out of the third truck, examined Howard’s credentials and cameras and told him to photograph evacuation on the main roads, Howard said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7uh6j\">“One of them told me, ‘If we see you up here again, we’re going to put you in a ditch,’” Howard said.</p><p data-block-key=\"2wx2m\">In a separate incident, Alissa Azar told CPJ that she encountered a group of armed men while she was out reporting on the same fires around Molalla, a town 30 miles south of Portland, with colleagues <a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDocumentarians\">Justin Yau</a>, a freelancer, and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1304147436164665344\">Sergio Olmos</a>, who works for Oregon Public Broadcasting.</p><p data-block-key=\"ck95a\">Azar, a freelance photojournalist, said she was trying to get a good shot when she noticed three men who each carried a rifle and had a handgun at his waist. During their conversation with Azar, Yau and Olmos, two of the men put their rifles away in their vehicle, according to Azar.</p><p data-block-key=\"wixb5\">Azar said the men wanted to know why the journalists were there taking pictures. The journalists showed their press credentials and offered to show their work to the men.</p><p data-block-key=\"rsuye\">“They told us to just get the fuck out of there to avoid any problems or further confrontation with them,” Azar said. The three photojournalists got in their car and drove away, with the men filming their faces and car.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"bmk6e\">A fire-damaged forest in Estacada, Oregon in September 2020.</p>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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},
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"tags": [
"environmentalism"
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"Nathan Howard (Getty Images)"
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{
"title": "Man charged after smashing equipment of NYC TV station",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-charged-after-smashing-equipment-of-nyc-tv-station/",
"first_published_at": "2023-12-08T19:59:49.591149Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-18T22:09:57.062850Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-18T22:09:56.842858Z",
"date": "2020-09-09",
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"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ajnhh\">New York City police arrested a man on criminal mischief charges for damaging a WPIX television crew’s equipment on Sept. 9, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"3t15a\">The criminal charges allege that Jerry Velez, 41, pushed over a light pole that WPIX had set up outside Manhattan’s Hudson Yards on the morning of Sept. 9, causing it to crash into a set of LED lights and a battery pack and causing $2,000 worth of damage, according to court papers shared by the district attorney’s office.</p><p data-block-key=\"8c7i9\"><a href=\"https://nypost.com/2020/09/10/man-hurls-profanity-covered-rocks-at-abc-studio-in-nyc/\">The New York Post reports</a> that a reporter and a photographer were present for the attack on WPIX’s equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"3f7oi\">About two hours later, Velez was allegedly caught on camera as he tossed rocks at two windows of <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-charged-with-throwing-rocks-at-wabc-studios-in-manhattan-during-broadcast-damaging-wpix-equipment/\">WABC-TV</a>’s studio in Manhattan’s Upper West Side while the channel’s noon broadcast was underway. One of the rocks had “Fuck ABC 7” written on it and the other carried the message “Whore 666,”<a href=\"https://nypost.com/2020/09/11/nypd-arrests-man-accused-of-hurling-rocks-at-abc-studio/\"> the Post reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"3svjr\">The attacks touched off a brief manhunt before the New York City Police Department tweeted on Sept. 10 that<a href=\"https://twitter.com/NYPD20Pct/status/1304189396883775489?s=20\"> officers arrested Velez</a> in connection with the incident at WABC.</p><p data-block-key=\"9hf3l\">According to court records, Velez told an NYPD detective that he was the culprit in both attacks. He faces three charges of second-degree criminal mischief, a felony charge.</p></div>",
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{
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"equipment": "camera equipment"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "external battery"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2023-10-25 00:00:00+00:00) Case sealed for man who smashed NYC TV crew’s equipment"
],
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"targeted_institutions": [
"WPIX"
],
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"Equipment Damage"
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},
{
"title": "Judge bars Pennsylvania reporters from court proceeding",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-bars-pennsylvania-reporters-from-court-proceeding/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-26T18:38:11.360734Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-20T22:01:47.802837Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-20T22:01:47.583202Z",
"date": "2020-09-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "York",
"longitude": -76.72774,
"latitude": 39.9626,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1iyis\">A district judge in Pennsylvania barred reporters from two local newspapers from observing a preliminary arraignment at the York County District Court on Sept. 9, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"o6hl7\">Dylan Segelbaum, a reporter for the daily newspaper the York Daily Record/Sunday News, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and Logan Hullinger, a reporter for the morning newspaper York Dispatch, were prevented from entering the courtroom to observe the arraignment of Mike Cleveland. Cleveland is accused of embezzling almost $23,000 while serving as general manager of the York Ice Arena.</p><p data-block-key=\"wt6zx\">Segelbaum declined to comment further and Hullinger did not respond to an emailed request for comment as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"pt9io\">Segelbaum <a href=\"https://www.ydr.com/story/news/watchdog/2020/09/09/york-county-district-judge-bars-reporters-public-hearing/5761944002/\">reported in an article</a> for the Daily Record that preliminary arraignments are held by judges to inform the accused of charges and the right to counsel, as well as to set bail. Such proceedings are “presumptively public proceedings,” Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, told the Daily Record. That means the proceedings are always assumed to be open to the public unless it would jeopardize the defendant’s right to a free trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1wdn\">The Daily Record reported that County District Judge Linda Williams refused to unlock the door to the courtroom for the reporters, saying that it was a hearing, not an arraignment. Williams also cited the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as justification and said she had arraignments via video scheduled for after the Cleveland proceeding.</p><p data-block-key=\"guea6\">“You can have all the information when I’m finished,” Williams said, according to the Daily Record.</p><p data-block-key=\"0sf92\">Melewsky told the Daily Record that district judges do not have the authority to seal a record or proceeding that is defined as “presumptively public.” She noted that ensuring public access is crucial to equal treatment under the justice system.</p><p data-block-key=\"d2o8e\">“Public access guarantees that everyone is treated equally by the justice system, because everyone is subject to the same process — and anyone who’s interested can view,” Melewsky said. “The press functions as the eyes and the ears of the community they serve.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"state": {
"name": "Pennsylvania",
"abbreviation": "PA"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [
"coronavirus"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Judiciary: District Court"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Dylan Segelbaum (York Daily Record/Sunday News)",
