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 2020-06-01 02:02:18.097177+00:00,2022-03-10 22:05:23.398364+00:00,"Student journalist chased, pepper sprayed during protests in Columbus",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/student-journalist-chased-pepper-sprayed-during-protests-columbus/,2022-03-10 22:05:23.337036+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Julia Lerner,,2020-05-30,False,Columbus,Ohio (OH),39.96118,-82.99879,"
A student journalist at the University of Maryland was chased by police and maced three times while covering protests in Columbus, Ohio, in the early hours of May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Student journalist Julia Lerner told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that at about 1 a.m. she was making her way toward her car after documenting protests near the courthouse in Columbus. Three or four people were on the sidewalk near her, but most protesters had dispersed, at least from that area.
Lerner told the Tracker that she had stopped on the sidewalk to put her camera away when she noticed a line of police officers up the block, including two on bicycles. The officers began shouting at those still present to leave the area.
“[The officers] started screaming. The woman next to me took off running in the other direction and I put my hands up — with my camera in my hand — and yelled, “I’m a journalist, I’m just trying to go to my car,” Lerner said.
She said that one of the bicycle officers responded, “It’s too fucking late to leave.”
The officer then came at her, Lerner said, and pepper sprayed her, primarily hitting her arms and camera as she held her hands in front of her face.
Lerner said the officer pepper sprayed her at least two more times as she attempted to run away, only letting up once Lerner rounded another street corner into an alleyway. She told the Tracker she hid in the alley for approximately 20 minutes before finally making her way to her car.
Lerner said that her camera appears to still be in working order.
“As journalists, we have the responsibility to expose violence and corruption within our systems. We have the responsibility to stand steadfast when threatened,” Lerner tweeted after the incident. “We can’t let cops chase us away.”
The Columbus Police Department did not immediately respond to requests 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.
A Columbus, Ohio, police officer on a bike chased student journalist Julia Lerner and pepper sprayed her multiple times after she identified herself as press.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, student journalism",,, 2020-06-02 01:30:04.749144+00:00,2023-11-01 16:18:00.413789+00:00,"KDKA-TV photojournalist attacked by protesters in Pittsburgh, camera smashed",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kdka-tv-photojournalist-attacked-protesters-pittsburgh-camera-smashed/,2023-11-01 16:18:00.305283+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,camera: count of 1,Ian Smith (KDKA-TV),,2020-05-30,False,Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania (PA),40.44062,-79.99589,"Ian Smith, a photojournalist for CBS News affiliate KDKA-TV, was attacked by protesters while covering unrest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 30, 2020.
Protests in Pittsburgh occurred as demonstrations that started in Minnesota on May 26 spread across the country. The protests were sparked by video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest. Floyd was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Smith, who has worked for KDKA-TV for 15 years, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was following groups of protesters near the PPG Paints Arena, a hockey arena, after an organized, peaceful demonstration ended.
He said he was near a police car that had been set on fire when multiple protesters yelled at him that he wasn’t allowed to film. As he started to move away to try to film from a different spot, he said he felt multiple people pull on his camera. After he lost his balance and fell to the ground, a group of people — he estimated between four and six — began punching and kicking him, while others were nearby. He said he heard them chant, “Kill him, kill him.”
Smith said his attackers took his camera and “smashed it into 1,000 pieces.”
Another group of protesters intervened, forming a wall around Smith to protect him, then helping him to outside the nearby arena where there was a medic, he said. Those demonstrators told him the attackers were not a part of their group. Smith said he found out later he was helped to a safer area by the CEO of the Pittsburgh Penguins, confirmed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Smith was taken by ambulance to a hospital, evaluated and later released. He said he was struck several times in the head and sustained bruises and scrapes on his face, arms and legs.
I’m was attacked by protestors downtown by the arena. They stomped and kicked me. I’m bruised and bloody but alive. My camera was destroyed. Another group of protesters pulled me out and saved my life. Thank you! @KDKA pic.twitter.com/clyANKodth
— Ian Smith (@ismithKDKA) May 30, 2020
KDKA-TV reporter Paul Martino, who was covering the protests with Smith, wrote in a Facebook post that demonstrators threatened him as he tried to approach Smith during the attack. He was hospitalized after the incident with severe chest pains.
A spokesperson for the Pittsburgh Police Department said police were aware of the incident, and said the department does not discuss ongoing investigations.
Smith said he was grateful to the people who had stepped in to protect him.
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.
Photojournalist Ian Smith shows some of his wounds on Twitter after being attacked by protesters in Pittsburgh on May 30.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-02 01:48:31.653149+00:00,2022-03-23 22:49:14.971704+00:00,"WCCO photojournalist shot with rubber bullet, arrested in Minneapolis",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wcco-photojournalist-shot-rubber-bullet-arrested-minneapolis/,2022-03-23 22:49:14.893724+00:00,,,"(2020-07-22 13:20:00+00:00) City Attorney drops unlawful assembly, curfew charges from Minneapolis protests","Arrest/Criminal Charge, Assault",,,,Tom Aviles (WCCO-TV),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"WCCO photojournalist Tom Aviles was shot with a projectile and later arrested while covering the fifth night of protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Thousands gathered around the convenience store where Floyd had been detained and at the police department’s Third Precinct building in the days that followed.
At approximately 8:45 p.m., Aviles was reporting at the intersection of Nicollet and E. Franklin avenues with WCCO producer Joan Gilbertson. In a video captured by Aviles, he is positioned to the side of their news vehicle when a line of Minnesota State Patrol troopers advanced down the street firing crowd control ammunition.
In the video, a shot is heard firing just before Aviles shouts in pain and the camera shakes. Aviles then moves off the street and into a nearby alley way and parking lot.
As Aviles repositions to film the advancing troopers, one officer breaks out from the line and approaches him, shouting “Get moving! Get gone! Go!”
Aviles can be heard identifying himself as a WCCO photojournalist and asks the trooper where he should move. He also identifies the vehicle that has moved down the road as belonging to the station.
“OK, OK, OK!” Aviles says as two additional officers make their way toward him. He begins to turn around and walk away from the officers and into the parking lot
“Joan! Joan! Get over here!” Aviles shouts to producer Gilbertson, who was presumably still in the car.
An officer then approaches Aviles from behind and tells him he’s under arrest, forcing him to the ground. Aviles complies and multiple times assures the officer that he’s not fighting.
Gilbertson told WCCO that a patrolman told her, “You’ve been warned, or the same thing will happen to you.”
She said she put her hands up and said, “Don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me.”
Aviles was released approximately two hours later, WCCO reported.
Photojournalist Tom is free, after being arrested and shot with a rubber bullet. This true blue, AMAZING journalist even managed to share a smile. #wcco pic.twitter.com/XrbnCKo3tb
— Susan-Elizabeth (@susanelizabethL) May 31, 2020
WCCO could not immediately be reached for comment.
At a news conference late that evening, Minnesota Commissioner of Corrections Paul Schnell said Aviles’ arrest was “regrettable,” CBS News reported. He added that it is difficult to identify journalists amidst the challenges of crowds, smoke devices and police tactics.
“We value and know the importance [of journalists],” Schnell said.
The Minnesota State Patrol was not immediately available for comment.
Multiple other reporters were arrested in Minneapolis that day, and a three-man CNN news crew was arrested by state troopers the day before, on May 29.
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.
An investigative reporter for 9News KUSA covering protests outside the state capitol in Denver, Colorado, was hit by a non-lethal round just after completing a live shot on the 10 p.m. news on May 30, 2020.
Jeremy Jojola, who works for Denver’s NBC affiliate, told the Committee to Protect Journalists he was wearing a 9News hat and standing next to his photographer down the hill from the state capitol after completing his live stand up when the incident occurred.
Jojola said he was looking down at his phone when he felt a “hard impact” on his back, hitting the backpack he was wearing. Jojola audibly groaned after being hit, which can be heard in a video of the incident he posted on YouTube. He then shouted, “I'm media! We're press! We're press! We're press! We're press! Don't shoot at us!”
“I knew what it was immediately, it was a projectile and it came from the capitol direction, it came from the hill,” he recounted. “I didn’t hear any warning.”
He then walked with photographer Austyn Knox up the hill towards the capitol, shouting “media coming through” and came upon a group of about 15 members of Colorado State Patrol, responsible for policing the state capitol, Jojola told CPJ. He asked to speak to a supervisor, and was able to speak with an officer he had previously interviewed. The officer, according to Jojola, said, “I made the call to fire upon you guys, you didn’t look like media.”
Jojola said he accepted him at his word and left, but on his way down, marveled at how well-lit the area he had been standing was. “I feel that they should have known we were press. We were [just] live on TV,” Jojola told CPJ.
Jojola tweeted out a photo of an orange, nonlethal round that he found in the area he was standing when he was hit.
I went back to where I was hit and found this. This may or may not be the round that hit me. But it’s right where I was standing. I’m clearly with a photographer and wearing a 9NEWS hat. pic.twitter.com/42BC8jrxLz
— Jeremy Jojola (@jeremyjojola) May 31, 2020
Sergeant Blake White, a public affairs officer for the Colorado State Patrol, said in an email to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the incident occurred while officers were trying to clear the area of protesters.
