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{
"title": "DC police fire crowd-control round past journalist’s head during protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dc-police-fire-crowd-control-round-past-journalists-head-during-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-22T19:54:02.984288Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:10:36.511285Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:10:36.389674Z",
"date": "2020-10-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"j3z04\">Independent journalist Wyatt Reed had a crowd-control munition shot past his head at close range while he covered a protest in Washington, D.C., on the evening of Oct. 27, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"c7l89\">Reed is a Washington-based journalist who produces the show By Any Means Necessary on Russian state-owned Radio Sputnik. He was covering a protest over the <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/karon-hylton-crash-body-camera/2020/10/29/132727f6-19e2-11eb-befb-8864259bd2d8_story.html\">death of Karon Hylton</a>, a 20-year-old Black man who crashed an electric scooter while being pursued by police on Oct. 23 and died three days later. Police said they had attempted to stop Hylton after he was observed driving on a sidewalk and not wearing a helmet.</p><p data-block-key=\"9biai\">On the night of Oct. 27, protesters gathered at the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s Fourth District station, less than a mile from where Hylton was killed. When Reed arrived, he said the situation was tense and the crowd of protesters had been pushed back to the corner of Georgia Avenue and Missouri Avenue, just south of the precinct.</p><p data-block-key=\"b4dcj\">In a video Reed <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wyattreed13/status/1321252001737572356\">uploaded to Twitter</a> at 8:46 p.m., the situation appears relatively peaceful as a line of police officers stands in the street in front of a group of protesters. Suddenly, one officer rushes forward and fires a crowd-control munition, which appears to flash past at eye level, just to the left of Reed.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">MPD launched a flashbang just inches from my face as they unleash a brutal crackdown on DC protesters demanding justice for <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/KaronHylton?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#KaronHylton</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/rwq5RMZNFh\">pic.twitter.com/rwq5RMZNFh</a></p>— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/wyattreed13/status/1321252001737572356?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 28, 2020</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"w04kz\">“Sir, is you okay? I saw that! You alright? Thank god,” somebody in the crowd asks Reed.</p><p data-block-key=\"4o29n\">“I’m OK, I’m OK. They could have shot my fuckin’ eye out,” Reed replies.</p><p data-block-key=\"96b7b\">“MPD launched a flashbang just inches from my face as they unleash a brutal crackdown on DC protesters demanding justice for #KaronHylton” Reed wrote on Twitter with the video.</p><p data-block-key=\"fnpr0\">Reed told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that, looking back on the video, he believes an officer positioned behind the line of police may have been hit with a thrown object, prompting another officer to rush forward and fire.</p><p data-block-key=\"ad4qp\">The D.C. public radio station WAMU reported that <a href=\"https://wamu.org/story/20/10/28/protesters-demand-police-accountability-after-death-of-d-c-moped-rider-karon-hylton/\">rocks had been thrown at police</a> during the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"fvrqm\">Reed said the fired munition passed about six inches from his head.</p><p data-block-key=\"93uis\">Reed said officers were shooting with “fairly little to no regard for who they could hurt.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7jean\">While he was standing at the front of the crowd near officers, was filming on a large camera and had his press identification “prominently displayed,” he said the incident felt like it was the result of “incompetence more than malice.”</p><p data-block-key=\"477mk\">The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"9s5p8\">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. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\"> Find these incidents here.</a></p></div>",
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{
"title": "Videojournalist assaulted, equipment broken during Austin demonstration",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/videojournalist-assaulted-equipment-broken-during-austin-demonstration/",
"first_published_at": "2021-01-29T16:08:01.127286Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T20:11:05.192224Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T20:11:05.103074Z",
"date": "2020-10-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Austin",
"longitude": -97.74306,
"latitude": 30.26715,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"auvya\">Austin-based independent videojournalist Hiram Gilberto Garcia was assaulted and had his equipment damaged while covering a protest in Texas’ capital city on Oct. 24, 2020, according to social media posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"gkvy3\">At approximately 6:40 p.m., Garcia — who posts his livestreams and interviews on Facebook and his <a href=\"https://www.imhiram.com/\">website</a> — was documenting a march against police brutality organized to mark the six-month anniversary of the death of Mike Ramos, an unarmed Black and Hispanic man who’d been fatally shot by an Austin police officer on April 24.</p><p data-block-key=\"n10kq\">The protest was also part of a national movement against police brutality that had swept across the country over the summer. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented hundreds of incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or had their equipment damaged while covering protests in 2020. Find all of these cases <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"om3cb\">In his <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ImHiram/videos/1276133516097675\">livestream of the Austin march</a>, Garcia identifies a group of demonstrators he believed were affiliated with the Mike Ramos Brigade, which had organized after Ramos’ death to seek “justice for Mike and all victims of police violence.” The MRB had come to be seen by some in the community as militant, and Ramos’ mother, Brenda Ramos, had distanced herself from the group, KXAN News <a href=\"https://www.kxan.com/austin-george-floyd-mike-ramos-protests/mike-ramos-mom-calls-for-more-strict-penalties-faster-response-for-officer-involved-deaths/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"wc2an\">“The Mike Ramos Brigade — if it is the Mike Ramos Brigade — is not very friendly with me,” Garcia says in the footage, as some two dozen individuals advanced down South Pleasant Valley Road toward the intersection with East Riverside Drive.</p><p data-block-key=\"sayy4\">Shortly thereafter, Garcia can be seen crossing the street to document the group more closely after confirming that the group did include members of the MRB.</p><p data-block-key=\"npmec\">As soon as Garcia gets a few yards ahead of the group, an individual can be seen breaking away, running up to the journalist and holding a sign in front of his camera in order to prevent him from filming. Multiple other individuals can be heard yelling at Garcia, “Fuck you, Hiram!”</p><p data-block-key=\"e0rnl\">Addressing the animosity, Garcia says in his stream, “Specifically, they’re more concerned that I don’t take really extreme measures to blur out their faces or edit footage afterwards. Obviously this is not what the stream is about.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3dglk\">“As far as the disagreement between MRB and the platform is simply that, one, I’m unbiased—” Garcia says, before a demonstrator interrupts him, saying, “and two, you’re a fucking snitch!”</p><p data-block-key=\"5pf97\">In the footage, Garcia continues to follow and attempt to film the group as it crosses the street, with participants consistently holding their signs in front of their faces, cursing him and demanding that he leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"7npow\">“Hiram, I don’t know why you’re here!” a participant says through a megaphone. “You’re not here for Black lives. You’re here for yourself.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c498b\">Someone then grabs for his camera, which flips the point of view of the footage upside down. It is unclear what transpired after that point, though it appears Garcia was pushed back toward the road and his equipment was knocked out of his hands. Within seconds, the stream abruptly stops.</p><p data-block-key=\"47v0a\">A <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ImHiram/posts/190785825998090\">post</a> to Garcia’s Facebook page said, “Today during our broadcast Hiram was assaulted and had all of his equipment destroyed and taken (not confirmed), police and EMS were dispatched to the scene and asked Hiram if he wanted to go to the hospital to get checked out, to which he agreed and went with EMS to the Hospital.”</p><p data-block-key=\"l6kvo\">The post went on to condemn the attack on Garcia, but also asked that his subscribers not retaliate against the Mike Ramos Brigade or “seek vigilante justice.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4csul\">“Please we only want to bring you information about what is happening around you and report as accurately as possible what is happening, so you all have a better source to make decisions from.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vv56n\">On Oct. 26 an <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ImHiram/posts/191325632610776\">update</a> was posted to Garcia’s page noting that he was “resting at home and going through standard concussion protocol.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1dauf\">“[Garcia] suffered from a concussion according to the ER, along with a black eye and some other scrapes and bruises,” the post reads. “Again we continue to denounce any violence of any kind, our mission is truth, Justice, and Honor, we will continue on that path.”</p><p data-block-key=\"y2ck1\">In an emailed comment, a representative for Garcia said, “Our comments will always be the same. We are not the story, our mission is simply to show people who are not down on the streets or at events what is happening in their community as the events happen.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f790c\">The representative did not respond to requests for elaboration on the number and type of equipment damaged or whether Garcia has filed or plans to file a police report.</p></div>",
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"name": "Texas",
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{
"title": "Independent photojournalist threatened by man with a gun in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-threatened-man-gun-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-13T13:12:31.456089Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-13T15:24:46.167515Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-13T15:24:46.074504Z",
"date": "2020-10-24",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9agug\">An unidentified man threatened independent photojournalist Maranie Staab with a gun as she covered protests in downtown Portland, Oregon on Oct. 24, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"3mbps\">Staab, whose photos of the protests in Portland have been published by <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/clashes-between-rival-groups-of-demonstr-idUKRTX7REOH\">Reuters</a>,<a href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-can-you-do-if-trump-stages-a-coup\"> The New Yorker</a> and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AFPphoto/status/1303739949036994565?s=20\">Agence France-Presse</a>, was documenting one of the protests that have been held almost nightly in the city in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"48w21\">On the night of Oct. 24, Staab was covering demonstrations near the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, which has increasingly become a focus of the demonstrations, in South Portland.</p><p data-block-key=\"lwgln\">At around 11 p.m., two men drove by in an unmarked vehicle, said Staab. She was filming at the time because there had been “suspicious vehicles driving around” and “a lot of intimidation happening,” she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"roqhd\">In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaranieRae/status/1320247758712786944?s=20\">video</a> she tweeted, the driver of the car can be seen pointing the gun through his passenger side window and calling her a “bitch.”</p><p data-block-key=\"margu\">“I had my phone up making video and happened to catch him pointing a handgun directly at me,” Staab recalled.</p><p data-block-key=\"y9e3z\">After threatening Staab. the men got out of their car a few hundred feet away and then started to threaten protesters, yelling phrases like “All lives matter!” and “Back the blue!” One of the men said he was military, but there is no evidence to verify that claim, according to Staab. In a different <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaranieRae/status/1320261600096342018?s=20\">video</a> Staab tweeted, protesters can be heard chanting “Black lives matter!” in response.</p><p data-block-key=\"vaas8\">The men continued to aggravate protesters until members of the crowd helped de-escalate the situation, she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"x6ko5\">Freelance photojournalist Cole Howard tweeted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RedheadNomad/status/1320285436233699330?s=20\">several photographs</a> of the situation. “The man in the green sweatshirt though not affiliated with the protest de-escalated the situation,” he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"z0w0y\">While Staab didn’t file a police report, she said she has been actively working to identify the individuals and is speaking to an attorney to discuss potential legal action.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist hit with pepper balls fired by federal agents while covering protest in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalists-hit-pepper-balls-fired-federal-agents-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-23T20:54:31.540559Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-13T15:26:39.613051Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-13T15:26:39.473040Z",