"Logan Hullinger (York Dispatch)"
],
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"type_of_denial": [
"Other"
]
},
{
"title": "Man charged with throwing rocks at NYC’s WABC-TV studios",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-charged-with-throwing-rocks-at-wabc-studios-in-manhattan-during-broadcast-damaging-wpix-equipment/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-05T14:23:30.477879Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-18T22:09:08.767255Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-18T22:09:08.344199Z",
"date": "2020-09-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2fwwr\">New York City police arrested a man on criminal mischief charges for throwing rocks marked with profanities at the windows of the WABC-TV news studios on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Sept. 9, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"1clk3\">Jerry Velez, 41, was allegedly caught on camera as he tossed rocks at two windows of the channel’s studios while its noon broadcast was underway.</p><p data-block-key=\"aeuc5\">One of the rocks had “Fuck ABC 7” written on it and the other carried the message “Whore 666,”<a href=\"https://nypost.com/2020/09/11/nypd-arrests-man-accused-of-hurling-rocks-at-abc-studio/\"> the New York Post reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"78epa\">Police said that the attack caused $40,000 worth of damage to the station’s windows. The criminal charges also allege that earlier that day, Velez had pushed over a light pole that TV station <a href=\"/all-incidents/man-charged-after-smashing-equipment-of-nyc-tv-station/\">WPIX</a> had set up outside Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, causing it to crash into a set of LED lights and a battery pack and causing $2,000 worth of damage, according to court papers shared by the district attorney’s office.</p><p data-block-key=\"2lpu0\">The attacks touched off a brief manhunt before the New York City Police Department tweeted on Sept. 10 that<a href=\"https://twitter.com/NYPD20Pct/status/1304189396883775489?s=20\"> officers arrested Velez</a> in connection with the incident at WABC.</p><p data-block-key=\"a928i\">According to court records, Velez told an NYPD detective that he was the culprit in both attacks. He faces three charges of second-degree criminal mischief, a felony charge.</p></div>",
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{
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"equipment": "building"
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],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
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},
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"(2023-10-25 00:00:00+00:00) Case sealed for man who threw rocks at WABC-TV studios"
],
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"WABC-TV"
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"Equipment Damage"
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},
{
"title": "Livestreamer arrested, assaulted during LA protest; phone searched",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/livestreamer-arrested-assaulted-during-la-protest-phone-searched/",
"first_published_at": "2023-09-25T16:44:59.569652Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-08-14T20:16:57.817992Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-08-14T20:16:57.663193Z",
"date": "2020-09-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r3ezr\">Livestreamer Hugo Padilla was allegedly struck with crowd-control munitions and assaulted by law enforcement before being arrested while documenting protests in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 8, 2020. Deputies later obtained a search warrant for one of his cellphones.</p><p data-block-key=\"620tu\">Padilla subsequently joined as a plaintiff in <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.799610/gov.uscourts.cacd.799610.9.0.pdf\">a lawsuit</a> with three others in October 2020 against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles County and then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva, alleging violations of his Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.</p><p data-block-key=\"ettus\">Colleen Flynn, an attorney representing Padilla, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Padilla attended the protest to broadcast it on his YouTube channel, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@alienalphabet\">Alien Alphabet</a>, while providing audio narration.</p><p data-block-key=\"8oflf\">Protesters had gathered outside the South Los Angeles Sheriff's Station following the Aug. 31 <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/us/dijon-kizzee-los-angeles-no-charges/index.html\">fatal shooting</a> of Dijon Kizzee, a Black man, by deputies in a nearby neighborhood.</p><p data-block-key=\"c6v6m\">Flynn said that Padilla began filming the demonstration from the parking lot of a nearby 7-Eleven, and confirmed to the Tracker that throughout the protest Padilla was wearing a black bicycle helmet with “PRESS” written in silver lettering on multiple sides.</p><p data-block-key=\"2k834\">Approximately an hour into the protest, deputies declared the protest unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse. According to the lawsuit, officers began to advance on the demonstrators and shortly after fired crowd-control munitions. The crowd dispersed and many individuals — including Padilla — fled into the neighborhood.</p><p data-block-key=\"6n513\">In Padilla’s <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3iFkuOWpYY\">livestream from the protest</a>, he said that he was attempting to circle around to the far side of the crowd, but as he did, a law enforcement helicopter shined a searchlight on him. Within seconds and without warning, Padilla was shot with a crowd-control munition, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ts51\">The lawsuit claimed the hard projectile struck Padilla in the knee, knocking him off his bicycle and onto the ground. Deputies then “jumped” on him and one of them punched him in the face, splitting his lip, Flynn said. Padilla was tightly handcuffed — his lawsuit states that restraint marks were still visible weeks later — and forced into the back of a large truck where loose pepper ball munitions caused his eyes to water painfully.</p><p data-block-key=\"9h6l5\">According to Flynn, Padilla had no opportunity to identify himself verbally as press before he was arrested, but he did tell deputies he was a journalist while in the truck and in an interrogation room.</p><p data-block-key=\"1d9cu\">Padilla’s bicycle was seized, as was his personal iPhone, which was booked into evidence and later searched. But a Samsung cellphone Padilla was using to livestream fell from his hand and, his suit claimed, deputies did not retrieve it.</p><p data-block-key=\"avhbk\">Flynn told the Tracker that she believed deputies deliberately left Padilla’s phone and that of freelance photographer <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-assaulted-arrested-during-la-protest/\">Julianna Lacoste</a>, who is also her client, because they were livestreaming.</p><p data-block-key=\"190be\">“It appears that the deputies that abandoned Mr. Padilla and Ms. Lacoste's cell phones on the street while they were livestreaming did so to get rid of the evidence that may have recorded their actions, including their use of excessive force and violation of my clients' constitutional rights,” Flynn wrote in an email.</p><p data-block-key=\"2he6c\">Padilla’s lawsuit states that once he arrived at the South Los Angeles Sheriff's Station, some of the officers used personal cellphones to photograph Padilla and the other detainees while laughing. Lacoste and student journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-photojournalist-arrested-equipment-seized-during-l-protest/\">Pablo Unzueta</a>, who were also arrested that evening, said the same.</p><p data-block-key=\"fvl3g\">Padilla was ultimately released from a county jail in downtown LA midmorning the following day with a citation for failure to disperse. His wallet, headphones and a set of keys — not his — were returned to him; the remainder of his equipment was not. Deputies ultimately returned Padilla’s bicycle in December 2020 and his iPhone in June 2021; his bicycle helmet was never returned.