“There was a male, who was later identified as a member of the media, not responding to commands to clear the area,” he wrote in an email. “The male appeared to be rummaging through things, facing away, and wearing a backpack. There were no clear indications the male was a member of the media. A second male was next to him as well with no press markings either. One foam round was fired to gain compliance and struck the first male in the backpack.”
“[The supervisor] explained to the reporter there was no indication he was with the media and that the camera was not visible and was apologetic,” White wrote.
“We do not and will not target members of the media for capturing what is going on in the state and around the country, and we respect and believe in the freedom of the press,” White concluded.
Jojola told the Tracker via text that he did not hear any warning from the officers, and the shot was fired a minute and 30 seconds after he went off the air.
“These officers, if they were observant, would have seen me and a photographer. I was also standing in a lighted area.” He said the supervisor offered him an explanation, but did not apologize. He added that he is filing a records request for the Colorado State Patrol’s “less than lethal deployment policy.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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.
Jeremy Jojola posted on Twitter that he was fired upon with an object like this. "I was clearly with a photographer just after I went live with a large camera and light."
",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",,, 2020-06-02 12:08:39.044484+00:00,2023-11-01 16:18:58.858996+00:00,"Fox News photojournalist, crew chased from park while documenting DC protests",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fox-news-crew-chased-park-while-documenting-dc-protests/,2023-11-01 16:18:58.681709+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"camera: count of 1, recording equipment: count of 1",Christian Galdabini (Fox News),,2020-05-30,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Fox News photojournalist Christian Galdabini and his news crew were chased out of Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Park by a mob on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Fox correspondent Leland Vittert told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he arrived with Galdabini and two Fox security officers to report on the protests near the White House at about 8:30 p.m. Galdabini did not respond to an email requesting comment.
The protest was “entirely peaceful” during the early evening, Vittert said, but grew more restless later into the night.
Around midnight, one protester wearing a black and white bandana kept approaching them, questioning which outlet they worked for and why they were there. An hour later, Vittert said he noticed that the protester had stopped recording them and was looking at his phone.
As photojournalist Galdabini told Fox, “Somehow he figured out that we were Fox News and decided that that should be announced.”
Vittert told the Tracker that shortly after, “A crowd of about 50 people surrounded us, a number of them stopped throwing things at the Secret Service [officers] and started beating on us.”
In footage captured by The Daily Caller, Vittert, Galdabini and their security officers can be seen making their way out of the park while numerous voices call out curses and shout “Fuck Fox News!”
Vittert told the Tracker that while they attempted to leave, individuals threw objects at them, grabbed their microphone and used it as a club against them. One of their security officers was punched in the face, and Vittert received more than one blow to his stomach.
The camera Galdabini was carrying was also broken when one of the individuals attempted to grab it. The crew eventually found refuge near a police cruiser outside the park, Vittert said.
“We were all pretty roughed up,” he said.
Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott denounced the assault in a statement published by the outlet.
“We strongly condemn these actions against FOX News Media reporting teams as well as all other reporters from any media outlets who are simply trying to do their jobs and report the news during an extraordinary time in our country’s history,” Scott said.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being 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 May 30, U.S. Secret Service uniformed division officers face demonstrators during a rally near the White House in Washington, D.C. A Fox News crew was assaulted, its equipment damaged.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-02 12:49:03.502275+00:00,2021-09-29 17:31:28.802281+00:00,Freelance journalist struck with baton while covering LA protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-covering-protests-los-angeles-assaulted/,2021-09-29 17:31:28.752332+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Lexis-Olivier Ray (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"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",,, 2020-06-03 03:16:48.645734+00:00,2024-02-16 21:34:15.860653+00:00,European Pressphoto Agency photojournalist arrested during Minneapolis protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/european-pressphoto-agency-photojournalist-arrested-during-minneapolis-protests/,2024-02-16 21:34:15.752634+00:00,curfew violation: breaking curfew order (charges dropped as of 2020-07-22),,"(2022-02-08 12:03:00+00:00) Journalists reach settlement agreement with Minnesota State Patrol, rest of suit ongoing, (2020-07-22 11:37:00+00:00) Charges dropped against European Pressphoto Agency photojournalist arrested during Minneapolis protests, (2020-07-30 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance photojournalist joins ACLU suit following arrest while covering Minneapolis protest, (2024-02-08 00:00:00+00:00) Journalists get nearly $1M settlement over Minneapolis BLM protest attacks","Arrest/Criminal Charge, Assault",,,,Tannen Maury (European Pressphoto Agency),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"A European Pressphoto Agency photojournalist was assaulted and later arrested alongside two other journalists while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find arrests of journalists covering protests related to the death of George Floyd here.
Tannen Maury told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was documenting a peaceful protest when Minnesota State Patrol troopers began to enforce the 8 p.m. curfew, warning all those still present to disperse.
“Five minutes later, they started marching up the street, launching tear gas and I guess rubber bullets, and everything else they have, and I got hit in the back with a projectile,” Maury said.
He believes he was struck with a tear gas canister judging from the large, white residue mark on his shirt and bulletproof vest. Because of his protective gear, Maury said, he was uninjured and able to continue working.
At just after 9 p.m, Maury was walking with freelance photojournalists Stephen Maturen and Craig Lassig on Nicollet Avenue toward 28th Street where a “parade” of police cruisers was driving, according to Maturen.
Maturen told the Tracker that a police cruiser had stopped abruptly on their block and began shooting less-lethal rounds at the handful of people around them.
The three photojournalists identified themselves as members of the media, and were initially told to keep moving.
A moment later, Maturen said, someone made the call to arrest the journalists.
Sheriff’s deputies ordered all three to get on the ground face down with their hands out, and they complied.
Maury said they explained that they were journalists and exempt from the curfew. “They were gentle, they weren’t rough with us at all,” he said.
The photojournalists were taken to the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility in downtown Minneapolis and cited with breaking the city’s curfew order, a misdemeanor which is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail. The curfew order specifically exempted members of the news media, however. They were in police custody for approximately two hours.
Maury confirmed that all of their belongings were returned to them upon their release.
Neither the Minneapolis State Patrol nor the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department could immediately be reached 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.
Law enforcement at a Minneapolis protest on May 30, 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd. Photojournalist Tannen Maury was hit with a tear gas canister fired by a state trooper and arrested while documenting protests in the city.
",arrested and released,Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department,None,None,False,0:20-cv-01302,"['ONGOING', 'SETTLED']",Class Action,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-06-03 03:23:07.491717+00:00,2024-02-16 21:42:01.158971+00:00,Freelance photojournalist arrested while covering Minneapolis protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-photojournalist-arrested-while-covering-minneapolis-protest/,2024-02-16 21:42:01.045436+00:00,curfew violation: breaking curfew order (charges dropped as of 2020-08-03),,"(2024-02-08 00:00:00+00:00) Journalists get nearly $1M settlement over Minneapolis BLM protest attacks, (2022-02-08 12:00:00+00:00) Journalists reach settlement agreement with Minnesota State Patrol, rest of suit ongoing, (2020-06-08 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance photojournalist sues following arrest while covering Minneapolis protest, (2020-08-03 16:08:00+00:00) Charges dropped against freelance photojournalist arrested while covering Minneapolis protest",Arrest/Criminal Charge,,,,Craig Lassig (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"Freelance photojournalist Craig Lassig was arrested alongside two other journalists while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find arrests of journalists covering protests related to the death of George Floyd here.
At just after 9 p.m., Lassig was walking with photojournalists Stephen Maturen and Tannen Maury on Nicollet Avenue toward 28th Street where a “parade” of police cruisers was driving, according to Maturen.
Maturen told the Tracker that a police cruiser had stopped abruptly on their block and began shooting less-lethal rounds at the handful of people around them.
The three photojournalists identified themselves as members of the media, and were initially told to keep moving.
A moment later, Maturen said, someone made the call to arrest the journalists.
Lassig told the Tracker that the arrest was uneventful.
“The cop that handled me was professional and was careful with my gear,” Lassig said.
Aside from the fact that there was no reason to detain the three of them, he said, they were treated well and only in police custody for approximately two hours.
The journalists were taken to the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility in downtown Minneapolis and cited with breaking the city’s curfew order, a misdemeanor which is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail. The curfew order specifically exempted members of the news media, however.
Maturen told the Tracker that all of their belongings were returned to them upon their release.
Neither the Minneapolis State Patrol nor the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department could immediately be reached 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.
Law enforcement at a Minneapolis protest on May 30, 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd. Photojournalist Craig Lassig was documenting protests when he was arrested for breaking a curfew order that specifically exempted members of the media.
",arrested and released,Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department,None,None,False,0:20-cv-01302,"['ONGOING', 'SETTLED']",Class Action,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-03 03:27:40.451788+00:00,2024-02-16 21:38:26.924540+00:00,Photojournalist arrested while covering Minneapolis protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-while-covering-minneapolis-protests/,2024-02-16 21:38:26.772299+00:00,curfew violation: breaking curfew order (charges dropped as of 2020-07-22),,"(2020-07-30 00:00:00+00:00) Freelance photojournalist joins ACLU suit following arrest while covering Minneapolis protest, (2022-02-08 12:01:00+00:00) Journalists reach settlement agreement with Minnesota State Patrol, rest of suit ongoing, (2020-07-22 16:10:00+00:00) Charges dropped against photojournalist arrested while covering Minneapolis protests, (2024-02-08 00:00:00+00:00) Journalists get nearly $1M settlement over Minneapolis BLM protest attacks",Arrest/Criminal Charge,,,,Stephen Maturen (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"Freelance photojournalist Stephen Maturen was arrested alongside two other journalists while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all arrests separately. Find arrests of journalists covering protests related to the death of George Floyd here.