"date": "2020-10-18",
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"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dytcy\">Independent photojournalist Sean Bascom said he was hit with crowd-control munitions fired by federal law enforcement officers during a protest in Portland, Oregon, on the early morning of Oct. 18, 2020, despite a court order banning federal agents from targeting press.</p><p data-block-key=\"7v8to\">Protests had been held In Portland 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. A temporary restraining order in early July barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents later that month</a>. 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=\"7l1lf\">A number of protests in Portland have targeted federal government buildings, and on the evening of Oct. 17, protesters marched on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in South Portland, in a demonstration that stretched into the early hours of Oct. 18.</p><p data-block-key=\"z6pgk\">Bascom told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was struck by pepper balls fired by federal agents stationed at the ICE building. Around 2:15 a.m, Bascom posted <a href=\"https://twitter.com/baaascom/status/1317756486341206019\">footage</a> on Twitter of the agents firing pepper balls as they moved. His shoes got covered in residue from the munitions as agents fired at him, he told the Tracker. Without a gas mask on, he couldn’t see as he retreated.</p><p data-block-key=\"luqlh\">“I was clearly marked as press. I have a high-vis vest on, ‘press’ clearly marked on my helmet,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"0i4fq\">The federal agents pushed protesters and the press onto Southwest Moody Avenue, just north of the facility, where they then used tear gas. In a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/baaascom/status/1317739981524201473\">video</a> posted by Bascom on Twitter, federal agents can be seen firing pepper balls through clouds of tear gas that filled the street. One hit him in the lower chest, near his lowest rib, and left a paintball-sized welt, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"kj03m\">“They gassed it and just started firing pepperballs into the smoky gas. Like we couldn’t see them, and they definitely couldn’t see us,” he told the Tracker. “And it was mostly press that was closest to them, because that’s who gets close to them.”</p><p data-block-key=\"waf0a\">To Bascom, the actions of the federal agents towards himself and other members of the press “wasn’t explicitly targeting, it was more disregarding,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"zx9ny\">The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incidents. ICE, which operates under the DHS, referred the Tracker to the DHS for comment.</p></div>",
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"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Independent photojournalist hit with pepper balls fired by federal agents in Portland",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-hit-with-pepper-balls-fired-by-federal-agents-in-portland/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-13T19:59:53.256880Z",
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"longitude": -122.67621,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dgp2w\">Independent photojournalist Maranie Staab said she was hit with crowd-control munitions fired by federal law enforcement officers during a protest in Portland, Oregon, on the early morning of Oct. 18, 2020, despite a court order banning federal agents from targeting press.</p><p data-block-key=\"c02ym\">Protests had been held In Portland 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. A temporary restraining order in early July barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents later that month</a>. 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=\"5w5be\">A number of protests in Portland have targeted federal government buildings, and on the evening of Oct. 17, protesters marched on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in South Portland, in a demonstration that stretched into the early hours of Oct. 18.</p><p data-block-key=\"wvsh2\">Staab told the Tracker that around midnight she was on an adjacent street outside the ICE building, documenting a standoff between protesters and officers in an alleyway. Staab said she was behind the first row of protesters when officers started to rush at the group, shooting pepper balls while running.</p><p data-block-key=\"9mzz6\">“I was shot numerous times. I took one to the knee that put me on the ground,” she said. “They continued to shoot at me while I was on the ground. I was pretty messed up because they got my finger too.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6ysgr\">Staab added that she was clearly marked as press, yet officers continued to fire at her. She posted images of her injuries on Twitter, including <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaranieRae/status/1318002478776942592?s=20\">welts on her lower back and knees</a> and a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MaranieRae/status/1317759891805622274\">splint on her right middle finger</a>. She later told the Tracker that the finger had been severely sprained.</p><p data-block-key=\"0zeh1\">Additionally, her new camera stopped working out of the blue and was in repair for more than two weeks, Staab said. When she received the $700 repair bill, it stated that damage was caused by “corrosion due to paint and chemical substances.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3dbvq\">“It’s whatever they’ve been gassing us with. It’s getting into equipment and literally causing corrosion to camera,” Staab said. “I was not OK there for a little while, but the reality is I’m tough, because I realize that anything that I’m going through is nothing compared to what people have and continue to go through at the hands of the police. I have every intention to continue doing this work.”</p><p data-block-key=\"k2r1z\">The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incidents. ICE, which operates under the DHS, referred the Tracker to the DHS for comment.</p></div>",
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Maranie Staab (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist shoved, hit with projectiles during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-hit-projectiles-during-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-23T20:33:04.011764Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-06T19:56:34.703719Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-06T19:56:34.634131Z",
"date": "2020-10-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hzenh\">Independent journalist Brian Conley was hit with crowd-control munitions fired by law enforcement officers while covering a protest at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 17, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"sbj50\">Racial justice protests had been held regularly in Portland since the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Several protests in the city have targeted federal government buildings, and on the evening of Oct. 17, protesters marched on the ICE building in South Portland.</p><p data-block-key=\"h594k\">Conley was filming a standoff between federal agents and protesters when the agents began firing pepper balls and moving forward in an attempt to clear the street. Conley was pushed by one of the agents and then tripped over a person who was already on the ground. Tumbling to the ground, Conley dropped his phone. When he got up and tried to retrieve it, he said officers fired pepper balls at him.</p><p data-block-key=\"ipv1u\">“He barreled directly into me, knocked me into the ground,” Conley told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker when describing how the officer pushed him down. “Then when I went to get my phone, he started shooting the ground around me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9b7ak\">Conley said he had press markings on his body armor and was visibly filming close to the agents when the incident occurred.</p><p data-block-key=\"tms8h\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1317717834059837440\">In a video Conley uploaded to Twitter at 11:43 p.m.</a>, the footage goes dark as Conley drops his phone and heavy pepper-ball fire can be heard before he picks it up again.</p><p data-block-key=\"a35hc\">“I’m press, buddy! I’m press. You can’t shoot me!” he yells at one officer after he retrieves his phone. He then approaches another federal agent and says: “Tell your buddy to leave me alone.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here's that moment when DHS officers rush the crowd, I try to back up while still shooting, get knocked over a photographer, and if you listen closely you may hear the pepper balls shot at my phone as I retrieved it from the ground. <a href=\"https://t.co/uQZOSlcQ8N\">pic.twitter.com/uQZOSlcQ8N</a></p>— Brian Conley (@BaghdadBrian) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/BaghdadBrian/status/1317717834059837440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 18, 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=\"73f2r\">Conley told the Tracker he had “pretty bad” shoulder pain after the incident as well as a knot around the area where the back of his skull meets his neck.</p><p data-block-key=\"exu99\">The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incidents from the Tracker. ICE, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, responded by telling the Tracker to contact the Department of Homeland Security.</p><p data-block-key=\"kloci\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
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],
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{
"title": "Photojournalist sprayed with chemical irritants during Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-sprayed-with-chemical-irritants-during-portland-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-13T17:10:15.203985Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-06T19:58:01.489012Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-06T19:58:01.412795Z",
"date": "2020-10-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"q2zcb\">Photojournalist Cole Howard said he was sprayed with chemical irritants by law enforcement officers during a protest at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 17, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"uhcew\">Racial justice protests had been held regularly in Portland since the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Several protests in the city have targeted federal government buildings, and on the evening of Oct. 17, protesters marched on the ICE building in South Portland.</p><p data-block-key=\"pmchw\">Howard told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was following the crowd that evening when it arrived at the ICE building. He said protesters were attempting to tie balloons to the gate of the facility when federal agents moved in to confront them.</p><p data-block-key=\"t9glx\">“This one specific officer had a can of mace and unloaded it into my face,” he said. “He aimed at me and then he aimed over. So it wasn’t like I was the only one who was hit in that moment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"px7kl\">But he said it was definitely a direct blast, even though he was wearing press credentials, including a big press badge on his body armor and another on his backpack.</p><p data-block-key=\"rg3ad\">“I was very obviously press,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"flnbi\">Howard<a href=\"https://twitter.com/RedheadNomad/status/1317802460979712000\"> captured the moment the officer sprayed him in a photo</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">1 of my first shots of the night. A DHS officer blasts mace into a crowd of protesters and press (including myself). Prior to fleeing the attacks, protesters were hanging balloons on the fence of ICE HQ, which led to this reaction.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PDXprotests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PDXprotests</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/jornalismo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#jornalismo</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/pdx?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#pdx</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/9NQZALjtay\">pic.twitter.com/9NQZALjtay</a></p>— Cole Howard (@RedheadNomad) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RedheadNomad/status/1317802460979712000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 18, 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=\"tybga\">A video shot by journalist Justin Yau and uploaded at 9:09 p.m.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/PDocumentarians/status/1317905369553752065\"> showed Howard getting sprayed in the face</a> with a chemical agent at close range as he tried to take photos.</p><p data-block-key=\"97sgt\">Howard had a gas mask with him, but wasn’t anticipating getting hit with a chemical agent at that point and wasn’t wearing it. After being helped to safety about a block away, he said it took him 10-to-15 minutes to regain vision that was good enough for him to work. He said his skin burned for the next day.</p><p data-block-key=\"t8mfp\">“I always feel like my eyes are kind of foggy after that for a while,” he said. “But I don’t know if that’s something that’s proven on paper or just me feeling disoriented.”</p><p data-block-key=\"gwupz\">Howard feels that he was targeted initially by the officer, but that they changed their aim when they realized aiming at a journalist “wasn’t going to look good on paper.”</p><p data-block-key=\"0prja\">The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incidents from the Tracker. ICE, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, responded by telling the Tracker to contact the Department of Homeland Security.</p><p data-block-key=\"ty4k6\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">here</a>.</p></div>",
