Cincinnati photojournalist arrested as protest spills across bridge to Kentucky

Two journalists for the Cincinnati alternative newsweekly CityBeat were arrested while documenting a protest across the bridge connecting the Ohio city with Covington, Kentucky, on July 17, 2025.

Demonstrators had gathered at a vigil in Cincinnati in support of Ayman Soliman, an Egyptian immigrant and imam who was detained by immigration authorities July 9, according to local NPR affiliate WVXU.

After the rally, dozens of protesters marched to the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge, crossing from Ohio to Kentucky. Within minutes, they were confronted by Covington police officers.

CityBeat photo intern Lucas Griffith and investigative reporter Madeline Fening were documenting the protest and were among the first individuals detained.

In footage captured by WVXU reporter Nick Swartsell, multiple Covington Police Department vehicles can be seen driving toward the advancing line of protesters. In body-camera footage released by the department, officers are heard ordering protesters to move off the roadway and onto the sidewalk multiple times over approximately 90 seconds.

In Swartsell’s footage, protesters are seen beginning to comply while officers advance toward the crowd. After one individual is seen being led away in handcuffs, an officer moves toward a woman in a white shirt who is filming on her cellphone, confirmed to be Fening. As an officer pulls her hands behind her back, she can be heard identifying herself as a reporter.

“Hey! She’s press! She’s press! She’s a reporter!” Swartsell calls out to the officer as he moves toward them. A second officer tells him to get back while Fening is seen being pulled backward toward the police vehicles with her arms behind her back.

Moments later, a man carrying multiple professional cameras — believed to be Griffith — is seen being led down the bridge with his arms held behind his back by a third officer.

Fening and Griffith were each charged with misdemeanor failure to disperse, obstructing a highway, obstructing emergency responders, disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, as well as rioting, a felony. Griffith was additionally charged with resisting arrest.

Both journalists were arraigned July 18 and released on a $2,500 bond, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

NBC television affiliate WLWT reported that, when pressed by the station, Kenton County prosecutor Rob Sanders said he views Fening and Griffith’s role as journalists as irrelevant to the charges against them.

“We’ll be evaluating it like we would any other civilian, no matter what their line of work, or what profession they are engaged in, it doesn’t matter to us when we evaluate the evidence,” Sanders said.

During a news conference about the Covington Police Department’s response to the protest, Mayor Ron Washington described it as a “high-tension and chaotic environment.”

“We fully support the right to peacefully assemble. At the same time, we support our police officers who are often placed in incredible, difficult, fast-moving situations,” Washington said. “But any use of force must be lawful and measured.”

When asked during the conference about the arrests of the CityBeat journalists, Police Chief Brian Valenti alleged that Fening did not have press credentials or an ID on her when she was taken into custody. He added that he didn’t have any additional information on Griffith’s arrest.

CityBeat defended its journalists in a statement posted to the social platform X on July 18.

“CityBeat is fully supportive of its two staff members who were arrested in the course of their reporting on the Roebling Bridge protest,” the statement read. “Their commitment to journalistic integrity and professionalism is emblematic of the press freedoms the First Amendment is designed to protect, and we fully anticipate a complete vindication of their rights.”

Editor-in-chief Ashley Moor declined to comment when reached by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, stating that she — along with Fening and Griffith — was advised not to speak further about the incident while the charges against them are pending.

During a July 23 hearing, the Enquirer reported, prosecutors withdrew the felony rioting charges against Fening and Griffith. The journalists, who are being represented by attorneys with the ACLU of Kentucky, are next due in court Aug. 14.