Maturen told the Tracker that he had met up with fellow photojournalists at around 9 p.m. Approximately 10-15 minutes later, they were walking north on Nicollet Avenue toward 28th Street when they saw a “parade” of police cruisers driving to where the majority of protesters had scattered.
“[A police cruiser] stopped abruptly and a number of members of the Sheriff’s Department poured out shooting either markers or gas canisters at the handful of people on that block,” Maturen said.
Maturen — along with European Pressphoto Agency photojournalist Tannen Maury and freelance photojournalist Craig Lassig — identified themselves as members of the media, and were initially told to keep moving.
“There was a moment where it seemed as though we would just be pushed out of that block, but then someone decided to call for us to be arrested,” Maturen said.
The photojournalists were all ordered to get on the ground face down with their hands out.
Maturen said that he was not injured in the course of the arrest and that things “were relatively smooth, all things considered.” He added, however, that when his hands were zip-tied he was still wearing his backpack, and officers cut its straps instead of redoing the ties.
Maturen, Lassig and Maury were taken to the Hennepin County Public Safety Facility in downtown Minneapolis and cited with breaking the city’s curfew order, a misdemeanor which is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail. The curfew order specifically exempted members of the news media, however.
They were in police custody for approximately two hours, and Maturen said that his belongings — including his damaged backpack and camera — were returned to him upon his release.
Neither the Minneapolis State Patrol nor the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department could immediately be reached 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.
Law enforcement at a Minneapolis protest on May 30, 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd. Photojournalist Stephen Maturen was documenting protests when he was arrested for breaking a curfew order that specifically exempted members of the media.
",arrested and released,Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department,None,None,False,0:20-cv-01302,"['ONGOING', 'SETTLED']",Class Action,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-03 03:39:03.772761+00:00,2022-11-15 17:22:18.879459+00:00,HuffPost reporter arrested while covering protest in Brooklyn,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/huffpost-reporter-arrested-while-covering-protest-brooklyn/,2022-11-15 17:22:18.785021+00:00,unknown (charges dropped as of 2020-09-30),,(2020-09-30 00:00:00+00:00) Charges dropped against HuffPost journalist,"Arrest/Criminal Charge, Assault",,,,Christopher Mathias (HuffPost),,2020-05-30,False,New York,New York (NY),None,None,"Christopher Mathias, a senior reporter with HuffPost, was arrested by police while covering anti-racism protests in Brooklyn, New York, on May 30, 2020.
The protests in New York began as demonstrations spread across the country since May 26, sparked by a video of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest. Floyd was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Mathias was covering protests in the Flatbush area on the night of May 30, where he told HuffPost that a dumpster and at least two police cars were set on fire when police began arresting people. Freelance journalist Phoebe Leila Barghouty posted photos on Twitter that appeared to show a New York City police officer restraining Mathias shortly before 11 p.m. and confirmed a short time later that it was Mathias who had been detained.
In an interview with The New York Times about the incident, Mathias said that a police officer ran into him, telling him to move out of the way. Mathias told the Times that he insulted the officer, who then turned around and hit him in the stomach with a baton. Mathias was then taken into custody.
Mathias was wearing a press badge at the time of his arrest, according to HuffPost and photographs of the incident. Other journalists who witnessed police taking him into custody told HuffPost that Mathias was clearly identifying himself as a journalist.
HuffPost reports that, according to Mathias’ wife, his phone was knocked from his hand during the encounter.
HuffPost condemned Mathias’ arrest on Twitter shortly after he was taken into custody and demanded he be released.
Mathias was released from police custody at around 1 a.m. on May 31. The Times reports that he was issued a summons.
Mathias did not return requests for comment about his arrest and HuffPost did not immediately reply to an inquiry seeking more details. The New York City Police Department did not reply to a request for more information about the incident.
Mathias posted on Twitter on May 31 that he was home after he had been taken into custody. He did not offer details about his arrest, but described it as “bogus.”
I'm home & overwhelmed by all your messages of love & support. Thank you.
— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) May 31, 2020
I'll explain more about my arrest later but for now just know it was bogus, as were the arrests of all the brave New Yorkers protesting against a police force that routinely terrorizes this city.
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.
The arrest of HuffPost senior reporter Christopher Mathias during protests in New York on May 30, 2020, was captured by freelance journalist Phoebe Leila Barghouty.
",arrested and released,New York Police Department,2020-05-31,None,True,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",,, 2020-06-03 03:51:35.918581+00:00,2020-06-03 03:51:35.918581+00:00,Freelance journalist struck in back by police while covering protests in Brooklyn,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-struck-back-police-while-covering-protests-brooklyn/,2020-06-03 03:51:35.859753+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Phoebe Leila Barghouty (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,New York,New York (NY),None,None,"NYPD officers struck freelance journalist Phoebe Leila Barghouty in the back while she was covering protests in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush on the night of May 30, 2020.
The protest was among the many demonstrations held in the city sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Barghouty tweeted a video at 10:44 p.m. showing a group of journalists and protesters following police orders to move out of the way and along a sidewalk, with text saying, “Here’s us being super chill before we got clocked in the back for no reason.”
After she stopped recording that video, “We got pushed by a shield. I felt it on my whole back and arms,” Barghouty told the Committee to Protect Journalists in a phone interview. She said she had “a lot of bruises” from the attack.
Barghouty said she repeatedly identified herself as a journalist during the attack, and was holding up her press pass.
She told CPJ that she did not believe police targeted her, but instead simply did not distinguish between protesters and members of the media.
Earlier that night, NYPD officers only retaliated against protesters who came close to them, she told CPJ, saying she did not know why police abruptly turned aggressive.
“We were scared of the trample effect. People were falling down and the police were walking over them,” Barghouty said, adding that she stayed out reporting for another hour after the attack.
Barghouty said the assault occurred after officers arrested HuffPost reporter Christopher Mathias; Barghouty tweeted photos of his arrest.
CPJ emailed the NYPD for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
Freelance photojournalist Christopher Rusanowsky was arrested by Dallas police while on assignment for ZUMA Press documenting protests in the city on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Rusanowsky, 29, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was booked in Dallas County jail on a count of obstructing a highway or other passageway and was held overnight. He was released on bail the following day.
The count is a Class B misdemeanor in Texas, according to the Texas penal code. If convicted, he could face up to 180 days in jail, and a fine of up to $2,000.
Rusanowsky denies that he was obstructing a highway. He said he had been photographing a group of protesters as they blocked traffic on Interstate 35E.
He said he stepped across the highway guardrail and onto the shoulder to take photographs, taking care not to step into the lanes of traffic. Soon after he moved to a grassy area near the interstate to photograph protesters.
Rusanowsky said he began to take photographs of a police officer shooting nonlethal ammunition at a protester at close range when the officer began pointing and yelling at him. He said the officer told him, “You are going to jail too!”
In response, Rusanowsky said he held up his two cameras and showed the officer his ZUMA-issued press credentials. Rusanowsky said the officer replied, “Yeah, yeah. Press, press. You are going to jail.”
The officer then threw him to the ground, he said, where another officer handcuffed him.
He said an officer seized his cameras and four lenses. He later retrieved the items from police headquarters; he said they do not appear to be damaged.
He was booked into Dallas County jail at 11:38 p.m., according to booking records reviewed by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, and was released after posting $300 bail the next day. He posted on Facebook about his release.
The experience has left him shaken, he said. “I’m terrified of cops right now,” he said.
“I don’t have training in hostile environment situations,” he said. “This makes me feel very vulnerable. But I believe in this job so much and I want to do this to give people voices.”
An emailed request for comment on Rusanowsky’s arrest to the Dallas Police Department was not immediately returned.
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.
Tom Fox, photographer for The Dallas Morning News, captured the arrest of photojournalist Christopher Rusanowsky while both were documenting protests on May 30, 2020, in Dallas, Texas.
",arrested and released,Dallas Police Department,2020-05-31,None,False,3:22-cv-01132,['ONGOING'],Civil,returned in full,False,law enforcement,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-04 03:57:05.140721+00:00,2024-02-15 20:33:55.489602+00:00,"NBC producer, group of journalists targeted in assault by state patrol",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/nbc-producer-group-journalists-targeted-assault-state-patrol/,2024-02-15 17:21:59.076239+00:00,,,"(2021-09-28 00:00:00+00:00) NBC journalist sues following arrest while covering Minneapolis protest, (2022-02-08 11:58:00+00:00) Journalists reach settlement agreement with Minnesota State Patrol, rest of suit ongoing, (2024-02-08 00:00:00+00:00) Journalists get nearly $1M settlement over Minneapolis BLM protest attacks","Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"camera equipment: count of 2, miscellaneous equipment: count of 1, protective equipment: count of 1, recording equipment: count of 1",Ed Ou (NBC News),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"Minnesota State Patrol fired tear gas, pepper spray, and concussion grenades at NBC journalist and producer Ed Ou and a group of other journalists in Minneapolis on May 30, 2020, Ou told the Committee to Protect Journalists via phone.