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"chemical irritant",
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"protest"
],
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"categories": [
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{
"title": "Man attacks TV photojournalist filming outside of Nashville school",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-attacks-tv-photojournalist-filming-outside-of-nashville-school/",
"first_published_at": "2021-11-16T18:47:19.040742Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-11-16T18:47:19.040742Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2021-11-16T18:47:19.000416Z",
"date": "2020-10-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Nashville",
"longitude": -86.78444,
"latitude": 36.16589,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Two journalists for local TV station WSMV News 4 in Nashville, Tennessee, were attacked by an unidentified man on Oct. 12, 2020, as they were doing field reporting for a feature story.</p><p>Caresse Jackman, a consumer news investigative reporter for WSMV, and a cameraman were recording B-roll outside of an elementary school for<a href=\"https://www.wsmv.com/news/ladies-make-masks-with-love-for-students-returning-to-in-person-learning/article_f51d6b00-0c38-11eb-97d3-0b7480ef8982.html\"> a segment about two women</a> who made COVID-19 masks for students. During the shoot they were approached by a man they did not know, according to social media posts <a href=\"https://www.mediaite.com/news/man-caught-on-tape-assaulting-reporters-filming-covid-mask-report-at-nashville-elementary-school/\">and Mediaite</a>.</p><p>“While shooting video for a feature story-a man from across the street kept looking [at] our crew. We never said a word to him,” Jackman <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CaresseJ/status/1315768025518399489?s=20\">posted on her Twitter account</a>. “I got out of the car to record. He started to approach me. My photog tried to get his attention so he wouldn't come my way. The man then attacked us.”</p><p>Jackman <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CaresseJ/status/1315768025518399489?s=20\">posted a video of the man</a>, who was wearing a red shirt and gray shorts, walking toward the videographer, who is not identified in Jackman’s social media posts about the incident.</p><p>“I told you,” the man can be heard saying before attacking the videographer and his camera equipment.</p><p>Jackman <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CaresseJ/status/1315769005878239232?s=20\">also posted a video</a> that she recorded with her phone, showing the man grappling with the cameraman, tearing at his shirt and punching him once in the face. During the scuffle, the assailant falls to the ground.</p><p>“Get back or I am calling the police,” Jackman warns the assailant as he struggles to get to his feet. “You assaulted my partner. We could press charges.”</p><p>Jackman and her colleague get in their vehicle without any further physical contact with the assailant.</p><p>On Oct. 16, Jackman shared on her Facebook account <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10112340134837710&set=a.10100740915576090&type=3\">a message from the colleague</a> who was attacked, in which he wrote that police were able to find the assailant. According to the Facebook post, the attacker said he wanted to apologize to the journalists, and they agreed to meet with him personally with a detective present.</p><p>“Contrary to what many concluded, this was not an ‘attack on the media’ or ‘politically motivated,’” the photojournalist wrote after that meeting. “I accepted his apology and decided not to press charges.”</p><p>Jackman did not respond to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s requests for comment.</p></div>",
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{
"title": "Man attacks TV reporter filming outside of Nashville school",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-attacks-tv-reporter-filming-outside-of-nashville-school/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-05T15:58:12.305096Z",
"last_published_at": "2021-11-16T18:47:21.630834Z",
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"date": "2020-10-12",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Nashville",
"longitude": -86.78444,
"latitude": 36.16589,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p>Two journalists for local TV station WSMV News 4 in Nashville, Tennessee, were attacked by an unidentified man on Oct. 12, 2020, as they were doing field reporting for a feature story.</p><p>Caresse Jackman, a consumer news investigative reporter for WSMV, and a cameraman were recording B-roll outside of an elementary school for<a href=\"https://www.wsmv.com/news/ladies-make-masks-with-love-for-students-returning-to-in-person-learning/article_f51d6b00-0c38-11eb-97d3-0b7480ef8982.html\"> a segment about two women</a> who made COVID-19 masks for students. During the shoot they were approached by a man they did not know, according to social media posts <a href=\"https://www.mediaite.com/news/man-caught-on-tape-assaulting-reporters-filming-covid-mask-report-at-nashville-elementary-school/\">and Mediaite</a>.</p><p>“While shooting video for a feature story-a man from across the street kept looking [at] our crew. We never said a word to him,” Jackman <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CaresseJ/status/1315768025518399489?s=20\">posted on her Twitter account</a>. “I got out of the car to record. He started to approach me. My photog tried to get his attention so he wouldn't come my way. The man then attacked us.”</p><p>Jackman <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CaresseJ/status/1315768025518399489?s=20\">posted a video of the man</a>, who was wearing a red shirt and gray shorts, walking toward the videographer, who is not identified in Jackman’s social media posts about the incident.</p><p>“I told you,” the man can be heard saying before attacking the videographer and his camera equipment.</p><p>Jackman <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CaresseJ/status/1315769005878239232?s=20\">also posted a video</a> that she recorded with her phone, showing the man grappling with the cameraman, tearing at his shirt and punching him once in the face. During the scuffle, the assailant falls to the ground.</p><p>“Get back or I am calling the police,” Jackman warns the assailant as he struggles to get to his feet. “You assaulted my partner. We could press charges.”</p><p>Jackman and her colleague get in their vehicle without any further physical contact with the assailant.</p><p>On Oct. 16, Jackman shared on her Facebook account <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10112340134837710&set=a.10100740915576090&type=3\">a message from the colleague</a> who was attacked, in which he wrote that police were able to find the assailant. According to the Facebook post, the attacker said he wanted to apologize to the journalists, and they agreed to meet with him personally with a detective present.</p><p>“Contrary to what many concluded, this was not an ‘attack on the media’ or ‘politically motivated,’” the photojournalist wrote after that meeting. “I accepted his apology and decided not to press charges.”</p><p>Jackman did not respond to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s requests for comment.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "Tennessee",
"abbreviation": "TN"
},
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"tags": [],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Caresse Jackman (WSMV-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "LA police officer points weapon at videojournalist covering Lakers NBA championship win",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-police-officer-points-weapon-at-videojournalist-covering-lakers-nba-championship-win/",
"first_published_at": "2021-11-02T16:02:10.504981Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:07:59.294653Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:07:59.191814Z",
"date": "2020-10-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"fbzwu\">Los Angeles Police Department officers threatened an unidentified videojournalist with a firearm amid fanfare in downtown Los Angeles, California, on the night of Oct. 11, 2020, according to social media posts.</p><p data-block-key=\"rgas3\">Earlier in the evening, the Los Angeles Lakers had won the NBA championship, drawing thousands of celebrants outside the Staples Center. According to the Los Angeles Times, the festivities “quickly <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-12/76-arrested-in-downtown-la-following-lakers-win\">soured</a>,” though, and “the scene devolved into another roving standoff between police in riot gear and throngs of people on the street.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zyxuk\">Throughout the summer, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Los%20Angeles&date_lower=2020-01-01&date_upper=2020-12-31&tags=34\">Los Angeles</a> and cities across the U.S. saw similar scenes, as thousands took to the streets to protest police brutality. 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=\"rf7y0\">Photographer Ricardo Salvador Miranda posted footage <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CGQlFLdgdO0/?igshid=1uhls8hlvogud\">on Instagram</a> the following day that captured the scene, which he captioned, “LAPD pulls gun on Lakers fans and the Press.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vd9kx\">In the clip, the LAPD officer can be seen jumping out of a cruiser with his pistol drawn, pointing behind the vehicle as multiple objects appear to be thrown in his direction.</p><p data-block-key=\"yi8ll\">The officer quickly gets back into the vehicle just as an object — which appears to be a beer bottle — strikes the passenger side of the cruiser and shatters. The officer once again jumps out of the vehicle with his firearm drawn, aiming at the crowd, when he notices the broadcast cameraman.</p><p data-block-key=\"kgi44\">The officer, lowering his weapon, approaches the videojournalist and appears to indicate that he should move back or out of the area as other projectiles crash around them. The officer then returns to the vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"nvnit\">Freelance photojournalist Christian Monterrosa, who was on assignment for The Associated Press, also posted the encounter on social media. Monterrosa, who did not respond to requests for comment, captioned a photo on <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CGP8ESNFZQV/\">Instagram</a>, “An LAPD officer points his firearm at Laker fans on the street including a TV news cameraman, and myself, who were documenting it.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Some more here after the night devolved into a police vs. crowd situation.<br><br>For <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AP</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/SEobeQPnME\">pic.twitter.com/SEobeQPnME</a></p>— Christian Monterrosa (@chrismatography) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/chrismatography/status/1315686694750830592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 12, 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=\"k4zgr\">The Tracker was unable to identify the videojournalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"e3s60\">LAPD did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"Assault"
],
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"Unidentified documentary journalist 1"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photojournalist threatened with weapon while covering Lakers championship celebrations",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-threatened-with-weapon-while-covering-lakers-championship-celebrations/",
"first_published_at": "2021-11-02T16:02:07.281556Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:07:40.690944Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:07:40.603314Z",
