first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2023-12-06 20:49:52.341883+00:00,2023-12-06 21:52:16.903434+00:00,Independent journalist repeatedly assaulted while documenting LA protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-repeatedly-assaulted-while-documenting-la-protest/,2023-12-06 21:52:16.808446+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Vishal Singh (Independent),,2023-08-22,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"
Independent journalist Vishal Singh was repeatedly assaulted while reporting on a protest against the Los Angeles Unified School District on Aug. 22, 2023.
Singh, who uses they/he pronouns, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that demonstrators they characterized as anti-LGBTQ+ marched from City Hall to the district’s headquarters to call for greater limits on education about the LGBTQ+ community. The school board was holding its first meeting of the new school year that day, according to CBS News.
While following the march, Singh deliberately kept at a distance from the participants, staying about a block behind.
“As I was doing that, there were three separate incidents where I got kind of picked out and attacked, primarily by the same individual,” Singh said.
The first assault happened shortly after 11 a.m. In Singh’s footage, a demonstrator can be seen noticing Singh, then crossing the street to block their camera with a “Leave Our Kids Alone” T-shirt and telling them to “back the fuck up.” When a police vehicle beeps its siren, the man can be seen striking Singh and their cellphone with the shirt before turning and walking away.
An hour later on a freeway overpass near the school district headquarters, the same man approached Singh again, blocking them from filming and telling them to leave the area.
“You don’t think I know who the fuck you are?” the man says in Singh’s footage. “And you think your camera is going to save you? And the cops, you think that’s going to save you?”
The man then repeatedly shoves Singh to prevent them from walking toward the front of the march and in an attempt to knock the phone from their hands. Singh told the Tracker that 20 or 30 Los Angeles Police Department officers witnessed the attack and did nothing to intervene.
“At one point, [the assailant] actually shoved me and pushed me into the cops and the cops didn’t do anything,” Singh said.
Singh told the Tracker that the man continued to shove them back across the bridge and into a construction site, calling them a homophobic slur and nearly pushing them to the ground atop fallen nails.
“I basically just had to retreat,” Singh said. “I missed about an hour of the protest just trying to get to safety.”
They said they were eventually able to go around a different way to the front of the march to report from behind the police line.
Singh told the Tracker they called Adam Rose, the secretary of the LA Press Club and chair of the press rights committee, about the incident and filed a police report listing it as a hate crime. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department told the Tracker via email that officers took a battery simple assault report and the investigation is still ongoing.
“I know what’s happening to me isn’t just happening to me, and it’s making the whole temperature here in LA a lot more dangerous for other journalists,” Singh said. “It hurts everybody every time one of us gets assaulted.”
Singh told the Tracker that they have largely stopped reporting on protests because of the targeted attacks.
“I can’t even do a story if every single time I’m going to get attacked and that becomes the story,” Singh said. “It’s a disservice to me and it’s a disservice to what I’m reporting on.”
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with comment received from the Los Angeles Police Department after publication.
Independent journalist Vishal Singh was assaulted multiple times while reporting on a march in Los Angeles, California, on Aug. 22, 2023, organized by the protest group Leave Our Kids Alone in opposition to the inclusion of LGBTQ+ education.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"LGBTQ+ rights, protest",,, 2022-06-27 20:51:37.047452+00:00,2022-08-05 19:14:05.125927+00:00,Independent videographer detained while documenting LA reproductive rights protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-detained-while-documenting-la-reproductive-rights-protests/,2022-08-05 19:14:05.057664+00:00,,,,"Arrest/Criminal Charge, Assault",,,,Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (Independent),,2022-06-24,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was repeatedly shoved and detained in a kettle alongside other journalists while documenting reproductive rights protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 24, 2022.
Protests broke out across the country following the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial ruling overturning Roe v. Wade that morning, which established that the right to abortion is guaranteed under the right to privacy.
The first protests in LA began outside a federal courthouse around noon, the Los Angeles Times reported, and continued into the night. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented the assaults of at least eight journalists in the city that night.
Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he arrived at Pershing Square in downtown LA at around 2 p.m., and that the first hours of the protest were energetic but not destructive.
After a group of protesters were able to block the highway, disrupting traffic, Beckner-Carmitchel said the atmosphere shifted and the Los Angeles Police Department officers became more aggressive with the demonstrators and press. He told the Tracker that he was shoved by officers multiple times that evening, and that at one point an officer shoved a protester who then fell into him.
Shortly after 9 p.m., Beckner-Carmitchel posted on Twitter that police had detained him alongside protesters and other journalists using a technique known as kettling, in which police box in a crowd before typically conducting mass arrests.
Kettled. One member of press currently detained. Lots of violence.
— Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (@ACatWithNews) June 25, 2022
The Tracker has documented all of the journalists detained in the kettle that night here.
Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker he was released at exactly 9:30 p.m., and that he believed they were detained for 30 to 45 minutes.
“A lot of what I saw was a flagrant violation of the spirit of [Senate Bill 98], if not the letter of the law,” Beckner-Carmitchel said.
In October 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 98, which was written in order to ensure the rights of journalists while covering protests or other civic actions, according to Spectrum News 1. The law states that “law enforcement shall not intentionally assault, interfere with, or obstruct journalists” and explicitly exempts members of the press from dispersal orders.
LAPD did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
Find press freedom violations documented by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at reproductive rights demonstrations across the U.S. here.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment from Sean Beckner-Carmitchel.
Lexis-Olivier Ray, a reporter with the digital news site L.A. Taco, was repeatedly shoved by police officers while documenting reproductive rights protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 24, 2022.
Protests broke out across the country following the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial ruling overturning Roe v. Wade that morning, which established that the right to abortion is guaranteed under the right to privacy.
The first protests in LA began outside a federal courthouse around noon, the Los Angeles Times reported, and continued into the night. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented the assaults of at least six journalists in the city that night.
Ray told the Tracker that he arrived downtown at Pershing Square that afternoon to report on the protests planned to begin at 5 p.m. After a series of speeches, Ray said the crowd of approximately 1,000 people marched less than a mile to City Hall.
“Eventually that part of the protest kind of ended,” Ray said. “A splinter group broke off and started heading toward the freeway. That’s when things started to escalate.”
Ray said he followed the group as they made their way to an on ramp, where they were met by both Los Angeles Police Department and U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers, who prevented the demonstrators from getting onto the highway. Part of the group split away and ultimately did end up marching onto the interstate and blocking traffic, Ray said. He said it was after the demonstrators exited the highway that he had his first physical altercation with law enforcement.
“A group of LAPD Metro division officers were trying to clear the area and I ended up getting shoved with a baton and an officer shoved me with his hands,” Ray said. In a tweet posted shortly before 8 p.m., Ray can be heard identifying himself as a member of the press as lines of officers advance toward him.
LAPD officers shoved me and jabbed @joeyneverjoe in the stomach with a baton, sending him to the ground. We both identified ourselves as press repeatedly. @LATCO pic.twitter.com/0FRTH7hlu3
— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) June 25, 2022
Multiple officers can be heard shouting, “Leave the area! Leave the area!” Both Ray and a second journalist — documentary photographer Joey Scott — can be heard identifying themselves as press in response.
At approximately 0:06 in the clip, an officer steps forward and shoves Ray backward. “Woah, woah, woah! What are you doing man?” Ray can be heard asking.
After taking a few steps back, Ray appears to walk back toward the officer and says, “I’m press, I have a legal right to be here.”
Moments later, an officer pushed Scott to the ground with a baton, causing damage to his helmet as he fell into a vehicle. The Tracker has documented that incident here.
LAPD just assaulted a journalist & legal observer on South Broadway. pic.twitter.com/Mc3PUmljy0
— JP (Josh Pacheco) ✨🏳️⚧️They/Them (@JoshMPacheco) June 25, 2022
“That really changed the whole tone [of the evening],” Ray said. “That was really upsetting and frustrating.”
Over the course of the evening, Ray told the Tracker, he was shoved by LAPD officers on multiple occasions. During one of the encounters, an officer told Ray and Scott that where they were standing was the media staging ground and to wait there for a public information officer to arrive to answer their questions. Within moments, a line of officers advanced on them and aggressively cornered him until he was pinned against a police car.
Ray said that he was clearly identifiable as a member of the press, wearing an L.A. Taco shirt with “press” printed on the back and was wearing his press pass.
“In terms of press freedom rights, it was probably one of the worst protests I’ve been at,” Ray said.
In October 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 98, which was written in order to ensure the rights of journalists while covering protests or other civic actions, according to Spectrum News 1. The law states that “law enforcement shall not intentionally assault, interfere with, or obstruct journalists” and explicitly exempts members of the press from dispersal orders.
The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
Find press freedom violations documented by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at reproductive rights demonstrations across the U.S. here.
L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray, left, moments after a Los Angeles police officer shoved him backward while he was documenting protests in the city on June 24, 2022.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"court verdict, protest, reproductive rights",,, 2022-06-27 21:14:56.720504+00:00,2023-11-01 14:12:12.127405+00:00,"Photojournalist shoved, helmet damaged while covering LA protest",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shoved-helmet-damaged-while-covering-la-protest/,2023-11-01 14:12:12.014429+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,protective equipment: count of 1,Joey Scott (Independent),,2022-06-24,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Documentary photographer Joey Scott was shoved to the ground by police officers while documenting reproductive rights protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 24, 2022.
Protests broke out across the country following the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial ruling overturning Roe v. Wade that morning, which established that the right to abortion is guaranteed under the right to privacy.
The first protests in LA began outside a federal courthouse around noon, the Los Angeles Times reported, and continued into the night. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented the assaults of at least six journalists in the city that night.
L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray told the Tracker that he and Scott had followed protesters as they attempted to get onto the highway. After demonstrators exited the highway, Los Angeles Police Department officers advanced toward them to clear the area.
In a tweet posted at around 7:45 p.m., Scott wrote that he had just been shoved to the ground by an LAPD officer.
Got shoved before this. LAPD Metro not honoring press passes. pic.twitter.com/BBlbkY1KuN
— Joey Scott (@joeyneverjoe) June 25, 2022
In a video posted in a subsequent tweet, multiple officers can be heard shouting, “Leave the area! Leave the area!” Both Scott and a second journalist — L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray — can be heard identifying themselves as press in response. Scott was not immediately available to provide comment.
At approximately 0:06 in the clip, an officer steps forward and says, “It doesn’t matter, you guys gotta get going.”
“I’m press, it does matter,” Scott can be heard responding. “I’m on a public sidewalk.”
At that same moment, one of the officers pushed Ray backward. The Tracker has documented that incident here.
In footage posted by photojournalist Josh Pacheco, Scott can be seen stepping back onto the sidewalk and taking two steps before an LAPD officer appears to push him backward with his baton, sending him sprawling into a car a few feet behind him.
LAPD just assaulted a journalist & legal observer on South Broadway. pic.twitter.com/Mc3PUmljy0
— JP (Josh Pacheco) ✨🏳️⚧️They/Them (@JoshMPacheco) June 25, 2022
“What wasn’t captured in the footage was the attitude: the blatant disregard and hostility the officers had to our legal rights to be there,” Scott told the Tracker. “The more that we identified ourselves and pushed back on their unlawful commands, the more hostile and, obviously, more violent they got toward us.”
In footage from the incident, “press” labels are visible on Scott’s backpack and helmet. In a tweet thread two days later, Scott wrote that his body and ribs were still sore and that his helmet was damaged from the fall.
“Going into this weekend, I was like: Cool. We have these new laws and protections, this should be a lot easier than previous experiences,” Scott said. “And it was the complete opposite. Worse than before the laws were enacted and the supposed training and reform that the department has done.”
In October 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 98, which was written in order to ensure the rights of journalists while covering protests or other civic actions, according to Spectrum News 1. The law states that “law enforcement shall not intentionally assault, interfere with, or obstruct journalists” and explicitly exempts members of the press from dispersal orders.
The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
Find press freedom violations documented by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at reproductive rights demonstrations across the U.S. here.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to include comment from Joey Scott.
Documentary photographer Joey Scott, right, with ‘press’ taped on his backpack, is seen moments before a Los Angeles police officer shoves him with a baton while Scott was documenting protests in the city on June 24, 2022.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,law enforcement,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"court verdict, protest, reproductive rights",,, 2022-06-27 22:12:38.603865+00:00,2022-08-05 19:14:49.970219+00:00,Beverly Hills Courier reporter shoved by officers while covering reproductive rights protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/beverly-hills-courier-reporter-shoved-by-police-officers-while-covering-reproductive-rights-protests/,2022-08-05 19:14:49.915970+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Samuel Braslow (Beverly Hills Courier),,2022-06-24,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Beverly Hills Courier reporter Samuel Braslow wrote that he was assaulted by law enforcement officers on June 24, 2022, while covering demonstrations in Los Angeles, California, in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned the landmark reproductive rights case Roe v. Wade.
Braslow chronicled the demonstrations in a Twitter thread and wrote that the crowds eventually made their way to City Hall, where Los Angeles Police Department officers wearing riot gear told protesters to leave the area. According to Braslow, he never heard the officers announce an order to disperse.
Braslow was filming the crowd when LAPD officers shoved him toward another group of officers.
“Police just pushed me and another reporter into other police officers resulting in the other reporter’s detention or arrest. I haven’t seen officers this aggressive in a long time,” Braslow wrote on Twitter.
Another journalist documenting the protest posted a video on Twitter of Braslow’s assault.
Police throwing journalist @SamBraslow backwards just a few moments later. He did have a small bloodstain on his shirt shortly after. pic.twitter.com/Og8Y9bEHiX
— Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (@ACatWithNews) June 25, 2022
Braslow and the LAPD did not return emailed requests for comment as of publication.
Braslow was among several journalists who reported being assaulted or detained by LAPD officers while covering the protests. The Los Angeles Times reported that police officers repeatedly ignored a law signed in October 2021 that protected journalists from interference by law enforcement and expanded the rights of journalists covering protests during the civil protests.
“According to Times reporters, witnesses' videos and interviews with other media members on the ground, journalists were pushed, struck with batons, forced out of areas where they had a right to observe police activity and blocked from entering other areas where police and protesters were clashing and arrests were being made,” the Times reported.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore told the Times that the department would be investigating the complaints made by members of the press.
Find press freedom violations documented by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at reproductive rights demonstrations across the U.S. here.
Independent photojournalist Jake Lee Green was assaulted by Los Angeles Police Department officers on June 24, 2022, while documenting reproductive rights protests in Los Angeles, California.
Protesters gathered in Downtown LA following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. Green told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was photographing the demonstrations and wearing multiple press badges and a shoulder mounted camera when two police officers jabbed him in the side with their batons. Green said he had been filming when the officers jabbed him in the ribs, catching him by surprise.
So, I made it onto the LA Times @latimes Web Site. That’s me getting jabbed in the ribs by an @LAPDHQ Officer. I was wearing my PRESS badge. I decided NOT to go in armor and now I wish I had. My side still hurts. https://t.co/tX0EfNkR0C
— Jake Lee Green (@AeonPhotoCo) June 26, 2022
“I was so focused on setting up my shot that I really wasn’t paying attention when the officers approached me,” Green said. “I told them I was just trying to do my job but I immediately got out of there.”
Green said he repeatedly encountered police throughout the day while covering the protests and noticed them acting aggressively toward reporters.
“My encounter wasn’t as bad as some of my colleagues that night but that use of force was unnecessary,” Green said.
Green was among several other journalists who reported assaults or detainments while covering demonstrations in LA. The Los Angeles Times reported police officers repeatedly ignored a recent law, passed in October 2021, that granted broader protections to journalists covering civil protests and access to areas closed off by police.
“According to Times reporters, witnesses' videos and interviews with other media members on the ground, journalists were pushed, struck with batons, forced out of areas where they had a right to observe police activity and blocked from entering other areas where police and protesters were clashing and arrests were being made.”
LAPD Chief Michel Moore told the Times that the department would be investigating the complaints made by press members. LAPD did not return an emailed request for comment.
Find press freedom violations documented by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at reproductive rights demonstrations across the U.S. here.
Independent videographer Vishal Singh was assaulted by law enforcement officers and detained in a kettle while documenting reproductive rights protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 24, 2022.
Protests broke out across the country following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark case of Roe v. Wade, which had previously protected the right to abortion under the right to privacy.
Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that when he arrived at Los Angeles City Hall shortly after 6 p.m. to cover the demonstrations, the crowds seemed relatively calm, despite hundreds of people already gathered.
As the crowds started marching in different directions, Singh said Los Angeles Police Department officers stopped him and two other reporters behind the protesters.
“I asked them if there was a media viewing area,” Singh said, “and we were eventually let go, but I get frustrated with even these momentary restrictions to access because things happen so quickly during protests.”
Journalists temporarily denied entry as officers assault pro-abortion/pro-choice protesters. We asked about the media viewing zone but were met with no actual reply. pic.twitter.com/8EBkk00IRI
— Vishal P. Singh (they/he) 🏳️⚧️ (@VPS_Reports) June 25, 2022
Singh told the Tracker that after officers allowed the journalists to continue following the crowd, he immediately saw a clash between protesters and police. He started filming the encounter when an officer approached him.
“He walked toward me, grabbed me by the shoulders, and shoved me,” Singh said.
LAPD threatens to hit pro-abortion/pro-choice protesters with their vehicle. As folks move out of the way, impatient riot police start shoving people aside, myself included. pic.twitter.com/aCJkyBnUwz
— Vishal P. Singh (they/he) 🏳️⚧️ (@VPS_Reports) June 25, 2022
Singh said he followed protesters for most of the night and saw police becoming increasingly aggressive. At one point, an officer pointed a crowd-control weapon at him.
“I started filming some b-roll from the sidewalk, focusing my frame when I heard yelling coming from the left,” Singh said, “and when I looked over, I’m staring down the barrel of a riot launcher pointed at my head.”
While I'm filming a police vehicle, I look to my left and stare down the barrel of a 40mm riot gun. This is how LAPD responded tonight. With violence. Soon after this clip they opened fire. pic.twitter.com/6V775G64AR
— Vishal P. Singh (they/he) 🏳️⚧️ (@VPS_Reports) June 25, 2022
Singh said as he backed away from the area an officer noticed him filming and shoved him toward a crowd of people. Afterward, he noticed the press pass he was wearing on a lanyard around his neck had fallen off and was lost.
As LAPD opens fire with riot munitions at point blank range on pro-choice and pro-abortion protesters, I try and get a shot of an officer with a 40mm riot gun and another officer shoves me nearly to the ground. pic.twitter.com/P4s9VDc7PZ
— Vishal P. Singh (they/he) 🏳️⚧️ (@VPS_Reports) June 25, 2022
“I got up, and obviously, I was shaken, and at that point, all hell broke loose,” Singh said.
Singh said he saw police officers assault other journalists, including Tina Desiree-Berg and Samuel Braslow. Soon after, he realized officers were forming a kettle around him and other journalists and protesters.
Journalists kettled. pic.twitter.com/VngJUNwtGw
— Vishal P. Singh (they/he) 🏳️⚧️ (@VPS_Reports) June 25, 2022
“I continually asked the officers if an unlawful assembly had been officially issued or if there was a dispersal order,” Singh said, but to no response. According to Singh, he was allowed to leave after an officer read a dispersal order.
Singh was among several journalists assaulted or detained by LAPD officers while covering the protests. The Los Angeles Times reported that police officers repeatedly ignored a law signed in October 2021 that protected journalists from interference by law enforcement and expanded the rights of journalists covering protests during the civil protests:
“According to Times reporters, witnesses' videos and interviews with other media members on the ground, journalists were pushed, struck with batons, forced out of areas where they had a right to observe police activity and blocked from entering other areas where police and protesters were clashing and arrests were being made.”
LAPD Chief Michel Moore told the Times that the department would be investigating the complaints made by members of the press. The LAPD did not return emailed requests for comment.
Find press freedom violations documented by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at reproductive rights demonstrations across the U.S. here.
Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was repeatedly shoved and struck in the head by a police officer while documenting reproductive rights protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 24, 2022.
Protests broke out across the country following the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial ruling overturning Roe v. Wade that morning, which established that the right to abortion is guaranteed under the right to privacy.
The first protests in LA began outside a federal courthouse around noon, the Los Angeles Times reported, and continued into the night. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented the assaults of at least eight journalists in the city that night.
Berg told the Tracker she was documenting the arrest of an abortion rights protester when an officer approached her without her noticing. In footage captured by independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, Berg can be seen walking toward a group of officers arresting at least one individual while multiple individuals film from approximately six feet back.
Here it is from my angle. pic.twitter.com/89Oi9rQEiL
— Notorious TDB (@TinaDesireeBerg) June 25, 2022
An officer can be heard shouting, “Back up!” before appearing to lunge to the side, grabbing Berg as she attempts to join the others documenting the arrest. The officer then appears to shove Berg back.
Footage captured by Beverly Hills Courier reporter Sam Braslow shows the next moments, in which the officer appears to strike Berg in the head as a second officer approaches. That officer then pushes her, ultimately shoving Berg to the ground.
Police manhandle reporter @TinaDesireeBerg, who gets up and continues to report after being thrown to the ground. pic.twitter.com/1zGFUgz9MW
— Samuel Braslow (@SamBraslow) June 25, 2022
Berg told the Tracker the second officer said she needed to learn her lesson, telling her, “We’re trying to protect you.”
“After that, I said to him, ‘But I’m press, here are my actual credentials.’ And I flipped them around so he saw the credential credential, not just my company one,” Berg said. “I said, ‘You’re not supposed to be doing this, we’re supposed to be allowed to be a safe space away from an arrest and film it.’ And he just said, ‘I don’t care.’”
Berg said she didn’t seek medical treatment after the incident, but felt sore the next few days.
In October 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 98, which was written in order to ensure the rights of journalists while covering protests or other civic actions, according to NPR. The law states that “law enforcement shall not intentionally assault, interfere with, or obstruct journalists” and explicitly exempts members of the press from dispersal orders.
“The last couple of months have been fine, believe it or not. No issues. So, I thought [the Senate bill] was a game changer. Apparently not. A little bit of stress and everything reverts back,” Berg said. “It’s not about me: it’s about the First Amendment, it’s about the importance of preserving press freedom.”
LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement to the Times, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the department will investigate all complaints, including those that allege officers violated journalists’ rights under the new law.
Find press freedom violations documented by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at reproductive rights demonstrations across the U.S. here.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment from Tina-Desiree Berg.
While documenting an arrest at a reproductive rights protest in Los Angeles on June 24, 2022, journalist Tina-Desiree Berg, seen in the lower left of the frame, was shoved and struck in the head by police officers.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"court verdict, protest, reproductive rights",,, 2022-07-11 21:02:42.815747+00:00,2023-10-05 21:15:19.510200+00:00,Cinematographer detained while documenting LA reproductive rights protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cinematographer-detained-while-documenting-la-reproductive-rights-protest/,2023-10-05 21:15:19.392357+00:00,,,,"Arrest/Criminal Charge, Assault",,,,Jean (Independent),,2022-06-24,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"A cinematographer who works on documentary and feature film projects was detained in a kettle alongside other journalists while documenting reproductive rights protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 24, 2022.
Protests broke out across the country following the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial ruling overturning Roe v. Wade that morning, which established that the right to abortion is guaranteed under the right to privacy.
The first protests in LA began outside a federal courthouse around noon, the Los Angeles Times reported, and continued into the night. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented the assaults of at least eight journalists in the city that night.
Jean, who asked to only be identified by her first name out of fear of retaliation, told the Tracker she arrived in downtown LA to document the protests taking place near City Hall. She said she filmed from an overpass as some members of the crowd made their way to a highway entrance nearby, and then followed as members of the crowd made their way back into downtown.
“That was when protesting started happening a little differently — people started going against traffic and so on and so forth,” Jean said. “There came a point though where the protesting was stopped by the police, and this was when the first firework went off.”
Officer tried to stop the protesters from advancing, Jean said, but because of their small numbers they were unable to do so. She said that officers resorted to pushing and shoving her and many protesters while running past.
The group of protesters continued marching to another intersection, where Jean said police assaulted multiple members of the press, including independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg.
“There was a major dash by poIice to the site of the crowd, and so many others rushed in to see what was happening,” Jean said. “In a video that I documented I was telling an officer that I am trying to see what is happening beyond him and while I am telling him this there is Tina — who’s also trying to do the same — except what I see is another officer with a riot gun strikes her across the face and stuns her.”
Jean said that before Berg was able to react, a second officer shoved her to the ground near Jean’s feet, and she helped Berg stand back up.
Soon after, Jean said she was corralled alongside the rest of the crowd and multiple journalists by police using a technique known as kettling, in which police box in a crowd before typically conducting mass arrests.
Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, who was also detained that night, told the Tracker they were released at 9:30 p.m. after being held for 30 minutes to an hour. The Tracker has documented all of the journalists detained in the kettle that night here.
“After already getting out of the kettle around the other side to head back to City Hall,” Jean said, “they still advanced on us again and threatened to kettle us for not dispersing quickly enough.”
“In general, what I take away from the night was that the initial response was to be forcefully aggressive and not follow basic protocol procedures,” Jean told the Tracker.
In October 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 98, which was written in order to ensure the rights of journalists while covering protests or other civic actions, according to NPR. The law states that “law enforcement shall not intentionally assault, interfere with, or obstruct journalists” and explicitly exempts members of the press from dispersal orders.
LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.
Find press freedom violations documented by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at reproductive rights demonstrations across the U.S. here.
Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was assaulted while documenting an anti-vaccination protest in Los Angeles, California, on Dec. 18, 2021.
Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he arrived shortly after 1 p.m. to document an anti-vaccination mandate protest outside Getty House, the official home of Los Angeles' mayor. Approximately 10 protesters were gathered outside the residence, Beckner-Carmitchel said, and he initially intended on only documenting the demonstration for 30 minutes or so.
An individual approached the journalist at around 1:20 p.m., upset that he had been filmed at a previous protest, Beckner-Carmitchel said.
Beckner-Carmitchel, who told the Tracker he was wearing his National Press Photographers Association press credentials, said the man challenged him to a fight and accused him of publishing private information, or doxxing, multiple individuals.
“Why don’t you go back to what you were doing,” Beckner-Carmitchel can be heard saying in footage from the interaction. “I’m not here to disturb you, I’m not here to disrupt you.”
As police began to arrive at the scene, Beckner-Carmitchel wrote on Twitter that other individuals approached the man who was threatening him and convinced him to walk away and rejoin the protest.
Approximately 10 minutes later, Beckner-Carmitchel wrote that he was attempting to interview Derrick Gates, a Republican candidate for California’s 33rd Congressional District, when the man who threatened him earlier returned and slapped his phone from his hands.
Attempting to interview Republican candidate Derrick Gates; the man who has threatened me earlier slapped my phone out of my hands. No police response. pic.twitter.com/9WytzjYZXO
— Sean Beckner-Carmitchel (@ACatWithNews) December 18, 2021
“It’s OK, buddy, it’s OK. I’m OK with it, really,” Gates can be heard telling the man. “He has a right to ask questions.”
Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker his phone was not damaged. He also said that a police cruiser was parked approximately 20 feet away from them during the incident, but officers did not approach them before or after and he did not file a police report.
Independent videographer and photographer Emily Molli was assaulted while gathering footage of an anti-vaccine rally outside Los Angeles City Hall in California on Sept. 18, 2021.
Molli told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was doused with an oily substance and her camera equipment was damaged while covering what organizers called a “fight for medical freedom” rally.
She told the Tracker she had not initially planned on covering the rally because of recent violent eruptions that have occurred at these events but changed her mind and began photographing the speakers several feet away from the crowd. Molli estimated there were close to 50 people at the rally in addition to about two dozen others who were watching from the sidewalk.
Molli said she had not taken her cellphone or her usual press credentials and helmet labeled “PRESS” because her last-minute decision to photograph the event had not given her enough time to prepare.
However, after covering these rallies in the past, Molli said she believed other reporters covering the event would recognize her and at the very least her professional camera would identify her as a reporter.
According to Molli, she was gathering footage of the protest for approximately five minutes when an individual walked up behind her and started hovering over her shoulder.
This was the only shot I got at the park before I was accused of doxxing. Delusional. pic.twitter.com/76oKO7hlDT
— Emily Molli (@emilymolli) September 18, 2021
“I decided at that point I should probably just leave and I started walking away, when more people caught up with me,” Molli said.
The group continued to follow her, accusing her of “doxxing” people in the crowd and being part of the far-left-wing movement antifa.
“In the past, people would sometimes recognize me as a reporter and leave me alone but I knew there was no getting through to these people,” she said.
Molli said she tried to calm the group by telling them she supported freedom of expression and the right to peacefully assemble but by then a man had tried to take her camera out of her hands.
“I was filming just in case something happened — most of the time it does,” Molli said. “As I’m waiting to cross the street someone pumps up a super soaker full of glitter, some kind of oil, and water and shoots me in the back, the back of the head, and my camera.”
Molli managed to get away from the group and walked over to a police officer in a patrol car that had just arrived at the event. She reported the assault and equipment damage to the officer but was directed to file a police report online.
Knowing she wasn’t going to get a name or description of the masked individual who had doused her for the report, Molli said she walked away, but a woman continued to follow her, shoving a sign in front of her camera.
Molli told the Tracker she approached a man across the street from the rally and asked to borrow his cellphone to call her colleague. Molli, who distributes her work through wire services or directly to clients, said she essentially lost a full day of work after her camera was soaked. The substance got onto the camera lens and into the air vents but she will not know the full extent of the damage until she tries to use it again.
Molli said she did not intend to file a police report about the incident.
Frank Stoltze, a correspondent for the NPR station KPCC and LAist, was threatened, shoved and kicked while covering an anti-vaccine protest outside LA’s City Hall on Aug. 14, 2021.
Demonstrators had gathered for a rally advertised as a “stop socialism, choose freedom march against medical tyranny” to protest COVID-19 vaccination requirements and mask mandates, Stoltze wrote in an account for LAist. Stoltze, who did not respond to an emailed request for comment, wrote that demonstrators carried pro-Trump flags, signs calling for the recall of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other signs and banners.
While the demonstration on the south lawn of the City Hall grounds remained peaceful, Stoltze told LAist that some fights broke out on the edges of the rally.
“Just a few steps into the park, I noticed a man with a bloody bandage on his head,” Stoltze wrote. “I asked what had happened and he said he’d gotten into a fight with ‘antifa.’”
Stoltze wrote that he identified himself as a journalist and asked the man if he’d be willing to be interviewed; the man declined. When Stoltze asked if he’d be willing to speak anonymously, the men with the injured man immediately started cursing at and threatening Stoltze.
Something happened to me today that’s never happened in 30 yrs of reporting. In LA. @LAist I was shoved, kicked and my eyeglasses were ripped off of my face by a group of guys at a protest - outside City Hall during an anti-vax Recall @GavinNewsom Pro Trump rally. pic.twitter.com/6s2Jfm8Xrg
— Frank Stoltze (@StoltzeFrankly) August 15, 2021
“One shoved me in the chest. Another came from behind, grabbed my hat, and ripped my prescription sunglasses off my head,” Stoltze wrote. “As I turned to leave, I told them I was going to find a cop. They called me an anti-gay slur and ‘little bitch.’”
Footage captured by journalist Andrew Kimmel shows part of the attack; as Stoltze walked away from the group of men, they followed him. Someone also ran up behind Stoltze and kicked him. According to Stoltze’s written account, the same man later knocked his phone out of his hands while Stoltze tried to film the man harassing others. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker was unable to determine whether Stoltze’s phone was damaged.
“I was attacked,” Stoltze wrote. “I’m fine. But I’m mad as hell.”
The LAPD confirmed that Stoltze filed a police complaint, HuffPost reported. According to LAist, no arrests have been made in connection with the assault.
Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was assaulted while covering an anti-vaccine protest outside LA’s City Hall for the online outlet Status Coup on Aug. 14, 2021.
Demonstrators had gathered for a rally advertised as a “stop socialism, choose freedom march against medical tyranny” to protest COVID-19 vaccination requirements and mask mandates, LAist reported. Demonstrators carried signs from a cross-section of movements, including pro-Trump banners, signs calling for the recall of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other signs and banners. While the demonstration on the south lawn of the City Hall grounds remained peaceful, according to LAist, some fights broke out on the edges of the rally.
Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she arrived approximately 45 minutes before the violence began and was standing across from the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters with a few other journalists. In footage Berg posted shortly after 2:30 p.m., a group of men can be seen gathering in a line as multiple people call out “Fuck antifa!”
At 0:22 in the clip, a man can be seen running up to Berg, pulling down his mask and saying “Hey bitch” before appearing to strike out at Berg and her camera; Berg said the man punched her and struck her camera. Another demonstrator intervenes and pulls the man away as Berg makes her way back to the sidewalk.
A few moments later, as a brawl appears to break out between the anti-vaccine demonstrators and counterprotesters, a second man runs up to Berg and attempts to pull the mask off her face while shouting, “Unmask them! Unmask them all!”
Anti-vaxxers in LA yell "Fuck Antifa" as one ATTACKS journalist @TinaDesireeBerg, who was injured as a result while reporting. More footage to come from fights that broke out. pic.twitter.com/hHfuesJ38L
— Status Coup News (@StatusCoup) August 15, 2021
A photo of the incident shows the man pulling down Berg’s goggles and face mask; Berg’s press credentials can be seen on a lanyard around her neck.
Berg told Democracy Now that she will not let the increasing violence, especially incidents targeting the press, prevent her from covering protests across California.
“People need to see what’s going on and if I let [the Proud Boys] control what I do then they sort of win the conversation,” Berg said. “They don’t want the press, they don’t want people filming them, they don’t want to be exposed for their violent actions. And so the intention of what they’re doing is to try to silence me and other journalists like me from covering what they’re doing and I absolutely am not deterred from doing it. I will be much more aware, take more security precautions.”
Berg told the Tracker she has not filed a police report about the incident, but plans to speak with the special investigations unit about it and the assault she witnessed of videographer Rocky Romano on July 3.
This article has been updated to include comment from the journalist.
Jake Lee Green, an independent video journalist for News2Share, a collective that sells footage to news outlets, was slapped, kicked and sprayed with a chemical irritant while covering an anti-vaccination rally in Los Angeles, California, on Aug. 14, 2021.
Green told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was covering the “stop socialism, choose freedom march against medical tyranny” rally, a demonstration outside LA’s City Hall, where demonstrators gathered to protest against mask and vaccination mandates.
When counterprotesters arrived, Green moved away from the gathering to record a brawl that had broken out on the outskirts of the rally. Footage of the incident shared on Twitter shows an individual slap Green, who was wearing a black ballistic helmet and flak jacket, both labeled “PRESS.”
Video footage shows the same person then swinging a helmet at Green while a second individual kicked Green and then grabbed at his camera in an attempt to pull it away. In footage captured by Green, he is heard identifying himself as a journalist.
Green said he backed away from the crowd to readjust his camera equipment and refocus his camera on the escalating violence when someone sprayed him with pepper gel.
“I couldn't see anything and then I felt someone grab my camera, start pulling at it, and that’s when my mic broke off and damaged the screen on the side,” Green said.
Green said the attack damaged his microphone but he attempted to keep recording until the pain from the irritant became unbearable.
Green told the Tracker he did not file a police report about the incident. At least two other journalists were assaulted by individuals during the rally.
Vishal Singh, a videographer who works on Netflix documentaries and has been covering demonstrations in Los Angeles since May 2020, said he was punched multiple times while documenting protests at a restaurant in Los Angeles, California, on July 29, 2021.
Local digital outlet WeHoTimes reported that the West Hollywood restaurant Harlowe had become a target of anti-vaccine protests because of its policy requiring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to enter the premises. Similar stipulations have been put in place across the country in order to curb the spread of coronavirus variations, particularly amid unvaccinated populations.
Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he arrived to document the protest at approximately 7 p.m., having reported on violence that broke out at the restaurant the night before. By the time he began filming from across the street, a scuffle had broken out between the protesters and another individual and the crowd began following the man down the street.
I was just severely injured by a mob of anti-vaxxers. They were surrounding and assaulting someone. I went to film and help him escape. They attacked from behind. Possible concussion. Maced. Had to fight them off me by myself. Deployed mace in self defense after I was concussed. pic.twitter.com/NTkn6A8XJT
— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@VPS_Reports) July 30, 2021
As the crowd turned down an alley, Singh said they directed their attention on him; in footage of the incident a man can be seen positioning himself behind Singh, bumping the videographer with his shoulder and then punching Singh multiple times as Singh defends himself. In the footage, Singh’s press badge can be seen on a lanyard around his neck.
Singh said a second individual then ripped the mask off his face and the man again punched him, knocking him to the ground. Singh told the Tracker he continued defending himself and used pepper spray to disperse the crowd until he was eventually able to leave the area.
“I felt that if I turned around they would chase me and beat me more, so I really didn’t have a choice but to stand my ground and defend myself,” Singh said.
Singh said he immediately went to a hospital, where he was told he suffered multiple breaks to his eye sockets and nose as a result of the attack.
Singh told the Tracker the day after the incident that he hadn’t yet filed a police report about the incident.
Documentary writer, director and producer Rocky Romano was shoved and sprayed with bear mace and his camera was knocked from his hands while he was covering anti-mask protests in Los Angeles, California, on July 22, 2021.
Romano told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was covering demonstrations outside the Cedars-Sinai Breast Health Services Building in West Hollywood, where demonstrators had gathered to protest the clinic’s requirement that patients wear masks indoors. Similar rules have been put in place across the country in order to curb the spread of COVID-19 variations, particularly among unvaccinated populations.
“The group consisted of anti-maskers holding signs with anti-vaxx and QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories gathered on the sidewalk by the cancer clinic harassing patients and doctors,” Romano wrote in an email to the Tracker. “Community members arrived and attempted to thwart the efforts of the anti-vaxxers and violence erupted.”
Romano said that at approximately 11 a.m. an anti-vaccine protester struck him, knocking his camera to the ground, when he attempted to ask why the protest was taking place. The individual then kicked the camera into the street, and both Romano and his assailant raced to get it; Romano said he was able to retrieve the camera before his assailant was able to kick it again into the intersection.
I was assaulted and had my camera knocked out of my hand when I tried to inquire as to why the anti-vaccine protestors chose to protest a cancer clinic. Later I was bear maced along with @Katerqburns. @PlasticJesus9 @wysiwygtv @chadloder @misstessowen pic.twitter.com/rALYP6ICHG
— Rocky Romano (he/him) (@directedbyrocky) July 24, 2021
The camera sustained minor damage Romano said, and he was able to continue filming the protest.
Approximately three hours later, Romano said he was covering the main crowd of protesters in front of the clinic when an individual pulled out what he described as a can of bear mace and sprayed Romano, as well as a cancer patient and multiple counterprotesters.
Anti-vax protestor assaults members of the community, a credentialed media person (me), and cancer patient @Katerqburns with bear mace to their faces. Notice the community member assisting the cancer patient to safety. @misstessowen @chadloder @VPS_Reports @PlasticJesus9 pic.twitter.com/rKhGii6MWn
— Rocky Romano (he/him) (@directedbyrocky) July 24, 2021
In footage of the incident Romano posted to Twitter, Romano appears to have been one of the first people targeted with the bear mace. In the footage, Romano can clearly be seen wearing a helmet and flak jacket labeled “PRESS.”
Romano told the Tracker his lungs and eyes were inflamed for four to six hours after he was sprayed, and it took him 24 hours to recover fully. He said he hasn’t yet filed a police report about the incident.
Guardian reporter Lois Beckett was pushed to the ground by protesters around the Wi Spa in Los Angeles, California, on July 17, 2021.
The spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video that police are now treating as a hoax, Slate reported. Beckett was covering protests and counterprotests around the spa on Wilshire Boulevard.
Beckett, a senior reporter at the Guardian’s West Coast bureau, said on Twitter that she was thrown to the ground “as a crowd converged on me and chased me. They threw water at me and screamed about Jesus and said to grab my phone.”
Just got thrown to the ground by right-wing anti-pedophile protesters as a crowd coverged on me and chased me. They threw water at me and screamed about Jesus and said to grab my phone. Police would not let me through the police line but after I got thrown on the ground they did. pic.twitter.com/LDGqkua3fi
— Lois Beckett (@loisbeckett) July 17, 2021
She added that officers initially wouldn’t let her through the police line, but did after she was thrown to the ground. Beckett told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she couldn’t comment immediately.
“I’m doing okay — if I had been left alone to run from the right-wing crowd in the street, rather than let through the police line, not sure that would be the case,” she tweeted later, adding she was wearing her press credential.
The Guardian said in a statement that it was alarmed by the treatment of Beckett, and that it was essential that she and her colleagues in the U.S. be protected as they carry out their jobs. “At a time when journalists and press freedom are under even greater threat around the world, we are concerned for the safety of journalists, who have a right to keep the public informed without facing danger.”
Photographer and journalist Eric Levai said he was surrounded and had around $1,000 of equipment taken from him after he photographed individuals at the Wi Spa, in Los Angeles, California.
The spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate reported.
Levai, who said he doesn’t wear press identification as he believes it attracts harassment, said it was around noon and he was covering what was happening at the Wi Spa when he spotted a photo opportunity. He stepped forward to take a shot of some masked individuals and a car around 50 feet away.
“I was doing my job and they just attacked me, screaming I was taking their picture,” Levai told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “Also, when they surrounded me, I kept telling them I was a journalist, but they kept attacking me.
Levai, who works regularly for the Daily Dot and Forensic News, as well as hosting a podcast, told the Tracker that he heard a shout, and then was charged by seven or eight people, who took his backpack including items which he valued in total at around $1,000. The items included a gas mask, goggles and a tripod.
“They grabbed the bag and phone,” he said. “They took pictures of me.”
Levai said he wasn’t injured in the incident, and that he had managed to take the phone with his photos out of the backpack, though another phone was stolen. The masked individuals then took off with his equipment, he said.
He said that going forward he would reconsider wearing a press ID, though he felt it could mean he gets targeted.
Vishal Singh, a videographer who works on Netflix documentaries and has been covering demonstrations in Los Angeles since May 2020, was struck in the hand with a baton by a police officer while covering demonstrations outside a spa in Los Angeles, California, on July 17, 2021.
Wi Spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate reported.
Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he arrived at approximately 10 a.m. to cover what he expected to be another confrontation between anti-transgender demonstrators and pro-LGBTQ counterprotesters outside the spa. Demonstrations had been occuring at the site for days; Singh reported that a Los Angeles Police Department officer shoved him with a baton while he was covering protests there on July 3.
Shortly before 11 a.m., the two groups were about to clash at an intersection a block away from the spa, Singh said, when LAPD officers quickly advanced in order to separate the sides.
“At that point I decided to go down Coronado Street and kind of go around the police barricade and go to the sidewalk and film the far-right side of the protest,” Singh said. Singh said he was a few steps behind a couple of other journalists who were walking the same direction, but an LAPD officer stopped him when he was about halfway across the street and pushed him back, ordering Singh to get on the sidewalk.
“He was basically saying, ‘Get back to the sidewalk.’ I said, ‘Are you serious?’ And he responded, ‘Yes I’m serious, this is our street,’” Singh said.
Within seconds of getting on the sidewalk, Singh said, a group of officers began confronting the pro-LGBTQ counterprotesters. In footage of the incident Singh shared on Twitter later that day, he can be seen on the right-hand side wearing a helmet and tie-dyed shirt.
“I started stepping backwards and I turned my camera to film the side-view shot of the protesters getting brutalized and at that point [the officer] leaned over, stepped forward toward me and with both hands on his baton like a baseball bat hit my outstretched hand that was holding my camera as hard as he could,” Singh said.
Sorry for the stop in coverage. Hand was injured and phone was damaged after @LAPDHQ batoned my hand. Here’s the video from @Exile_in_LA of the assault. pic.twitter.com/LKgG6YKw8y
— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@VPS_Reports) July 17, 2021
“My hand immediately fractured around the joints of my ring finger and my pinky finger and my camera phone fell down and was smashed,” Singh said.
Singh told the Tracker the screen of his phone screen was cracked from the fall, the case had been knocked off and it lost all cellular service for days following the incident until he was able to have it repaired. He said he also had to repeatedly turn his phone on and off before he was able to resume filming that day.
“I kept covering the protest right up to when the kettling started,” Singh said. “At that point I was like, ‘OK, I don’t need to get arrested.’ So I left the area and decompressed a little bit and then went to urgent care.”
After being directed to a hand specialist, Singh said, he was told he had a significant fracture in his hand and that in addition to six weeks of recovery he would also likely need physical therapy.
Singh told the Tracker he has filed a report with the department and said he plans to file a lawsuit against the department.
The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Los Angeles Police officers separate clashing demonstrations in the city on July 17, 2021. An officer struck videographer Vishal Singh with a baton during the protest, breaking his hand and damaging his camera phone.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,law enforcement,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"LGBTQ+ rights, protest",,, 2021-08-10 16:27:07.884817+00:00,2023-07-13 20:16:45.008870+00:00,Photographer shoved with police baton at LA Wi Spa protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-shoved-with-police-baton-at-la-wi-spa-protest/,2023-07-13 20:16:44.889401+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Raquel Natalicchio (ZUMA Press),,2021-07-17,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Raquel Natalicchio, a freelance photographer, says she was shoved against a wall by a Los Angeles Police Department officer using his baton on July 17, 2021.
Natalicchio was on an assignment for Zuma Press to cover the protests around the Wi Spa. The spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video that police are now treating as a hoax, according to Slate.
She told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that just before she was shoved, the LAPD had declared an unlawful assembly after the two groups of protesters began to clash in front of the spa.
She said that LAPD also showered rubber bullets at trans-rights demonstrators, some even being shot at point blank range — apparently in violation of an April court order banning the use of “less lethal” projectiles against protesters from less than five feet away, and restricting their use to situations in which the targets pose a significant threat of violence.
The LAPD formed several kettles, or tight cordons, around the protesters, telling them to leave the area while pushing them further along the street, so that the protesters were not able to disperse, she said.
Dozens were arrested while attempting to follow police orders to disperse, Natalicchio said.
At around 11 a.m., the photographer was on the sidewalk at Rampart Boulevard and 6th Street, when LAPD officers were pushing back counterprotesters, activists and anyone walking on the street or sidewalk, she said.
“I communicated to the officer that I was press and that I would move back as the crowd behind me moved back. He then pushed me with his baton up against a wall while continuing to scream at me to move. Being I had nowhere to go, I stepped forward to turn around and find another way back and he pushed me from behind again into a crowd of protesters.”
An activist posted a video of the second part of the incident on Twitter.
The photographer said the incident had affected her mental health and she worries about her safety when covering actions in which police are involved. “It seems as if the police had no respect for me as a working journalist and treated me as if I was a protester.”
When contacted for comment, LAPD responded by email that the department had no further information to provide at this time.
This article was updated with comment from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Documentary writer, director and producer Rocky Romano was struck over the head with a baton while he was documenting protests outside a spa in Los Angeles, California, on July 3, 2021.
Wi Spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate reported. Romano told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email that a loose coalition of LGBTQ, antifa and leftist demonstrators had assembled outside the spa shortly before 10 a.m. in support of transgender individuals’ rights.
Romano said he and his team at Winters Rock Entertainment are working on a feature-length documentary on the civil rights movement in LA since the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Romano said he and his team discussed the potential dangers when they arrived in the area, as had become routine with their coverage of dozens of protests over the past year.
“We knew that there had been threats issued by far right extremists and, as always, we came prepared with our limited protective gear, which thankfully included my helmet,” Romano said. “What we did not know was the extent of the danger we would be facing.”
Shortly after the documentarians arrived, several more groups Romano described as QAnon believers, Trump supporters and religious zealots arrived at the spa. Animosity between the groups of protesters and counterprotesters escalated.
“As tensions rose, fights began to break out and I ended up being hit with a cloud of mace as I filmed,” Romano said. “As the acts of violence began to escalate even more, I began to try and de-escalate certain situations where violence could reach the point of major bodily harm or death.”
“Just as I stepped in to allow a far-right protester to get to his feet after falling to the ground after a confrontation, I was hit from behind by some sort of blunt instrument,” Romano said.
In footage captured by independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg, an individual in a plaid shirt can be seen advancing down the street toward a crowd of scuffling protesters. Approximately 15 seconds into the clip, the individual appears to deliberately approach Romano, who is wearing a flak jacket labeled with “PRESS” and a helmet while filming, and strike him across the head with what appears to be a club.
More footage from yesterday's WiSpa anti trans demonstration. An anti trans agitator approaches a man wearing a press flack jacket from behind and hits him with a pipe on the back of his head pic.twitter.com/IRoLQYGHNu
— Lefty-Desiree McLefty Face, Milkshake Whisperer (@TinaDesireeBerg) July 4, 2021
The individual can then be seen running back down the street, and appears to taunt Romano and the crowd before turning down a side street and getting into a vehicle parked nearby.
Romano said that the individual dropped the club as he fled and that someone was able to recover it. Romano subsequently identified the weapon as a “Tire Thumper” — a hickory wood baton weighted with three inches of iron rivet embedded inside — which qualifies as a “generally prohibited weapon” under the state’s penal code.
Following the assault, Romano told the Tracker he didn’t seek medical attention but followed best practices for someone suffering from a concussion. Later that night, Romano said, he could feel that his scalp had split slightly because of the force of the impact.
Romano said he has been in contact with the Los Angeles Police Department and is consulting with Winters Rock Entertainment’s legal counsel about the best way to move forward.
The LAPD didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.
Winters Rock Entertainment documentarians, Miranda Winters, left, and Rocky Romano film at a protest in L.A. in November 2020. Romano was hit over the head with a baton while filming another protest on July 3, 2021.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"LGBTQ+ rights, protest",,, 2021-08-05 16:18:06.701738+00:00,2022-09-21 22:53:58.903571+00:00,Independent videographer shoved with baton during protest at LA’s Wi Spa,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-videographer-shoved-with-baton-during-protest-at-las-wi-spa/,2022-09-21 22:53:58.847678+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Vishal Singh (Independent),,2021-07-03,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Vishal Singh, a videographer who works on Netflix documentaries and has been covering demonstrations in Los Angeles since May 2020, said he was shoved with a baton and aimed at with a crowd-control weapon by a police officer while covering demonstrations outside a spa in Los Angeles, California, on July 3, 2021.
Wi Spa, located in LA’s Koreatown, became a flashpoint for anti-transgender demonstrators as the result of a viral video which police are now treating as a hoax, Slate reported. A loose coalition of LGBTQ, antifa and leftist demonstrators had assembled outside the spa shortly before 10 a.m. in support of transgender individuals’ rights.
Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was covering the confrontations between the anti-transgender demonstrators and pro-LGBTQ counterprotesters outside the spa, which included the assault of documentarian Rocky Romano and the stabbings of at least two demonstrators.
“After all of that went down, the LAPD came in and declared an unlawful assembly and tried to divide the sides, but not very well,” Singh said.
“At some point I was just walking by the police line and an officer just stepped out of line to push me, and I said, ‘What was that for?’ and they started shoving me and shoving a bunch of other people with batons,” Singh said. He also said that later in the day an officer deliberately aimed a less-lethal weapon at him from only a few feet away.
Me: “Put your gun down!”
— Vishal P. Singh (They/He) (@VPS_Reports) July 3, 2021
LAPD: *raises gun at me* pic.twitter.com/uccqvsuht0
Singh said he was wearing his full collection of protective gear — including a helmet and flak jacket labeled with “PRESS” — in addition to his press badge. Singh can be seen in a photo from that day posted to Twitter by independent photojournalist Ashley Balderrama.
The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to an email requesting comment.
Videographer Vishal Singh said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officers hit him in the leg with a pepper ball while he was covering a protest against the department on June 12, 2021.
According to CBS Los Angeles, the sheriff’s department had denied a permit to a group planning a protest to demand that Sheriff Alex Villanueva step down. Despite the ban, demonstrators went ahead with a march, “highlighting the many killings of LASD against the Black and Brown community — such as #DijonKizzee, a Black man who was shot and killed last year for a bicycle violation," Singh wrote on Twitter at 3:45 p.m. that day. Singh’s Twitter post accompanied a video of a demonstrator speaking to officers on a megaphone.
Singh, who has worked on Netflix documentaries and covers protests in Los Angeles, said that at one point, sheriff’s deputies “started pointing me out and calling my name to each other." A video he posted shows a brief conversation Singh had with one deputy.
"One of them recognized me from the raid on the Black Unity autonomous protest camp last year," he wrote.
At 6:14 p.m., Singh tweeted that he was hit in the leg by a pepper ball. In a video accompanying the tweet, the sound of a gun firing can be heard, followed shortly by Singh cursing, but the pepper ball is not seen. Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he wore a press badge while reporting, but he said the officers were "kind of shooting at everybody," and thus he did not believe he was deliberately targeted.
In a letter to the department's board, the ACLU of Southern California said the sheriff's denial of the protest request was "unconstitutional and suggested it was the result of bias," wrote LAist.
Two weeks earlier, on May 28, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction limiting the sheriff’s department's use of projectiles and chemical agents on protests, "finding that it has indiscriminately fired them at peaceful protesters, legal observers and journalists," according to the Los Angeles Times.
LASD Deputy Eva Jimenez did not respond to the specifics of Singh’s case but told the Tracker that the "deployment and use of less lethal munitions is guided by strict policy and procedure, in addition to current state and federal law. Every application and use of force is thoroughly documented, investigated, and reviewed at multiple levels throughout the chain of command."
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
At least 13 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.
As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post reported.
Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “kettling.”
Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally tweeted that he and reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray, who writes for the digital news site L.A. Taco, were standing next to each other inside the “kettle” as police faced off with protesters. Queally noted that just a week earlier, he had written a story for the Times about the “failure to disperse” charges brought against Ray by the LAPD months after he was covering another incident in downtown L.A.
Ray tweeted that he and Queally were trying to stick together after the crowd was boxed in, and he posted footage he took as Queally was led away by officers and placed in zip-tie cuffs.
Ray confirmed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he continued filming as officers arrested more individuals in the kettle — sometimes violently. In the footage, Ray can be heard saying, “Why are you pointing this [weapon] at me? I’m with the media,” as an officer trains his weapon on Ray’s chest and face.
LAPD violently arresting a protestor earlier near Lemoyne and Park Ave. Dozens of protestors and media have been boxed in. Nobody is able to leave. @LATACO pic.twitter.com/3hh6kOLERi
— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) March 26, 2021
Queally tweeted that after his arrest and release 30 minutes later, Ray called him and said that he was still detained in the kettle.
“I managed to get hold of an officer in media relations who rushed to do something about it,” Queally wrote. “I’m still worried he might have gotten arrested otherwise.”
Ray tweeted at around 10:30 p.m. that he had been released, along with other members of the press, without being formally arrested.
LAPD has let me and a group of press go without detaining us. They made us all show our press passes to avoid arrest. I'm safe 🙏🏾 @LATACO pic.twitter.com/z1nuIuyUxI
— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) March 26, 2021
“They held us there for more than an hour and then let people go if they had a press pass,” Ray told the Tracker. “Last year they said press could self-ID but I think they only let people go [that night] if they approved their press pass.”
Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”
At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD posted another statement specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.
“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”
The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area 350 feet away from the crowd.
About the media area, Queally tweeted, “Media pens are deliberately setup to keep reporters AWAY from news. Tonight was no different. It was nowhere near the protests or action in the park.”
The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”
The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest here.
Los Angeles Police Department officers detain protesters demonstrating against the closure of a homeless encampment at Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021. More than a dozen journalists were also arrested or detained.
",detained and released without being processed,Los Angeles Police Department,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"encampment, kettle, protest",,, 2021-03-30 14:06:34.009849+00:00,2022-01-03 15:00:32.302423+00:00,Independent photojournalist detained while covering Echo Park protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/,2022-01-03 15:00:32.247585+00:00,,,,"Arrest/Criminal Charge, Assault",,,,Ashley Balderrama (Independent),,2021-03-25,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.
As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., the Washington Post reported.
According to the Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest, and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “kettling.”
Independent photojournalist Ashley Balderrama said she was caught in the police kettle while she was live on her Instagram and taking photographs. “I was hit on the back with an officer’s baton,” she told the Tracker in an email. She said she was repeatedly shoved by an officer and asked to leave the area, but “there was literally no where to go” because she was stuck between the officers and the protesters. She said she had her National Press Photographers Association credentials, but the officer kept shoving her until some protesters pulled her away.
“We were first told that we were no longer free to leave and that we would be arrested. After explaining to some officers that we were press, they initially said, ‘It’s too late,’” Balderrama said. “At one point as they went to arrest a protester right next to me, they tackled him and he fell into me, [and] when I looked up, an LAPD officer was pointing a less than lethal weapon directly at my face at point blank range.”
Balderrama tweeted a video of this arrest, in which she can be heard yelling, “We can’t go anywhere. There’s another line of you guys right there.”
Balderrama said that even though her credentials were around her neck, she was told multiple times that she would be arrested. “They then moved us all and made press mix with protesters, which worried me greatly, that they would not even take the time to check my credentials.”
She told the Tracker that after being detained for two hours, she was allowed to leave. “As we walked out, they told us where the press viewing was, which was on the next block over, with absolutely no visibility of [the] incident,” she added.
Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”
At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD posted another statement, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.
“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement said. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”
The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.
The LAPD statement noted that as individuals were being detained inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”
The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.
The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest here.
Los Angeles police arrive on March 24, 2021, to begin the eviction of homeless encampments at Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles. At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained the following day while covering protests against the evictions.
",detained and released without being processed,Los Angeles Police Department,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"encampment, kettle, protest",,, 2021-03-30 14:59:32.018716+00:00,2022-03-09 22:37:20.485846+00:00,Independent photojournalist hit with rubber bullets while covering Echo Park protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-photojournalist-hit-with-rubber-bullets-while-covering-echo-park-protest/,2022-03-09 22:37:20.428245+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Christian Monterrosa (Independent),,2021-03-25,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Independent photojournalist Christian Monterrosa told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was hit with rubber bullets fired by Los Angeles law enforcement while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March, 25, 2021.
Crowds had gathered at Echo Park Lake to demonstrate against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, the Washington Post reported. According to the Post, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., but before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest, and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “kettling.”
Monterrosa told the Tracker he got caught in the police kettle. “I thought it was weird [that we were asked to leave] because press and National Lawyers Guild are the ones that stay until the end once the crowd has been dispersed and it’s how we’re able to report on these arrests,” he said. He said police cut off the alleyway where protesters were exiting and created a line of officers to rush the crowd. He said officers shoved demonstrators who were standing in front of him, pushing them into him.
“I was able to get out, from luck,” Monterrosa said. He showed his LAPD-issued and National Press Photographers Association credentials to an officer, who let him and two other journalists leave the area after the commanding officer looked at the press badges.
He told the Tracker he then moved one block north of the area to cover another skirmish between police and protesters. “There was a huge, huge presence of incoming police,” Monterrosa added. “I’ve never seen so many cops at any of the demonstrations I’ve been to in LA.”
He said the protesters started retreating after they saw the police coming, but the officers “heavily enforced dispersal [with] less than lethal weapons” and fired indiscriminately into the crowd.
That was when he was hit by rubber bullets in the abdomen and right forearm, according to Monterrosa. “I was well aware of my rights and where I can and cannot be in these situations. I wasn’t engaging verbally,” Monterrosa, who also chair’s the NPPA’s west region, said. “All I had were my camera and helmet [and] was walking backwards.” He said he retreated to a safe area to apply bandages from his first aid kit.
Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”
At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD posted another statement, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.
“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”
The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.
The LAPD statement noted that as individuals inside the kettle were detained, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”
The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.
At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained and several assaulted while covering the protest, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protest here.
At least 17 journalists were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.
As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., the Washington Post reported.
According to the Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “kettling.”
Freelance photojournalist Joey Scott told the Tracker via email that he’d heard police give an order to disperse that night, telling legal observers and members of the press in particular to leave the area, but that he “stayed to do my job and document what was happening.”
Soon, though, he was trapped with protesters in the kettle. “I was shoved by a police officer who was setting up the skirmish line, pushing me back into the kettled group and not allowing me to leave,” he said.
Scott told the Tracker that he and other members of the media identified themselves as press to the police but were told that in order to leave the kettled area officers would need to speak to their supervisor, an effort that, according to Scott, “never happened.”
“We were detained for over two hours as they arrested people one by one,” Scott said. He posted multiple videos on Twitter showing police making arrests. Find all documented press freedom violations, including arrests, from the Echo Park Lake protests here.
“Police used force arresting people and pointed shotguns with bean bag rounds at members of the press and protesters,” he told the Tracker.
After roughly two hours, Scott said the press were told to show their credentials in order to leave the area. “I was told to leave the area and not to return unless I wanted to be arrested,” he said.
After being released from the area, Scott said, members of the press were not able to talk to any police officials and requests for information were ignored.
Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”
At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD posted another statement, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.
“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”
The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.
The LAPD statement noted that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”
The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.
At least 20 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.
As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post reported.
According to The Post, before anyone could exit, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “kettling.”
An independent journalist, who asked to be identified only by the anonymized Twitter handle of @desertborder, told the Tracker he was among those detained in the kettle for approximately two hours.
It's been awhile since the last time I was kettled. It sucks, in case anyone was wondering
— Mitch O'Farrell Hates Freedom (@desertborder) March 26, 2021
The journalist said that moments before police trapped the crowd in a kettle, the protesters had begun marching backward in unison, in apparent compliance with a police dispersal order given at around 7:30 p.m.
“The crowd was actively retreating when all of a sudden the crowd broke and people started running,” @desertborder said. “I turned around and looked, and another line of riot cops had come up and blocked us in from behind. There was another side street that they were blocking too, so there was no exit at that point,” he said.
@desertborder said that he stood on a sidewalk, to the side of the main body of protesters, as police began making individual arrests. He and other journalists stayed on the sidelines of the kettle, he said, “to avoid getting arrested.”
“I showed an officer my press badge and I said, ‘Hey, I’m press, can I leave?’ And he told me, ‘No. Press was told to leave and you didn’t. You were given a lawful order and you didn’t comply. Now you’re under arrest too,’” the journalist said. “And I thought, ‘Ah hell, alright. I guess I’m going to jail tonight.’”
@desertborder said that while he continued filming the arrests, an officer pointed a crowd-control weapon directly at him and other members of the press. Lexis-Olivier Ray, a reporter for digital news site L.A. Taco, captured the incident on video.
“They came in to make an arrest over by the sidewalk,” the journalist said. “[The officer] was pointing a less-lethal shotgun [used to fire crowd control munitions] a few inches from our faces and was just really angry and really aggressive, screaming ‘Get back!’ But there was nowhere for us to go, because there was a line of riot cops behind us.”
“I really thought he was going to blast us,” @desertborder said.
About an hour later, he said, journalists standing on one edge of the kettle were told to join those on the opposite edge. @desertborder said he took that as a sign that police might be preparing to let them go without arrest.
“An officer told us, ‘If you don’t have press credentials, just get off the sidewalk and get back with the rest of them,’” the journalist said, “obviously implying that you were going to be arrested if you didn’t have credentials.”
They moved all the press over to this corner. An officer told us if we don't have press credentials we "might as well go back over there" with the crowd of protesters getting arrested. LAPD policy, as handed down by Chief Moore himself, is that press does not need credentials
— Mitch O'Farrell Hates Freedom (@desertborder) March 26, 2021
Shortly after 10 p.m., @desertborder said, the LAPD began allowing members of the press who had press passes to leave the kettle; he said he was able to show the officers his credentials, issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and was permitted to leave.
Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that read, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”
At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD posted another statement, specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.
“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement read. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which could “cause significant injury to the eyes.”
The statement said members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.
The LAPD statement noted that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”
The Los Angeles Police Department, which accepts requests for comment only via email, did not respond to the Tracker’s request for further comment.
The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests here.
At least 20 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.
As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post reported.
Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “kettling.”
Independent journalist Jeremy Lindenfeld, whose website says his work has been published in the Chicago Sun-Times, Knock LA and other platforms, told the Tracker that he was among the many journalists trapped in the police kettle while covering the protest that night.
Lindenfeld said when he initially told the police that he was a member of the National Press Photographers Association, he was told that it was too late to leave and was shoved with a baton.
According to Lindenfeld, he and other members of the press caught inside the “kettle” watched as police arrested protesters.
“Press were again harassed by being told to move to one side of the street then 10 minutes later to the other side of the street for no reason at all, but to scare us,” Lindenfeld told the Tracker.
After some time the police began releasing members of the press with press credentials, according to Lindenfeld. ”I was able to show them my membership to the NPPA and they released me from the kettle,” he said.
Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”
At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD posted another statement specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.
“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”
The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.
The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”
The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not respond to a request for further comment.
The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests here.
At least 20 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.
As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post reported.
Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “kettling.”
Freelance journalist Austin Baffa, who said his videos have been used by CNN, Fox News and the Los Angeles Times, told the Tracker that he was covering the protest that night when police declared the assembly unlawful and gave orders to the protesters and the press to disperse and leave.
“With about a minute left before they started making arrests, the protesters began to move back and leave the area,” he said. “That’s when LAPD kettled them from an alley and declared that everyone was under arrest including press.”
Baffa told the Tracker that over the next hour, the police arrested a number of individuals in the kettle, including some members of the press.
“We all thought that we were going to get arrested and sent to jail,” he said. But eventually police told the media and remaining protesters to move to one side of the street, and members of the press were asked to show their press credentials in order to leave, according to Baffa.
Baffa said that he was released after he showed his press credentials, issued by the National Press Photographers Association, to the police.
The journalist also said that he experienced multiple moments of excessive force by law enforcement, including having less-lethal weapons pointed at his chest and head.
Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”
At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD posted another statement specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.
“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”
The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.
The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”
The Los Angeles Police Department, which only accepts requests for comment via email, did not respond to a request for further comment.
The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests here.
At least 20 journalists, and likely more, were arrested or detained in Los Angeles, California, while documenting demonstrations near Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, as reported to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, on social media and in other news outlets.
As crowds demonstrated against the city’s plan to clear a large homeless encampment, Los Angeles Police Department officers declared the gathering at the park’s northern entrance unlawful shortly after 8 p.m., The Washington Post reported.
Before anyone could exit, according to The Post, a supervising officer announced that everyone was under arrest and officers surrounded the group using a police tactic called “kettling.”
Orange County-based independent photojournalist Robert “Chip” Sneed told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that as soon as officers declared the unlawful assembly he moved from the street to the sidewalk, in order to avoid possible arrest for standing in the roadway.
Sneed said that protesters had begun moving away from the police line when law enforcement rushed the crowd. Then, he said, a second group of officers came out from a nearby alley to kettle the group.
“As the protesters are moving backward, the police line does a bullrush and I’m toward the front of the crowd at that point, and I get knocked over and banged up a little bit,” Sneed said. “Luckily some people helped me up and carried me back a bit.”
Once the crowd was surrounded by the police kettle, Sneed said, he ran back and forth to photograph arrests as officers detained individuals one by one. Within minutes, however, Sneed said he also was arrested.
“I don’t know whether they were targeting me already,” he said, but as he made his way across a street, “I made eye contact with two officers that were moving forward from behind the skirmish line to make an arrest and they ran toward me and told me I was under arrest.” Sneed said he identified himself to the officers as press and showed them a press badge that he had created himself. He said he was also carrying two professional cameras, a GoPro camera and was filming with his cellphone when he was arrested.
“I kept asking to speak to the supervisor. Eventually I was able to, and I explained that I was press and I was well within my First Amendment rights to be documenting what was going on and he informed me that apparently they had made an announcement that said press and media were also subject to arrest if they didn’t disperse.”
After waiting 45 minutes on the sidewalk and another hour on a police bus, Sneed said he was transported to the LAPD Metropolitan Detention Center. He said he was released after midnight on March 26 and given paperwork ordering him to appear in court on July 30, on a charge of failure to disperse.
Around the time it was making arrests, LAPD issued a statement on Twitter that reads, in part, “As a reminder, members of the media are also to obey the dispersal orders. Members of the media are to use the designated media viewing area.”
At around 1 a.m. on March 26, the LAPD posted another statement specifically addressing the detainments of members of the press.
“An unlawful assembly was declared by the Incident Commander after the unlawful activity of individuals threatened the safety of the officers and all those present,” the statement reads. According to the statement, police declared the gathering unlawful in part because protesters were shining strobe lights at police, which can “cause significant injury to the eyes.”
The statement says members of the press were directed to identify themselves and relocate to a media area about 350 feet away from the crowd.
The LAPD statement notes that as individual arrests were made of those inside the kettle, police officers “learned that several credentialed and non-credentialed members of the media were part of the group. Members from the Department’s Media Relations Division were summoned to assist in identifying these individuals and they were released at scene without being arrested.”
Sneed retweeted the statement, noting that at no time did he hear the order for the media to disperse and that when he identified himself as press he was told it didn’t matter.
At no time was the press specifically ordered to a designated media area. At no point did any officers attempt to identify myself or other media members being arrested. When I was arrested I immediately identified myself as press and was told it didn’t matter. Y’all fucked up. https://t.co/Ie8n3cwefK
— CHIP NOOO (@chip_nooo) March 26, 2021
A Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson, reached by phone, told the Tracker that department policy is not to discuss arrests once paperwork has been filed. The spokesperson did not respond to emailed requests to confirm details about Sneed’s arrest, including confirming whether police had filed paperwork charging him or intended to do so.
On April 29, Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the office had not received cases from police concerning Sneed or the other journalists who had received police citations more than a month earlier, on March 25.
Sneed told the Tracker on May 17 that he had received no notice that the charges were dropped against him, but said that he had expected that they would be.
Despite the lack of communication to the journalists involved, and barring further information, the Tracker is listing the charges against Sneed as “dropped” based on the lack of paperwork filed.
The Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find all arrests and detainments from the Echo Park Lake protest here.
Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was shoved by a police officer while reporting on a protest near Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles, California on March 24, 2021, Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Protesters gathered near Echo Park Lake to demonstrate against the city’s plan to clear a homeless encampment, blocking Los Angeles Police Department officers from the park, LAist reported.
In the evening protesters were trying to block police from putting up a barrier around the park, Berg told the Tracker.
Berg, who reports for Status Coup, which describes itself as a progressive, independent news outlet, said she was one of about a half dozen journalists between a line of police officers and protesters. She said she asked if she could move through to the other side of the police line, but an officer refused, telling her, “you’ve made your choice.”
Berg, who was filming using a video camera with a light attachment, said that police were objecting to journalists’ use of camera lights, saying that they were trying to blind the officers.
In a video published by Status Coup on YouTube, officers multiple times ask people, including Berg, to turn off their camera lights. Berg can be heard refusing, at times confrontationally.
In one clip multiple people with cameras can be seen near an officer, who says, “Turn off that light please.”
“I’m not turning off my light, dude, it is necessary for my job,” Berg can be heard saying.
In another clip, an officer can be heard saying “Leave the area, ma’am.”
The video then shows the top of another officer’s helmet, abruptly shakes, and Berg can be heard saying “no!”
Berg told the Tracker that’s when an officer hit her camera lens with a baton, then jabbed her in the abdomen with the baton.
Berg told the Tracker she was wearing a Kevlar vest and was not hurt by the baton. The blow to her camera lens cracked the outer casing of the lens, she said. The interior of the lens was not damaged and it is still usable, she said, though she has not gotten the casing repaired.
Berg said she was wearing multiple press credentials on a lanyard around her neck, including one issued by the Los Angeles Press Club and another that identified her as a journalist for Status Coup.
LAPD spokesperson Raul Jovel said the department opened an investigation into the incident after the Tracker reached out to the department for comment.
At a protest in Echo Lake Park the following day, March 25, at least 20 journalists were arrested, detained or assaulted. Find all documented press freedom violations from the Echo Park Lake protests here.
Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was shoved by a police officer while documenting protests in Los Angeles, California, on March 13, 2021.
Protesters had gathered in Hollywood to mark the first anniversary of the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, in Louisville, Kentucky. The protest was one in a surge of demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement that have been held since May 2020. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Antifa march through Hollywood for #BreonnaTaylor pic.twitter.com/kVVZtPKM6R
— Notorious Lefty-Desiree McLefty Face (@TinaDesireeBerg) March 14, 2021
Los Angeles Police Department officers and protesters engaged in a tense standoff at the intersection of Vine Street and Lexington Avenue at approximately 9:30 p.m., the Los Angeles Times reported.
Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she had caught up to the crowd as individuals began throwing water bottles and other objects toward police and the officers were pushing the crowd back in response.
“As I was filming this, one of the officers came up to me and started pushing and shoving me down,” Berg said. “One of the activists — I don’t know her name — said to the LAPD officer, ‘Stop pushing her, she’s press, she’s not one of us, she’s press.’ Next thing I know they’ve jumped on this protester and pinned her to the ground and they arrested her for this.”
Berg continued to try to film the arrest near the northeast corner of the intersection, according to footage she published with the online outlet Status Coup, which describes itself as a progressive media company. A second officer approached her and other members of the press. In the footage, the officer can be heard saying, “You are interfering with our ability to see what is going on. Can you please back up a few feet.”
In a clip captured by independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel, a different LAPD officer can be seen shoving someone — identified by Beckner-Carmitchel as Berg — backward.
Immediately after, an individual can be heard asking the officer, “What’s your problem?” The officer responds, “Don’t put the light in my face!”
Another instance of shoving. It appears as though an officer shoved @TinaDesireeBerg over her camera light:
— Sean Carmitchel (@ACatWithNews) March 14, 2021
Also: I don’t have a great angle of this but this was after a police officer kicked an air conditioner into the crowd of journos.@uspresstracker pic.twitter.com/iBW11F1BFS
Berg confirmed to the Tracker that the officer had pushed her, adding she has footage of the officer’s hand coming at her camera lens. She added that she often has found officers to be more hostile to the press when the journalists are filming.
At a protest 10 days later, another LAPD officer confronted Berg about the light on her camera and then struck her camera lens and then jabbed her in the abdomen with a baton.
Berg said she was wearing press credentials on a lanyard around her neck, including one issued by the Los Angeles Press Club and another that identified her as a journalist for Status Coup.
The Los Angeles Police Department didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.
Vishal Singh, a videographer who works on Netflix documentaries and has been covering demonstrations in Los Angeles, said police officers struck him more than two dozen times with batons while he was covering a protest in the city on March 8, 2021.
Singh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest, organized by the Coalition for Community Control Over the Police, had ended in downtown LA by the time officers descended on the crowd. The protest was one in a surge of demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement that have been held since May 2020. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
“Protesters had started to disperse when LAPD popped up out of nowhere and just started blocking off the street, so tensions started rising between activists and police,” Singh said. “All of a sudden [the police] got very aggressive very fast.”
Singh said he was standing next to the mother of a man shot and killed by police when officers started getting into their “pushing position” ahead of rushing the crowd. Officers then brought out their batons and began shoving the crowd back and hitting the demonstrators.
“I didn’t really move because I had what I thought was a pretty important angle of a double frame: on the left side you see the police and on the right side you see the protesters being hit with batons,” Singh said. “In the process of that filming I was batoned in the stomach and chest area about 30 or more times. I was hit so consistently and so hard that one journalist pointed out to me that my press badge had actually been beaten off of me.”
Today, @LAPDHQ officers decided to baton me over 24 times while I was filming their brutality against a civil rights protest. While I was recovering from the assault, @ACatWithNews pointed out that my press credentials were gone.@LAPDHQ literally beat the press pass off me. pic.twitter.com/t62lYpKeWM
— Vishal P Singh (@VPS_Reports) March 9, 2021
Singh said that while he was wearing a press badge, he wasn’t wearing his ballistic vest labeled with “PRESS” because he had thought the protest would be low-risk. He had extra copies of his press badge, Singh said, and was able to put a new one on his lanyard.
“My stomach, ribs, and wrist are bruised and coughing now hurts my stomach,” Singh told the Tracker via email a few hours after the incident.
The Los Angeles Police Department didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.
Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel said he was confronted and assaulted by an unidentified man while he was reporting in Los Angeles at the site of a planned anti-vaccination demonstration on Jan. 31, 2021.
Beckner-Carmitchel tweeted that when he arrived at the scene in West Hollywood in the early afternoon, only about three people had shown up to protest against lockdown rules and COVID-19 vaccinations, while about 15 counterprotesters were there. He shared a video of a verbal confrontation between several anti-lockdown protesters and counterprotesters, but noted that no violence had occurred.
"One man, who arrived after the verbal confrontation earlier, took issue with being filmed," Beckner-Carmitchel tweeted alongside a video he posted at 3:30 p.m. "He put himself near me, coughed in my face and threw my equipment down then attempted further assault."
In the video, the man repeatedly asks why Beckner-Carmitchel is following him. Beckner-Carmitchel responds that he has the right to film in a public space and asks the man to step back. The video shows the man continues to come closer and loudly coughs at Beckner-Carmitchel, who continues filming as the man walks away. The man is then seen turning back toward the videographer; he says "Keep it up" then reaches forward and slams the camera to the ground.
Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he wore National Press Photographers Association credentials around his neck and sustained injuries to his hand as well as "some intense bruising to the right forearm."
Lexis-Olivier Ray, a freelance multimedia journalist, was tackled to the ground by Los Angeles Police Department officers and beaten with batons, damaging his equipment as he documented the celebrations of the Dodgers’ World Series win in Los Angeles, California, on Oct. 28, 2020.
Los Angeles and cities across the U.S. experienced protests against police brutality throughout the summer, and crowds in L.A. had clashed with police earlier in October during celebrations of the Lakers’ NBA championship win. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
USA Today reported that the Dodger celebrations in L.A. that began the night of Oct. 27 took place mainly in downtown and in Echo Park, a neighborhood near Dodger Stadium. Ray covered the event on assignment for L.A. Taco, a digital-only outlet focused on the city. Ray did not respond to emails requesting comment.
Ray told the Los Angeles Times that he was near the intersection of West 8th and Flower Streets when officers suddenly sprinted forward and pinned him against a car. Ray said that he feared being dragged underneath the car, which was slowly moving forward, if the driver accelerated.
Shortly after midnight, Ray posted a video to Twitter that shows a line of officers in riot gear rushing at him, pushing him repeatedly and ultimately knocking him to the ground. Ray can be heard identifying himself as a member of the press multiple times.
Ray told the Times that he had introduced himself to a police supervisor at the scene moments before the incident, so some of the officers who were standing with the supervisor should have known who he was.
In a subsequent tweet, Ray posted pictures of a few abrasions on his right hand and elbow, as well as damage to his video camera’s microphone and lens. “A group of LAPD officers just broke my camera mic, tackled me to the ground and beat me with their batons, after I identified myself as a journalist multiple times,” he wrote. He noted, however, that he was “OK.”
A group of LAPD officers just broke my camera mic, tackled me to the ground and beat me with their batons, after I identified myself as a journalist multiple times. @LATACO pic.twitter.com/2VaB4sq8IJ
— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) October 28, 2020
“It’s really difficult to be a reporter right now,” Ray told the Times.
The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment as of press time. Officer Lizeth Lomeli, an LAPD spokesperson, told USA Today she had no information about the incident.
