Bystander’s blow knocks phone from reporter’s hand at public event, causes fall

Independent reporter Brian Donahue, who runs The Emeryville Tattler, was assaulted on Oct. 5, 2024, while interviewing an elected official at a family-oriented festival in the California community.

During the incident, which Donahue captured on video and posted on YouTube, the journalist asked then-City Council Member John Bauters about a profanity he allegedly used against a fellow politician.

Bauters denied using the term, according to an account by Donahue. When another man interrupted, asking Donahue not to repeat the term around his children, Donahue then turned the camera on the man.

“He told me I had to censor my speech,” Donahue wrote. “I told him NO and I reminded him he could step back for a moment but instead, he menacingly ordered me to ‘stand up.’”

According to Donahue, the man then set his child down before aiming a punch at Donahue’s face, knocking the phone down and causing the reporter’s fall.

“I saw the punch coming and blocked it, turning it into a glancing blow but the kinetic force was enough to drive me backwards into my chair, which flipped over,” he wrote. “Then I tripped backwards over the chair and landed on the asphalt on my elbow, injuring it.”

The video shows Donahue losing control of the cellphone and calling out in pain.

Donahue wrote that he decided to press charges, and that the person, whom he did not name, would be appearing in court in December 2024. The outcome of the case is unclear, and Donahue did not return a U.S. Press Freedom Tracker request for comment.

A few days after the incident, the city of Emeryville, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, issued a letter to Donahue reprimanding him and circumscribing how he is to interview officials and staff, according to another independent news outlet, the E’ville Eye.

Separately, in September 2025, two city employees obtained a permanent restraining order against Donahue, the E’ville Eye reported. Under the order, which is in place for three years and subject to renewal, Donahue may still attend public meetings while keeping five yards distant from the two employees, and may still file public records requests and email them.

On his website, Donahue defended his reporting approach: “The whole reason I seek to get questions answered at public events from these undemocratically minded Council members is that is the only time they can be approached and be subject to a question about their policies.”