"date": "2020-10-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"cbm5e\">Freelance photojournalist Christian Monterrosa, who was on assignment for The Associated Press, posted on social media that Los Angeles Police Department officers pointed a firearm at him in downtown Los Angeles, California, on the night of Oct. 11, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"4aws6\">Earlier in the evening, the Los Angeles Lakers had won the NBA championship, drawing thousands of celebrants outside the Staples Center. According to the Los Angeles Times, the festivities “quickly <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-12/76-arrested-in-downtown-la-following-lakers-win\">soured</a>,” though, and “the scene devolved into another roving standoff between police in riot gear and throngs of people on the street.”</p><p data-block-key=\"t7dzk\">Throughout the summer, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Los%20Angeles&date_lower=2020-01-01&date_upper=2020-12-31&tags=34\">Los Angeles</a> and cities across the U.S. saw similar scenes, as thousands took to the streets to protest police brutality. 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=\"ez3yb\">Monterrosa, who did not respond to requests for comment, captioned a photo posted to <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CGP8ESNFZQV/\">Instagram</a>, “An LAPD officer points his firearm at Laker fans on the street including a TV news cameraman, and myself, who were documenting it.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Some more here after the night devolved into a police vs. crowd situation.<br><br>For <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AP</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/SEobeQPnME\">pic.twitter.com/SEobeQPnME</a></p>— Christian Monterrosa (@chrismatography) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/chrismatography/status/1315686694750830592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 12, 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=\"xi6jt\">LAPD did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "California",
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},
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"Assault"
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"Christian Monterrosa (The Associated Press)"
],
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},
{
"title": "An LAPD officer hits reporter with crowd-control munition during Lakers celebrations",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-police-officer-hits-reporter-with-projectile-another-points-weapon-at-journalists-during-lakers-celebration/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-04T20:53:17.531498Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:07:20.297585Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:07:20.201140Z",
"date": "2020-10-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0ysj5\">Samuel Braslow, a journalist for the Beverly Hills Courier, said Los Angeles Police Department officers hit him with crowd-control munition amid fanfare in downtown Los Angeles, California, on the night of Oct. 11, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"l9weq\">Earlier in the evening, the Los Angeles Lakers had won the NBA championship, drawing thousands of celebrants outside the Staples Center. According to the Los Angeles Times, the festivities “quickly <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-12/76-arrested-in-downtown-la-following-lakers-win\">soured</a>,” though, and “the scene devolved into another roving standoff between police in riot gear and throngs of people on the street.” Throughout the summer, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Los%20Angeles&date_lower=2020-01-01&date_upper=2020-12-31&tags=34\">Los Angeles</a> and cities across the U.S. saw similar scenes, as thousands took to the streets to protest police brutality. 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=\"xclu2\">Braslow told the Tracker he arrived in downtown LA after LAPD officers had already started forming a skirmish line with officers in riot gear on foot and mounted police behind them.</p><p data-block-key=\"bas10\">“Even as people were complying and moving backward, LAPD officers continued firing less-lethal munitions at the crowd,” Braslow said.</p><p data-block-key=\"rmi8x\">At 9:43 p.m. on Oct. 11, Braslow <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SamBraslow/status/1315513293780512769\">posted footage</a> of the advancing police line. Approximately 4 seconds into the clip, an officer on the left side of the frame appears to notice Braslow, aims his crowd-control firearm at the journalist and fires.</p><p data-block-key=\"rrvn0\">“Police aimed at me. Less lethal round literally hits my phone out of my hands (credit to apple, it kept recording),” Braslow wrote on Twitter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Police aimed at me. Less lethal round literally hits my phone out of my hands (credit to apple, it kept recording) <a href=\"https://t.co/TguhhlZXs7\">pic.twitter.com/TguhhlZXs7</a></p>— Samuel Braslow (@SamBraslow) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SamBraslow/status/1315513293780512769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 12, 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=\"w24nd\">Braslow told the Tracker he was holding his phone in front of the face when it was shot out of his hands, and said that it was clear officers were not following directives to aim crowd-control munitions at the ground or waist-level.</p><p data-block-key=\"n5n9f\">Braslow said he was wearing a Courier press badge and was carrying a large, professional camera around his neck. He said he was not injured and his phone was not damaged from the incident. He was able to continue posting live reports and footage until about 1:20 a.m.</p><p data-block-key=\"3m9yq\">“I was less surprised than I maybe should have been,” Braslow said, “and I just took it in stride.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sfj4c\">LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX81MCZ.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ijors\">Los Angeles Police Department officers line up in front of the Staples Center as Lakers fans celebrate their team winning the 2020 NBA Championship on Oct. 11, 2020.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Samuel Braslow (Beverly Hills Courier)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Video journalist presses charges over police assault",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/video-journalist-presses-charges-over-police-assault/",
"first_published_at": "2024-03-07T20:32:56.403152Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-01-31T19:02:42.660107Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-01-31T19:02:42.580192Z",
"date": "2020-10-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ln54e\">Independent video journalist Mason Lake is pressing charges after he said a Portland, Oregon, police officer grabbed and physically moved him to the sidewalk, away from filming a mass arrest at a protest on Oct. 10, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"36fgs\">Lake filed a <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ord.177047/gov.uscourts.ord.177047.1.1.pdf\">lawsuit</a> in June 2022 against the City of Portland and two police officers, identified as John Doe 1 and 2. In the complaint, Lake alleges that while covering protests in 2020 and 2021, Portland police in seven separate incidents shoved, pepper-sprayed, threatened, pinned, grabbed and punched him, and damaged his equipment.</p><p data-block-key=\"cc7su\">He is seeking $200,000 in compensatory damages. For jurisdictional reasons, an amended complaint was moved from state to federal court on Dec. 12, 2023.</p><p data-block-key=\"drcqm\">The alleged assault took place against a backdrop of social justice protests around the country in the summer of 2020 following the police murder of George Floyd that May. In Portland, protests brought <a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2023/12/20/new-lawsuit-against-federal-government-over-2020-response-to-portland-protests/\">thousands to the streets continuously</a> throughout that period.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ib1m\">“When someone like me or other independent press are actually in between police officers and protesters, they (police officers) don’t like that,” Lake told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in a March 2024 interview. “I do believe the police knew who I was, and I do very much believe they were trying to get rid of me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c56p\">By pressing charges, Lake said he hopes to set a legal precedent for press freedom cases in the future, adding, “I didn’t break any laws. I never contributed to anything (illegal), like breaking windows or anything like that.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3jsck\">When contacted, the Portland Police Bureau said they could not comment on ongoing litigation but referred the Tracker to the city attorney, Robert L. Taylor. Taylor did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/OR_Police1010_Lake_assault_10-202.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ogi0o\">Police officers shoving a group of protesters back before arresting many of them at an Oct. 10, 2020, protest in Portland, Oregon. Video journalist Mason Lake was shoved away from the scene shortly after a police officer saw him filming.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "3:23-cv-01870",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"subpoena_type": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
"updates": [
"(2024-05-22 00:00:00+00:00) Journalist’s claims dismissed over assault by Portland, Oregon, police"
],
"case_statuses": [
"dismissed"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mason Lake (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist covering Portland protest shoved away from demonstration",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-covering-portland-protest-shoved-away-from-demonstration/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-13T16:40:40.662537Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:08:36.045285Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:08:35.972081Z",
"date": "2020-10-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"x3nwg\">Independent journalist Melissa Lewis said she was harassed and assaulted by Portland police while covering a protest in front of the Portland Police Bureau North Precinct on Oct. 10, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"jbfm0\">The protest was among the many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nxn4\">Law enforcement officers in Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The city agreed to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">preliminary injunction</a> in July to not to arrest or harm any journalists or legal observers of the protests or impede their work.</p><p data-block-key=\"y8bbw\">Lewis tweeted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Claudio_Report/status/1315175466119045121?s=20\">video</a> at 11:20 p.m. that captures the initial rush of officers toward the demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"1uk7t\">“I was maced, pushed behind a barrier, forced to jump the barrier, and then forced down the sidewalk under threat of violence,” Lewis told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"k5oet\">She said she had a press badge and large press markings on her backpack and helmet.</p><p data-block-key=\"etvvc\">The Portland Police Bureau has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Melissa “Claudio” Lewis (Independent)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Officers harass, shove journalist covering Portland protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-covering-portland-protest-shoved-away-from-demonstration/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-12T18:12:00.111148Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:08:19.796823Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:08:19.704471Z",
"date": "2020-10-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"k8ehv\">Independent journalist Alissa Azar said she was harassed and assaulted by Portland police while covering a protest in front of the Police Bureau North Precinct on Oct. 10, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"03y57\">The protest was among the many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents</a> involving journalists covering protests across the country.</p><p data-block-key=\"xzvq3\">Law enforcement officers in Portland had targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/en/cases/index-newspapers-llc-v-city-portland\">class-action lawsuit</a> filed in June by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The city agreed to a <a href=\"https://aclu-or.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/2020-07-16_preliminary_injunction.pdf\">preliminary injunction</a> in July to not to arrest or harm any journalists or legal observers of the protests or impede their work.</p><p data-block-key=\"74bsb\">At 10:22 p.m. on Oct. 10 Azar tweeted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AlissaAzar/status/1315160950303911938?s=20\">video</a> of officers surrounding protesters, yelling at and aggressively pushing them around. At the 1:10 time mark, an officer approaches Azar saying, “If you want to film, you can do it from down there,” pressuring them to walk away from the scene. Another officer suddenly charges at them, yelling, “Move! I don’t care what the TRO says.”</p><p data-block-key=\"jauif\">Azar told the Tracker she was physically pushed and was wearing her National Press Photographers Association pass, as well as a helmet and vest with press markings.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ibsb\">The Portland Police Bureau has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing continuing litigation in the ACLU case.</p></div>",