</p><p data-block-key=\"e317j\">When Padilla appeared for his hearing date at the Inglewood Courthouse on Sept. 11, 2020, according to his lawsuit, a court clerk told him that no charges had been filed.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ddt3\">Sheriff's Deputy Trina Schrader, a spokesperson for the department, told the Tracker in the days following the protest that an investigation had been launched into the events that day. “The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department values the media and highly respects the freedom of the press,” she added.</p><p data-block-key=\"e2n8g\">The day following the protest, sheriff’s deputies obtained a <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-05-18-Search-Warrant-Docs_Redacted.pdf\">search warrant</a> for cellphones belonging to more than a dozen individuals, including Padilla. The search warrant and an affidavit in support of the warrant were only released in May 2023, more than 2 1/2 years after the incident, and following an August 2022 <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/FAC-Knock-LA-Motion-to-Unseal-Search-Warrant-Norwalk-filed-copy.pdf\">motion to unseal</a> filed by the First Amendment Coalition and independent news organization Knock LA.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ra0m\">The <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/2023/05/l-a-sheriff-agrees-to-unsealing-of-warrant-to-search-photojournalist-and-black-lives-matter-protesters-cell-phones/\">media organizations said</a> that the sheriff’s department had fought the release of the materials for more than two years, in violation of California state law and the First Amendment. The release only came after Villanueva was ousted in a November 2022 election and replaced by Robert Luna, who acceded to the unsealing.</p><p data-block-key=\"alrh1\">Susan E. Seager of the UC Irvine School of Law, who represented Knock LA and FAC in the case, said the timing shows that the department never had a good reason to seal the warrants in the first place.</p><p data-block-key=\"8a4lp\">Photos accompanying the warrant materials included the helmet marked “PRESS,” which Padilla’s attorney confirmed belonged to him. FAC noted in a <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/2023/06/unsealed-newly-released-warrant-reveals-flimsy-basis-for-l-a-sheriff-targeting-press-protesters/\">later statement</a> that police records confirmed that the LASD knew journalists were included as targets, which raises press rights concerns.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media right\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2023-09-20_122945.width-828.png\" width=\"762\" height=\"992\" alt=\"SCREENSHOT\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"a54mv\">The search warrant obtained by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputies authorizing the search of 17 cellphones following a September 2020 protest included an image of livestreamer Hugo Padilla’s helmet marked “PRESS.”</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — SCREENSHOT\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r3ezr\">“Those photos, along with the fact [the] journalists have said they verbally identified themselves as press, should have put pause on the probe or, at a minimum, prompted the department to make disclosures to the judge to ensure press rights were protected,” the FAC statement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"14c1a\">David Snyder, executive director of FAC, also <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/2023/05/l-a-sheriff-agrees-to-unsealing-of-warrant-to-search-photojournalist-and-black-lives-matter-protesters-cell-phones/\">commented</a>: “While we are grateful the public can finally see these documents, they should have been able to do so long ago. There can be no real accountability without knowledge – what did the police tell the judge who issued this warrant? Now this crucial question can be answered, and accountability for any unjustified arrest and seizure can at long last begin.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bms02\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include additional details concerning the seizure and return of some of Padilla’s equipment.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_960.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"djdi5\">Livestreamer Hugo Padilla, extreme left, filmed multiple protests outside a Los Angeles Sheriff’s station in 2020. During a Sept. 8 protest, he claims deputies shot him with a munition, then arrested him and seized his equipment.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-09-09",
"detention_date": "2020-09-08",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "2:20-cv-09805",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in part",
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"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"legal_order_venue": "State",
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "protective equipment"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "bicycle"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage",
"Equipment Search or Seizure",
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Hugo Padilla (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist shot with projectile and pepper ball at South Los Angeles protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shot-with-projectile-and-pepper-ball-at-south-los-angeles-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-16T01:57:55.643421Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:13:33.769634Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:13:33.686965Z",
"date": "2020-09-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"sw6te\">Photojournalist Brian Feinzimer was shot with crowd-control projectiles while reporting on a protest in Los Angeles on Sept. 8, 2020, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"n9a32\">Racial justice protests, held regularly in Los Angeles since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, were renewed in early September after Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies shot and killed 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee on Aug. 31.</p><p data-block-key=\"bzkk5\">Demonstrators gathered outside the South LA sheriff’s station several days in a row in early September, and tensions escalated between demonstrators and police, the <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-09/demonstrators-arrested-dijon-kizzee\">Los Angeles Times</a> reported. On Sept. 8, the sheriff’s department declared an unlawful assembly at around 8 p.m. and deployed crowd-control munitions on demonstrators, according to the Times.</p><p data-block-key=\"jbzsv\">Feinzimer, whose work has been published by LAist, Capital & Main and other publications, told the Tracker he was photographing a line of deputies facing off with protesters. After a while, he said, the sheriff’s department issued a dispersal order and rushed the crowd, firing pepper balls and flash-bang grenades.</p><p data-block-key=\"s9t7l\">Feinzimer said he was facing the deputies directly, from a distance of about 15 feet, as he photographed them. He said he wasn’t initially hit with any of the crowd-control measures but decided to move away when the deputies neared him. He said he turned to walk in the same direction as the deputies, staying to the side, and continued to take photos while many nearby protesters ran from the officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"7y8pt\">As Feinzimer was walking away, he said, he was hit in the hand with a pepper ball, which also covered his camera with residue. He was then struck in the back of his right thigh with a crowd-control munition, which he believes was either a foam baton or a 40-millimeter rubber bullet.</p><p data-block-key=\"wkpex\">Feinzimer said that although the impact from the projectile was painful, he was able to continue covering the protest that night. He said he had a large bruise where he had been hit, and his leg remained sore for several weeks.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ygr2\">Feinzimer said he was wearing a press credential issued by the LASD around his neck, and was carrying two cameras at the time he was hit.</p><p data-block-key=\"z6a5s\">Feinzimer told the Tracker he believes he was targeted because he was a journalist. He said he was clearly identifiable to the deputies just before he was shot because he was facing them and photographing them.</p><p data-block-key=\"pe40t\">“I figure that there was no way that they didn't know who I was or what I was doing based on my previous moments before that,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"dpe0d\">LASD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"5bn0j\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting arrests, assaults and other obstructions to journalists</a> covering protests across the country.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"actor": null,