Los Angeles Police Department officers in riot gear stand guard near Dodger Stadium on Oct. 28, 2020, following the Los Angeles Dodgers’ World Series win.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,law enforcement,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,,,, 2021-02-11 21:54:02.678442+00:00,2022-03-09 22:46:07.062510+00:00,Reporter struck with crowd-control munitions amid Dodgers World Series celebrations,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-reporters-struck-with-crowd-control-munitions-amid-dodgers-world-series-celebrations/,2022-03-09 22:46:07.001357+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Samuel Braslow (Beverly Hills Courier),,2020-10-27,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Two journalists were hit with crowd-control munitions fired by law enforcement while documenting celebrations in Los Angeles, California, after the Dodgers won the World Series on Oct. 27, 2020.
Los Angeles and cities across the U.S. experienced protests against police brutality throughout the summer, and crowds in L.A. had clashed with police earlier in October during celebrations of the Lakers’ NBA championship win. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Beverly Hills Courier reporter Samuel Braslow told the Tracker he was covering the downtown celebration with Emily Holshouser, a reporter for California State University Northridge’s student newspaper, The Daily Sundial. Holshouser declined to comment.
The Los Angeles Times reported that celebrations devolved into looting and vandalism in downtown L.A. and the neighborhood of Echo Park.
Holshouser reported on Twitter that one policeman told her there were “not enough” officers to deal with the crowd.
Braslow told the Tracker, “Police were trying to respond to things, but again, they were spread thin.”
On her Twitter feed, Holshouser said that the LAPD issued a dispersal order shortly after 10 p.m., and that a line of officers in riot gear and mounted police were preparing to advance.
Braslow said he and Holshouser were standing with a group of 10-15 people at a street corner when police began advancing toward them. Shortly before midnight, Holshouser posted a clip of nearly a dozen individuals wearing Dodgers-branded apparel posing for Braslow to take a photo.
“These guys made @SamBraslow photograph them and then we got shot at with foam baton rounds,” Holshouser wrote. “I got shot in my hip. I’m fine just mega pissed.”
The Tracker has documented Holshouser’s assault here.
Braslow tweeted an image of a canister for a foam baton round — a crowd-control munition similar to a rubber bullet — at 11:54 p.m., and wrote that he had been hit in the arm by a “less-lethal” round. He told the Tracker he was not certain what type of munition struck him.
“I’m fine, just noting it,” Braslow wrote. “As per usual, camera around my neck, carrying camera bag, and wearing press credentials.”
Whelp, hit by a less lethal in the arm. I’m fine, just noting it. As per usual, camera around my neck, carrying camera bag, and wearing press credentials. pic.twitter.com/sy81UGBe7x
— Samuel Braslow (@SamBraslow) October 28, 2020
Braslow told the Tracker he was also wearing a bulletproof vest and ballistic goggles. Holshouser can be seen in clips from that night wearing a bright yellow vest and press pass.
Braslow said he had some bruising and soreness on his arm, but both he and Holshouser were able to continue reporting that night.
The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to emailed requests for comment as of press time.
A third journalist, L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray, was tackled to the ground and struck with batons while filming the celebrations shortly after midnight. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented that assault here.
People celebrate the Los Angeles Dodgers' World Series victory in Los Angeles, California, on Oct. 27, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,shot / shot at,,, 2022-02-04 15:55:11.916265+00:00,2022-03-09 22:46:29.366774+00:00,Student journalist struck with crowd control munitions amid Dodgers celebrations,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-struck-with-crowd-control-munitions-amid-dodgers-celebrations/,2022-03-09 22:46:29.310971+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Emily Holshouser (The Daily Sundial),,2020-10-27,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Two journalists were hit with crowd-control munitions fired by law enforcement while documenting celebrations in Los Angeles, California, after the Dodgers won the World Series on Oct. 27, 2020.
Los Angeles and cities across the U.S. experienced protests against police brutality throughout the summer, and crowds in L.A. had clashed with police earlier in October during celebrations of the Lakers’ NBA championship win. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Beverly Hills Courier reporter Samuel Braslow told the Tracker he was covering the downtown celebration with Emily Holshouser, a reporter for California State University Northridge’s student newspaper, The Daily Sundial. Holshouser declined to comment.
The Los Angeles Times reported that celebrations devolved into looting and vandalism in downtown L.A. and the neighborhood of Echo Park.
Holshouser reported on Twitter that one policeman told her there were “not enough” officers to deal with the crowd.
Braslow told the Tracker, “Police were trying to respond to things, but again, they were spread thin.”
On her Twitter feed, Holshouser said that the LAPD issued a dispersal order shortly after 10 p.m., and that a line of officers in riot gear and mounted police were preparing to advance.
Braslow said he and Holshouser were standing with a group of 10-15 people at a street corner when police began advancing toward them. Shortly before midnight, Holshouser posted a clip of nearly a dozen individuals wearing Dodgers-branded apparel posing for Braslow to take a photo.
“These guys made @SamBraslow photograph them and then we got shot at with foam baton rounds,” Holshouser wrote. “I got shot in my hip. I’m fine just mega pissed.”
These guys made @SamBraslow photograph them and then we got shot at with foam baton rounds ✨ I got shot in my hip. I’m fine just mega pissed pic.twitter.com/OPH0By53bU
— Emily Holshouser (@emilyytayylor) October 28, 2020
Braslow tweeted an image of a canister for a foam baton round — a crowd-control munition similar to a rubber bullet — at 11:54 p.m., and wrote that he had been hit in the arm by a “less-lethal” round. He told the Tracker he was not certain what type of munition struck him. The Tracker has documented Braslow’s assault here.
“I’m fine, just noting it,” Braslow wrote. “As per usual, camera around my neck, carrying camera bag, and wearing press credentials.”
Braslow told the Tracker he was also wearing a bulletproof vest and ballistic goggles. Holshouser can be seen in clips from that night wearing a bright yellow vest and press pass.
Braslow said he had some bruising and soreness on his arm, but both he and Holshouser were able to continue reporting that night.
The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to emailed requests for comment as of press time.
A third journalist, L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray, was tackled to the ground and struck with batons while filming the celebrations shortly after midnight. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented that assault here.
Samuel Braslow, a journalist for the Beverly Hills Courier, said Los Angeles Police Department officers hit him with crowd-control munition amid fanfare in downtown Los Angeles, California, on the night of Oct. 11, 2020.
Earlier in the evening, the Los Angeles Lakers had won the NBA championship, drawing thousands of celebrants outside the Staples Center. According to the Los Angeles Times, the festivities “quickly soured,” though, and “the scene devolved into another roving standoff between police in riot gear and throngs of people on the street.” Throughout the summer, Los Angeles and cities across the U.S. saw similar scenes, as thousands took to the streets to protest police brutality. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Braslow told the Tracker he arrived in downtown LA after LAPD officers had already started forming a skirmish line with officers in riot gear on foot and mounted police behind them.
“Even as people were complying and moving backward, LAPD officers continued firing less-lethal munitions at the crowd,” Braslow said.
At 9:43 p.m. on Oct. 11, Braslow posted footage of the advancing police line. Approximately 4 seconds into the clip, an officer on the left side of the frame appears to notice Braslow, aims his crowd-control firearm at the journalist and fires.
“Police aimed at me. Less lethal round literally hits my phone out of my hands (credit to apple, it kept recording),” Braslow wrote on Twitter.
Police aimed at me. Less lethal round literally hits my phone out of my hands (credit to apple, it kept recording) pic.twitter.com/TguhhlZXs7
— Samuel Braslow (@SamBraslow) October 12, 2020
Braslow told the Tracker he was holding his phone in front of the face when it was shot out of his hands, and said that it was clear officers were not following directives to aim crowd-control munitions at the ground or waist-level.
Braslow said he was wearing a Courier press badge and was carrying a large, professional camera around his neck. He said he was not injured and his phone was not damaged from the incident. He was able to continue posting live reports and footage until about 1:20 a.m.
“I was less surprised than I maybe should have been,” Braslow said, “and I just took it in stride.”
LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.
Los Angeles Police Department officers line up in front of the Staples Center as Lakers fans celebrate their team winning the 2020 NBA Championship on Oct. 11, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,shot / shot at,,, 2021-11-02 16:02:07.281556+00:00,2024-02-29 19:32:02.213901+00:00,Photojournalist threatened with weapon while covering Lakers championship celebrations,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-threatened-with-weapon-while-covering-lakers-championship-celebrations/,2024-02-29 19:32:02.134958+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Christian Monterrosa (The Associated Press),,2020-10-11,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Freelance photojournalist Christian Monterrosa, who was on assignment for The Associated Press, posted on social media that Los Angeles Police Department officers pointed a firearm at him in downtown Los Angeles, California, on the night of Oct. 11, 2020.
Earlier in the evening, the Los Angeles Lakers had won the NBA championship, drawing thousands of celebrants outside the Staples Center. According to the Los Angeles Times, the festivities “quickly soured,” though, and “the scene devolved into another roving standoff between police in riot gear and throngs of people on the street.”
Throughout the summer, Los Angeles and cities across the U.S. saw similar scenes, as thousands took to the streets to protest police brutality. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Monterrosa, who did not respond to requests for comment, captioned a photo posted to Instagram, “An LAPD officer points his firearm at Laker fans on the street including a TV news cameraman, and myself, who were documenting it.”
Some more here after the night devolved into a police vs. crowd situation.
— Christian Monterrosa (@chrismatography) October 12, 2020
For @AP pic.twitter.com/SEobeQPnME
LAPD did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
Los Angeles Police Department officers threatened an unidentified videojournalist with a firearm amid fanfare in downtown Los Angeles, California, on the night of Oct. 11, 2020, according to social media posts.
Earlier in the evening, the Los Angeles Lakers had won the NBA championship, drawing thousands of celebrants outside the Staples Center. According to the Los Angeles Times, the festivities “quickly soured,” though, and “the scene devolved into another roving standoff between police in riot gear and throngs of people on the street.”
Throughout the summer, Los Angeles and cities across the U.S. saw similar scenes, as thousands took to the streets to protest police brutality. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Photographer Ricardo Salvador Miranda posted footage on Instagram the following day that captured the scene, which he captioned, “LAPD pulls gun on Lakers fans and the Press.”
In the clip, the LAPD officer can be seen jumping out of a cruiser with his pistol drawn, pointing behind the vehicle as multiple objects appear to be thrown in his direction.
The officer quickly gets back into the vehicle just as an object — which appears to be a beer bottle — strikes the passenger side of the cruiser and shatters. The officer once again jumps out of the vehicle with his firearm drawn, aiming at the crowd, when he notices the broadcast cameraman.
The officer, lowering his weapon, approaches the videojournalist and appears to indicate that he should move back or out of the area as other projectiles crash around them. The officer then returns to the vehicle.
Freelance photojournalist Christian Monterrosa, who was on assignment for The Associated Press, also posted the encounter on social media. Monterrosa, who did not respond to requests for comment, captioned a photo on Instagram, “An LAPD officer points his firearm at Laker fans on the street including a TV news cameraman, and myself, who were documenting it.”
Some more here after the night devolved into a police vs. crowd situation.
— Christian Monterrosa (@chrismatography) October 12, 2020
For @AP pic.twitter.com/SEobeQPnME
The Tracker was unable to identify the videojournalist.
LAPD did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.
Lexis-Olivier Ray, a multimedia journalist for local outlet L.A. Taco, says he was repeatedly pushed by Los Angeles Police Department officers while documenting protests in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 23, 2020.
The Los Angeles Times reported that hundreds had taken to the streets of downtown L.A. that day following the grand jury decision in the case of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who’d been fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky, home by police in March. Protesters were also demanding the removal of Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, whom they claimed hadn’t done enough to hold the police department accountable in cases of excessive use of force and officer-involved shootings.
The protest was just one in a surge of demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement that have been held since May. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Ray told the Tracker he was following marchers as they made their way through downtown toward LAPD headquarters, near the intersection of South Main and West First streets.
“I arrived kind of late and was trying to catch up with people as they headed toward the police station and City Hall, which is nearby,” he said. “To get where the group of people was, I had to cross police lines.”
Ray said that he identified himself as press, but when he then attempted to cross the line, a few officers gave him a “hard time.” He said he then took a few steps back and told the officers he would stay where he was.
“They weren’t happy about that,” Ray said. “They told me to back up and eventually started pushing me down the street pretty aggressively.”
LAPD pushing a shoving me down a public sidewalk after I repeatedly identified myself as a journalist. @LATACO pic.twitter.com/2HRRFPrfw1
— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) September 24, 2020
Ray said that he then walked approximately 30 to 40 feet farther down the police line and asked different officers if he could be allowed to cross the line in order to document the protest, again identifying himself as a member of the press. According to Ray, the officers said, “Oh yeah, sure,” and he was able to reach the protest without further incident.
“I had my press pass and I had a system for dealing with the police,” Ray said. “I stayed on the sidewalk, in a public area. I was careful about identifying myself and making sure that they knew I was a journalist and I tried to keep my distance from the officers.”
The LAPD did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
On the evening of Sept. 12, 2020, deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department tackled and arrested journalist Josie Huang while she was covering officers making an arrest, she confirmed to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Huang, who is a reporter for a National Public Radio member station KPCC and local news website LAist, wrote on Twitter that she was attending a press conference led by Sheriff Alex Villanueva at the St. Francis Medical Center in Los Angeles and had just gotten in her car to head home when she heard shouting. She wrote that she got out of her car and went to investigate what was happening, noting that she was wearing a press ID around her neck.
Last night I was arrested and charged with obstructing a peace officer by @LASDHQ after videotaping their interactions with protesters in Lynwood. This is what I remember and what I have on video and audio.
— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) September 13, 2020
“A handful of men were on the sidewalk. A couple were carrying large flags. Others were filming deputies and taunting them,” she wrote. “I started filming on my phone, standing off to the side. No one took issue with me being there.”
Huang wrote that she followed deputies down the street and filmed as they arrested an individual, using the zoom on her camera to maintain a physical distance.
The deputies suddenly told Huang to back up and, “Within seconds, I was getting shoved around. There was nowhere to back up,” she wrote.
A video published by OnScene.TV shows deputies throwing Huang to the ground and arresting her. She also tweeted that the officers stomped on her phone and damaged it, but did not break it.
Deputies detained Huang for approximately five hours before releasing her with a citation for obstructing a police officer, according to Huang’s posts on Twitter and a copy of the citation seen by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
If convicted of obstructing police, a misdemeanor, Huang could face a fine up to $1,000, imprisonment in a county jail for up to one year, or both, according to the California penal code.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department tweeted the morning following Huang’s arrest that she did not identify herself as a member of the press and that she “later admitted she did not have proper press credentials on her person.” However, in a video Huang filmed while she was being arrested, she can be heard clearly identifying herself as a reporter for KPCC.
LAist published her full account on Sept. 13.
Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S.Press Freedom Tracker, called the sheriff’s department for comment and was told by the person who answered that they are not answering questions at this time because there is an ongoing investigation. Deputy Grade Medrano, a department spokesperson, sent an emailed statement to CPJ that said the sheriff’s department was aware of the incident, and that an active investigation was underway.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a Tracker partner, and a coalition of 65 press freedom organizations — including more than a dozen other Tracker partner organizations — sent a letter on Sept. 16 calling on the sheriff’s department to drop all charges against Huang. It also urged the department to take immediate action to prevent future arrests of working members of the press.
Journalist Josie Huang was arrested outside of St. Francis Medical Center in Los Angeles. Protesters and law enforcement were gathered there following the shooting ambush of two LA County Sheriff's Department deputies.
",arrested and released,Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department,2020-09-13,2020-09-12,True,None,[],None,None,False,law enforcement,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,,,, 2021-04-29 16:39:44.847469+00:00,2022-09-09 17:30:26.738144+00:00,"Photojournalist assaulted, threatened by LA sheriff’s deputies",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-assaulted-threatened-by-la-sheriffs-deputies/,2022-09-09 17:30:26.674745+00:00,,,"(2021-05-03 12:58:00+00:00) Photojournalist sues L.A. Sheriff’s Department after deputies assault, threaten him, (2022-08-29 13:29:00+00:00) Photojournalist settles lawsuit against LA Sheriff’s Department",Assault,,,,Nash Baker (OnScene.TV),,2020-09-12,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"According to a claim filed against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, deputies “pushed, struck and threatened” independent photojournalist Nash Baker while he was covering officers making an arrest on the evening of Sept. 12, 2020.
Baker, who works for the video wire service OnScene.TV, filed the claim for damages in January 2021 alleging the assault. When reached by the Tracker on April 28, 2021, Baker declined to comment, citing an upcoming press conference.
According to the complaint, which was reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Baker was covering the scene outside the St. Francis Medical Center, where two deputies had been taken after being shot in their patrol car, according to NPR, and where a crowd of demonstrators had gathered.
According to the claim, at approximately 10:30 p.m., Baker captured footage of “deputies using excessive force and threatening the use of deadly force” against a group of retreating protesters. When he attempted to document the arrest of one protester he was prevented from doing so and assaulted by a deputy: “In order to prevent Mr. Baker from making a photographic record of the arrest, a deputy pushed, struck and threatened Mr. Baker,” the complaint reads. “The deputy can be heard stating, ‘Get out of here or I’ll break your f--king camera.’”
In footage Baker captured of the incident, the photojournalist can be heard repeatedly identifying himself as press as a deputy yells at him to leave the area and shoves him backward.
At a press conference the day after the incident, he stated: “I feel that [the sheriff administration] should take notice that when we’re out there, when we’re filming these events, that all of us are safe.”
Moments after he was pushed down the street, Baker’s footage captured a second journalist, Josie Huang, being tackled and arrested, a case the Tracker has documented here. Huang, who is a reporter for National Public Radio member station KPCC and local news website LAist, shared footage captured by Baker on Twitter the following day.
Thank you https://t.co/5ajOiRV1m6 for what is the clearest footage of my arrest by @LASDHQ.
— Josie Huang (@josie_huang) September 14, 2020
It’s how I remember it — like being tossed around in the ocean and then slammed into rock pic.twitter.com/G3rfCR1NiI
Baker’s claim for damages, which is the precursor to filing a lawsuit, asks for at least $500,000 in restitution.
“The attack on Mr. Baker was unprovoked,” the complaint states. “The actions of the LASD served to stifle press coverage, to suppress and chill free speech, and to prevent accurate dissemination of news reports regarding the LASD’s treatment of citizens engaged in constitutionally protected, non-violent protest.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment as of press time.
Pablo Unzueta, a freelance photojournalist and video editor for California State University, Long Beach’s newspaper, the Daily Forty-Niner, was arrested while documenting protests in the South Los Angeles area on Sept. 8, 2020.
Unzueta told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was following a group of protesters as they gathered for the fourth consecutive night outside the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department following the fatal shooting of Dijon Kizzee, a Black man, by deputies on Aug. 31.
At approximately 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 8, Unzueta said, deputies declared the protest unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse. Following the order, Unzueta said he saw deputies firing tear gas and flash-bang grenades into the crowd around the intersection of Normandie Avenue and West Imperial Highway.
Unzueta said officers pushed the crowd north on Normandie as they advanced, and that many of the protesters began splitting off and dispersing.
“I didn’t know the area that well so I made a left into this neighborhood on this very narrow street,” Unzueta said. “The sheriffs would get on the trucks and then the truck would speed up through the street and then they would start firing more [flash-bang grenades] and then more tear gas.”
“I kept ducking behind cars while I’m running so I wouldn’t get hit.”
Unzueta said a few minutes passed as he kept looking for a way to get back to his car, which was parked near the Sheriff’s Department, but realized that he was stuck on a long, narrow block.
Two sheriff’s vehicles pulled up at approximately 9:30 p.m., Unzueta said, and deputies began arresting the demonstrators that remained.
“This was sort of a ‘holy shit’ moment for me, and I immediately identified myself as press just to avoid getting tackled or being shot with a rubber bullet,” Unzueta said.