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"name": "Oregon",
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{
"title": "TV producer arrested, released, after the channel’s private security guard shoots a man at dueling Denver protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tv-producer-arrested-released-after-the-channels-private-security-guard-shoots-a-man-at-dueling-denver-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-05T17:45:03.263887Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-11-25T18:27:33.379556Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-11-25T18:27:33.276171Z",
"date": "2020-10-10",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Denver",
"longitude": -104.9847,
"latitude": 39.73915,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"h6uzb\">A 9NEWS producer was arrested alongside a private security guard hired by the TV station, after the guard was involved in a shooting at the site of dueling right- and left-wing protests in Denver, Colorado, on Oct. 10, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"n8t8e\">A “Patriot Rally” was organized for 2 p.m. at the park next to the state Capitol; a counterprotest “BLM-Antifa Soup Drive” was planned for 1:30 p.m. at the Civic Center to “drown out” the rally, 9NEWS <a href=\"https://www.9news.com/article/news/crime/shooting-near-dueling-rallies-denver-2-in-custody/73-6890f727-e44a-4a60-a777-a6fbe0730e0e\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"v849x\">As the protests were winding down at around 3:30 p.m., there was a confrontation between opposing protesters near the courtyard of the Denver Art Museum, according to the channel’s report. An unnamed 9NEWS producer <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLZXe9aQo6k&has_verified=1&bpctr=1614630186\">was filming</a> as a man attempted to de-escalate the fight. One of the men, later identified as Lee Keltner, eventually pulled out a can of pepper spray, threatening to spray a protester wearing a “Black Guns Matter” T-shirt.</p><p data-block-key=\"gohqb\">At the 1:30 mark in the producer’s footage of the incident, Keltner appears to notice the producer filming and Denver Post photojournalist Helen Richardson documenting the scene. Keltner walks toward them and out of the frame, and someone can be heard saying, “This is not the place for a camera.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6ybjq\">“Get the cameras out of here or I’m going to fuck you up,” the man continues. It is unclear in the footage that follows whether the speaker was Keltner and whether he then pushes the 9NEWS producer or immediately begins a confrontation with the crew’s security guard, Matthew Dolloff. As the producer backed away from the scuffle, Keltner aimed his spray can at Dolloff as the security guard reached to his belt, <a href=\"https://www.denverpost.com/2020/10/13/denver-protest-shooting-matthew-dolloff-affidavit/\">according to a police affidavit</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9v2lh\">According to the footage posted by 9NEWS, the producer stopped recording on his phone for the next 12 seconds, during which Keltner pepper sprayed Dolloff, who had drawn a handgun, and Dolloff shot Keltner. Those moments, however, were <a href=\"https://www.denverpost.com/2020/10/10/dueling-denver-rallies-fatal-shooting-photos/\">captured</a> by Richardson.</p><p data-block-key=\"tdq5t\">Both Dolloff and the 9NEWS producer were arrested by Denver Sheriff Department deputies, who arrived at the scene within seconds. The producer resumed filming after the shooting, and can be heard identifying himself as a member of the press to officers and informing them that he had a press pass and a 9NEWS hat in his pocket.</p><p data-block-key=\"uzxqw\">The producer also said that the man who was shot “was going to get me.”</p><p data-block-key=\"krw5w\">“That guy [Dolloff] just saved my fucking life, you know that, right?” the producer can be heard telling officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"ye0lp\">Dolloff can also be heard identifying himself as security for 9NEWS.</p><p data-block-key=\"30kg4\">Keltner was transported to a local hospital where he died later that day.</p><p data-block-key=\"5lw0p\">After initially being placed under arrest, the 9NEWS producer was released from police custody that evening without charges and is not considered a suspect, the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"4lvfz\">The station did not respond to an email requesting comment and identification of the producer.</p><p data-block-key=\"6b7dk\">9NEWS management released a <a href=\"https://www.9news.com/article/news/crime/shooting-near-dueling-rallies-denver-2-in-custody/73-6890f727-e44a-4a60-a777-a6fbe0730e0e\">statement</a> concerning the incident that read, in part: “9NEWS continues to cooperate fully with law enforcement and is deeply saddened by this loss of life.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e2ru0\">“For the past few months, it has been the practice of 9NEWS to contract private security, through an outside firm, to accompany our personnel covering protests. Pinkerton, the private security firm, is responsible for ensuring its guards or those it contracts with are appropriately licensed. 9News does not contract directly with individual security personnel.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1ruc0\">The station’s management <a href=\"https://www.9news.com/article/news/crime/security-guard-held-denver-shooting-wasnt-licensed-officials-say/73-648ca0f2-cc71-4fa7-b145-cbd710b87f5f\">also stated</a> that the news crew Dolloff was accompanying was unaware that he was carrying a firearm, and the station had instructed the security firm that security guards for its news crews should not be armed.</p><p data-block-key=\"6qfkw\">Pinkerton <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/11/us/denver-colorado-protests.html\">told The New York Times</a> in a statement that Dolloff was not an employee of the firm, but a contractor from Isborn Security. Both Pinkerton and 9NEWS said they had no knowledge that Dolloff was not licensed to work as a security guard.</p></div>",
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"state": {
"name": "Colorado",
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"tags": [
"anti-fascism",
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"election",
"Election 2020",
"protest"
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"authors": [],
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{
"title": "Freelance journalist arrested while covering Wauwatosa, Wisconsin protests",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-arrested-while-covering-wauwatosa-wisconsin-protests/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-23T17:37:27.577908Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:10:20.261947Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:10:20.145646Z",
"date": "2020-10-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Wauwatosa",
"longitude": -88.00759,
"latitude": 43.04946,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"goe1f\">Freelance journalist Blair Nelson was arrested while covering a protest in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, on Oct. 8, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"8t7zi\">Demonstrations began after a Milwaukee County prosecutor said on Oct. 7 his office wouldn’t bring charges against a Wauwatosa police officer <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/07/us/wauwatosa-wisconsin-police-shooting-alvin-cole/index.html\">who shot and killed Black teenager Alvin Cole</a> on Feb. 2. Police said Cole refused orders to put down a gun after he ran away from police following a disturbance at a mall. The protests came as demonstrations against police violence and racial injustice had been held for months across the country, including in Wisconsin.</p><p data-block-key=\"3elvy\">Nelson, who has reported for the conservative national college news site Campus Reform and news site The RF Angle, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he decided to go to Wauwatosa from his base in central Illinois to cover protests sparked by a lack of charges in Cole’s death. He wasn’t on assignment for a particular outlet, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"0weiq\">On the second day of demonstrations following the prosecutor’s announcement, protesters were driving through Wauwatosa in a car caravan, he said. The protest continued after a 7 p.m. curfew in Wauwatosa took effect.</p><p data-block-key=\"tqxma\">Nelson said he was following the caravan in a car with three other journalists — Daily Caller reporters Richie McGinniss and Shelby Talcott, and independent social media journalist Brendan Gutenschwager. At one point the group saw police were making arrests, so they parked the car. Nelson said he got out and started filming the scene from the sidewalk. He said he and McGinniss were filming police as they arrested Alvin Cole’s mother when police “swarmed us,” Nelson said.</p><p data-block-key=\"aiazv\">Nelson said a National Guardsman took his phone and pulled Nelson’s hands behind his back. McGinniss told the officer they were journalists, Nelson said, and the officer released him, returned his phone, and told him to leave.</p><p data-block-key=\"puwwn\">As they left, Nelson said local police officers chased them. Video McGinniss <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RichieMcGinniss/status/1314413066570866695?s=20\">posted on Twitter</a> shows that police shouted at the journalists to “get down on the ground” as they returned to their car.</p><p data-block-key=\"trv5h\">Nelson said he followed police orders, got down on the ground and told police he was a journalist, but didn’t have any form of credentials with him.</p><p data-block-key=\"9kr3m\">He said he was handcuffed, loaded into a police van and transported to jail in neighboring Waukesha County. He said he was released at around 2:30 a.m. the following morning.</p><p data-block-key=\"aco33\">Nelson was cited for violating an emergency order. He pleaded not guilty at a hearing on Dec. 10, and his attorney told the judge that he was at the protest as press, Nelson said. A date hasn’t yet been set for the next court hearing.</p><p data-block-key=\"qocpd\"><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/social-media-journalist-arrested-injured-while-covering-wisconsin-protest/\">Gutenschwager</a> was also arrested and cited for violating an emergency order. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/daily-caller-journalist-hit-detained-police-while-covering-wisconsin-protest/\">Talcott</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/daily-caller-journalist-beaten-detained-police-while-covering-protests-wisconsin/\">McGinniss</a> were detained, but released when police identified them as journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"mkv5r\">Nelson said police confiscated his phone when he was arrested, and that it was not returned to him until Dec. 1.</p><p data-block-key=\"ydzcg\">Wauwatosa Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Abby Pavlik told the Tracker in an email that Nelson wasn’t wearing anything that identified him as a member of the press and didn’t show police any credentials when police asked.</p><p data-block-key=\"mu7ga\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering these protests across the country. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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],
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"state": {
"name": "Wisconsin",
"abbreviation": "WI"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-10-27 16:12:00+00:00) Freelance journalist arrested while covering Wauwatosa, Wisconsin protests Charges dropped against freelance journalist covering 2020 Wisconsin protest"
],
"case_statuses": [],
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"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"protest"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Blair Nelson (Freelance)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Daily Caller journalist hit, detained by police while covering Wisconsin protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/daily-caller-journalist-hit-detained-police-while-covering-wisconsin-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-11T20:34:52.668491Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:10:02.532536Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:10:02.432812Z",
"date": "2020-10-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Wauwatosa",
"longitude": -88.00759,