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"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
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"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brian Feinzimer (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist assaulted, arrested during LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-assaulted-arrested-during-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-04-13T16:48:46.968187Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-09-20T18:44:51.492295Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-09-20T18:42:54.008371Z",
"date": "2020-09-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3rz45\">Freelance journalist and National Press Photographers Association member Julianna Lacoste was struck with crowd-control munitions, assaulted by law enforcement and arrested while documenting protests in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 8, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"pwuai\">Lacoste told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that at around 7:30 p.m. she’d arrived at the intersection of Normandie Avenue and West Imperial Highway, where protesters had gathered outside the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department following the fatal shooting of Dijon Kizzee, a Black man, by deputies on Aug. 31.</p><p data-block-key=\"rt5if\">According to Lacoste, at approximately 8:30 p.m., the deputies declared the protest unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse. Shortly thereafter, she said, they began to advance on the crowd and fire crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tvd4\">“I began to run down Normandie trying to escape the clouds of tear gas, rubber/foam bullets, pepper balls, stinger grenades and sand bags being fired,” Lacoste said. “I kept running, but it seemed like I couldn’t get away from the action.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fpdnv\">Lacoste said that as things began to calm down, about an hour later, she saw some people walking to their cars and that no deputies were in sight. Lacoste said she continued to move and had just passed a group of individuals when she felt a crowd-control munition strike her hand and knock her phone away.</p><p data-block-key=\"h33lo\">“Then my head was shot, but I was luckily wearing a helmet,” she said. “Then my shoulder was shot as well. At that point I was only looking to find shelter because I was simply getting pelted with shots.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8dfnv\">Lacoste said she was eventually able to crouch behind a nearby car, but almost immediately after hunching down, two deputies appeared beside her. Lacoste said one aimed a weapon at her as the other forced her onto her stomach.</p><p data-block-key=\"l0eea\">“I said, ‘I’m not resisting. I’m press. OK, OK, I’m not resisting,’” Lacoste recounted. She said she had a press badge in her bag and her helmet featured a “PRESS” label.</p><p data-block-key=\"v9wke\">Lacoste said that the camera she was wearing around her neck broke from the weight of the deputies during the course of the arrest. “Their knee was on my back and neck as they wrestled for the cuffs,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8xu2b\">Lacoste said the deputies secured the handcuffs incredibly tight, which worsened the pain in her injured hand.</p><p data-block-key=\"yz1lk\">She said they refused to pick up her cellphone from where it had fallen and escorted her to an LASD vehicle, where she waited as others were loaded in “like sardines.” The detainees were taken to a van and then transported to the Imperial Sheriff’s station, Lacoste said. There, she said, deputies used a knife to cut the straps of both her backpack and camera in order to pull them off without removing her handcuffs.</p><p data-block-key=\"i40vz\">Lacoste also alleged that at the station some of the officers used personal cellphones to photograph her and other detainees. Student journalist Pablo Unzueta, who was also arrested that evening, made similar allegations. The Tracker has published his case <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-photojournalist-arrested-equipment-seized-during-l-protest/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"whl33\">“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department values the media and highly respects the freedom of the press,” Deputy Trina Schrader, a spokesperson for the department, told the Tracker in an emailed statement when asked for comment on Unzueta’s arrest. Schrader also noted that an investigation had been launched into the events that day. The department did not respond to an emailed request for comment about Lacoste’s arrest as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"x9560\">Lacoste said she was detained for more than an hour before being transported to a hospital for treatment. At approximately 6 a.m. the following day, she said, she was transported back to the sheriff’s station.</p><p data-block-key=\"i68yq\">Lacoste said that at around 10 a.m. she was finally able to speak with her lawyer, who informed her that her bail had been posted and she should be released within two hours. According to Lacoste’s bail paperwork, which was reviewed by the Tracker, she posted a $5,000 bond.</p><p data-block-key=\"0v6vl\">Before her release, Lacoste said, she was transferred to the women’s jail and asked about her injuries. Upon detailing them, the officer processing Lacoste rejected her paperwork and instructed deputies to transport her back to the hospital so her injuries could be fully documented. According to Lacoste, deputies did not transport her back to the hospital, however, and placed her in a cell at the sheriff’s station.</p><p data-block-key=\"wdbrg\">“After hours of begging for a phone that worked they finally let me use the phone,” Lacoste said. “At that point I called my boyfriend and he informed me that I was going to get out soon and they had been making hundreds of calls on my behalf. During that phone call is when I got released.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5xkfy\">Lacoste was charged with misdemeanor failure to disperse and ordered to appear in court on Jan. 6, 2021. Lacoste hasn’t responded to the Tracker’s latest requests for comment, and the status of her case remains unknown.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screen_Shot_2021-04-13_at_11.31.3.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ovef7\">Freelance photojournalist Julianna Lacoste photographed the multiple injuries she sustained when she was assaulted, arrested and her equipment damaged and seized by sheriff’s deputies while documenting a protest in Los Angeles on Sept. 8, 2020.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-09-09",
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "2:23-cv-04917",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "unknown",
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"legal_order_venue": null,
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"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "equipment bag"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-01-06 15:47:00+00:00) Charges dropped against freelance journalist assaulted, arrested during LA protest",
"(2023-05-18 16:47:00+00:00) Freelance journalist’s phone searched after arrest, warrant confirms"