He said that after a couple of deputies saw his credentials and camera and didn’t stop him, he thought he would be allowed to leave and began to head back the way they had come to return to his vehicle.
“I start walking on the sidewalk and that’s when an officer from up above in the truck said, ‘Hey! Grab that guy!,’” Unzueta said. “Again I yelled, ‘Press, press, press!’ And that’s when the officer...just grabbed me, threw my camera on the ground and ripped my backpack off my back.”
Unzueta told the Tracker he was wearing press credentials from Mt. San Antonio College, where Unzueta used to be a student, and his College Media Association badge, and repeatedly told the deputies to call the newspaper’s adviser.
During the course of his arrest, Unzueta said that officers tightened his metal handcuffs so tightly that he lost all feeling in his hands, and that they called him demeaning names and slurs. Unzueta said deputies then pushed him into the back of a department van, causing him to fall on and rupture multiple pepper balls. The officers left him to struggle to breathe amid clouds of pepper powder, he said.
Unzueta also alleges that some of the officers used their personal cellphones to photograph him and other detainees.
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department values the media and highly respects the freedom of the press,” Department spokesperson Deputy Trina Schrader told the Tracker in an emailed statement. “Please be aware an administrative investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding this incident. A lieutenant from South Los Angeles Station has been assigned and will be contacting Mr. Unzueta to investigate these allegations.”
Unzueta said deputies seized his iPhone and Nikon D800 camera. He said he was handcuffed for about two hours. He was transported to the South Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station where he was booked at 10:30 p.m., and then transferred to the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles.
Unzueta estimated he was in police custody for 10 or 11 hours. His booking data, reviewed by the Tracker, shows he was released the following day with a citation. A copy of the citation shared with the Tracker shows Unzueta was arrested for unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor, and was ordered to appear in court two days later.
Unzueta said his equipment and cellphone weren’t returned to him upon his release.
The Student Press Law Center, a Tracker partner organization, connected Unzueta with the Criminal Justice Clinic at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. LAist, part of Southern California Public Radio, reported that the clinic was able to secure the release of Unzueta’s camera, but the memory card — which Unzueta told the Tracker contained two years worth of freelance work — had been removed.
Unzueta said deputies first claimed that the camera hadn’t contained an SD card and then that it may have fallen out when the deputy threw it to the ground during the arrest. Unzueta disputed both of these assertions, and said the design of the camera makes it nearly impossible for the memory card to fall out.
In a letter sent on Unzueta’s behalf, the clinic asked that the cellphone and memory card be returned and for assurance that the case wouldn’t be presented to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office for prosecution, a copy of his arrest report and an apology from the department.
“Sheriff’s deputies had no basis to arrest Mr. Unzueta,” the letter reads. “A truck full of deputies passed by, and a deputy pointed at Mr. Unzueta and said, ‘Get him.’ Mr. Unzueta repeatedly identified himself as a member of the press and as a student journalist, displaying his student press badge, but the deputy who arrested him ignored him.”
Unzueta confirmed to the Tracker that he still hasn’t regained complete feeling in his palms more than two and a half months later, attributing the numbness to the overly tight handcuffs.
The Long Beach Press Telegram reported on Nov. 17 that the department hadn’t responded to the letter, according to one of Unzueta’s lawyers.
“I’ve been photographing protests since the Trayvon Martin protest, which was in 2013 and I was 17 at the time. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I never thought I’d have to experience something like I experienced on September 8th,” Unzueta said.
Unzueta told the Long Beach Post that while he has always had a passion for photography, he was shaken by the incident.
“I don’t feel safe going out anymore,” Unzueta said. “This is the last thing I want to do.”
Freelance journalist and National Press Photographers Association member Julianna Lacoste was struck with crowd-control munitions, assaulted by law enforcement and arrested while documenting protests in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 8, 2020.
Lacoste told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that at around 7:30 p.m. she’d arrived at the intersection of Normandie Avenue and West Imperial Highway, where protesters had gathered outside the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department following the fatal shooting of Dijon Kizzee, a Black man, by deputies on Aug. 31.
According to Lacoste, at approximately 8:30 p.m., the deputies declared the protest unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse. Shortly thereafter, she said, they began to advance on the crowd and fire crowd-control munitions.
“I began to run down Normandie trying to escape the clouds of tear gas, rubber/foam bullets, pepper balls, stinger grenades and sand bags being fired,” Lacoste said. “I kept running, but it seemed like I couldn’t get away from the action.”
Lacoste said that as things began to calm down, about an hour later, she saw some people walking to their cars and that no deputies were in sight. Lacoste said she continued to move and had just passed a group of individuals when she felt a crowd-control munition strike her hand and knock her phone away.
“Then my head was shot, but I was luckily wearing a helmet,” she said. “Then my shoulder was shot as well. At that point I was only looking to find shelter because I was simply getting pelted with shots.”
Lacoste said she was eventually able to crouch behind a nearby car, but almost immediately after hunching down, two deputies appeared beside her. Lacoste said one aimed a weapon at her as the other forced her onto her stomach.
“I said, ‘I’m not resisting. I’m press. OK, OK, I’m not resisting,’” Lacoste recounted. She said she had a press badge in her bag and her helmet featured a “PRESS” label.
Lacoste said that the camera she was wearing around her neck broke from the weight of the deputies during the course of the arrest. “Their knee was on my back and neck as they wrestled for the cuffs,” she said.
Lacoste said the deputies secured the handcuffs incredibly tight, which worsened the pain in her injured hand.
She said they refused to pick up her cellphone from where it had fallen and escorted her to an LASD vehicle, where she waited as others were loaded in “like sardines.” The detainees were taken to a van and then transported to the Imperial Sheriff’s station, Lacoste said. There, she said, deputies used a knife to cut the straps of both her backpack and camera in order to pull them off without removing her handcuffs.
Lacoste also alleged that at the station some of the officers used personal cellphones to photograph her and other detainees. Student journalist Pablo Unzueta, who was also arrested that evening, made similar allegations. The Tracker has published his case here.
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department values the media and highly respects the freedom of the press,” Deputy Trina Schrader, a spokesperson for the department, told the Tracker in an emailed statement when asked for comment on Unzueta’s arrest. Schrader also noted that an investigation had been launched into the events that day. The department did not respond to an emailed request for comment about Lacoste’s arrest as of press time.
Lacoste said she was detained for more than an hour before being transported to a hospital for treatment. At approximately 6 a.m. the following day, she said, she was transported back to the sheriff’s station.
Lacoste said that at around 10 a.m. she was finally able to speak with her lawyer, who informed her that her bail had been posted and she should be released within two hours. According to Lacoste’s bail paperwork, which was reviewed by the Tracker, she posted a $5,000 bond.
Before her release, Lacoste said, she was transferred to the women’s jail and asked about her injuries. Upon detailing them, the officer processing Lacoste rejected her paperwork and instructed deputies to transport her back to the hospital so her injuries could be fully documented. According to Lacoste, deputies did not transport her back to the hospital, however, and placed her in a cell at the sheriff’s station.
“After hours of begging for a phone that worked they finally let me use the phone,” Lacoste said. “At that point I called my boyfriend and he informed me that I was going to get out soon and they had been making hundreds of calls on my behalf. During that phone call is when I got released.”
Lacoste was charged with misdemeanor failure to disperse and ordered to appear in court on Jan. 6, 2021. Lacoste hasn’t responded to the Tracker’s latest requests for comment, and the status of her case remains unknown.
Freelance photojournalist Julianna Lacoste photographed the multiple injuries she sustained when she was assaulted, arrested and her equipment damaged and seized by sheriff’s deputies while documenting a protest in Los Angeles on Sept. 8, 2020.
",arrested and released,Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department,2020-09-09,None,True,2:23-cv-04917,['ONGOING'],Civil,returned in full,False,law enforcement,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2021-04-16 01:57:55.643421+00:00,2022-03-10 20:18:45.724488+00:00,Photojournalist shot with projectile and pepper ball at South Los Angeles protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shot-with-projectile-and-pepper-ball-at-south-los-angeles-protest/,2022-03-10 20:18:45.665342+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Brian Feinzimer (Independent),,2020-09-08,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Photojournalist Brian Feinzimer was shot with crowd-control projectiles while reporting on a protest in Los Angeles on Sept. 8, 2020, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Racial justice protests, held regularly in Los Angeles since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, were renewed in early September after Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies shot and killed 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee on Aug. 31.
Demonstrators gathered outside the South LA sheriff’s station several days in a row in early September, and tensions escalated between demonstrators and police, the Los Angeles Times reported. On Sept. 8, the sheriff’s department declared an unlawful assembly at around 8 p.m. and deployed crowd control munitions on demonstrators, according to the Times.
Feinzimer, whose work has been published by LAist, Capital & Main and other publications, told the Tracker he was photographing a line of deputies facing off with protesters. After a while, he said, the sheriff’s department issued a dispersal order and rushed the crowd, firing pepper balls and flash-bang grenades.
Feinzimer said he was facing the deputies directly, from a distance of about 15 feet, as he photographed them. He said he wasn’t initially hit with any of the crowd-control measures but decided to move away when the deputies neared him. He said he turned to walk in the same direction as the deputies, staying to the side, and continued to take photos while many nearby protesters ran from the officers.
As Feinzimer was walking away, he said, he was hit in the hand with a pepper ball, which also covered his camera with residue. He was then struck in the back of his right thigh with a crowd-control munition, which he believes was either a foam baton or a 40-millimeter rubber bullet.
Feinzimer said that although the impact from the projectile was painful, he was able to continue covering the protest that night. He said he had a large bruise where he had been hit, and his leg remained sore for several weeks.
Feinzimer said he was wearing a press credential issued by the LASD around his neck, and was carrying two cameras at the time he was hit.
Feinzimer told the Tracker he believes he was targeted because he was a journalist. He said he was clearly identifiable to the deputies just before he was shot because he was facing them and photographing them.
“I figure that there was no way that they didn't know who I was or what I was doing based on my previous moments before that,” he said.
LASD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting arrests, assaults and other obstructions to journalists covering protests across the country.
Livestreamer Hugo Padilla was allegedly struck with crowd-control munitions and assaulted by law enforcement before being arrested while documenting protests in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 8, 2020. Deputies later obtained a search warrant for one of his cellphones.
Padilla subsequently joined as a plaintiff in a lawsuit with three others in October 2020 against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles County and then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva, alleging violations of his Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Colleen Flynn, an attorney representing Padilla, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that Padilla attended the protest to broadcast it on his YouTube channel, Alien Alphabet, while providing audio narration.
Protesters had gathered outside the South Los Angeles Sheriff's Station following the Aug. 31 fatal shooting of Dijon Kizzee, a Black man, by deputies in a nearby neighborhood.
Flynn said that Padilla began filming the demonstration from the parking lot of a nearby 7-Eleven, and confirmed to the Tracker that throughout the protest Padilla was wearing a black bicycle helmet with “PRESS” written in silver lettering on multiple sides.
Approximately an hour into the protest, deputies declared the protest unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse. According to the lawsuit, officers began to advance on the demonstrators and shortly after fired crowd-control munitions. The crowd dispersed and many individuals — including Padilla — fled into the neighborhood.
In Padilla’s livestream from the protest, he said that he was attempting to circle around to the far side of the crowd, but as he did, a law enforcement helicopter shined a searchlight on him. Within seconds and without warning, Padilla was shot with a crowd-control munition, he said.
The lawsuit claimed the hard projectile struck Padilla in the knee, knocking him off his bicycle and onto the ground. Deputies then “jumped” on him and one of them punched him in the face, splitting his lip, Flynn said. Padilla was tightly handcuffed — his lawsuit states that restraint marks were still visible weeks later — and forced into the back of a large truck where loose pepper ball munitions caused his eyes to water painfully.
According to Flynn, Padilla had no opportunity to identify himself verbally as press before he was arrested, but he did tell deputies he was a journalist while in the truck and in an interrogation room.
Padilla’s bicycle was seized, as was his personal iPhone, which was booked into evidence and later searched. But a Samsung cellphone Padilla was using to livestream fell from his hand and, his suit claimed, deputies did not retrieve it.
Flynn told the Tracker that she believed deputies deliberately left Padilla’s phone and that of freelance photographer Julianna Lacoste, who is also her client, because they were livestreaming.
“It appears that the deputies that abandoned Mr. Padilla and Ms. Lacoste's cell phones on the street while they were livestreaming did so to get rid of the evidence that may have recorded their actions, including their use of excessive force and violation of my clients' constitutional rights,” Flynn wrote in an email.
Padilla’s lawsuit states that once he arrived at the South Los Angeles Sheriff's Station, some of the officers used personal cellphones to photograph Padilla and the other detainees while laughing. Lacoste and student journalist Pablo Unzueta, who were also arrested that evening, said the same.
Padilla was ultimately released from a county jail in downtown LA midmorning the following day with a citation for failure to disperse. His wallet, headphones and a set of keys — not his — were returned to him; the remainder of his equipment was not. Deputies ultimately returned Padilla’s bicycle in December 2020 and his iPhone in June 2021; his bicycle helmet was never returned.
When Padilla appeared for his hearing date at the Inglewood Courthouse on Sept. 11, 2020, according to his lawsuit, a court clerk told him that no charges had been filed.
Sheriff's Deputy Trina Schrader, a spokesperson for the department, told the Tracker in the days following the protest that an investigation had been launched into the events that day. “The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department values the media and highly respects the freedom of the press,” she added.
The day following the protest, sheriff’s deputies obtained a search warrant for cellphones belonging to more than a dozen individuals, including Padilla. The search warrant and an affidavit in support of the warrant were only released in May 2023, more than 2 1/2 years after the incident, and following an August 2022 motion to unseal filed by the First Amendment Coalition and independent news organization Knock LA.
The media organizations said that the sheriff’s department had fought the release of the materials for more than two years, in violation of California state law and the First Amendment. The release only came after Villanueva was ousted in a November 2022 election and replaced by Robert Luna, who acceded to the unsealing.
Susan E. Seager of the UC Irvine School of Law, who represented Knock LA and FAC in the case, said the timing shows that the department never had a good reason to seal the warrants in the first place.
Photos accompanying the warrant materials included the helmet marked “PRESS,” which Padilla’s attorney confirmed belonged to him. FAC noted in a later statement that police records confirmed that the LASD knew journalists were included as targets, which raises press rights concerns.
“Those photos, along with the fact [the] journalists have said they verbally identified themselves as press, should have put pause on the probe or, at a minimum, prompted the department to make disclosures to the judge to ensure press rights were protected,” the FAC statement said.
David Snyder, executive director of FAC, also commented: “While we are grateful the public can finally see these documents, they should have been able to do so long ago. There can be no real accountability without knowledge – what did the police tell the judge who issued this warrant? Now this crucial question can be answered, and accountability for any unjustified arrest and seizure can at long last begin.”
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include additional details concerning the seizure and return of some of Padilla’s equipment.
Livestreamer Hugo Padilla, extreme left, filmed multiple protests outside a Los Angeles Sheriff’s station in 2020. During a Sept. 8 protest, he claims deputies shot him with a munition, then arrested him and seized his equipment.
",arrested and released,Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department,2020-09-09,2020-09-08,True,2:20-cv-09805,['ONGOING'],Civil,returned in part,True,law enforcement,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,None,None,None,Journalist,warrant,State,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2021-01-20 16:23:43.487334+00:00,2023-07-20 15:19:05.275630+00:00,Photojournalist hit with crowd-control munition during LA protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-crowd-control-munition-during-la-protest/,2023-07-20 15:19:05.121923+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Jintak Han (Freelance),,2020-09-07,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Freelance photojournalist Jintak Han said he was shot in the face with a crowd-control munition fired by a sheriff’s deputy while covering a protest in Los Angeles, California, on the evening of Sept. 7, 2020.
Han was photographing a protest over the death of Dijon Kizzee, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot by deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in South Los Angeles on Aug. 31. The killing of Kizzee, who had been stopped while riding a bicycle before he was shot 15 times, reinvigorated protests over racial justice and police brutality that had been occurring regularly in Los Angeles and across the nation throughout the summer.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Speaking to the Tracker, Han said he had been at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Normandie Avenue near the sheriff’s department’s South LA station for nearly three hours when deputies began to fire crowd control munitions at around 10 p.m. Shortly thereafter, he said, as he walked backward from law enforcement and continued to take photos, he was hit by a projectile fired by law enforcement.
“All of the sudden I had a big impact right above my eye,” he said. “Luckily I had safety goggles on.”
Hit with a foam or rubber round above the left eye. Goggles on so I’m okay. Lost glasses though. @pressfreedom @rcfp @nppa @aaja
— Jintak Han (한진탁) (@jintakhan) September 8, 2020
In a video captured by Daily Caller reporter Jorge Ventura, Han can be seen walking backward while taking photos as protesters retreat. About 15 seconds into the video there is a bang and Han recoils before falling to the ground.
Han told the Tracker that after he was hit he had trouble seeing—both from tear gas that had been deployed and as a result of losing the eyeglasses he was wearing under his goggles. After ensuring that he didn’t have too many injuries and his cameras were still working, he resumed working despite his now-limited vision. Later, after the protest had dissipated, he found his glasses smashed on the ground.
In a photo Han shared on Twitter early the next morning, abrasions can be seen surrounding his left eye.
Glad to walk away with just this pic.twitter.com/DATwsCNa6U
— Jintak Han (한진탁) (@jintakhan) September 8, 2020
Given where the munition hit him, Han fears that he could have been seriously injured if he had not been wearing goggles that night.
“I’m really glad I had the goggles on, because otherwise I have no idea what would have happened to my eye,” he said.
Han was also wearing a high-visibility vest with press markings as well as a white helmet with press markings at the time he was hit. While he was identifiable as press, he does not feel he was targeted by sheriff’s deputies.
“A lot of the protesters got hit, so I think they were just indiscriminately firing in that general direction rather than targeting press specifically,” he told the Tracker.
In a statement to the Tracker, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department public information officer Shawn DuBusky said deputies began to use crowd control munitions after protesters “became hostile and began to throw objects (i.e. frozen water bottles, concrete, bricks, rocks, and fireworks).”
He added: “At no time did anyone, including Mr. Jintak Han, identify themselves as being injured during this incident.”
While Han was photographing the Sept. 7 protest independently, his shots from that night and other protests over Kizzee’s death later appeared in Los Angeleno.
Daily Caller reporter Jorge Ventura said he was hit by a pepper ball fired by Los Angeles law enforcement while covering a protest in South Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 7, 2020. The Daily Caller, a “conservative news and opinion site” according to The New York Times, is based in Washington, D.C.
The protest was organized several days after the Aug. 31 police shooting of Dijon Kizzee, a 29-year old Black man who was killed after Los Angeles sheriff's officials stopped him for what they described as a vehicle code violation as he was riding his bicycle.
According to news reports, dozens of protesters gathered outside the South Los Angeles Sheriff's Station to protest the shooting of Kizzee. Officials declared the gathering an unlawful assembly after deploying nonlethal crowd control munitions and giving dispersal orders, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Ventura arrived around 9 p.m., according to a tweet he posted, and recorded a standoff between protesters and sheriff's officials. He posted a video of demonstrators retreating and chanting "Black lives matter."
"Crowd retreats after police shoot pepper bullets, tear gas and flash bangs," he wrote.
"Got hit by a pepper bullet today during the mix," Ventura wrote in a tweet at 10:59 p.m. "I'm all good and headed back home to enjoy the rest of this vacation."
The next morning, he shared another photo of a bruise where the munition hit him. Ventura told the Tracker he did not have press markings that night, but was reporting for the Daily Caller.
In a tweet Monday evening, the sheriff's department said it supports peaceful protests, but is concerned about individuals outside the community and state who want to "incite riots."
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Alex McElvain, news coordinator for the nonprofit community news site Knock LA, said he was shot with crowd-control projectiles while reporting during a protest in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 5, 2020.