"latitude": 43.04946,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"5vdgq\">Shelby Talcott, media reporter for the news website the Daily Caller, was detained and hit with a club by police while covering a protest in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on Oct. 8, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"o7sw5\">The protest followed a Milwaukee County prosecutor’s Oct. 7 announcement that his office would not bring charges against a Wauwatosa police officer who shot and killed Black teenager Alvin Cole on Feb. 2. Cole, 17, had refused to put down a gun and ran away from police following a disturbance at a Wauwatosa mall. The Wauwatosa protest came amid demonstrations against police brutality and racism that had swept for months across the country, including in Wisconsin.</p><p data-block-key=\"7kr1s\">Talcott told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was following a car caravan protest through Wauwatosa, a Milwaukee suburb, the day after the prosecutor’s announcement. The caravan protest continued after a 7 p.m. curfew went into effect.</p><p data-block-key=\"063lk\">Talcott was in a car with her Daily Caller colleague Richie McGinniss, as well as independent social media reporter Brendan Gutenschwager and freelancer Blair Nelson. She said they parked the car when they came upon police making arrests. McGinniss and Nelson left the car to film the scene, but Talcott said she stayed inside because the situation seemed tense and she had a “bad feeling” about it.</p><p data-block-key=\"ypvts\">McGinniss was filming police as they arrested Tracy Cole, Alvin Cole’s mother, when police confronted McGinniss and told him to leave, <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RichieMcGinniss/status/1314413066570866695?s=20\">video he posted on his Twitter shows</a>. When he jogged toward the car, police ordered him to the ground and hit him with night sticks, Talcott said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4axvf\">As McGinniss was being detained, Talcott said officers surrounded the journalists’ car, pointed a taser at her head, and ordered her and Gutenschwager to get out and get on the ground. During the interaction, she said, an officer struck her on her upper left arm with a club.</p><p data-block-key=\"i2nvk\">Talcott said that she repeatedly identified herself to officers as a journalist. She did not have her press credentials out at the time she was arrested because she had been riding inside the car, she said. According to Talcott, McGinniss had his displayed, but an officer tossed aside his credentials when the journalists were being detained.</p><p data-block-key=\"400so\">Talcott said her wrists were restrained and she was loaded into a police van. After about 10 minutes, she said she heard an officer outside the van ask if there were any credentialed press inside. When Talcott and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/daily-caller-journalist-beaten-detained-police-while-covering-protests-wisconsin/\">McGinniss</a> identified themselves as press, she said, they were released, but <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/social-media-journalist-arrested-injured-while-covering-wisconsin-protest/\">Gutenschwager</a> and Nelson, who did not have any form of press credentials with them, were arrested and cited with violating the emergency curfew order.</p><p data-block-key=\"thp1z\">The Tracker is <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/arrest-criminal-charge/\">documenting all arrests here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"jqy6b\">The incident in Wauwatosa was the third time this year that Talcott had been arrested or detained while covering protests in 2020. In September she was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-arrested-held-16-hours-while-covering-louisville-protests/\">arrested</a> while covering a protest in Louisville, Kentucky, and in June she was briefly <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-briefly-detained-while-covering-dc-protests/\">detained</a> at a protest in Washington, D.C.</p><p data-block-key=\"juch7\">In response to the Wauwatosa arrests of his journalists, Daily Caller publisher and co-founder Neil Patel said in a statement<a href=\"https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2020/10/10/daily-caller-publisher-slams-wauwatosa-pd-detaining-reporters/5953210002/\"> reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a> that “there is a definite problem” in the Wauwatosa Police Department. “They were brutally beaten with clubs for no reason,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"hepkt\">A spokesperson for the Wauwatosa Police Department did not return a request for comment about Talcott’s detention.</p><p data-block-key=\"2d5b9\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering these protests across the country. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Wisconsin",
"abbreviation": "WI"
},
"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": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Shelby Talcott (Daily Caller)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Daily Caller journalist beaten, detained by police while covering protests in Wisconsin",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/daily-caller-journalist-beaten-detained-police-while-covering-protests-wisconsin/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-09T12:36:46.674273Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:09:44.353617Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:09:44.253990Z",
"date": "2020-10-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Wauwatosa",
"longitude": -88.00759,
"latitude": 43.04946,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4okyc\">Richie McGinniss, video director for the national news site the Daily Caller, was beaten and detained by police while covering a protest in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on Oct. 8, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ldk2\">The protest came one day after a Milwaukee County prosecutor announced that his office would not bring charges against a Wauwatosa police officer who shot and killed Black teenager Alvin Cole on Feb. 2. Cole refused to put down a gun and ran away from police following a disturbance at a mall. The protests came as demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice had been held for months across the country, including in Wisconsin.</p><p data-block-key=\"phnbq\">On the day after the prosecutor’s announcement, protests continued past a 7 p.m. curfew that was in effect in Wauwatosa, a suburb of Milwaukee. McGinniss was detained while he was filming police arresting Tracy Cole, Alvin Cole’s mother, the <a href=\"https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2020/10/10/daily-caller-publisher-slams-wauwatosa-pd-detaining-reporters/5953210002/\">Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a> reported. McGinniss did not respond to a request for an interview, but described the incident on Twitter.</p><p data-block-key=\"pezn1\">Video McGinniss posted on Twitter shows that an officer approached him as he was filming the arrest. McGinniss can be heard telling police that he has press credentials and identifying himself as working for the Daily Caller.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Video of <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShelbyTalcott?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ShelbyTalcott</a> and my detainment. <br><br>As I was recording arrests, one officer told me to (quickly) clear the area. <br><br>Upon arriving to the car, I was forcibly detained (with press cred in hand) and as you can hear in the video, I tried my best to comply with police orders. <a href=\"https://t.co/2I6GNH2CNX\">pic.twitter.com/2I6GNH2CNX</a></p>— Richie🎥McG🍿 (@RichieMcGinniss) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RichieMcGinniss/status/1314413066570866695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 9, 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=\"ezv73\">Officers told him to leave, and as he moved away, someone shouted, “Don’t let me catch you,” the video shows.</p><p data-block-key=\"80cra\">The video continues as McGinniss crossed a parking lot to his car, where several officers suddenly shouted to “get down on the ground,” as McGinniss repeated that he had press credentials.</p><p data-block-key=\"cw9wz\">Blair Nelson, an independent journalist who had been accompanying McGinniss, was also ordered to the ground and restrained, Nelson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Police also detained McGinniss’s Daily Caller colleague Shelby Talcott and independent journalist Brendan Gutenschwager, who were in the car. The Tracker is<a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/arrest-criminal-charge/\"> documenting all arrests here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cow4b\">Officers hit McGinnis multiple times with a club, Talcott <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShelbyTalcott/status/1314386705475084288?s=20\">tweeted</a> in a description of the encounter with police.</p><p data-block-key=\"qt5zj\">Talcott wrote that she and McGinniss were both detained but were released after police determined they were journalists. Gutenschwager and Nelson were both arrested and cited for violating an emergency order.</p><p data-block-key=\"k6o9v\">Photos Talcott posted showed that McGinniss was cut on his forehead during the encounter, and the pair sustained other scrapes and bruises during the encounter.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We’ll have some nice cuts and bruises in the coming days... <a href=\"https://t.co/wSsnumUeCA\">pic.twitter.com/wSsnumUeCA</a></p>— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShelbyTalcott/status/1314388800571932672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 9, 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=\"amr12\">In response to the incident, Daily Caller publisher and co-founder Neil Patel said in a statement<a href=\"https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2020/10/10/daily-caller-publisher-slams-wauwatosa-pd-detaining-reporters/5953210002/\"> reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a> that “there is a definite problem” in the Wauwatosa Police Department. “They were brutally beaten with clubs for no reason,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"p84v3\">A spokesperson for the Wauwatosa Police Department did not return requests for comment about the incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"8nwud\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering these protests across the country. <a href=\"/blog/blm-and-unprecedented-aggressions-against-media/\">Find these incidents here</a>.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Wauwatosa Police Department",
"arrest_status": "detained and released without being processed",
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Wisconsin",
"abbreviation": "WI"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"court verdict",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault"
],
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"Richie McGinniss (Daily Caller)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Social media journalist arrested, injured while covering Wisconsin protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/social-media-journalist-arrested-injured-while-covering-wisconsin-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-12-09T12:12:26.592270Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:09:17.607149Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:09:17.489356Z",
"date": "2020-10-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Wauwatosa",
"longitude": -88.00759,
"latitude": 43.04946,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"k2evr\">Independent social media journalist Brendan Gutenschwager was one of four journalists arrested or detained while covering a protest in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on Oct. 8, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"vfpgy\">The protest followed a Milwaukee County prosecutor’s Oct. 7 announcement that his office would not bring charges against a Wauwatosa police officer who shot and killed Black teenager Alvin Cole on Feb. 2. Cole, 17, had refused to put down a gun and ran away from police following a disturbance at a Wauwatosa mall. The Wauwatosa protest came amid demonstrations against police brutality and racism that had swept for months across the country, including in Wisconsin.</p><p data-block-key=\"ikuto\">Gutenschwager, who is based in Michigan, said he works as an independent videographer, filming protests and other events to post on social media platforms, then distributing his footage to mainstream media outlets such as CNN, Newsweek, The New York Times and Fox News, all of which have used his footage.</p><p data-block-key=\"mxgqf\">Gutenschwager told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that on the day after the prosecutor’s decision was announced, he followed protesters as they marched several miles from the Milwaukee County Public Safety Building to the suburb of Wauwatosa.</p><p data-block-key=\"hv3wz\">While there had been some confrontations and destruction of property the previous night, Gutenschwager said, the march on the second day was peaceful. However, when marchers encountered National Guard officers deployed in Wauwatosa, he said, demonstrators became anxious about a confrontation; some decided to get in cars to continue to protest by driving through the area. The demonstrations continued after a 7 p.m. curfew in Wauwatosa took effect.</p><p data-block-key=\"ulnt0\">Gutenschwager said he got in a car with other journalists, including Shelby Talcott and Richie McGinniss of the news website the Daily Caller, to follow the protest caravan. The journalists stopped in the parking lot of the St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church, on North Wauwatosa Avenue, to cover a confrontation between police and protesters, he said. Gutenschwager said he stayed in the vehicle, but McGinniss, one of the Daily Caller journalists, got out.