The journalists were covering ongoing protests in the city sparked by the alleged police killing of George Floyd, a black man, on May 25.
Ou told CPJ that the journalists were standing apart from the protesters in an indented section of a brick wall when troopers assaulted them. Ou said that he held up his press badge and screamed “Press!” but the patrol continued the assault.
"We were very explicit about saying we were press and we were nowhere close to any protesters or anyone else," Ou told CPJ. "They kept on throwing concussion grenades at us. They came up to us and maced me or pepper sprayed me on my camera and my face."
Ou, who was videotaping the protest, told CPJ that he was hit in the head. He said he couldn’t see the weapon or projectile as his eyes were blurred by tear gas and pepper spray. He said he stumbled past law enforcement officers asking for help, but none provided assistance. Eventually, a colleague found him, he said.
Ou told CPJ he later went to a hospital and received four stitches in his head.
Ou said that troopers damaged his equipment in the assault. He said the XLR connector between his microphone and camera was damaged, one of his lens filters was cracked, and a UV filter is no longer usable. He said that he can no longer safely use his microphone because pepper spray reached the microphone through the windsock. His gas mask, he added, is now unusable even with a new filter because of the large amount of pepper spray that entered it.
CPJ emailed Minnesota State Patrol for comment but did not receive an immediate reply. It also called the patrol’s press center but was unable to leave a message because the voicemail box was full.
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.
A video posted to Twitter by journalist Ed Ou shows Minnesota State Patrol troopers coming upon Ou and a group of journalists and spraying them with tear gas and pepper spray during protests on May 30 in Minneapolis.
",None,None,None,None,False,0:20-cv-01302,"['ONGOING', 'SETTLED']",Class Action,None,False,law enforcement,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-06-04 13:32:13.544709+00:00,2021-11-18 20:28:34.381874+00:00,Freelance journalist arrested amid Los Angeles protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-arrested-amid-los-angeles-protests/,2021-11-18 20:28:34.334760+00:00,,,,Arrest/Criminal Charge,,,,Oren Peleg (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Los Angeles police officers arrested freelance journalist Oren Peleg while he was covering protests in the city on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Peleg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was reporting on protests in downtown Los Angeles that had been declared an unlawful assembly the day before.
At approximately 7:10 p.m., officers advanced on the crowd of approximately 20 protesters, blocking off all exits and forming a kettle. As police squeezed in on them, one of the protesters called out for everyone to sit down, at which point Peleg said he identified himself to police as a member of the press.
“They told me it was too late, that ‘you’re already here, you’re already part of this, we gave you an hour to disperse, so now central booking will take care of you,’” Peleg said.
He said that at no point did he hear officers give an order for the crowd to disperse.
Officers zip-tied Peleg along with the rest of the protesters and told him to sit down on a curb to await a city bus to come by to transfer all of them to Metropolitan Detention Center.
After approximately 30 minutes, the bus had still not arrived, Peleg said, and all of the arrestees were processed in the field. He provided an officer with his address, phone, email, license ID, social security number, and employer, and said police wrote his identifying information on an arrest card.
Peleg said he does not know whether charges for failure to disperse have been brought against him. He said an officer told him not to worry about the card, and that nothing would happen with it.
“When they released us, [the officers] said, ‘We’re releasing you now. If any are detained again you will be arrested and sent to jail,’” Peleg said.
The Los Angeles Police Department told the Tracker that it does not have any information about Peleg’s arrest at this time.
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.
On May 30, 2020, a police officer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, struck Unicorn Riot journalist Chris Schiano’s phone with a baton while Schiano was covering an arrest.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
The incident occurred around 10 p.m. on the night of May 30, while Schiano was covering a group of police officers arresting a young black man. He had been live-streaming the protests for Unicorn Riot, a non-profit media collective based in known for its extensive and sympathetic coverage of street demonstrations.
Unicorn Riot later published a video on Twitter showing Schiano’s interaction with the police officers.
Philly police pin young black man to the ground with their knees, swat our field reporter with a baton for filming the scene.
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) May 31, 2020
"Beat it."
"I'm a journalist, sir!"
"I don't care what you are. Beat it." pic.twitter.com/llguNcdTlx
As seen in the video, Schiano approached the officers, who had pinned the young man to the ground. As Schiano moved closer to document the man’s arrest, an officer appeared and waved his baton at Schiano.
Schiano identified himself as a journalist, and the officer said, “I don’t care what you are, beat it!” and struck his phone with his baton, bringing the video to an abrupt end.
Schiano said that, after he was forced to stop filming, one of the officers told him, “You’re not essential,” and suggested that he was in violation of Philadelphia’s 8 p.m. curfew. The curfew, which exempts “persons with essential duties,” is not supposed to apply to members of the media.
Schiano told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was wearing a press pass during the incident. He said the altercation was “fairly minor” and he did not suffer any injuries, but he was upset that the police stopped him from documenting an arrest.
“This seems fairly egregious if the First Amendment is supposed to be real,” he said.
Schiano said that Philadelphia police officers similarly attacked him with batons in 2016, while he was documenting protests around the Democratic National Convention, and in 2018, while he was documenting a demonstration outside of a federal prison.
“Cops here are quite proficient swatting phone cameras with those little metal batons,” he said. “It was clearly a motion they are used to making for the specific reason of not getting filmed.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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.
While filming an arrest during protests in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a police officer knocked the phone from Unicorn Riot journalist Chris Schiano’s hand with a baton, ending his recording.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-07 04:06:44.836681+00:00,2020-06-07 04:06:44.836681+00:00,New York radio reporter assaulted after reporting live from looted liquor store,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-radio-reporter-assaulted-after-reporting-live-looted-liquor-store/,2020-06-07 04:06:44.765919+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Darius Radzius (WINS-AM),,2020-05-30,False,New York,New York (NY),None,None,"Darius Radzius, a New York radio reporter, was attacked by an unknown assailant in Brooklyn, New York on May 30, 2020, shortly after finishing a live radio broadcast.
Radzius was covering the ongoing protests in Brooklyn for New York radio station 1010 WINS. Protests that began in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 26 spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
While Radzius was reporting alone, he told the Committee to Protect Journalists in a phone interview that he was near a group of reporters during the protests. The protest, one of many that took place across New York City on May 30, began at around 3 p.m. near Prospect Park and continued south to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush. Radzius characterized the protest as “largely peaceful” in a statement about the incident that he wrote for the police that he provided to CPJ. Radzius said in his interview and in the statement that he had a 1010 WINS microphone and people told him they liked the station and thanked him for reporting on the protest.
Radzius was carrying press credentials, but they were not displayed, he told CPJ. His 1010 WINS microphone flag was large and identified him clearly as media, he said.
According to Radzius’ statement to the police, a few hours into the protest, he followed a group of people who left the central location of the protest, thinking them to be protesters. The group and Radzius walked to College Wine and Liquors, a liquor store in Flatbush. Radzius witnessed a group of people loot the store, and filmed the entire incident on his cellphone for 30 seconds, before the store owner locked the door. Radzius tweeted a video clip of the looting.
Radzius called his editor at 1010 WINS to tell him about the looting and joined a live radio broadcast from the scene at 6:32 p.m. A few seconds after signing off, Radzius was approached by a woman who asked him who he was talking to, according to his statement. Radzius responded that he was talking to “all New Yorkers on the radio.” A few seconds later, Radzius says he heard a male voice shout, “Snitch.” Radzius was then struck from behind on the right side of his upper face.
Radzius does not know who hit him. A witness told him that the attacker was a man, and that he struck Radzius with an unidentified object.
After being hit, Radzius says he was “stunned.” He received medical assistance at the scene from a woman who identified herself as a nurse. He later went to the hospital. He sustained injuries to his face that required five stitches above his eye on the eyebrow. Radzius also has significant bruising around his right eye, and has injuries to his hands. He later tweeted photos of his injuries.
Radizus told CPJ that he thinks he was targeted for being a journalist. “What does a journalist do? They report on the news, and they didn’t like that I was reporting on the looting,” he said.
CPJ contacted the NYPD for comment and to ask if they are investigating the incident. They said there is a complaint report on file for assault and detectives are investigating.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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.
Freelance photographer Thomas Machowicz was shot with three rubber projectiles by Phoenix police, resulting in a gash on his scalp, a concussion, and a bruised lung, as he was photographing protests in the city on May 30, 2020.
The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for eight minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Machowicz was taking photographs in front of the headquarters of the Phoenix Police Department at roughly 10:15 p.m. when protesters began to lob fireworks at police, and police responded by shooting tear gas, pepper balls, and projectiles into the crowd, Machowicz told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview.
“I realized I was in a bad spot,” Machowicz said. As he ran away from the headquarters through a cloud of tear gas, camera in hand, police began shooting rubber projectiles in his direction. The first two projectiles hit Machowicz’s lower back and the side of his ribcage. In pain, he fell down. A few seconds later as he was lying on the ground, a third projectile hit him on the back of his head, ripping an inch-long gash into his scalp, he said.
