Incident Details
- Date of Incident
- August 31, 2020
- Location
- Washington, District of Columbia
- Targets
- Oyoma Asinor (Independent)
- Case number
- 1:21-cv-02158
- Case Status
- Ongoing
- Type of case
- Civil
- Arrest Status
- Arrested and released
- Arresting Authority
- Metropolitan Police Department
- Charges
-
-
Rioting
- Aug. 31, 2020: Charges pending
- Aug. 31, 2020: Charges dropped
-
Rioting
- Unnecessary use of force?
- Yes
Arrest/Criminal Charge
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
- Equipment Seized
- Status of Seized Equipment
- Returned in full
- Search Warrant Obtained
- No
Equipment Search or Seizure
A police officer kicks a smoke bomb at a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C., on August 30, 2020. Photojournalist Oyoma Asinor sued the D.C. police after officers violently arrested him in the early hours of Aug. 31 and seized his equipment.
Appeals court reverses dismissal of journalist’s lawsuit against DC police
Independent photojournalist Oyoma Asinor’s claims of constitutional and state law violations by Washington, D.C., police at 2020 Black Lives Matter protests were revived by an appeals court on Aug. 9, 2024, according to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Asinor was documenting the protests when Metropolitan Police Department officers struck him in the chest, wrongfully arrested him on a felony rioting charge while he repeatedly identified himself as press and seized his camera and cellphone, said a lawsuit filed August 2021 in U.S. District Court by the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. on behalf of Asinor and photojournalist Bryan Dozier.
State law claims by both journalists against the District and two MPD officers include assault and battery and unlawful use of chemical irritants and less-lethal projectiles. Asinor also argued that MPD’s retention of his camera and cellphone for nearly a year was a violation of both the Fourth and Fifth amendments and of D.C. law.
In August 2022, the district judge dismissed the journalists’ lawsuit, ruling that they had failed to state a claim for the constitutional violations and that the state law claims should be adjudicated in local court instead. The journalists appealed the dismissal.
In August 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned the dismissal, remanding all claims to the U.S. District Court for further adjudication.
The decision is unusual among appellate court rulings, The Washington Post pointed out. Most appellate courts have ruled that the Fourth Amendment applies only to how property is searched and seized, not how long it’s held, and few have ruled that property is subject to the same Fourth Amendment protection against indefinite police detention as people.
ACLU attorney Michael Perloff, part of the team representing the journalists, told the Tracker that the order provides new protection for journalists whose property is seized and held by law enforcement for no apparent reason.
“This case is a major win for civil rights and civil liberties, as it makes clear that the Fourth Amendment not only governs the ability of law enforcement to seize property but also how long officers can hold what they take,” Perloff said.
Judge dismisses photojournalists’ lawsuit against DC government, police
A district judge for the District of Columbia dismissed the lawsuit from independent photojournalists Oyoma Asinor and Bryan Dozier against the DC government and multiple Metropolitan Police Department officers on Aug. 29, 2022.
Asinor said that officers struck him in the chest, wrongfully arrested him on a charge of felony rioting and seized his camera while he was covering Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 31, 2020. Police refused to return Asinor’s camera, cellphone and goggles for nearly a year, stating that they were being held as evidence. Dozier reported that he was repeatedly targeted with crowd-control munitions during a protest on Aug. 29.
The American Civil Liberties Union of DC filed a lawsuit on the photojournalists’ behalf in August 2021.
District Court Judge Amit Mehta granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss some of the claims on Aug. 29, 2022, ultimately extending his judgment to include all of the remaining claims and therefore ruling in favor of the DC government and officers.
In his ruling, Mehta declined to exercise federal jurisdiction, writing that the photojournalists’ claims both under the District’s First Amended Assemblies Act and of assault and battery would be better addressed in local courts.
The ruling can be appealed, but the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker was unable to confirm whether the photojournalists intend to do so.
Oyoma Asinor, an independent photographer, was covering a Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 31, 2020, when he was arrested by D.C. police and his camera and other equipment seized.
According to an ACLU of DC lawsuit filed on Asinor’s behalf in August 2021, Asinor arrived around midnight at Black Lives Matter Plaza to cover a BLM protest and found Metropolitan Police officers with shields and helmets standing in front of St. John’s Church, where barricades had been set up.
Protesters stood directly in front of the barricades, chanting, as Asinor moved around the intersection of 16th and H Streets taking photographs.
A group of MPD officers formed a line in the intersection of 16th and H Street, across H Street, blocking people from moving east. These officers wore helmets, and several were equipped with gun-shaped weapons attached to small tanks, according to the lawsuit.
Asinor continued photographing the officers, standing with another photojournalist at the northwest corner of the intersection of 16th and H Streets.
As Asinor continued photographing, he saw a small item — believed to be a water bottle — thrown from behind him toward the officers at the barricades, the document stated.
Moments after the water bottle was thrown, an officer behind the 16th Street barricade walked up to the barricade and rolled a smoke munition onto 16th Street. The munition produced a large cloud of smoke on 16th Street, the ACLU said.
Around the same time, a police officer deployed at least one stun grenade near where Asinor was standing. The stun grenade produced smoke and a loud noise that Asinor found “terrifying and disorienting.”
Asinor walked north on 16th Street, where he found several small concrete blocks across the street and police officers lined up “and pointing, but not firing, cannon-shaped weapons at Mr. Asinor and the others near him,” according to the document.
Asinor and a few other journalists and demonstrators stopped around ten feet away from the blocks.
Demonstrators standing about five to seven feet behind Asinor threw two water bottles at the officers, which either missed them or landed near them harmlessly.
Officers responded by shooting rubber bullets at the demonstrators. After that, Asinor did not see the demonstrators throw anything else or attack or threaten the officers in any way, according to the ACLU document.
Then officers ran between the blocks, charging at Asinor and others who had stopped. Asinor had been facing the officers and taking photos, but he turned around to run north on 16th Street as soon as he saw them charge.
“A police officer sprayed liquid chemical irritants at Mr. Asinor and others running away. The spray hit Mr. Asinor, causing him to feel a burning sensation on his skin as he was running. He additionally felt a burning sensation in his nose, his eyes watered, and he had trouble breathing. Mr. Asinor had goggles with him, but he was not wearing them so that he could better use his camera,” according to the legal document.
As Asinor was running up 16th Street, Asinor and others became boxed in between officers moving north and south.
Asinor attempted to leave the area, but “one of the bike officers struck him in the chest with her arm and stopped him, before forcing him to the ground and handcuffing him.”
According to the document, Asinor told the officer that he was a member of the press multiple times, repeatedly telling her that he was carrying a camera for journalistic purposes; however, she did not allow him to leave.
Another officer later told Asinor that he was being arrested for “felony rioting.”
The ACLU document said “nothing Mr. Asinor did on August 30 or 31, 2020 provided probable cause to believe that he violated D.C. Code § 22-1322 or any other law.”
After the arrest, an officer removed Asinor’s camera, cellphone and goggles. He was then taken to the second police district, where he remained in police custody overnight. He continued to feel the effects of the chemical irritants with which he had been sprayed.
According to an MSN report, the ACLU said: “MPD did not return these items for almost a full year, even though he requested them multiple times, and MPD had no lawful basis to keep them.”
Asinor was released after about 17 hours in custody, at which point he was informed that he would not face any charges, according to the document.
The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the D.C. government and the MPD officers claiming false imprisonment, assault and battery and unlawful use of chemical irritants, based on this incident and another with independent photojournalist Brian Dozier.
MPD told the Tracker they did not comment on ongoing cases.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