],
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"ongoing"
],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist says she was pushed with baton by Portland police officer while filming an arrest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-says-she-was-pushed-baton-portland-police-officer-while-filming-arrest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-29T16:37:36.725134Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:17:56.001627Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:17:55.897398Z",
"date": "2020-09-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ht2mq\">Independent journalist Alissa Azar was pushed by a police officer while she was covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 8, 2020, according to the journalist and her social media posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"iu62d\">Azar 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=\"buxz0\">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=\"80y5r\">The Sept. 8 demonstration began at Waterfront Park downtown after 9 p.m., <a href=\"https://www.koin.com/news/protests/night-103-portland-police-protesters-09082020/\">according</a> to KOIN, the local CBS affiliate. Demonstrators then marched to the nearby Transit Police Department Offices, where protesters threw eggs and water bottles at police officers, KOIN reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"i7e3b\">Sometime before 11 p.m., Azar was filming police officers arrest a protester when some of the officers yelled at her and other members of the press to move back. One of the officers then started pushing Azar with a baton.</p><p data-block-key=\"0rsj9\">“The cops also held back a group of press and stopped us from joining protesters twice. They pushed us pretty hard while already on the sidewalk,” Azar <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy/status/1303572284200816641\">tweeted</a> at 10:53 p.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ksio\">About 20 minutes later, Azar posted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy/status/1303576476743213056\">video</a> on Twitter showing the incident. About 30 seconds into the video, while Azar’s camera is trained on the arrest, an officer can be seen pushing Azar backwards with a baton. Azar can be heard responding that she was “on the sidewalk.”</p><p data-block-key=\"p0n4f\">Also around that time, a police officer threatened to arrest Azar and other journalists if they stood in the street. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/R3volutionDaddy/status/1303821889211523073\">video</a> Azar posted on Twitter the next day, a police officer can be overheard saying, “If they’re press and they’re in the street, take them into custody.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3yq4x\">Azar confirmed the events to the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"vjt04\">The PPB, in a <a href=\"https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=261180\">statement</a> on that night’s protest, said several arrests were made of people who were blocking traffic or throwing projectiles at officers during the protest at the transit police offices.</p><p data-block-key=\"sovoj\">PPB spokesman Derek Carmon declined to comment on the specific incident, but said the department is committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Student photojournalist arrested, equipment seized during LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-photojournalist-arrested-equipment-seized-during-l-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-01T21:09:18.138672Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-02-29T17:35:07.516417Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-02-29T17:35:07.366429Z",
"date": "2020-09-08",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mzhdp\">Pablo Unzueta, a freelance photojournalist and video editor for California State University, Long Beach’s newspaper, the Daily Forty-Niner, was arrested while documenting protests in the South Los Angeles area on Sept. 8, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"ij5l4\">Unzueta told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was following a group of protesters as they gathered for the fourth consecutive night outside the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department following the fatal shooting of Dijon Kizzee, a Black man, by deputies on Aug. 31.</p><p data-block-key=\"oeex3\">At approximately 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 8, Unzueta said, deputies declared the protest unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse. Following the order, Unzueta said he saw deputies firing tear gas and flash-bang grenades into the crowd around the intersection of Normandie Avenue and West Imperial Highway.</p><p data-block-key=\"xhkxb\">Unzueta said officers pushed the crowd north on Normandie as they advanced, and that many of the protesters began splitting off and dispersing.</p><p data-block-key=\"8lgat\">“I didn’t know the area that well so I made a left into this neighborhood on this very narrow street,” Unzueta said. “The sheriffs would get on the trucks and then the truck would speed up through the street and then they would start firing more [flash-bang grenades] and then more tear gas.”</p><p data-block-key=\"57r7a\">“I kept ducking behind cars while I’m running so I wouldn’t get hit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lg0bs\">Unzueta said a few minutes passed as he kept looking for a way to get back to his car, which was parked near the Sheriff’s Department, but realized that he was stuck on a long, narrow block.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hr2b\">Two sheriff’s vehicles pulled up at approximately 9:30 p.m., Unzueta said, and deputies began arresting the demonstrators that remained.</p><p data-block-key=\"60pmg\">“This was sort of a ‘holy shit’ moment for me, and I immediately identified myself as press just to avoid getting tackled or being shot with a rubber bullet,” Unzueta said.</p><p data-block-key=\"nx8hk\">He said that after a couple of deputies saw his credentials and camera and didn’t stop him, he thought he would be allowed to leave and began to head back the way they had come to return to his vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"mfiwh\">“I start walking on the sidewalk and that’s when an officer from up above in the truck said, ‘Hey! Grab that guy!,’” Unzueta said. “Again I yelled, ‘Press, press, press!’ And that’s when the officer...just grabbed me, threw my camera on the ground and ripped my backpack off my back.”</p><p data-block-key=\"tdyn6\">Unzueta told the Tracker he was wearing press credentials from Mt. San Antonio College, where Unzueta used to be a student, and his College Media Association badge, and repeatedly told the deputies to call the newspaper’s adviser.</p><p data-block-key=\"wy2ju\">During the course of his arrest, Unzueta said that officers tightened his metal handcuffs so tightly that he lost all feeling in his hands, and that they called him demeaning names and slurs. Unzueta said deputies then pushed him into the back of a department van, causing him to fall on and rupture multiple pepper balls. The officers left him to struggle to breathe amid clouds of pepper powder, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"gpoho\">Unzueta also alleges that some of the officers used their personal cellphones to photograph him and other detainees.</p><p data-block-key=\"per4u\">“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department values the media and highly respects the freedom of the press,” Department spokesperson Deputy Trina Schrader told the Tracker in an emailed statement. “Please be aware an administrative investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding this incident. A lieutenant from South Los Angeles Station has been assigned and will be contacting Mr. Unzueta to investigate these allegations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"972a5\">Unzueta said deputies seized his iPhone and Nikon D800 camera. He said he was handcuffed for about two hours. He was transported to the South Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station where he was booked at 10:30 p.m., and then transferred to the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles.</p><p data-block-key=\"ay2bu\">Unzueta estimated he was in police custody for 10 or 11 hours. His booking data, reviewed by the Tracker, shows he was released the following day with a citation. A copy of the citation shared with the Tracker shows Unzueta was arrested for unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor, and was ordered to appear in court two days later.</p><p data-block-key=\"pavjz\">Unzueta said his equipment and cellphone weren’t returned to him upon his release.</p><p data-block-key=\"0yv8y\">The Student Press Law Center, a Tracker partner organization, connected Unzueta with the Criminal Justice Clinic at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. LAist, part of Southern California Public Radio, <a href=\"https://laist.com/latest/post/20201111/student-journalist-arrest-equipment-seized-lawsuit-threat\">reported</a> that the clinic was able to secure the release of Unzueta’s camera, but the memory card — which Unzueta told the Tracker contained two years worth of freelance work — had been removed.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2iz7\">Unzueta said deputies first claimed that the camera hadn’t contained an SD card and then that it may have fallen out when the deputy threw it to the ground during the arrest. Unzueta disputed both of these assertions, and said the design of the camera makes it nearly impossible for the memory card to fall out.</p><p data-block-key=\"jww35\">In a <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7327464-Ipat-Lasd-Letter-110420.html#document/p2/a587475\">letter</a> sent on Unzueta’s behalf, the clinic asked that the cellphone and memory card be returned and for assurance that the case wouldn’t be presented to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office for prosecution, a copy of his arrest report and an apology from the department.</p><p data-block-key=\"edmaq\">“Sheriff’s deputies had no basis to arrest Mr. Unzueta,” the letter reads. “A truck full of deputies passed by, and a deputy pointed at Mr. Unzueta and said, ‘Get him.’ Mr. Unzueta repeatedly identified himself as a member of the press and as a student journalist, displaying his student press badge, but the deputy who arrested him ignored him.”</p><p data-block-key=\"789dv\">Unzueta confirmed to the Tracker that he still hasn’t regained complete feeling in his palms more than two and a half months later, attributing the numbness to the overly tight handcuffs.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ivl4\">The Long Beach Press Telegram <a href=\"https://www.presstelegram.com/2020/11/17/lawyers-demand-csulb-student-journalists-equipment-be-returned-and-an-apology-issued-for-his-arrest-at-protest/\">reported</a> on Nov. 17 that the department hadn’t responded to the letter, according to one of Unzueta’s lawyers.</p><p data-block-key=\"supnh\">“I’ve been photographing protests since the Trayvon Martin protest, which was in 2013 and I was 17 at the time. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I never thought I’d have to experience something like I experienced on September 8th,” Unzueta said.</p><p data-block-key=\"q7dee\">Unzueta <a href=\"https://lbpost.com/news/csulb-student-journalist-alleges-he-was-wrongfully-arrested-while-covering-protests-in-los-angeles-dijon-kizzee\">told the Long Beach Post</a> that while he has always had a passion for photography, he was shaken by the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"8r7cv\">“I don’t feel safe going out anymore,” Unzueta said. “This is the last thing I want to do.”</p></div>",
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"arresting_authority": "Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-09-09",
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": "2:21-cv-08378",
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"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in part",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "camera"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
},
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "storage device"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-03-01 19:07:00+00:00) Charges dropped against LA student photojournalist; some equipment still not returned",
"(2022-09-18 13:57:00+00:00) LA photojournalist receives $90,000 settlement in lawsuit against the county, sheriff’s department",
"(2023-05-18 16:08:00+00:00) Photojournalist’s phone searched after arrest, warrant confirms",
"(2021-10-22 00:00:00+00:00) LA student photojournalist sues the county, sheriff’s department following arrest and loss of equipment"
],
"case_statuses": [
"settled"
],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest",
"shot / shot at",
"student journalism"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault",
"Equipment Search or Seizure",
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Pablo Unzueta (Daily Forty-Niner)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist covering pro-Trump demonstration hit by paintballs in Oregon",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-covering-pro-trump-demonstration-hit-paintballs-oregon/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-22T17:07:22.052499Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T17:12:04.049180Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T17:12:03.933103Z",
"date": "2020-09-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Salem",
"longitude": -123.0351,
"latitude": 44.9429,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"r1708\">Independent journalist Brian Conley was shot with paintballs by a person participating in a pro-Donald Trump rally in Salem, Oregon, on Sept. 7, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"gxr75\">For months, Oregon’s largest city, Portland, had witnessed frequent and heated protests over racial justice and police violence that were initially sparked by the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. At times, those demonstrations attracted counterprotesters, particularly ones who visibly claimed support of President Trump.</p><p data-block-key=\"xyuyx\">On Sept. 7, a large group of Trump supporters gathered in Oregon City, a suburb to the south of Portland. Later, some of those gathered drove nearly 50 miles south to the Oregon Capitol in Salem. Among the supporters were members of far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer. Some showed up with guns and other weapons.</p><p data-block-key=\"xl2oz\">Ahead of the election, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/rather-denounce-attacks-press-trump-doubles-down-negative-tweets/\">President Trump amplified his denunciations of the media</a> at rallies and online. As of Oct. 1, the president had tweeted negatively about the press more than 2,300 times since declaring his candidacy in 2015, according to a U.S. Press Freedom Tracker analysis.</p><p data-block-key=\"k9lec\">The pro-Trump camp was met in Salem by a smaller group of opposing protesters, chiefly supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement.</p><p data-block-key=\"85rqw\">At one point that afternoon, Conley was in the park across the street from the capitol building <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1303474350633361408\">speaking with a Trump supporter</a> who had an American flag he said he had “liberated” from the Black Lives Matter movement. The man described the flag as having been “under a vehicle, upside down” and on the ground — at which point Conley started asking why he hadn’t destroyed the flag, which Conley asserted was dictated by the U.S. Flag Code. (Although the U.S. Flag Code says the flag should never touch the ground, it prescribes destroying the flag, preferably by burning, when it “is no longer a fitting emblem for display.” The flag touching the ground alone doesn’t necessitate its burning. While the guidelines are technically federal law, they are unenforceable and remain advisory.)</p><p data-block-key=\"qfsy2\">Conley’s questions soon attracted a crowd that grew hostile.