Video of the assault was captured by ABC15 Arizona news and aired live on television.
“When I got hit in the head, I couldn’t make decisions anymore. I just curled up into the fetal position,” Machowicz said. A few seconds passed before a bystander picked Machowicz up under the arms and carried him to a safe distance from the protest.
After bystanders alerted police to his condition, Machowicz said police accompanied him for a block where he was told an ambulance would arrive. When it didn’t, police drove him to a fire station, where an ambulance took him to a hospital. The process took 30 minutes, he said, during which his head wound bled profusely.
At the hospital, Machowicz said he received four staples to close his head wound, and was diagnosed with a concussion and a bruised lung.
“I definitely have some trauma from it that’s still sinking in,” he said.
Machowicz recounted the incident in an interview with Melissa Blasius, the ABC15 Arizona journalist who captured the assault on camera.
Mercedes Fortune, a public information officer for the Phoenix Police Department, wrote in response to an emailed request for comment that people in the group were throwing rocks, bottles, incendiary devices and fireworks during the incident.
“Every attempt is made to identify the suspect(s) responsible for those actions unfortunately it is very difficult during these chaotic encounters. Several announcements were given to everyone to leave the area. … There is no sure way to control the actions of a large group of people who make a conscious decision to ignore the repeated announcements and direction by law enforcement officials.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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.
Rocks and fireworks were among the objects hurled at the headquarters of the Phoenix Police Department on May 30, 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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-06-08 03:09:10.020317+00:00,2022-11-09 17:12:43.579298+00:00,Freelance photojournalist hit in eye with projectile amid DC protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-covering-protests-hit-eye-leg-projectiles-fired-police/,2022-11-09 17:12:43.500417+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Wil Sands (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Freelance photojournalist Wil Sands was struck with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2020.
The protests were sparked by a video showing a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for 7 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Sands, who is based in Richmond, Virginia, was covering protests near the AFL-CIO building when tensions began rising around 11 p.m., he told the Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Individuals had set some vehicles ablaze and Sands began planning how to leave the area. He was standing behind a light post looking at his cellphone when a flying object he suspects to have been a tear gas canister bounced off the light post before hitting him squarely in the face, on his right eye. The Tracker could not confirm the type of object he was hit with.
A street medic in the crowd quickly found him and put gauze over the wound, and told Sands he needed to go to the hospital. Sands walked to the police cordon and, after seeing his wound, they let him through. “I pulled off the gauze, their faces changed, and the commanding officer allowed me to pass through," Sands said.
He told CPJ that he believes the object that hit him was launched from an area where D.C. police officers had been standing. There were officers from multiple law enforcement agencies operating in the general area at the time, according to news reports. Sands, a member of Fractures Collective, was wearing a press pass at the time he was hit.
He wrote in a series of Instagram posts that he spent 16 hours in the emergency room, and suffered a partially torn retina and damaged cornea. He had surgery on his right eye on June 1.
"My retina was reattached, a silicone band was permanently inserted around my eyeball, and a bubble of gas was inflated behind the retina," he wrote. "It is unclear how much of my sight in my right eyes [sic] I will get back."
Alaina Gertz, a D.C. police spokeswoman, declined to comment on the incident that led to Sands’ injury.
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.
Protesters near the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-06-08 18:23:50.366538+00:00,2023-11-01 16:24:42.917875+00:00,"Independent journalist hit with projectile, shield while covering DC protests",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-hit-projectile-shield-while-covering-dc-protests/,2023-11-01 16:24:42.719007+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"camera equipment: count of 1, cellphone: count of 1, recording equipment: count of 1",Jenn Dize (Status Coup),,2020-05-30,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Journalist Jenn Dize said law enforcement officers shot her with a projectile and pushed her to the ground twice, causing her to lose her grip on her equipment, while covering protests for progressive independent outlet Status Coup in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Dize, the co-founder of Status Coup, was livestreaming the protests near Lafayette Square park on YouTube, when someone lobbed an object at police. The livestream shows police firing at the crowd. Dize was shot in the right arm by a projectile; she believes it may have been a pepper ball, she told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. The projectile left her arm bruised with a red, raised welt. Dize, who was standing outside a crowd at the time, was wearing Status Coup press credentials and was carrying a monopod and microphone. "They had to have been aiming at me," she told the Tracker.
Based on the design of officers’ shields in the livestream, they appear to be with the United States Park Police. Park Police spokesman Sergeant Eduardo Delgado told the Tracker via email that this was the first he had heard of this incident; he did not provide comment on Dize’s claims.
Dize continued reporting. A few hours later, she said she was livestreaming a burning vehicle and interviewing onlookers when someone lobbed a firecracker at the feet of police. Dize started to leave, but stopped to help a protester who had fallen down.
Law enforcement officers advanced toward the crowd, and Dize said one of them knocked her down with his riot shield. Her monopod, phone, and microphone slipped from her fingers. She could see her phone a short distance away on the sidewalk.
“I didn’t want to make any sudden moves, so I asked the officers ‘Can I bend down and pick up my phone?’” she told the Tracker.
The officer who had initially knocked her down reacted by ramming her multiple times in the upper body with his shield, knocking her onto her right hip, she said.
"I will never forget the look on the cop's face who was attacking me," she said. “He did not care.”
Protesters intervened, grabbing her underneath her arms and helping her reach safety. “My hip is quite sore still, and all my equipment is lost,” she said. Her phone, which she could not locate, continued to livestream for 90 additional minutes. Status Coup edited a short video on YouTube including footage from Dize’s perspective as she was knocked down the first time.
The Tracker shared a screenshot from the video with Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia spokesperson Alaina Gertz, who confirmed that the officers depicted were part of its force. Gertz did not respond to a request for comment about Dize’s claims.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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.
This article has been updated to reflect that Dize was hit in the right arm with a projectile, not the left arm as originally reported.
U.S. Park Police and protesters gather near the White House on May 30, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-06-09 03:05:33.331964+00:00,2023-11-01 16:25:58.696382+00:00,Phoenix television reporter hit by projectile; news van vandalized,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/phoenix-television-reporter-hit-projectile-news-van-vandalized/,2023-11-01 16:25:58.373560+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,vehicle: count of 1,Josh Sanders (KPNX),,2020-05-30,False,Phoenix,Arizona (AZ),33.44838,-112.07404,"Phoenix television reporter Josh Sanders was hit in the thigh with a rubber projectile while reporting across from police headquarters on protests in the city on May 30, 2020. Sanders and his crew were unable to retrieve their news vehicle due to the protests, and found it vandalized the next morning.
The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Sanders, a reporter for 12 News, Phoenix's NBC affiliate, was standing outside of Phoenix Police Department headquarters when police fired the projectile, hitting him in the thigh. In a live broadcast after the incident, he said the impact was “very painful” and that he didn’t know why police shot in his crew’s direction.
Later, he found another such projectile on the ground and posted the photo to Twitter.
This is a picture of what the rubber ball looks like that Phoenix Police fired in our direction earlier hitting me in the left thigh. #12News pic.twitter.com/uvsci1laop
— JOSH SANDERS (@JoshSandersTV) May 31, 2020
He also posted a picture of his thigh, with a large pink, red and purple bruise.
The aftermath of being hit by a Phoenix Police rubber ball night 3 of the protests. #12News pic.twitter.com/7K5q3Tp1WD
— JOSH SANDERS (@JoshSandersTV) May 31, 2020
Sanders did not immediately reply to an interview request from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Sanders wrote on Twitter that because of the protests his crew could not retrieve its 12 News car parked outside of Phoenix City Hall until the next morning. When 12 News retrieved it, it had been tagged in black paint with George Floyd’s name.
We had to leave one of our news cars outside of Phoenix City Hall last night due to the protests.
— JOSH SANDERS (@JoshSandersTV) May 31, 2020
This morning you can see the name George Floyd in graffiti sprayed on the side of the car. #12News pic.twitter.com/wjPCOhzyg0
In an emailed response to a request for comment, Phoenix Police Department spokeswoman Mercedes A. Fortune wrote that she has not briefed on that specific incident.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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.
Protesters march toward Phoenix Police Department headquarters on May 29, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,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",,, 2020-06-09 03:46:49.944006+00:00,2022-03-10 22:05:41.791054+00:00,Journalist shoved by Denver police officer,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-denver-police-officer/,2022-03-10 22:05:41.732697+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,David Sachs (Denverite & Colorado Public Radio),,2020-05-30,False,Denver,Colorado (CO),39.73915,-104.9847,"A journalist said he was shoved by a police officer while covering protests in Denver, Colorado, on May 30, 2020.
The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
David Sachs, who reports for Denverite and Colorado Public Radio, said he was covering protests outside of the Colorado Supreme Court when he was caught between a line of police officers and a crowd of protesters.
He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that police advanced toward the crowd, yelling “Move! Move! Move!” Sachs, who had his bicycle with him, said he showed the officers his press credentials, shouting the names of the two outlets he works for. He said an officer then shoved him twice in the back, shouting “Move!”
Sachs picked up his bike and ran down a set of stairs leading to the street. “There was already gas or smoke there, but one or two fresh new canisters popped right in front of me,” he said. “I was choking. I couldn’t breathe for a good 20 or 30 seconds.”