</p><p data-block-key=\"papar\">When McGinniss returned to the car, police tackled him to the ground, Gutenschwager said. Officers then surrounded the vehicle and ordered Gutenschwager and others to get out, he said. Gutenschwager said he was trying to exit, but it was difficult to move quickly because he was in the back seat of a two-door car. A video of the encounter posted on Twitter by WISN 12 reporter Caroline Reinwald shows a police officer yanking Gutenschwager from the car and slamming him to the ground, where he struck his head on the pavement. An officer then flipped him over and pinned him face down on the ground as Gutenschwager shouted that he was a member of the press, the journalist said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">What appears to be National Guard arresting protesters at 77th and Milwaukee. It’s a church parking lot. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WISN12News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WISN12News</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/0gcg70jTGQ\">pic.twitter.com/0gcg70jTGQ</a></p>— Caroline Reinwald (@WISN_Caroline) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WISN_Caroline/status/1314384786845249536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 9, 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=\"tfo6i\">McGinniss and Talcott both <a href=\"https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2020/10/10/daily-caller-publisher-slams-wauwatosa-pd-detaining-reporters/5953210002/\">described in interviews and on social media</a> that police beat them with night sticks during the encounter. They were both detained, but released without being arrested after they were identified as credentialed press. Blair Nelson, a freelance journalist who has worked for Scriberr News and Campus Reform, was also arrested.</p><p data-block-key=\"phx6g\">The Tracker is <a class=\"category category-arrest\" href=\"/arrest-criminal-charge/\"> documenting all arrests here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6q262\">Gutenschwager said that he does have press credentials, but they were in his vehicle, which was parked a short distance away. He said he continued to identify himself as press at multiple other times throughout the night.</p><p data-block-key=\"c0ssr\">Gutenschwager said his arms were restrained in zip ties before he was loaded into a police vehicle. He and others who had been arrested were transported to a parking lot, transferred to another van belonging to police in neighboring Waukesha County and then taken to the Waukesha County Jail, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"lmt04\">Gutenschwager said that he was processed and held in the jail. When he was released at around 3 a.m., he said police provided no way to get back to where he and others had been arrested. He was able to borrow a cellphone to get a ride from one of the journalists he was with at the time he was arrested, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"b7iot\">Gutenschwager was cited for violating an emergency curfew order, with a fine of $1,321, according to a document he provided. He was initially given a court date in November, which has been postponed to Dec. 10.</p><p data-block-key=\"0rdp4\">Gutenschwager said police confiscated his cellphone, saying it could be used for evidence, but did not explain what type of evidence. He said he retrieved his phone a week after he was arrested. When he got it, he said it had been put into airplane mode.</p><p data-block-key=\"6nii4\">Gutenschwager said that he had significant pain in his back and neck the day after the arrest and went to a hospital in Michigan, where he was given a CT scan and diagnosed with a concussion that likely resulted from his fall during the arrest. He said he was treated for his injuries and told to avoid computer screen time, which he noted was difficult because of his work</p><p data-block-key=\"if08i\">Wauwatosa Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Abby Pavlik told the Tracker in an email that Gutenschwager was not wearing anything that identified him as a member of the press and did not show police any credentials when police asked. She did not respond to a question about the use of force during the arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"6u3ks\">On Oct. 9, the police department <a href=\"https://twitter.com/WauwatosaPD/status/1314676458061811712?s=20\">posted on Twitter</a> contradicting the reports that four credentialed journalists had been arrested. “Two individuals were arrested and they showed no press credentials at the time of their arrest,” the department wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"hezi0\">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><p data-block-key=\"cd5ap\"><i>This article has been updated to include comment from the Wauwatosa Police Department.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"arresting_authority": "Wauwatosa Police Department",
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2020-10-09",
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": true,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "law enforcement",
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"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": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "cellphone"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Wisconsin",
"abbreviation": "WI"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-01-01 18:43:00+00:00) Charges dropped against journalist arrested and injured while covering Wisconsin protest"
],
"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": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
"Assault",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brendan Gutenschwager (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Jewish Insider reporter assaulted by crowd during Brooklyn anti-lockdown protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/jewish-insider-reporter-assaulted-crowd-during-brooklyn-anti-lockdown-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2020-10-30T16:06:08.904673Z",
"last_published_at": "2023-12-06T21:28:40.145134Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2023-12-06T21:28:39.918882Z",
"date": "2020-10-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3egwx\">Jacob Kornbluh, national politics reporter for the national news outlet Jewish Insider, was assaulted by a crowd during anti-lockdown protests in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Oct. 7, 2020, according to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jacobkornbluh/status/1314027011061489664?s=21\">tweets</a> from Kornbluh and <a href=\"https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-brooklyn-protesters-attack-orthodox-reporter-who-urged-compliance-with-covid-rules-1.9218323\">news</a> <a href=\"https://nypost.com/2020/10/08/orthodox-reporter-attacked-called-nazi-at-jewish-protest-in-borough-park/\">reports</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"2zu3w\">Videos of the assault, which were <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jangelooff/status/1314027740102889474\">posted on Twitter</a>, show a group of men in clothing typically worn by members of the Orthodox Jewish community surrounding Kornbluh and pinning him against a wall while screaming “moyser,” or “snitch” in Yiddish.</p><p data-block-key=\"o9fhc\">Kornbluh wrote on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jacobkornbluh/status/1314027011061489664\">Twitter</a> and confirmed in a conversation with the Committee to Protect Journalists that he was “hit in the head and kicked by an angry crowd of hundreds of community members” that were calling him “Nazi” and “Hitler.” New York Police Department officers and several community members helped Kornbluh leave the crowd, according to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jacobkornbluh/status/1314027011061489664\">Kornbluh’s tweets</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"r7mdp\">The New York Police Department arrested one of the anti-lockdown protest organizers, Heshy Tischler, on Oct. 11, and charged him with inciting a riot and unlawful imprisonment in connection with an assault of a journalist, according to <a href=\"https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcrim_attorney/Detail?which=case&docketNumber=jPXRaN_PLUS_cI/zUE_PLUS_lmFU0i5A==&courtType=L&countyId=Mx3NDQ8QLq7VMaHuMnNJWw==&docketId=Mm/AmsyoiL9b8ID0HPgl/A==&docketDseq=o6PDyKIx4BvSfbvyCgDnHw==&defendantName=Tischler,+Harold&county=KINGS&court=Kings+Criminal+Court&recordType=C&recordNum=QidJvQ3vnSZYkdTfzJdjKA==#NextAppearance\">New York state’s online court</a> record system and a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/NYPDnews/status/1315464202606260224\">tweet</a> from the NYPD.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ri9r\">Before his arrest, Tischler <a href=\"https://twitter.com/HeshyTischlerNY/status/1314625177565704192\">posted on Twitter</a> that he would be pleading not guilty.</p><p data-block-key=\"rq3kl\">The protests were against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s new COVID-19 restrictions on neighborhoods with high infection rates, including in Borough Park, where the incident occurred and where both Kornbluh and Tischler live, according to Haaretz.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/RTX80R1Q.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mzfra\">Protests erupted over new COVID-19 restrictions in areas with high infection rates, including this one in Brooklyn’s Borough Park on Oct. 7, 2020, where a reporter with Jewish Insider was assaulted by a crowd.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [
"(2021-05-07 00:00:00+00:00) Organizer of anti-lockdown protest charged with inciting a riot after journalist’s assault"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"coronavirus",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jacob Kornbluh (Jewish Insider)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist’s hearing damaged by flash-bang grenade thrown by federal agent",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-hearing-damaged-by-flash-bang-grenade-thrown-by-federal-agent/",
"first_published_at": "2021-03-24T17:10:13.752925Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-02-13T15:28:02.606951Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-02-13T15:28:02.505938Z",
"date": "2020-10-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"pk7o8\">Independent photojournalist Mathieu Lewis-Rolland’s hearing was damaged when a federal officer threw a flash-bang grenade at him while he was covering a protest in Portland, Oregon on Oct. 6, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"a3yf9\">Lewis-Rolland, whose work has been published by Reuters, Agence France-Presse and other news outlets, was covering one of the many Portland Black Lives Matter protests that had been ongoing for months following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"37ktc\">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. A temporary restraining order in early July, barring the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists, was <a href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-ordered-not-to-assault-arrest-journalists-in-portland/\">expanded to include federal agents later that month</a>. Lewis-Rolland is a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-journalists-say-federal-agents-targeted-them-with-projectiles-as-they-covered-protests-in-portland/\">plaintiff</a> in the class-action lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"bzvj7\">On the evening of Oct. 6, protesters marched to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on South Macadam Avenue in south Portland, according to<a href=\"https://www.opb.org/article/2020/10/07/federal-officers-use-tear-gas-during-protest-in-south-portland/\"> Oregon Public Broadcasting</a>. Federal Protective Service officers, who were guarding the building, declared an unlawful assembly, according to a <a href=\"https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=271260\">statement from the Portland Police Bureau</a>. When a protester threw a smoke bomb onto the roof of the building, agents began using flash bang grenades and tear gas to disperse demonstrators, OPB reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ok6k\">Lewis-Rolland told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was standing in front of the ICE building around 11 p.m. when the federal officers opened the door and rolled a flash-bang grenade toward him.</p><p data-block-key=\"so9ht\">In one<a href=\"https://twitter.com/cdsupriyadi/status/1313723217312317441\"> video</a> posted on Twitter by photographer Clementson Supriyadi, Lewis-Rolland can be seen in a fluorescent yellow vest. He moves to the side of a walkway leading to the entrance of the building as law enforcement officers emerge through the door. One agent throws a metal canister toward Lewis-Rolland, who does not appear to be standing near any protesters or other people. The flash-bang grenade explodes a few feet from the photographer, spewing white fog.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"xfiyb\">Lewis-Rolland told the Tracker the agents gave no warning.</p><p data-block-key=\"dc8dv\">“I couldn't even react,” he said. “It happened so fast.”</p><p data-block-key=\"uix21\">In another video from a different angle,<a href=\"https://twitter.com/MathieuLRolland/status/1313769631388110849\"> posted on Twitter by Garrison Davis</a> at 10:57 p.m., Lewis-Rolland can be seen in the very first seconds, jumping as the device explodes. He staggers a few steps, before falling to the ground.