BuzzFeed News journalist arrested in Seattle while asking for comment

November 15, 2018
On November 4, 2018, BuzzFeed News reporter Blake Montgomery was arrested in Seattle on suspicion of trespassing.The Stranger, a Seattle alt-weekly, reports that Montgomery was arrested while in the process of reporting out a story about Tank Hapertefen, a man who died after injecting silicone into his genitals. When Montgomery went to the Seattle home of Tank’s former partner, Dylan Hapertefen, to ask him for comment, the occupants of the home called the police. The police arrested Montgomery and took …

Freelance reporter Karen Savage arrested for felony trespassing while covering anti-pipeline protest in Louisiana

October 26, 2018
On August 18, 2018, freelance investigative reporter Karen Savage was arrested under a felony trespassing law, while reporting on protests against the construction of the Bayou Bridge oil pipeline in Louisiana. At the time, Savage was on assignment for The Appeal, a progressive news site focused on criminal justice issues.Savage was embedded with a camp of protesters, known as water protectors, who were aiming to defend a piece of land in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya River Basin, a wetlands area co-owned by …