Incident details
- Updated on
- Date of incident
- July 29, 2022
- Case number
- 1:24-cv-02921
- Case status
- Ongoing
- Type of case
- Civil
- Arrest status
- Arrested and released
- Arresting authority
- Georgia State University Police Department
- Unnecessary use of force?
- No
Arrest/Criminal Charge
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
- Equipment searched or seized
- Status of equipment
- Returned in full
- Search warrant obtained
- No
Equipment Search or Seizure
A portion of the federal lawsuit freelance photojournalist Ben Hendren filed on July 1, 2024, against the officers who arrested him in July 2022 for photographing the detention of people protesting a construction site in Atlanta, Georgia.
Georgia journalist’s claims against university police officers dismissed
A federal judge in Atlanta, Georgia, dismissed journalist Ben Hendren’s claims against Georgia State University Police Department officers on May 15, 2026, after Hendren sued over his arrest while documenting detainments at a protest against the controversial “Cop City” public safety training center.
In July 2022, approximately 50 to 60 people entered a newly constructed convocation center at Georgia State University in protest of Brasfield & Gorrie, a company involved in the construction that also served as the general contractor for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, which has been the focus of multiple protests.
University police officers arrived at the convocation center, then invited two Brasfield & Gorrie construction workers, Jackson Bussey and Moses Paige, who had been working inside the building when the protesters were there, to join them for a “showup” — a drive around the area to identify protesters suspected of damaging the construction site.
Hendren, meanwhile, was on assignment for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, photographing the detention of protesters about a half mile from the construction site. Bussey and Paige identified him to police as having been filming inside the convocation center, and the university officers arrested him for trespassing.
Hendren was detained for seven hours and questioned, and the photos in his work phone were searched. He was released without being charged.
In July 2024, Hendren sued the university police officers connected to his arrest, as well as Bussey and Paige, accusing them of violating his Fourth and First amendment rights, and state laws against unlawful seizure and false imprisonment.
Hendren accused the university officers of encouraging the construction workers to falsely identify him in retaliation for his photographing the protesters’ arrests. He also asserted that Bussey and Paige were angry that the protesters were interfering with their work and hoped to retaliate against anyone they perceived to be involved in the protest.
In August, in the state’s case against two of the arrested protesters, a Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled that the showup had violated due process, because the officers had used “impermissibly suggestive” tactics to get Bussey and Paige to identify the protesters they then arrested — as evidenced by the identification of Hendren, who was never charged.
“The State concedes that he committed no crimes that day, nor was he a party to any crime,” the judge wrote. “This undermines the credibility of the witnesses’ positive identifications of any of the detainees.”
But in a May 2026 order in Hendren’s federal suit, District Judge Thomas Thrash Jr. ruled that the officers still had probable cause to arrest Hendren because he was near the convocation center, was wearing dark clothing like the protesters and had been identified by Bussey and Paige.
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that a reporter’s job title does not immunize him from state criminal prosecution on First Amendment grounds,” Thrash wrote.
Thrash dismissed the relevance of the state court ruling that the showup was unconstitutional, writing that Bussey and Paige appeared to identify Hendren “based off personal knowledge and not suggestive techniques.”
Thrash granted the university defendants’ motion for summary judgment, dismissing Hendren’s claims against them.
“It’s not the outcome you’re hoping for as a plaintiff in any case, but it’s not over yet,” Hendren told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Since the incident, he said, he’s worn a voice recorder and body camera while reporting around police or any public safety officers. “I learned anyone can say anything about you and potentially ruin your life, or try to,” he said.
“I’m still very angry about what happened, and I’m pursuing personal justice, but the real purpose of bringing the case is to protect media in general,” he said. “Maybe we can set some precedent that you can’t abuse a journalist and get away with it.”
Freelance photojournalist Ben Hendren was arrested while photographing the detention of protesters who allegedly damaged a construction site in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 29, 2022. Hendren filed a lawsuit against the officers and workers at the site in July 2024, alleging First Amendment violations and retaliation.
Hendren told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was on assignment as a breaking news photographer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution when at around 1 p.m. he heard on the Georgia State University Police Department scanner that there was an ongoing protest at a construction site. A few minutes later he heard that the demonstrators had been pulled over about half a mile away from the site and went to that location instead.
“When I arrived I parked my car and saw a few protesters in handcuffs sitting on the sidewalk,” Hendren said. “I grabbed my camera gear, walked up to the scene and identified myself as a journalist to one of the Georgia State University police officers. And then I started photographing the scene with my longest lens possible to give them room for their investigation.”
Approximately 10 minutes later, Hendren said, he was grabbed from behind and placed under arrest without warning. He said he was wearing credentials and repeatedly told officers that he was on assignment for the newspaper, and was even able to retrieve his phone from his back pocket to call his editor, but the officers didn’t care.
After several hours, officers began photographing the detainees one-by-one. “When they got to me: I am not affiliated with them (the protesters) and I don’t want to be affiliated with them, so I put my head down to avoid being photographed for whatever purpose the photos were going toward,” Hendren said.
He was told that it wouldn’t go well for him if he didn’t comply and an officer came over and wrenched his head up by his hair so his face could be photographed.
Hendren told the Tracker he was eventually taken in a police transport van to the Georgia State University police precinct where he was Mirandized and interviewed by the Atlanta Police Department’s Homeland Security Unit. He said that the officers asked to look through his photos to confirm that he hadn’t been present at the construction site.
“They asked to see the photos so I took them through all the photos I took,” Hendren said. “They asked to look through my cellphone — they wanted to look at my gallery of images and whatnot — so I opened my work phone and took them through it. They wanted me to open my personal phone too, which I refused and then I locked the other phone. That was the end of it.”
Approximately 30 minutes after the interview police released him without charges, Hendren said, returned his equipment in evidence bags and drove him back to his vehicle. He said he was in custody for around seven hours.
On July 1, 2024, Hendren filed a lawsuit against the officers as well as three construction workers who falsely reported that he had been involved in the protest and committed crimes at the construction site.
“The interference with Plaintiff’s photographing and his arrest were triggered by, and in retaliation for, his protected activity of taking pictures of public police activity, and therefore violated the First Amendment,” the lawsuit states.
According to the suit, protesters had targeted the construction site for GSU’s Convocation Center because the same company had been contracted to build the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also known as “Cop City,” which has been the focus of ongoing protests.
Hendren told the Tracker he hopes that filing the suit will show police that they can’t interfere with journalists who are doing their jobs without being held accountable.
“I hope it draws attention to this pervasive issue that we see: When there are either protests or movements that are critical of law enforcement we almost always see retaliation from law enforcement directed at members of the media for covering it,” Hendren said. “And when stuff like this happens to journalists, when you attack our rights, we won’t back down and we will defend our rights.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