</p><p data-block-key=\"95dpc\">“Other allied protesters, they came in and one guy with a kind of GoPro on a little handheld monopod sort of thing started calling me “lying press,” “fake press” and “Antifa press,” and a couple more people came over,” Conley told the Tracker by phone. Facing increasing harassment, Conley said he lost his cool and gave that person the middle finger before trying to leave the area. Conley said he tried to ignore a crowd that followed him as he attempted to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"xvemh\">“And then I got shot, I think three or four times in the back, by this guy with a paintball gun,” said Conley, who was wearing body armor emblazoned with the word “PRESS.”</p><p data-block-key=\"xf5x0\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1303113729169485824\">In a video captured by journalist Sergio Olmos</a>, Conley can be seen walking away from a crowd shouting at him and heckling him when several shots from a paintball gun can be heard.</p><p data-block-key=\"zdd2n\">After Conley was shot with the paintballs, the Trump supporter he had been interviewing before stepped forward to protect Conley saying “I’m not going to let you get shot at” but told Conley that he had been “disrespectful.”</p><p data-block-key=\"q0tsr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/Clypian/status/1303113786899927040\">A photo tweeted out</a> by the South Salem High School newspaper The Clypian at about 4:30 p.m. shows Conley standing in a crowd with the back of his body armor stained pink and orange by paintball impacts. “A member of the press corps from Portland was just shot with paintballs as protestors yelled “Antifa press” at him,” the paper’s tweet said.</p><p data-block-key=\"80qrt\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1303485598217375744/photo/1\">A photo later shared by Conley on Twitter</a> showed a man with a paintball gun who Conley says is the man that shot him. Conley said the man denied shooting him when he turned around to confront them after getting shot.</p><p data-block-key=\"x5gmn\">The paintballs hit Conley’s body armor and he was uninjured.</p><p data-block-key=\"btipe\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting hundreds of incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, hit by crowd-control munitions or having their equipment damaged at protests around the country in 2020. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these incidents here.</a></p></div>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"election",
"Election 2020",
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"shot / shot at"
],
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],
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],
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},
{
"title": "Daily Caller reporter hit by projectile during LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/daily-caller-reporter-hit-by-projectile-during-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-15T14:54:49.652536Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:20:06.931750Z",
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"date": "2020-09-07",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8dujw\">Daily Caller reporter Jorge Ventura said he was hit by a pepper ball fired by Los Angeles law enforcement while covering a protest in South Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 7, 2020. The Daily Caller, a “conservative news and opinion site” according to <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/business/media/daily-caller-tucker-carlson.html\">The New York Times</a>, is based in Washington, D.C.</p><p data-block-key=\"whlj8\">The protest was organized several days after the Aug. 31 police shooting of Dijon Kizzee, a 29-year old Black man who <a href=\"https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/dijon-kizzee-fatally-shot-by-deputies-while-lying-on-ground-attorneys-say/2432486/\">was killed</a> after Los Angeles sheriff's officials stopped him for what they described as a vehicle code violation as he was riding his bicycle.</p><p data-block-key=\"b4l6n\">According to<a href=\"https://abc7.com/dijon-kizzee-protests-deputies-trainee/6413617/\"> news reports</a>, dozens of protesters gathered outside the South Los Angeles Sheriff's Station to protest the shooting of Kizzee. Officials declared the gathering an unlawful assembly after deploying nonlethal crowd-control munitions and giving dispersal orders, according to the<a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-09/demonstrators-arrested-dijon-kizzee\"> Los Angeles Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gm7tl\">Ventura arrived around 9 p.m., according to a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/VenturaReport/status/1303181315009732611?s=20\"> tweet</a> he posted, and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VenturaReport/status/1303195359011774466?s=20\">recorded</a> a standoff between protesters and sheriff's officials. He posted a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/VenturaReport/status/1303208648198430720?s=20\"> video</a> of demonstrators retreating and chanting "Black lives matter."</p><p data-block-key=\"3zde9\">"Crowd retreats after police shoot pepper bullets, tear gas and flash bangs," he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"s3wiv\">"Got hit by a pepper bullet today during the mix," Ventura wrote in a tweet at 10:59 p.m. "I'm all good and headed back home to enjoy the rest of this vacation."</p><p data-block-key=\"mpj9l\">The next morning, he shared another<a href=\"https://twitter.com/VenturaReport/status/1303389344749682688?s=20\"> photo</a> of a bruise where the munition hit him. Ventura told the Tracker he did not have press markings that night, but was reporting for the Daily Caller.</p><p data-block-key=\"lusya\">In a<a href=\"https://twitter.com/LASDHQ/status/1303130233302704129?s=20\"> tweet</a> Monday evening, the sheriff's department said it supports peaceful protests, but is concerned about individuals outside the community and state who want to "incite riots."</p><p data-block-key=\"ye9ob\">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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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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{
"title": "Photojournalist arrested while covering Portland protests, her phone damaged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-while-covering-portland-protests-her-phone-damaged/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-04T18:30:38.390510Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:18:17.199512Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:18:17.072799Z",
"date": "2020-09-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"37ka0\">Rach Wilde, an independent photojournalist working with Black Zebra Productions, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was shoved and arrested while covering protests against police violence in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 7, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"rc5dr\">Wilde was documenting protests that had been ongoing for months in downtown Portland and across the U.S. in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. The 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=\"jybsm\">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=\"zc3b9\">In the early hours of Sept. 7, Wilde said demonstrators had moved from PPB’s North Precinct toward a nearby parking garage. According to a<a href=\"https://ktvz.com/news/crime-courts/2020/09/07/burn-it-down-portland-protesters-light-fire-near-police-precinct-15-arrested/\"> news report</a>, officers blocked off certain streets from the march and created a closure area. Wilde said the crowd started to dwindle and there was not a lot going on.</p><p data-block-key=\"9thd8\">“Then a rush came and a bunch of folks started getting arrested and just picked off,” Wilde told the Tracker. Along with several other journalists and legal observers, she said she followed the officers to document the arrests. Soon after, officers asked them to leave and ordered them onto the sidewalk.</p><p data-block-key=\"t83yi\">“Out of nowhere, the [Portland Police] Rapid Response van arrived and they beelined [toward us],” she said. “One officer on the team had over and over again targeted me at different demonstrations. She knew exactly who I was. She would stand next to me at every demonstration and follow me specifically.