Racial justice protests had been held regularly in Los Angeles since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. Demonstrations were renewed in early September after Los Angeles Sheriff Department deputies shot and killed 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee on Aug. 31.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting arrests, assaults and other obstructions to journalists covering protests across the country.
Protesters marched on the sheriff’s South LA station on the afternoon of Sept. 5 and continued demonstrating into the evening, when law enforcement fired crowd control munitions and chemical irritants on the gathering, LAist reported.
McElvain told the Tracker in an email that he was not reporting on the march earlier in the day, but decided to go cover it when he saw on social media that law enforcement officers were deploying flash-bang grenades and tear gas on protesters.
When he arrived at the LASD South LA station on Imperial Highway around 9:45 p.m., there were no protesters but there were several dozen deputies. According to McElvain, he waved at the officers and one waved back, which he understood to mean that he was not perceived as a threat.
McElvain began taking photographs and notes at the east end of the building, but he said that the deputies shined high powered lights that interfered with his photography. The deputies told him he had to leave, according to McElvain, and one said there had been a dispersal order. McElvain said he repeatedly told them that he was there as a journalist, and asked multiple times where he should stand to observe and report.
“When I got into specifics about whether there was a PIO I could speak with, or where would be an acceptable location (to) stand that would allow me to cover the events occurring at the station, they stopped responding and essentially pretended they couldn’t hear me, and began shining lights in my direction when I took pictures,” McElvain told the Tracker.
About 20 minutes after he arrived, half a dozen protesters came near where McElvain was reporting, so he said he moved across the driveway, in part to make clear that he was not with the protesters.
According to McElvain, deputies threw tear gas and flash-bang grenades toward him without any warning. He hid behind a sign for the sheriff station.
The deputies then started firing crowd-control munitions toward the protesters, he said. He tried to leave by walking away from the station toward the street, and was hit with a projectile that he believes was a pepper ball, so he returned to shelter behind the sign. Another photographer took cover by the sign and began shouting that he was leaving, so McElvain started shouting with him.
A video McElvain posted on Twitter shows an empty street. Voices can be heard shouting, “I’m leaving! I’m leaving!” The video shakes as he appears to move across the street, yelling out multiple times in pain.
Hit at least a dozen times as I ran with hands up pic.twitter.com/HzjuCjuDVv
— Alex McElvain (@alexmce) September 6, 2020
McElvain said he was hit roughly a dozen times on his back and the back of his legs.
McElvain told the Tracker in an email that he believes he was struck with both pepper balls and foam projectiles. He said he had bruises from the projectiles for about two weeks.
McElvain said he did not know if he was targeted because he was a journalist.
“I think what is more likely is that as a journalist as I was considered lumped in with a group of people — the protesters I was also covering — that they felt challenged by and thus relished an opportunity to use force against,” he said.
A spokesperson for LASD told the Tracker in an email that they were unaware of the incident.
Freelance photojournalist Ringo Chiu, a member of the National Press Photographers Association, was struck by a rubber bullet while covering clashing demonstrations in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles on Aug. 21, 2020.
According to a complaint Chiu filed with the Los Angeles Police Department, which he shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Chiu had arrived near the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Saluda Avenue at approximately 5:30 p.m. to cover a demonstration by supporters of President Donald Trump. Officers were lined up to separate the Trump supporters from a nearby group of Black Lives Matter counterprotesters, Chiu said in the complaint.
“I began photographing the event when I [was] stopped by the police,” Chiu wrote in the complaint. Chiu added that he was allowed to continue working after showing police his media passes. According to NPPA General Counsel Mickey Osterreicher, Chiu was wearing both his LAPD and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department media credentials that day, and was carrying three cameras.
As tensions between the two crowds began to escalate, first verbally and then into physical fighting, Chiu wrote, LAPD officers attempted to separate them by pushing them back onto sidewalks and out of the street. Chiu wrote that he was standing with other photographers documenting the scene and had just shifted to a new location when he was struck in the abdomen with a rubber bullet that he estimated was fired from officers approximately 15 feet away.
“In that moment, I felt a surge of hot pain in my body and immediately ran away from the police, and sat below a tree on the sidewalk,” Chiu wrote. According to Chiu, as police continued shooting at the protesters, a group of protesters surrounded him and helped him make his way to a nearby parking lot.
Chiu wrote that some of the protesters provided him with first aid, and when an ambulance was unable to reach him because of the clashes, a protester drove him to Kaiser Permanente Hospital.
Chiu told the Tracker that he didn’t have any broken bones from the incident, but that the munition’s impact broke the skin and left a visible scar on his abdomen. Chiu filed his complaint to police on Aug. 24 and told the Tracker in mid-December that he hadn’t received a response from the LAPD.
Osterreicher, the photographer’s association counsel, told the Tracker that an LAPD spokesperson told him on Dec. 16 that the investigation into Chiu’s complaint was “recently completed and is in the review process.” The spokesperson added that, following an internal review, the complaint would be adjudicated and it would be another one to two months before the department would notify Chiu by letter about the outcome.
In a Facebook post shared with the Tracker, Chiu wrote, “Never would I have thought that I would also need to protect myself from the police, those that I believed would always protect us during times of chaos.”
“Although you may have your credentials displayed and carry cameras that show your intent, the risk is far greater than before, as many other photojournalists on the field have also sustained equal or even harsher wounds than I have,” Chiu continued. “Sometimes it feels like, as media covering our community, we can be in danger from every direction when exercising our First Amendment right.”
A projectile fired by law enforcement struck freelance journalist Sam Slovick in the ankle as he covered a July 25, 2020, protest in Los Angeles, the journalist told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
The city had witnessed a series of racial justice protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The local TV channel CBSLA reported on July 25 that several hundred protesters had gathered in downtown Los Angeles.
Slovick, a freelance journalist and filmmaker whose work has appeared in Los Angeles Magazine, LA Weekly and elsewhere, was livestreaming the protest march that day from his phone as the crowd worked its way through downtown Los Angeles. Slovick’s stream showed that at about 7 p.m., protesters clashed with police outside of a federal courthouse at 350 West First Street, with some protesters throwing objects at officers who responded by firing crowd control munitions. Marchers retreated from the courthouse and calm appeared to return.
Slovick then followed the marchers through downtown Los Angeles while livestreaming from his phone, which was mounted on a stabilization rig, a device used by professionals and others to hold a camera steady while recording.
At 7:24 p.m., according to Slovick’s livestream, the journalist arrived at a federal building at 300 North Los Angeles Street, about half a mile away from the courthouse, where the protesters had reassembled. Slovick’s livestream shows the crowd listening to a protester delivering a speech about racial justice. Soon after, Slovick’s stream shows several protesters smashing some of the building’s windows with hammers.
When police arrived, Slovick’s livestream shows the protesters moving away from the federal building. Some remained in the street, others crossed it and remained on the opposite side of the street as protesters chanted at the officers. As police and protesters faced each other, Slovick stood at the front of the crowd, next to a protester with a megaphone who was chanting “fuck 12,” a phrase meaning “fuck police” that is heard at many anti-police brutality protests. At 7:35 p.m., the livestream shows the protester shouting: “And we’re going to shut this bitch down and burn this motherfucker to the ground…”
As the protester speaks, a single shot can be heard before Slovik’s camera shakes and he begins limping away. “I just got fucking shot,” Slovick says on the livestream. Slovick crossed the street and sat on steps at the Los Angeles Mall to take stock of his injury. In the livestream, he is heard complaining about severe pain and attributing the shot to the Los Angeles Police Department.
“There was nothing threatening going on, there was no reason for them to be shooting anybody,” Slovick told the Tracker.
Slovick said he was not wearing any press identification, but said he was clearly filming the incident with his phone mounted on a stabilization rig. Slovick said he believes the Los Angeles Police Department officers on protest duty would have recognized him because he has been recording such events for years. Despite that, Slovick said he did not believe they were targeting him with the projectile.
A photo he posted four days after the incident shows a bruised and swollen ankle where Slovick was hit. In an interview with the Tracker, Slovick said he was not sure what kind of munition struck him. According to the LAPD, the police force utilizes both beanbags fired from shotguns as well as foam baton rounds for crowd control.
In the October interview with the Tracker, more than two months after he was hit, Slovik said his ankle was still swollen, bruised, and painful. He said he has joined a Lawyers Guild federal class action lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department over law enforcement’s use of force during protests this year.
Contacted by the Tracker, the LAPD said they could not comment on pending investigations and referred the Tracker to public statements on the police department’s website. On June 10, days after the Lawyers Guild lawsuit was originally filed, LAPD said in a statement that the department had assigned 40 investigators to look into allegations of misconduct, violations and excessive force during unrest. The LAPD also provided contact information to the general public to report complaints related to protest response.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
A Los Angeles Police Department officer shoved freelance photographer Barbara Davidson to the ground, breaking a camera lens, while she covered a protest in the city on May 31, 2020.
The protest was part of a wave of Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality demonstrations across the country sparked by the release of a video showing a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest. Floyd was later pronounced dead in a hospital. The officer has been charged with second-degree murder. Three other officers who were present face felony charges.
The demonstrators were taking a left turn on foot from West Third Street onto South Fairfax Avenue when a police line advanced. An officer yelled at Davidson to leave. “I said ‘Sir, I’m a journalist’ and they just kept on screaming,” Davidson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. She also showed them the badge identifying her as a journalist, but it made no difference in their demeanor toward her.
The LAPD didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“I realized in that moment that I wasn’t going to win this debate,” said Davidson, a Pulitzer-prize winning photographer who is currently a Guggenheim fellow. “I turned to walk away, and as I turned to walk away he shoved me with his baton and I went flying.” Davidson was wearing a helmet.
Fellow freelance journalist Jason Ryan witnessed the incident. “They wouldn’t even give her a minute to get up,” he told the Tracker. At 5:06 p.m. Davidson tweeted a photo of herself with the caption, “I got pushed from behind by the @911LAPD after I told them I was a journalist. I was hit so hard that I went flying before crashing to the ground and hitting the back of my head on a fire hydrant. Protesters picked me up preventing me from being crushed by the ‘line’.”
I got pushed from behind by the @911LAPD after I told them I was a journalist. I was hit so hard that I went flying before crashing to the ground and hitting the back of my head on a fire hydrant. Protesters picked me up preventing me from being crushed by the "line" pic.twitter.com/Hbp1M6RskL
— barbaradavidson (@Photospice) May 31, 2020
Davidson said she had the symptoms of a concussion but had to delay seeing her doctor due to COVID-19. The lens of her Hasselblad camera was damaged in the fall and needed to be shipped to New Jersey for repair at her own expense.
Davidson has covered Los Angeles for 13 years and said she never had an encounter like that with an officer. “I was specifically targeted because I was a journalist and that’s why I decided to speak up,” she told the Tracker.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
Freelance multimedia journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray was struck in the stomach with a baton while covering protests in Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 2020.
The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
Ray told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he was standing at the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and Third Street documenting the confrontation between protesters and Los Angeles Police Department officers on Saturday afternoon when an officer hit him. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
“Unprovoked and kind of out of nowhere, the police officer took the baton and jabbed it into my stomach, which sent me flying back a couple feet,” Ray said.
He posted a video of the encounter to his Twitter feed.
Here's a short clip of the @LAPDHQ officer jabbing me in the stomach with a baton, sending me flying back into a crowd of people. https://t.co/R3qUiBgZ5L pic.twitter.com/IIi9Yf9gOd
— Lexis-Olivier Ray (@ShotOn35mm) May 31, 2020
Ray said that prior to the attack he had identified himself as a journalist.
“I went out of my way to identify myself as a member of the press and kind of separate myself from protesters,” he said.
Ray, who had two cameras around his neck, told CPJ he was not wearing a press pass at the time, but doubted that would have helped under the circumstances. The blow “came out of nowhere. It wasn’t a situation where I was being asked to show credentials or anything.”
The pain from the injury grew throughout the day but had dissipated by the next morning, he said.
LAPD did not respond to an email requesting comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests here.
Lexis-Olivier Ray recorded this footage as he was hit in the stomach by a Los Angeles Police Department officer wielding a baton on Saturday, May 30.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-29 22:42:29.819130+00:00,2022-03-10 19:30:33.756219+00:00,Photojournalist struck with projectile during LA protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-projectile-during-la-protests/,2022-03-10 19:30:33.691961+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Kyle Grillot (Reuters),,2020-05-30,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"While on assignment for Reuters, freelance photojournalist Kyle Grillot was struck by an unknown crowd control munition when Los Angeles police officers fired projectiles at demonstrators during protests on May 30, 2020.
The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
Grillot was documenting protests in Los Angeles as they continued past the city’s 8 p.m. curfew. Grillot told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was at the intersection of Hope Street and Olympic Boulevard, preparing to document the police advance toward protesters in the area.
“I positioned myself safely on a corner and held up my LAPD press badge,” Grillot said.
As officers opened fire on the demonstrators with crowd control munitions, Grillot said he realized that his position was actually putting him in danger and moved behind an electrical box.
“That’s when I felt it hit my thigh,” he said, adding that he believes it was a rubber bullet that struck him. “I ran around the corner and continued to take photos, continuing to try to make my press badge as visible as possible.”
Grillot told the Tracker that beyond a bit of bruising, he was not seriously injured and none of his equipment was damaged. While he does not believe he was deliberately targeted, Grillot said that the officers were firing indiscriminately.
“I’m left wondering what I could have done to make it any more apparent that I was working press,” he said.
The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
Photojournalist Kyle Grillot was hit with a projectile fired by a Los Angeles police officer the day he captured this image. Grillot was on assignment for Reuters to cover protests in the city.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-08-07 17:38:02.302763+00:00,2023-11-03 14:00:35.972777+00:00,Independent journalist says LA police damaged his equipment while arresting him,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-says-la-police-damaged-his-equipment-while-arresting-him/,2023-11-03 14:00:35.832385+00:00,failure to obey: failure to obey a lawful order (charges dropped as of 2021-05-31),,(2021-05-31 00:00:00+00:00) Charge dropped against journalist arrested at LA protest,"Arrest/Criminal Charge, Assault, Equipment Damage",,,recording equipment: count of 1,Jonathan Mayorca (The Convo Couch),,2020-05-30,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Jonathan Mayorca, a journalist and co-owner of video news outlet The Convo Couch, was arrested by Los Angeles police while filming a demonstration on May 30, 2020.
The protest was part of Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality demonstrations across the country. The protests were sparked by the release of a video showing a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest. Floyd was later pronounced dead in a hospital.
Mayorca told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he arrived at the protest in the Fairfax area of Beverly Boulevard at around 3:30 p.m. along with two crew members, including his sister, Fiorella. Mayorca immediately began to livestream the demonstration. Video shows protesters gathering, holding signs, facing off with a line of police officers and then walking with their hands up and chanting.
The protesters moved west down Beverly Boulevard, and Mayorca and his crew followed. At around 4 p.m the protesters went down an alley near Beverly Boulevard and North Fairfax Avenue because the police had blocked off all other streets, Mayorca said. Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department then blocked all exits, or kettled the protesters in the alley. Mayorca and his crew were prevented from leaving.
Mayorca said he told the police he was a member of the press, but they ignored him. Mayorca was wearing a press badge on a lanyard hanging from his neck.
“We told them multiple times, ‘we’re press, we’re press’,” he said.
Protesters and Mayorca and his crew knelt on the ground in the alley as police officers watched them from a “line in front and behind us,” he said.
“One protester was crying hysterically,” Mayorca told the Tracker. “She threw up.”
Soon after being kettled, LAPD officers moved into the alley. Mayorca did not hear a dispersal order and was not given an opportunity to leave before he was arrested, according to a class-action lawsuit Mayorca joined against the LAPD for alleged federal and state constitutional rights violations. Mayorca’s video of the incident does not appear to pick up an audible warning from police.
Officers grabbed Mayorca, pushed him to the ground, and arrested him, he said. The officers’ actions broke the microphone attachment for his camera.
“It was the height of aggressiveness,” Mayorca said.
According to Mayorca, an officer said his camera equipment was broken before his interaction with police.
The police used zip-tie handcuffs to detain him.
Here’s the quick clip of us getting arrested as the cops lied and kettled the people into an alley. People were asking where to go & the cops led them to more cops. They refused to let us go even though we had badges and told them. pic.twitter.com/nfYvTl561J
— Fiorella Isabel🌹🔥 (@Fiorella_im) June 1, 2020
“The police put me against a wall and searched me,” Mayorca said.
The police brought Mayorca to the Van Nuys police station, where he was held for about two hours and then released, he said. Mayorca said he repeatedly complained about the tightness of his zip-tie handcuffs, but the police ignored him.
“It cut off my circulation a bit,” Mayorca said. “It was uncomfortably tight.”
He was issued a citation for failure to obey a lawful order, a misdemeanor.
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said in June that he would use a “non-punitive approach” to resolve the cases of peaceful protesters outside the court system.
Jorge Gonzalez, a civil rights lawyer who's part of the team representing protesters, said the city has tentatively agreed to dismiss the charges if protesters complete an online course on the First Amendment. Gonzalez told the Tracker Aug. 3 that he is rejecting the city’s condition and awaiting the city’s response.
However, Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for City Attorney Feuer, said protesters will be invited to a voluntary, virtual conversation about policing, bias, and inequity organized with the help of local cultural, academic and criminal justice institutions.
Mayorca is a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the LAPD for allegedly violating protesters’ constitutional rights to peacefully assemble and protest, using excessive force, and holding protesters in unlawful conditions of confinement. When reached for comment, LAPD spokesperson Officer Norma Eisenman said the “department does not comment on pending complaints.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases here.
Journalist Fiorella Isabel Mayorca, co-owner of video news outlet The Convo Couch, was kettled and arrested by police on May 30, 2020, while covering a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles protest was part of Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality demonstrations around the country. The protests kicked off after the release of a video showing a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest. Floyd was later pronounced dead in a hospital.
Mayorca arrived at the protest at Beverly Boulevard in the Fairfax neighborhood of Los Angeles around 3:30 p.m. with two crew members, including her brother Jonathan. She and Jonathan began to film the demonstrations. Mayorca’s footage shows demonstrators on the boulevard chanting, holding signs, facing off with a line of police officers and then walking with their hands up.
When the demonstrators started to move west on Beverly Boulevard, Mayorca followed and continued filming. At about 4 p.m., protesters headed down an alleyway near Beverly Boulevard and North Fairfax Avenue. The Los Angeles Police Department had blocked off all other streets and directed protesters in the direction of the alleyway verbally and with their hands, Mayorca said. The police then kettled the demonstrators in the alley, blocking off exits and trapping protesters.
“They started to kettle people and we thought we should be OK because we’re press,” Mayorca said.
Mayorca wore a press badge that hung from a lanyard around her neck. She and her brother told police officers they were press, but they were ignored, she said.
Soon, Los Angeles police rushed in. Video of the police entering the alleyway reviewed by the Tracker does not appear to pick up an audible warning from police. Officers began arresting protesters and journalists, including Mayorca and her brother.
Mayorca was put in handcuffs and then pushed up against a wall by a police officer, she said.
“[A woman officer was] seriously groping me. She went in my underwear. They were acting like we were hiding drugs,” she told the Tracker.
Officers placed zip-tie handcuffs on Mayorca. She said they felt extremely tight.
“The worst part of it was the wrists,” Mayorca said. “The way they placed it, it was like our wrists were going in different directions, not a normal position. It hurt.”
After spending about an hour in a police wagon, she and her brother were taken to the Van Nuys police station in Los Angeles, where she said she was held for about two hours and then released.
Mayorca was given a citation for failure to obey a lawful order, a misdemeanor charge.
The Tracker asked the LAPD to comment on Mayorca’s arrest, including allegations that she was groped while detained by police.
In response, the department referred the Tracker to a statement published in June.
“The Los Angeles Police Department continues to investigate allegations of misconduct, violations of Department policy, and excessive force during the recent civil unrest,” the statement reads. “The Department has assigned 40 investigators to this effort and we will look into every complaint thoroughly and hold every officer accountable for their actions.”