Sachs tweeted about the experience once he reached safety.
Just got caught by courthouse on 14th and Lincoln. Police on one side, crowd on the other. Showed @DenverPolice my press badge and told them I was with Denverite/CPR and one officer shoved me twice. Only place to go was into the street where I got gassed.
— Dave Sachs (@DavidASachs) May 31, 2020
An emailed request for comment from the Denver Police was not immediately returned.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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.
Adam Gray, chief photojournalist for UK-based South West News Service, was pushed to the ground and arrested while covering protests in New York, New York, on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Gray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he had been documenting protests all day, and was photographing demonstrations in and around Union Square in Manhattan at around 10:40 p.m.
When Gray reached the front of a crowd of protesters on 13th Street, he said officers started charging the crowd and arresting protesters in what he described as “pandemonium.”
“I’m photographing this happening and I turn and I see this big guy, this cop coming at me,” Gray said. As the officer pushed him to the ground, two of the three cameras he was carrying “smashed” to the ground off his shoulders. Gray noted that luckily the only damage to the equipment was a broken UV lens filter.
Two additional officers then came up and assisted the first in restraining Gray and arresting him, he said.
I now have more images of my arrest whilst photographing protests on Saturday from a NYC colleague. Three cameras hanging off me and a press card in a lanyard around my neck (clear and visible on the other side) @SWNS @TheSun @GreensladeR @KateEMcCann pic.twitter.com/uvoil0DdNT
— Adam Gray (@agrayphoto) June 5, 2020
“I have a lanyard that has my foreign press card in it around my neck,” Gray said. “They stood me up and another guy in white came up — I think he was a more senior officer — and I’m shouting at him as well that I’m foreign press, that I’m a photographer.”
Gray said they asked him whether his press pass was issued by the NYPD, and that he responded no, that it was a foreign press card issued by the US State Department. Gray told the Tracker that the officer said something to the effect of, “Alright, no no no, I’ll take him away.”
Officers then took Gray down the street and passed him off to another officer who was designated his arresting officer and was eventually listed on all of Gray’s arrest reports.
After being stripped of his equipment and re-cuffed, Gray waited on a prison transport bus with 50 to 60 others for half an hour until the rest of the seats were filled. He said he then waited an additional hour outside One Police Plaza due to the volume of arrestees that night.
“At this point, I feel like I’m just in the system and we’re going through with it, I’m being booked and that’s what’s happening. There’s nobody else there that I can speak to or remonstrate with,” Gray said.
After being processed, he was placed in a holding cell with 50-70 people crammed in shoulder-to-shoulder. Gray said that he still had a face mask in order to combat the spread of coronavirus, but most others did not.
Gray was released at around 9:30 a.m. — nearly 11 hours after his arrest — with a desk appearance ticket for unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor punishable by up to three months in jail and a $500 fine.
When asked for comment, an NYPD spokesperson directed the Tracker to the “30 minute mark” of a press briefing held by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea on June 3.
Around that point in the recording, Shea says: “The only thing that I might add on the point of the press: We’re doing the best we can, the difficult situation. We 100 percent respect the rights of the press. Unfortunately we’ve had some people purporting to be press that are actually lying, if you can believe that. So sometimes these things take a second — maybe too long — to sort out.”
The Manhattan district attorney announced in a press release on June 5 that his office would not prosecute unlawful assembly or disorderly conduct arrests.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total incidents of journalists assaulted, arrested, struck by crowd control ammunition or tear gas or who 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.
British photojournalist Adam Gray is arrested near Union Square in New York City on May 30, 2020.
",arrested and released,New York Police Department,2020-05-31,None,True,1:21-cv-06610,['SETTLED'],Civil,None,False,law enforcement,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-09 18:50:37.907873+00:00,2022-03-10 19:26:05.977912+00:00,MSNBC host struck by rubber bullet while covering protests in Minneapolis,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-target-dozens-journalists-covering-protests-minneapolis-tear-gas-pepper-spray-rubber-bullets/,2022-03-10 19:26:05.912445+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Ali Velshi (MSNBC),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"MSNBC host Ali Velshi was struck by a rubber bullet and caught in tear gas while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. An 8 p.m. curfew was put into effect on May 30.
At about 8:40 p.m., a group of Minnesota state police and National Guard officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a group of protesters, which also hit several journalists covering the demonstrations.
Velshi was hit by a rubber bullet in his left shin and was affected by the tear gas, he told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — in a phone interview. Velshi said it was not clear whether the tear gas and rubber bullets were fired by state police or National Guard officers.
Velshi said in an MSNBC broadcast that he did not have time to put on his mask when the tear gas was first released. After Velashi and his crew retreated from the police line, the host was then hit by the rubber bullet, he told CPJ.
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Freelance journalist Jonathan Ballew was pepper-sprayed at close range by a law enforcement officer on May 30, 2020, while covering protests in downtown Chicago. The assault occurred as he screamed “Press!” and held his press credential above his head.
The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for eight minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Ballew, who freelances for The Daily Beast and Block Club Chicago, was walking on Grand Avenue in Chicago at 8 p.m. ahead of a police line when the attack occurred, he told the Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Ballew said he was complying with officers’ orders to walk back when an officer in a dark green uniform and a protective mask started spraying pepper spray. As the officer aimed the can in Ballew’s direction, Ballew yelled, “Don’t shoot! I’m fucking press! I’m fucking press!”
Ballew captured the attack in a Twitter livestream.
— Jonathan Ballew (@JCB_Journo) May 31, 2020
“I remember making eye contact with [the officer] and then he directly sprayed me right in my face, even as I was screaming ‘Press, press, press!’” Ballew told CPJ.
On the livestream, Ballew narrated the event: “I just got pepper-sprayed by a cop. I’ve been holding my press pass up in his face. Told him I was press. Directly pepper-sprayed me.” Ballew then addressed other officers passing by: “You guys are pepper-spraying press? Come on. I’m holding my press pass. Your brother in blue there is spraying press.”
Ballew told CPJ he is a Marine veteran. He said that he has been trained to protect himself from pepper spray and tear gas, and was able to shield most of his face from being hit, taking much of the pepper spray onto his forearms. Ballew poured water onto his face and continued reporting that evening. But after showering, his arms “felt like someone actually set them on fire,” he said.
It’s unclear to which agency the officer with the pepper spray belonged. The Tracker reached out to the Chicago Police Department for help identifying the officer in Ballew’s livestream video, and for comment on the incident, but the request was not immediately returned.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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.
While covering protests in Chicago, Jonathan Ballew livestreamed the moment he was pepper sprayed.
",None,None,None,None,False,1:20-cv-03422,['SETTLED'],Civil,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, chemical irritant, protest",,, 2020-06-10 23:15:33.622563+00:00,2023-11-02 15:28:53.519004+00:00,Unidentified man attacks Reuters photographer with crowbar during Minneapolis protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/unidentified-man-attacks-reuters-photographer-crowbar-during-minneapolis-protests/,2023-11-02 15:28:53.431238+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,camera: count of 1,Lucas Jackson (Reuters),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"An unidentified man wearing body armor broke Reuters photographer Lucas Jackson’s camera with a crowbar while he was covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Jackson described his attacker and posted a photo of his broken camera on Twitter:
Photo of the camera that a man with a crowbar hit when he attacked me while working in Minneapolis today. A man dressed as a “Medic” with body armor, keep your eyes out. pic.twitter.com/H4d6YXtK0K
— Lucas Jackson (@Lucas_Jackson_) May 31, 2020
In a statement given to the Committee to Protect Journalists through Reuters’ press office, Jackson said that the assailant was “a young white man wearing body armor emblazoned with a red medic cross.”
In the statement, Jackson said that the young man screamed “Get out of here!” before smashing Jackson’s camera with the crowbar. The statement did not say that Jackson was injured in the attack.
An unidentified man attacked Reuters photographer Lucas Jackson with a crowbar during protests in Minneapolis on May 30, damaging his camera.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-11 15:22:09.774608+00:00,2023-11-02 15:29:22.441377+00:00,"Photojournalist, colleague, robbed at gunpoint after documenting Oakland protests",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-colleague-robbed-gunpoint-after-documenting-oakland-protests/,2023-11-02 15:29:22.342992+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"camera: count of 1, camera lens: count of 1",Stephen Lam (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Oakland,California (CA),37.80437,-122.2708,"Freelance photojournalist Stephen Lam was assaulted and robbed at gunpoint by two men while covering protests in Oakland, California, in the early hours of May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Lam and Getty photojournalist Justin Sullivan were walking back to their cars in downtown Oakland at around 12:30 a.m. after documenting the night’s protests.
Lam told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they had just reached their cars when they were confronted by two men. One man focused on Lam, the other Sullivan.
“I turned around and there was another individual on me,” Lam said. “He had a hard time getting his gun out … He seemed to get impatient, and I told him to just give me a second, because all my cameras are clipped to my vest.”
At that moment, Sullivan’s assailant forced him to open the trunk of his car and Lam’s assailant tried to shove Lam inside the open trunk, Lam said.
Amid the chaos, one of Lam’s cameras fell into the trunk and out of clear view, which he believes is why the man forgot about it and only got away with one camera and lens.