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bvuv2\">Wilde said the officer pushed her off the sidewalk right as she was stepping onto it. Another Black Zebra journalist there repeatedly told the officer that Wilde was a member of the press; Wilde said she also had a press pass around her neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"m0tqt\">“I have the entire thing on camera. It was very clear that she was targeting me,” Wilde told the Tracker. Her reporting partner, whom Wilde had been “standing next to the entire time this demonstration,” was not arrested. The officer placed Wilde in temporary handcuffs, took her phone and brought her to where the demonstrators were being detained. She said she was then transported to and processed at Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office for interfering with a peace officer and disorderly conduct.</p><p data-block-key=\"18j9d\">Wilde said she was released several hours later, around 6 a.m., and that when she received her phone back, the screen was destroyed. “That was the day my charges were dropped, but I didn’t find out until a month later,” she said. Wilde was contacted by a pro bono attorney, who confirmed this information. “They [Portland police] had spelt my name wrong,” she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"tv1c6\">When reached for comment during ongoing protests in the fall of 2020, the PPB told the Tracker it wouldn’t be commenting on specific incidents, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case. Then in early 2021, PPB spokesperson Derek Carmon said the department is committed to upholding civil rights for all citizens, including by requiring officers to report any use of force for review. When reached by email about this incident, Carmon said he had no additional comment.</p></div>",
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"arresting_authority": "Portland Police Bureau",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": "2020-09-07",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
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"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
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"Rach Wilde (Freelance)"
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist hit with crowd-control munition during LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-crowd-control-munition-during-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-20T16:23:43.487334Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:16:52.595354Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:16:52.506225Z",
"date": "2020-09-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4gr5v\">Freelance photojournalist Jintak Han said he was shot in the face with a crowd-control munition fired by a sheriff’s deputy while covering a protest in Los Angeles, California, on the evening of Sept. 7, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"7bsie\">Han was photographing a protest over the death of Dijon Kizzee, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot by deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in South Los Angeles on Aug. 31. The killing of Kizzee, who had been stopped while riding a bicycle<a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-22/dijon-kizzee-shot-15-times-attorneys-independent-autopsy\"> before he was shot 15 times</a>, reinvigorated protests over racial justice and police brutality that had been occurring regularly in Los Angeles and across the nation throughout the summer.</p><p data-block-key=\"vwc4f\">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=\"b3z26\">Speaking to the Tracker, Han said he had been at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Normandie Avenue near the sheriff’s department’s South LA station for nearly three hours when deputies began to fire crowd-control munitions at around 10 p.m. Shortly thereafter, he said, as he walked backward from law enforcement and continued to take photos, he was hit by a projectile fired by law enforcement.</p><p data-block-key=\"vusuj\">“All of the sudden I had a big impact right above my eye,” he said. “Luckily I had safety goggles on.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hit with a foam or rubber round above the left eye. Goggles on so I’m okay. Lost glasses though. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/pressfreedom?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@pressfreedom</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/rcfp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@rcfp</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NPPA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@nppa</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/aaja?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@aaja</a></p>— Jintak Han (한진탁) (@jintakhan) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jintakhan/status/1303201505017692161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 8, 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=\"orloe\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/VenturaReport/status/1303208091673010176\">video</a> captured by Daily Caller reporter Jorge Ventura, Han can be seen walking backward while taking photos as protesters retreat. About 15 seconds into the video there is a bang and Han recoils before falling to the ground.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ij9ei\">Han told the Tracker that after he was hit he had trouble seeing—both from tear gas that had been deployed and as a result of losing the eyeglasses he was wearing under his goggles. After ensuring that he didn’t have too many injuries and his cameras were still working, he resumed working despite his now-limited vision. Later, after the protest had dissipated, he found his glasses smashed on the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"ryf7a\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/jintakhan/status/1303266851502223360\">In a photo</a> Han shared on Twitter early the next morning, abrasions can be seen surrounding his left eye.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Glad to walk away with just this <a href=\"https://t.co/DATwsCNa6U\">pic.twitter.com/DATwsCNa6U</a></p>— Jintak Han (한진탁) (@jintakhan) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jintakhan/status/1303266851502223360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 8, 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=\"kph42\">Given where the munition hit him, Han fears that he could have been seriously injured if he had not been wearing goggles that night.</p><p data-block-key=\"s7p93\">“I’m really glad I had the goggles on, because otherwise I have no idea what would have happened to my eye,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"kbj5x\">Han was also wearing a high-visibility vest with press markings as well as a white helmet with press markings at the time he was hit. While he was identifiable as press, he does not feel he was targeted by sheriff’s deputies.</p><p data-block-key=\"ej2ko\">“A lot of the protesters got hit, so I think they were just indiscriminately firing in that general direction rather than targeting press specifically,” he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ri88f\">In a statement to the Tracker, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department public information officer Shawn DuBusky said deputies began to use crowd-control munitions after protesters “became hostile and began to throw objects (i.e. frozen water bottles, concrete, bricks, rocks, and fireworks).”</p><p data-block-key=\"jfrk7\">He added: “At no time did anyone, including Mr. Jintak Han, identify themselves as being injured during this incident.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sxshl\">While Han was photographing the Sept. 7 protest independently, his shots from that night and other protests over Kizzee’s death <a href=\"https://losangelen.com/people/dijon-kizzee-protesters/\">later appeared in Los Angeleno</a>.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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"shot / shot at"
],
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]