In June, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said his office would be resolving the cases of peaceful protesters arrested during recent Black Lives Matter protests in a “non-punitive” way.
Jorge Gonzalez, a civil rights attorney who’s part of a team representing protesters arrested during the recent demonstrations, said the Los Angeles City Attorney has tentatively agreed to dismiss the charges, on the condition that protesters complete an online course on the First Amendment. Gonzalez said Aug. 3 that the team is rejecting the city’s condition and awaiting the city’s response.
Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for City Attorney Feuer, told the Tracker protesters will be invited to a voluntary, virtual conversation about policing, bias, and inequity organized with the help of local cultural, academic and criminal justice institutions.
Mayorca’s brother Jonathan is a named plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the LAPD for allegedly violating protesters’ constitutional rights to peacefully assemble and protest, using excessive force, and holding protesters in unlawful conditions of confinement. When reached for comment, LAPD spokesperson Officer Norma Eisenman said the “department does not comment on pending complaints.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases here.
Journalist Chava Sanchez was pushed and tear gassed by law enforcement while covering protests in Los Angeles on May 30, 2020, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Sanchez is a visual journalist with KPCC/LAist, a Southern California-based public media network.
The protests in Los Angeles were sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
Sanchez told the Tracker he arrived at Pan Pacific Park at around 1 p.m. to document a Black Lives Matter protest. A couple thousand people had congregated at the park, he said. Protesters then marched through the city’s Fairfax District.
Sanchez said he first encountered law enforcement, who represented the Los Angeles Police and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s departments, between 3 and 5 p.m. A police vehicle had been lit on fire near the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and Third Street. Law enforcement formed a line to prevent protesters from moving west, creating a tense stand-off, Sanchez said.
Sanchez, who was wearing his press badge, wanted to cross the police line to document what the protests looked like from the other side. But when he approached the line to cross, a Los Angeles Police officer wearing dark blue or black riot gear shoved him back with a baton, Sanchez said.
“I said multiple times, ‘I’m press,’ and after I ID’d as press, they did relax a bit, but they did not allow me to cross their line,” Sanchez told the Tracker.
His second encounter with law enforcement came around 5:30 or 6 p.m., he said. By then, the police had closed down streets to move protesters toward La Brea Avenue, east of Fairfax. Sanchez had decided to go home, but he noticed another stand-off between law enforcement and protesters near Beverly Boulevard and Stanley Avenue. He stopped to take photos of the confrontation.
After bottles were thrown at law enforcement, the police fired tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd. Sanchez said city police officers and county sheriffs were present when the tear gas was shot.
“You hear pops, then you see canisters, and you see a cloud of smoke,” Sanchez said. “At that point I couldn’t see anymore. It went full on to my face.”
Protesters assisted Sanchez by pouring milk in his eyes, which provides some temporary relief from the burning feeling caused by exposure to tear gas. Sanchez, who goes by his nickname, Chava, rather than Jose Salvador, tweeted his appreciation to protesters for their help.
So thankful for all the folks who helped me after the police started shooting tear gas into the protest. pic.twitter.com/bkamzDom52
— Jose Salvador (@chavatweets1) May 31, 2020
After law enforcement fired a second volley of tear gas, Sanchez left the demonstration.
In a statement responding to the Tracker’s inquiries, Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson Norma Eisenman said, “We do not comment on pending complaints.” The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department did not respond to the Tracker’s request for comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or had their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
Los Angeles law enforcement fires crowd-control munition during a May 30 demonstration against police brutality.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,no,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest",,, 2020-09-18 16:52:20.992070+00:00,2020-09-18 16:52:20.992070+00:00,"Journalist says was knocked to the ground, kicked while covering L.A. demonstrations",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-says-was-knocked-ground-kicked-while-covering-l-demonstrations/,2020-09-18 16:52:20.922874+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Henry Scott (WEHOville),,2020-05-30,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"A Los Angeles police officer shoved and kicked the writer and publisher of West Hollywood news outlet WEHOville while he covered a local protest against police violence on May 30, 2020, according to the journalist and the outlet’s reporting of events.
WEHOville’s Henry Scott told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that on that Saturday afternoon he was walking south on La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood at the intersection with Beverly Boulevard. As protesters moved east down Beverly Boulevard he walked along with them.
Scott told the Tracker he took notes and photographs as he followed the crowd toward a parking lot on Third Street west of Fairfax Avenue where demonstrators were holding signs and chanting.
“On the street, a police car had been set on fire,” Scott said. “A line of police officers wearing riot helmets and carrying batons and rubber bullet rifles stood at the edge of the parking lot watching the demonstrators, who were peaceful.”
Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department began advancing toward the protesters. Scott told the Tracker that he wasn’t wearing any press credentials, but identified himself as a journalist when they drew close. He also asked an officer — whose helmet identified him as Rodriguez — whether they were moving people out of the parking lot and why. Scott said he hadn’t heard a dispersal order.
Scott said the officer didn’t answer but suddenly knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the ribs on his left side. Scott had been taking video of that officer and others shoving demonstrators and shooting rubber bullets at their feet earlier that afternoon, he said.
Two others — multimedia journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray and visual journalist Chava Sanchez — also reported being assaulted by LAPD officers in the same intersection while covering afternoon clashes between demonstrators and police.
The LAPD didn’t respond to requests for comment.
“It took me six weeks to completely recover from that assault,” Scott told the Tracker, “which for the first few weeks left me in pain that required taking anti-pain medication and made it nearly impossible for me to bend over and very difficult to get out of bed.”
Scott said that he didn’t seek medical treatment because of concerns about catching COVID-19.
The protest in L.A. was held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the U.S. since the end of May.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering these demonstrations across the country. Find these incidents here.
Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was pushed by a law enforcement officer and her car window was shot out by rubber bullets fired by police while she was covering a protest in Los Angeles on May 30, 2020.
The protest in Los Angeles began as demonstrations erupted across the country, sparked by a video of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man. Floyd was pronounced dead at the hospital. Protests against police brutality and for racial justice have continued across the country.
Berg was on assignment for Status Coup, which describes itself as a progressive media company, and was on her way to cover a protest on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. She told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview that when she and a photographer parked the car, she got out and was confronted by a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. She said she showed her press credentials and the officer left.
Minutes later, another member of the sheriff’s department confronted her, she said. Again, she showed her press credentials, but she said the law enforcement officer did not back off. According to Berg, he pushed her, backing her toward the street where a line of law enforcement vehicles were driving by. She said she feared she would be run over.
As she was covering the protest, she said that law enforcement began deploying tear gas. She said that she was in close proximity to a canister fired by police which landed near her and another journalist, neither of whom were standing near protesters. She was disoriented and having trouble breathing, and protesters helped her to leave the area and recover from the gas.
Around 6:30 p.m., she began to leave the area in her car, Berg said. Body camera footage she later acquired from the Los Angeles Police Department showed officers had formed a line across a broad street and started firing crowd control munitions, like rubber bullets.
Cars were stuck in traffic and could not leave the area. Berg said that she put her head out of the window and asked the police where they were supposed to go.
She said that an officer looked at her, then fired shots at her vehicle.
The rubber bullets shattered the glass of her rear window, leaving large holes, and left dents in the body of her car, photos show.
The cops just shot out by back window. And it was completely unnecessary. This after tear gas, being ribbed by a bully stick and other atrocities. And I had my press credentials visible. Coverage of today to follow on @StatusCoup. #laprotest #GeorgeFloyd pic.twitter.com/pSdLtSIAXq
— Notorious Lefty-Desiree McLefty Face (@TinaDesireeBerg) May 31, 2020
A spokesperson for the LAPD said the department was not aware of the incident and that the department does not deploy tear gas. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Berg said that she has communicated with the National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles about joining a class action lawsuit about police conduct during the protests.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering these protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
While covering a May 30, 2020, protest in Los Angeles, independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg says law enforcement pushed her and later shattered the window of her car with rubber bullets.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2021-01-26 19:59:18.264733+00:00,2023-11-03 16:21:06.136197+00:00,"Photojournalist struck with rubber bullet, his camera damaged during L.A. protest",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-rubber-bullet-his-camera-damaged-during-l-protest/,2023-11-03 16:21:06.012083+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,camera: count of 1,Ringo Chiu (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Photojournalist Ringo Chiu, a member of the National Press Photographers Association, was struck with a rubber bullet and had his camera damaged while documenting protests in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 2020.
The protests in Los Angeles were sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
In a post initially to Facebook and later shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Chiu wrote that officers fired a rubber bullet that would have struck him in the upper body had it not been for his camera, which took the brunt of the hit. The lens hood of his Leica Q camera was damaged, as seen in photos posted to his social media accounts.
My Leica Q was hit by a rubber bullet fired by LAPD in a protest last month. Not working anymore 😭😭😭 #leicaq #leica #leicala #leicaphotojournalism #leicalove #protest #blacklivesmatters
— Ringo Chiu (@ringochiu) June 21, 2020
📸 https://t.co/5G5YvhfQad via https://t.co/tFiRvDN0df pic.twitter.com/0TtnqwOSXm
Chiu told the Tracker that he was also struck on his inner left thigh with a second rubber bullet fired by law enforcement.
CBSLA reported that both Los Angeles Police Department officers and L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies were at the scene in tactical gear. Neither agency responded to requests for comment as of press time.
Chiu was also assaulted by individuals while documenting the protest, which the Tracker has documented here.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented hundreds of incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country in 2020. Find these incidents here.
Photojournalist Ringo Chiu, a member of the National Press Photographers Association, said he was kicked by individuals while documenting protests in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 2020.
The protests in Los Angeles were sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Demonstrations against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
Chiu posted multiple photos of bruises on his left leg and damage to his camera on Facebook the following day, with the caption, “Rubber bullet fired by LAPD and kicked by a protester…”
The Tracker documented the assault and equipment damage from the rubber bullets here.
Chiu told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email: “I am not sure whether or not I was targeted when I was kicked by the protesters during the chaos of the protest. They were attacking a police vehicle and most likely did not want me photographing them in the act.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that multiple vehicles belonging to the Los Angeles Police Department were vandalized and at least two were set on fire during the protests on May 30.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented hundreds of incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country in 2020. Find these incidents here.
Independent photojournalist Nick Stern said he was shot by police with crowd-control projectiles twice while covering a protest in Los Angeles, California on May 30, 2020.
The L.A. protest was one of many held across the country in response to a video showing the police killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
The demonstration that began in the city’s Fairfax District started out peaceful, but tensions escalated later in the day as police cars were set on fire and law enforcement used tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters, according to LAist.
Stern, whose work has been published by the Daily Mail and other publications, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he followed the protest from Pan Pacific Park as the crowd moved through the neighborhood, coming to a halt at the intersection of Third Street and Fairfax Avenue around 2:30 p.m. When a line of police formed to block the route along Third Street, Stern said he was among the protesters, at the front of the crowd.
The police would occasionally shout “move back” and use batons to push the crowd of protesters back.
Stern said an officer was very aggressive with him, even though he was displaying press credentials and holding two professional cameras. He said the officers prodded him repeatedly in the ribs with a baton. Frustrated, Stern moved within the crowd of protesters to another area, but a second officer started jabbing him with a baton, he said.
The Los Angeles Police Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Stern said he moved again to another area within the protest group and displayed his press credentials to an officer who led him through the skirmish line, away from the crowd.
Stern said he was standing about 10 feet behind the line of police. He said he brought his camera up to his face to start taking photographs of a group of officers carrying crowd-control weapons as they walked under a cloud of smoke billowing from a police car that had been set on fire.
“As I started taking the picture I realized that one of the cops has got his 40-millimeter gun actually pointing straight at me,” Stern said.
Stern told the Tracker he used his other hand to grab his press credentials, which were hanging from his neck on a lanyard, and held it up by the side of his face. He said he also shouted out that he was a journalist.
Then the officer fired, shooting Stern on his right thigh with a 40-millimeter crowd-dispersal round, Stern told the Tracker.
Stern said he wasn’t near any protesters when he was shot. He said he was the only civilian on that side of the police line and other officers were at least two yards away from him.
About half an hour later, Stern said that he was standing talking with another journalist on the police side of the skirmish line when another round grazed his left knee. He said he didn’t see where the projectile came from, but he said both he and the other journalist were clearly identifiable as members of the press.
Stern said he believed he was targeted because he was a journalist. In addition to shouting out that he was a journalist and showing his press credentials, he said he was carrying two large Nikon cameras.
“It's clear that I was not a protester,” Stern said. “I see no other reason why I was targeted. I was not chanting, not acting aggressively.
Stern said the shot on his right thigh was intensely painful. He had a bruise and said he had difficulty walking for about a week because it was painful to put pressure on that leg.
Los Angeles Times photographer Luis Sinco said his camera was struck by a rubber bullet, which also bruised his arm, while he was covering a protest in Los Angeles on May 30, 2020.
Sinco was covering one of hundreds of protests against racial injustice and police brutality that were held across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25.
Peaceful protests were held across the city earlier in the day on May 30, but by afternoon, people began looting and vandalizing property in some parts of the city, the LAist reported. Later that day, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency, and a curfew was imposed from 8 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. the following morning in LA and the surrounding area.
Sinco told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that he was covering a protest that night in downtown Los Angeles. Demonstrators were confronting police, and some people threw objects toward law enforcement, according to Sinco. Police began moving in a line formation toward the group of protesters, where Sinco was positioned, and two officers shot less-lethal projectiles, a category that includes rubber bullets, toward the demonstrators.
Sinco said that he was lowering his camera from his eye, holding it near his stomach, when a rubber bullet hit it. He said he could feel the impact of the projectile on the camera. The rubber bullet then ricocheted off and hit him near his elbow on the inner bicep of his left arm, he said.
The projectile ripped through metal alloys of the body of the Canon 1DX camera, according to Sinco. A photograph he posted on Twitter shows a hole on the top of the camera exposing the interior of the device.
Check this out. Rubber bullet fired by #LAPD gashes by camera instead of my face during #GeorgeFloydprotest in LA. pic.twitter.com/aTh46j2DZa
— luis sinco (@luissinco) May 30, 2020
Sinco said he tried to use the camera after it was hit, but it no longer worked.
Sinco believes he was likely hit because he was with the group of demonstrators that police were firing on. He said he does not think he was targeted because he was a journalist.
Sinco said he was wearing a press credential around his neck. The situation was chaotic, he said, and he did not identify himself verbally to police or protesters as a journalist.
The camera was substantially damaged and needed to be repaired, Sinco said. He said he had a bruise for several days where the rubber bullet ricocheted into his arm, but it was not very painful.
“The camera took most of the force, I think,” he said.
The damage to Sinco’s camera was referenced in a resolution the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted on June 9 affirming the rights of journalists to report without interference from law enforcement.
Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to a request for comment
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting damage of equipment and multiple journalists arrested or struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas while covering related protests across the country. Find all of these cases here.
Cerise Castle, a reporter for Santa Monica NPR affiliate KCRW, was struck with a rubber bullet while covering protests in Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 2020.
The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
In a statement emailed to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Castle said that at around 6:45 p.m., she was photographing a group of LAPD officers in riot gear who had just arrived at Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in the back of an open truck.
“As I was snapping photos, the police descended from their vehicle and began pointing rifles at the crowd. People started to run, I held my ground and continued to take pictures,” she wrote. “This is when the shooting started, without warning or prior order to disperse. I screamed after the first gunshot, then pulled myself together and began yelling PRESS and removed my lanyard from my neck, and held it above my head.”
LAPD just shot me and protestors gathered at Beverly & Fairfax with rubber bullets. I was holding my press badge above my head. pic.twitter.com/9YCXq3rUvc
— Cerise Castle (@cerisecastle) May 30, 2020
The rubber bullet that hit her arm above the elbow crease was fired by an officer with whom she had just locked eyes with, she said. As she ran away, she sprained her ankle and is currently on crutches.
LAPD did not respond to an email requesting comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests here.
Jintak Han, a photographer and reporter for the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s student newspaper, was shot at by law enforcement while covering protests in Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 2020.
The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
Han told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that he was wrapping up an afternoon reporting on the protests and trying to cross Beverly Boulevard to head back to his car around 7:15 p.m. when he found himself facing a police line that was clearing protesters block-by-block.
Han said he was readily identifiable as a journalist, wearing a press pass, as well as a white helmet and a vest emblazoned with “PRESS,” and carrying three cameras.
Despite this, he said, an officer aimed his weapon at him, prompting Han to raise both hands in the air. He moved into an opening, and soon was standing “some distance away” from a group of four protesters who were shielding themselves behind a mattress when officers opened fire. “The rubber bullets fell short and hit the ground near my feet before I hid behind the mattress,” he told CPJ.
.@LAPD fired rubber bullets at me despite me:
— Jintak Han (한진탁) (@jintakhan) May 31, 2020
1. Wearing my press helmet
2. Wearing my press vest
3. Wearing my press pass
4. Telling them I’m press
Thankfully they missed. pic.twitter.com/jyLRF1Wt81
LAPD did not respond to an email requesting comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests here.
Samuel Braslow, a reporter for Los Angeles Magazine, was struck by a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Los Angeles, California, on May 30, 2020.
The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
Samuel Braslow, a reporter for Los Angeles Magazine, tweeted that was covering protests outside CBS Studios when his leg was grazed by a projectile fired by police, breaking the skin.
Grazed by a rubber bullet while covering protests in Los Angeles. Police opened fire on protesters who hand their hands up outside CBS gate. pic.twitter.com/sAiG5q7193
— Samuel Braslow (@SamBraslow) May 31, 2020
Braslow, who did not immediately return a request for comment, wrote in subsequent tweets that he was "doing fine."
The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to an email requesting comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd-control ammunition or tear gas or who had their equipment damaged in the course of reporting. Find all incidents related to Black Lives Matter and anti-police brutality protests here.
On Jan. 26, 2019, reporter Tina-Desiree Berg was interviewing people outside of a regional meeting of the California Democratic Party when a woman upset by her questions stole her phone and hit her.
Berg is the West Coast correspondent for Washington Babylon, an investigative journalism site founded by veteran reporter Ken Silverstein in 2016.
Berg had gone to East LA Rising, a community center in east Los Angeles, where Democrats from the state’s 51st Assembly District were voting to elect a slate of delegates to represent them at the California Democratic Party’s state convention.
Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she interviewed some of the delegate candidates and then began talking to voters outside East LA Rising. Tensions increased after a woman leading a group of voters into East LA Rising instructed them not to talk to Berg. One of the voters told Berg that they did not live in the district — leading Berg to suspect the possibility of voter fraud.
Berg said that she was asking what part of the district they were from and whether they supported the incumbent representative for the 51st District, when a woman stole her phone.
“This girl just literally comes out of nowhere and grabbed my phone and ran down the street,” Berg said. “Then she just punched me.”
Berg said that she did not see whether the woman struck her with an open or closed fist, but that the attack left a bruise and later a blood blister on her face. The screen of her iPhone was also cracked.
Her phone continued to stream throughout the altercation, and she later published an excerpt of the video on Washington Babylon.
“Hey, give me back my phone, lady!” Berg says in the video. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“I think you’re being a dick,” the woman says.
“I don’t care, you don’t get to run away with my phone,” Berg says.
Berg then reaches for the phone and the woman strikes her.
“You don’t get to grab my hand like that!” the woman says.
“You don’t get to slap me and steal my phone!” Berg says.
Berg said that a bystander called the police, and she provided a statement to the officers but did not seek to press charges against the woman.
Berg’s suspicions about voter fraud proved to be correct. A subsequent investigation by the California Democratic Party’s Compliance Review Commission found that nearly 100 votes had been cast by people who were either not registered as Democrats or not registered in the 51st Assembly District. On March 27, the California Democratic Party vacated results of the disputed Jan. 26 election and ordered that a new election be held on April 27.
Reporter Tina-Desiree Berg shows the blood blister left after a woman took Berg's iPhone and then hit her while she was interviewing at a regional meeting of the California Democratic Party.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"election, robbery",,,