Sullivan’s assailant took his two cameras with their lenses, as well as his backpack containing a laptop and his passport, Sullivan told the Tracker.
Lam added that earlier that night someone else had tried to steal his gear, but that man didn’t succeed.
“We were really lucky,” Lam said. “Obviously it sucks to lose the pictures but it could have been a lot worse for us.”
Sullivan said that they had alerted the police but had not been able to file a police report in the days following the robbery as police were occupied with a backlog of emergency calls.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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 these cases here.
Photojournalist Stephen Lam was documenting Minneapolis protests late on May 29, 2020 — including the looting of this Target store — when he was robbed at gunpoint.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, robbery",,, 2020-06-11 15:28:09.508079+00:00,2023-11-02 15:29:55.790773+00:00,Getty photojournalist and colleague robbed at gunpoint after documenting Oakland protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/getty-photojournalist-and-colleague-robbed-gunpoint-after-documenting-oakland-protests/,2023-11-02 15:29:55.618234+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"camera: count of 2, camera lens: count of 2, computer: count of 1",Justin Sullivan (Getty Images),,2020-05-30,False,Oakland,California (CA),37.80437,-122.2708,"Getty photojournalist Justin Sullivan was robbed at gunpoint while covering protests in Oakland, California, in the early hours of May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Sullivan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and his colleague, freelance photojournalist Stephen Lam, were walking back to their cars in downtown Oakland at around 12:30 a.m. after documenting the night’s protests and some looting at a nearby Target when two men approached them.
“We got to our cars — I got in my car, my other colleague was going to his car — and the one guy came around, blocked my door, put a gun to my chest, said, ‘Give me your cameras,’” Sullivan said.
He handed over his two cameras with their lenses to one of the men, who also took his backpack containing his laptop and passport.
The other man pushed Lam into the trunk of Sullivan’s car. He got out unharmed, but was robbed of his camera and lens.
“The big takeaway for both of us was that we were unharmed,” Sullivan said. “The thing that we were most upset about, to be honest, was that we had been shooting for a couple of hours and we had a lot of pictures that we lost. Just gone.”
Sullivan said that they had alerted the police but had not been able to file a police report in the days following the robbery as police were occupied with a backlog of emergency calls.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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 these cases here.
Photojournalist Justin Sullivan — and a colleague who took this photograph — had been documenting the looting of this Target store and other protests in Minneapolis late on May 29, 2020, when they were robbed at gunpoint.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, robbery",,, 2020-06-11 17:07:05.460473+00:00,2023-07-13 22:31:22.506212+00:00,Journalist demands response as to why she was shot with projectile when her press gear was visible,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-demands-response-why-she-was-shot-projectile-when-her-press-gear-was-visible/,2023-07-13 22:31:22.355315+00:00,,,"(2021-11-16 00:00:00+00:00) Journalist settles suit against police department after she was shot with projectile, (2021-02-10 09:03:00+00:00) Journalist files suit against Caalifornia police department",Assault,,,,Sarah Belle Lin (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Oakland,California (CA),37.80437,-122.2708,"Independent journalist Sarah Belle Lin was shot with a less-lethal round by a law enforcement officer while documenting protests in Oakland, California, on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Lin told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was documenting protests in downtown Oakland at around 11:30 p.m. A group of protesters confronted a line of officers who stood at a distance from them; the protesters complied when officers ordered them to disperse.
In a video by Lin posted to Twitter, a handful of demonstrators can be seen walking away from the law enforcement line. Suddenly — and after it appears many protesters had left the area — an officer shoots a crowd-control munition at Lin. She told the Tracker she believes the officers were with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office.
“I’m a journalist! I’m a journalist!” Lin can be heard shouting in the video. “You just hit a fucking journalist!”
I was hit by the police by in the inner thighs. I am injured. I repeated my First Amendment rights. Oakland #GeorgeFloyd protest. pic.twitter.com/1Gm6Se1LQ8
— Sarah Belle Lin (@SarahBelleLin) May 31, 2020
“As I crossed the street to get a different vantage point, I was shot in my right inner thigh by a projectile,” Lin told the Tracker. “I instantly fell to the ground upon impact and yelled out that I am a journalist.”
Shortly after Lin had moved to the sidewalk to catch her breath and compose herself, she said the officers continued to shove her forward with their riot shields.
In a video posted to Twitter, she confronts the line of officers. She told the Tracker that she demanded to know the identity of the officer who had shot her and the decision behind it when both her press pass and DSLR camera were visible around her neck. The officers did not respond, she said.
“I’m not fully recovered but healing gradually and still documenting every night since,” Lin said.
A photo Lin posted 12 hours after the incident shows a large, multicolored bruise forming over much of her thigh.
Here is the bruise I got reporting at the Oakland George Floyd protest 12 hours after getting hit with a projectile by Contra Costa County police. I’m grateful for pals who are sending me Arnica and I so appreciate everyone who has reached out to me and offered words of support. pic.twitter.com/aIGzfDWOVM
— Sarah Belle Lin (@SarahBelleLin) May 31, 2020
The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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 cases here.
Journalist Sarah Belle Lin said when she asked these officers for the identity of who shot her while her press credentials were visible that she did not receive any response.
",None,None,None,None,False,3:21-cv-01028,['SETTLED'],Civil,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, shot / shot at",,, 2020-06-11 23:01:24.810396+00:00,2022-03-10 21:04:16.748716+00:00,Police fire projectiles at NBC News correspondent during Louisville protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-fire-pepper-balls-and-rubber-bullets-news-crew-move-them-during-louisville-protests/,2022-03-10 21:04:16.682503+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Cal Perry (NBC News),,2020-05-30,False,Louisville,Kentucky (KY),38.25424,-85.75941,"NBC News correspondent Cal Perry and producer Kailani Koenig were shot at with pepper balls while covering protests in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 30, 2020.
Protests in Louisville have centered around the deaths of Breonna Taylor, shot and killed inside her home by Louisville police in March, and the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police on May 25.
Perry told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news team and their security guard were reporting from a bus stop with plexiglass barriers in downtown Louisville shortly after 8:30 p.m. when police began to disperse the crowd. Both news crew members were wearing press passes, Perry said.
“As the police moved, they just turned and started firing at the bus stop,” Perry said. “We took off running and then as we were running a kid right in front of me got hit with a rubber bullet, and I thought for sure that I was next.”
When they made it around the corner and out of the midst of the police advance, Koenig turned around and Perry noticed that her bag had been hit with pepper balls anywhere from six to 12 times. The Tracker documented Koenig’s assault here.
In a tweet posted the following day, Koenig’s backpack can be seen with numerous residue marks where it was struck by the less-lethal pepper ball rounds.
Producer @kailanikm backpack marked by the many spots pepper pellets hit as we were running away last night in #Louisville #MSNBC pic.twitter.com/ynQBuDjoQf
— Cal Perry (@CalNBC) May 31, 2020
Perry said that while Koenig’s bag had prevented her from being hit by any of the rounds, the security officer with them was struck in the center of his back with a rubber bullet, causing a large welt.
“There was no question: they were moving us along by firing the little pepper rounds and rubber bullets at us,” Perry said.
The Louisville Police Department did not immediately respond to request for 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.
People march past the city hall in Louisville, Kentucky on May 29, 2020.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-06-14 03:16:05.448354+00:00,2020-06-14 03:16:05.448354+00:00,KATV reporter assaulted on air amid Little Rock protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/katv-reporter-assaulted-air-amid-little-rock-protests/,2020-06-14 03:16:05.392856+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Shelby Rose (KATV),,2020-05-30,False,Little Rock,Arkansas (AR),34.74648,-92.28959,"Shelby Rose, a reporter with KATV Channel 7 News, was assaulted during a live broadcast while covering protests in Little Rock, Arkansas, on May 30, 2020.
Protests in Little Rock 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, during an arrest in Minnesota on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Rose was covering a protest near the Arkansas Capitol, where the crowd was “agitated,” she said. Some protesters had been clear that they were not happy the journalists were there, she said.
Rose was preparing for a live broadcast when a woman began screaming near her and in front of the camera. When the broadcast began, the photographer zoomed in on Rose, while the woman stood to her right, shouting at her and using profanities.
Video shows that as Rose tried to move away, the woman followed her, getting closer. As Rose directed the broadcast back to the anchor, the woman raised her arm and struck Rose over the head with an object.
This was the moment I got assaulted on live TV tonight. I cannot express my gratitude to the entire team behind the scenes with me. Journalists are here to inform, not be the enemy. https://t.co/XlkMkWxGdZ
— Shelby Rose (@KATVShelby) May 31, 2020
Rose said she didn’t see the object she was struck with but believes it was a water bottle because water sprayed around her. After she was hit, Rose said she ducked and ran away from the woman. The assault left her with an injury in her neck, for which she subsequently sought medical attention.
A spokesperson for the Little Rock Police Department said law enforcement was aware of the incident, but declined to comment because the investigation is ongoing.
Rose said she and four other members of the KATV team were clearly identified as press. She was wearing a shirt with the KATV News logo on it and carried a microphone also marked with the station’s logo. Before the broadcast in which Rose was hit, a different protester had confronted a member of the team, who was recording video on her phone, and repeatedly hit the phone out of her hand.