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Federal Agents have stormed out of the ICE building. Stun Grenades and Teargas being used. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/blacklivesmatter?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#blacklivesmatter</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/ICE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ICE</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/AbolishICE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#AbolishICE</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/portland?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#portland</a> <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortlandProtests?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PortlandProtests</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/kofM8IUQaj\">pic.twitter.com/kofM8IUQaj</a></p>— Garrison Davis (@hungrybowtie) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hungrybowtie/status/1313720052215029763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 7, 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=\"8mcyk\">Lewis-Rolland told the Tracker that after the explosion, he was dizzy for the rest of the night. He said he sought medical help for the damage to his hearing in his left ear and was treated with prednisone.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">They prescribed me prednisone. Hoping it gets better 🤞</p>— Mathieu Lewis-Rolland (@MathieuLRolland) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MathieuLRolland/status/1314795193346842624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 10, 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=\"dlbhv\">Lewis said he didn’t return to news coverage for a month after the incident. Nearly six months later, he said he still has very loud tinnitus in his left ear because of the blast, and loud noises cause his hearing to crackle.</p><p data-block-key=\"2lt69\">In addition to the bright yellow vest, Lewis-Rolland told the Tracker he was wearing a black helmet marked “PRESS” and carrying two large cameras.</p><p data-block-key=\"ksjle\">The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"vokn6\">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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],
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"categories": [
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},
{
"title": "Journalist assaulted while covering meeting of Oregon group",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-while-covering-meeting-oregon-group/",
"first_published_at": "2020-11-01T18:59:49.387257Z",
"last_published_at": "2022-04-28T15:25:02.587594Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2022-04-28T15:25:02.503489Z",
"date": "2020-10-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Grants Pass",
"longitude": -123.33067,
"latitude": 42.43933,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"q22ml\">An Oregon journalist was attacked on Oct. 4, 2020, in a public park by attendees of what he believed to be a meeting of a local militia group.</p><p data-block-key=\"0620p\">Chris Bristol, city editor for the Grants Pass Daily Courier, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was tipped off to what was described to him as a meeting of a local militia group that was being held at Reinhart Volunteer Park in Grants Pass. Bristol referred to the group as the JoCo militia, a reference to Josephine County, Oregon, of which Grants Pass is the county seat.</p><p data-block-key=\"kbm41\">Bristol had previously covered a Sept. 6 meeting of the group, which he said was organizing for major civil unrest following the presidential elections. Bristol spoke with Joseph Rice, whom he described as a member and purported leader in the group.</p><p data-block-key=\"rvqbn\">"I do have concerns about civil unrest," Rice told Bristol at the time. "Look at what's been happening in Portland for 100 days now. I wouldn't have believed that before."</p><p data-block-key=\"1rfph\">Since the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25, Portland has been the site of near-nightly civil unrest. The Tracker has captured press freedom violations in that city <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?city=Portland\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ued75\">In an interview with the Tracker, Rice denied having a leadership role in the JoCo group. He said the real leaders of the group asked him to facilitate the Sept. 6 meeting, as well as act as spokesman.</p><p data-block-key=\"0ei51\">Bristol told the Tracker that he received a tip that the JoCo group was meeting again on Oct. 4 to “hand out assignments.” Bristol arrived at the meeting with colleague Shuan Hall and said “things quickly began to devolve.”</p><p data-block-key=\"zhq9g\">Rice told the Tracker that the meeting of about 15 people held that day in a park pavilion was not affiliated with the JoCo militia — it was a “support group” unaffiliated with the militia group.</p><p data-block-key=\"b6q9e\">Rice said that the JoCo militia was coincidentally holding an unrelated gathering of about 30 people in another part of Reinhart Volunteer Park at the same time.</p><p data-block-key=\"2d21b\">“He made the assumption that it was a ‘quote-unquote’ militia meeting,” Rice said of Bristol. “It was not.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4c3r1\">Rice said he had no knowledge of the larger gathering on the other end of the park. He declined to disclose what the group he was with was meeting for, citing privacy concerns for those in attendance.</p><p data-block-key=\"hxmux\">Bristol said some of the attendees to the park meeting did not like his previous coverage and threatened to assault him if he tried to take videos or photos. At that point, Bristol <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEeT8Tv2acw&feature=youtu.be\">began to take video</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"amwza\">“You’re the problem, not us,” one man said to Bristol, insisting that the group was meeting for a class reunion, according to Bristol’s video.</p><p data-block-key=\"ua3qz\">Bristol said that Rice, who was captured in the video, then called over other members of the group. One man, later identified in both a Oct. 8 column in the Daily Courier and on KOBI-TV NBC5 as Jim Thalhamer, then lunged toward Bristol and began shouting.</p><p data-block-key=\"hw946\">“Don’t be taking my fucking picture, cocksucker,” Thalhamer yelled at Bristol, inching close to his face. The journalist, who was also holding a bicycle, said he tried to push Thalhamer away but other individuals grabbed and twisted his arms, causing him to drop his phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"4b26x\">“They were beginning to mob me when one of them charged into me (I was standing stationary the entire time, holding my bike), getting spittle all over my face as he swore at me,” Bristol told the Tracker in an email. “Just as I realized that I wasn't wearing a mask, the old guy charged into me again. I pushed him away from me, and they all went nuts, accusing me of assaulting the man, grabbing and twisting my arms, knocking my phone out of my hand, and kicking me and my bike.”</p><p data-block-key=\"szy7c\">Rice said that Bristol’s push caused Thalhamer to fall to the ground and hit his head. Hall, who had picked up the phone for his colleague, pointed it back toward the scuffle showing Thalhamer on his feet and again facing Bristol.</p><p data-block-key=\"zl7ev\">Both Hall and an individual at the meeting called the police, Bristol and Rice said. Paramedics arrived at the scene and examined Thalhamer but did not transport him from the scene. No arrests were made and Bristol said his phone was not damaged.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3mbi\">The Grants Pass Department of Public Safety confirmed to the Tracker that the matter has been referred to the Josephine County District Attorney’s office. The DA’s office did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"militia"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Chris Bristol (Grants Pass Daily Courier)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": [],
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist says she was deliberately sprayed with chemical irritant by police during Seattle protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-says-she-was-deliberately-sprayed-with-chemical-irritant-by-police-during-seattle-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-10-13T15:45:16.805773Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:11:15.271525Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:11:15.181967Z",
"date": "2020-10-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Seattle",
"longitude": -122.33207,
"latitude": 47.60621,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zj77a\">Independent videographer Melissa Lewis said she was hit with a chemical irritant sprayed by a police officer while covering a Seattle protest on Oct. 3, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"mn36s\">The Portland-based journalist was covering one of the many protests held in Seattle 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=\"duzb0\">The Oct. 3 protest began at night around 7 p.m. in Cal Anderson Park, in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Demonstrators marched on Broadway, with some protesters vandalizing buildings with graffiti. In response, Seattle Police officers used pepper spray and arrested 16 people, <a href=\"https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-police-arrests-16-at-capitol-hill-protest-on-saturday/\">according to the Seattle Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"g0rmx\">Lewis told the Tracker the incident occurred after the protesters returned to Cal Anderson Park. “We were told repeatedly as press that we had to disperse, that we had no right to be there and no right to film, which is bananas, and despite how many times we IDed as press and showed credentials,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"mitoi\">Lewis told the Tracker she believes they were deliberately targeted by the officer. “I got mace on my camera and on my gimbal,” she said. “I was able to wash it off. But I don’t love getting mace on my equipment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bqdb6\">The Seattle Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "Washington",
"abbreviation": "WA"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
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"tags": [
"Black Lives Matter",
"chemical irritant",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Melissa “Claudio” Lewis (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Independent journalist sprayed with chemical irritant while covering Seattle protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalists-sprayed-with-chemical-irritant-while-covering-seattle-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2021-02-03T16:23:31.709481Z",
"last_published_at": "2024-06-10T21:10:58.944324Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2024-06-10T21:10:58.862083Z",
"date": "2020-10-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Seattle",
"longitude": -122.33207,
"latitude": 47.60621,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uoayy\">Independent videographer Scott Keeler wrote on social media that he was hit with a chemical irritant sprayed by a police officer while covering a Seattle protest on Oct. 3, 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"2tjek\">The Portland-based journalist was covering one of the many protests held in Seattle 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=\"ckhqf\">The Oct. 3 protest began at night around 7 p.m. in Cal Anderson Park, in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Demonstrators marched on Broadway, with some protesters vandalizing buildings with graffiti. In response, Seattle Police officers used pepper spray and arrested 16 people, <a href=\"https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-police-arrests-16-at-capitol-hill-protest-on-saturday/\">according to the Seattle Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"vfodw\">At 9:27 p.m., Keeler <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_WhatRiot/status/1312610355047100418\">tweeted</a> a photo of a camera covered in a substance, writing that he and Lewis had taken “a direct hit of mace while filming an arrest.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.@PhrenologyPhun and I just took a direct hit of mace while filming an arrest <a href=\"https://t.co/4MV09FT35c\">pic.twitter.com/4MV09FT35c</a></p>— Soundtrack to the End (@_WhatRiot) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_WhatRiot/status/1312610355047100418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 4, 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=\"5m23j\">Keeler, who did not respond to a request for comment, posted a <a href=\"https://twitter.com/_WhatRiot/status/1312624840524800000\">video</a> of the incident on Twitter about an hour later, showing Seattle police in riot gear arresting a number of people on East Denny Way, on the north end of Cal Anderson Park. About 10 seconds in, a police officer is seen firing pepper spray at a group of people, and the spray hits Keeler’s phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"7u8di\">The Seattle Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
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"name": "Washington",
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},
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]