Rose previously covered the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in North Dakota in 2016, where, though she’d had a few tense interactions, she says she never experienced hostility like she did covering the George Floyd protests in Little Rock. “It’s incredible to see the switch of the mentality of the general public toward journalists from then until now,” she said.
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.
While reporting live from protests in Little Rock, Arkansas, an unidentified individual harassed and assaulted KATV Channel 7 reporter Shelby Rose.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-15 03:54:16.147144+00:00,2022-03-10 19:27:00.516692+00:00,Photojournalist shot with rubber bullet while covering Baltimore protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-shot-rubber-bullet-while-covering-baltimore-protests/,2022-03-10 19:27:00.457246+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Timothy Wolfer (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Baltimore,Maryland (MD),39.29038,-76.61219,"Freelance photojournalist Timothy Wolfer was tear-gassed and shot with a rubber bullet while covering a protest outside Baltimore City Hall on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Wolfer told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that at approximately 9:45 p.m. police started spraying tear gas at a crowd of around 150 people.
“Somebody had probably thrown something, because police had started to tear-gas back at protesters,” Wolfer said.
As he was running away from the gas, with his press ID clearly hanging from his neck, he says he was hit in the upper hip with a rubber bullet, which left a 5-inch bruise.
The Baltimore Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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
While documenting a protest in front of city hall in Baltimore, Maryland, freelance photojournalist Timothy Wolfer was hit with a rubber bullet and tear gassed.
",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, shot / shot at",,, 2020-06-15 20:11:41.288033+00:00,2020-06-15 20:11:41.288033+00:00,Journalist hit with police baton while photographing protests in Philadelphia,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-police-baton-while-photographing-protests-philadelphia/,2020-06-15 20:11:41.231932+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Sam Trilling (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania (PA),39.95233,-75.16379,"A Philadelphia police officer hit freelance photojournalist Sam Trilling with a baton while Trilling was covering protests in the city on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Trilling told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he was standing on a barricade taking pictures of the line between police and protesters when an officer struck him once with a baton across his abdomen.
Trilling’s injuries did not require medical attention, and he continued reporting, the journalist told CPJ. He said he was able to identify the officer who struck him, though had not yet filed a police report as of press time.
The Philadelphia Police Department declined to 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.
Photojournalist Sam Trilling captured the moment before a Philadelphia police officer hit him with a baton during protests in the city on May 30, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,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",,, 2020-06-15 21:21:33.539095+00:00,2022-03-10 19:27:20.277045+00:00,"Reporter on assignment for New York Times targeted by law enforcement with tear gas, foam projectiles at Dallas protest",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-dallas-targeted-law-enforcement-tear-gas-foam-projectiles/,2022-03-10 19:27:20.221316+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Marina Trahan Martinez (The New York Times),,2020-05-30,False,Dallas,Texas (TX),32.78306,-96.80667,"Freelance reporter Marina Trahan Martinez was targeted with foam projectiles and tear gas fired by police while covering protests in downtown Dallas, Texas, on May 30, 2020.
The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Trahan Martinez told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was reporting on assignment for The New York Times wearing a black shirt emblazoned on the front and back with the word “PRESS” in white uppercase letters.
This is what I was wearing pic.twitter.com/0YPSUIK2lN
— marina trahan martinez (@HisGirlHildy) May 31, 2020
She was standing on a street corner at around 8 p.m. in downtown Dallas, filming demonstrators who were kneeling, when a group of two to three dozen police officers in riot gear approached.
When someone in the crowd lobbed a water bottle in the direction of the advancing officers, one of the officers issued a warning on his bullhorn to protesters: “Leave the area or you will be arrested.” Seconds later, the police sent canisters of tear gas into the crowd, causing protesters to scatter.
Trahan Martinez was filming the scene on her phone from a corner opposite the action, when the officers repeated their call to leave, this time in her direction. “I shouted, ‘I’m with the press. I’m media. I’m just working. I’m here doing my job,’” she recounted. When they responded with another command to clear the area, Trahan Martinez reiterated that she was a member of the press, in case they had not heard her.
“They screamed back, ‘It doesn’t matter,’” she said. Then they fired a canister of tear gas that landed a few feet behind her to her left.
“They started shooting at me,” she said, recounting that dark blue foam less-lethal projectiles fell at her feet. None of them hit her. Trahan Martinez walked away and took shelter in the patio of a closed restaurant until she was able to reach safety.
Trahan Martinez, who has worked as a reporter in Dallas for 20 years and has plenty of sources inside the Dallas Police Department, described the experience as a jarring one. “This particular unit did not care who I was or what I was doing there,” she said.
Reached by the Tracker, Warren Mitchell, a spokesman for the DPD, wrote in an email that it was “challenging” to provide comment about the incident without hearing the details from Trahan Martinez. Mitchell invited the reporter to make a complaint with the department.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being 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.
Ethan Hyman, a photojournalist for the Raleigh News & Observer, was struck by a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Raleigh, North Carolina, on May 30, 2020.
The protest was among several demonstrations held across the country sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minnesota on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Hyman told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that he started to cover the protest in the city at around 5 p.m. After briefly returning to the newsroom to file, he went back to cover the protest at around 7. He witnessed confrontations between protesters and police, including officers from the Wake County Sheriff’s Department and the Raleigh Police Department.
Hyman says police used tear gas throughout the protest to disperse the crowd. Hyman saw protesters trying to throw canisters back at the police and putting cones over the tear gas to stop it from spreading.
At around 10:25, Hyman was shooting video when he was struck in the stomach by a projectile. He is still not exactly sure what struck him, although tweets sent by fellow News & Observer photojournalist Travis Long indicate it was a rubber bullet.
At the time he was struck, Hyman says, there were officers in riot gear firing tear gas from the steps of the courthouse in downtown Raleigh. He was not standing in the direct line of fire and estimates that police were 20 to 30 feet away from him at the time.
“It was not a very controlled situation,” said Hyman. “The police didn’t seem like they had control either.”
Hyman was wearing an N95 mask and goggles with a seal when he was struck. He says he doesn’t believe he was targeted for being a journalist. Hyman was wearing his press credentials around his neck, and they were visible when he was struck.
A tweet posted by Long shows the extent of Hyman’s injuries. The tweet, sent early in the morning of May 31, is captioned, “You’re going to feel that in the morning bud.”
The Raleigh Police Department did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for 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.
Tear gas canisters land as protesters walk by in Raleigh, North Carolina on May 30, 2020.
",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,[],,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-06-16 04:47:12.253121+00:00,2023-11-03 13:55:11.807195+00:00,French videographer arrested with colleague for curfew violation in Minneapolis,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/french-videographer-arrested-colleague-curfew-violation-minneapolis/,2023-11-03 13:55:11.690799+00:00,curfew violation: breaking curfew order (charges dropped as of 2020-07-22),,(2020-08-13 17:55:00+00:00) Update: Charges dismissed against French videographer arrested while covering May protests,"Arrest/Criminal Charge, Assault, Equipment Damage",,,vehicle: count of 1,Mathieu Derrien (TF1),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"A French videographer was arrested for curfew violations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020, after police fired rubber projectiles at the car he was driving, damaging the windshield and sending small shards of glass inside the vehicle. The correspondent from his team was also arrested.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all arrests separately.
Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Mathieu Derrien, videographer for TF1, a major French television station, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview that he was driving a rental car with his colleague, TF1 correspondent Amandine Atalaya, around Minneapolis just after 11:15 p.m. looking for people to interview when he made a turn off Lake Street.
A few seconds after making the turn, a foam projectile hit his windshield, damaging it and sending small shards of glass flying inside the car, he told the Tracker. The glass did not injure either journalist. Derrien quickly brought the car to a stop, as a few smaller projectiles—perhaps pepper balls—hit the windshield, leaving behind a white powder.
Officers then approached the car shouting for Derrien and Atalaya to get out and put their hands up, and they complied. “We immediately told them we were French journalists,” Derrien said. “They replied that they didn’t care and that there was a curfew in place.” The officers pointed their weapons toward the journalists, who showed them their press credentials issued by the U.S. Senate, but the officers were unmoved.
After securing their hands behind their backs using zip ties, the officers took them to a law enforcement facility across town, Derrien said, where they were fingerprinted and briefly placed in metal handcuffs. He received a citation for misdemeanor curfew violation, which is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail.
Derrien said that he was unsure which agency the officers who arrested them were from. Emails sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department inquiring about this matter were not returned as of press time.
Jeremy Zoss, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, wrote in an email to the Tracker that Derrien was cited at the Hennepin County jail but the sheriff’s office was not the arresting agency. Upon review of the citation, Zoss said that the arresting agency was not listed, something he termed “unusual” and was likely a result of this being a mass arrest.
The arrest occurred despite the fact that members of the media were specifically exempt from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s executive order implementing the curfew.
Derrien and Atalaya were released around 2 a.m. and had to find their way back to their car without their cellphones, which were locked inside their vehicle with their gear. A protester who was released at the same time gave them a ride back to the general area where their car was. When they returned to the car, they discovered that one of the tires had been deflated.
In France, Derrien and Atalaya’s colleagues were “worried sick” when they were unavailable for the live shot they were supposed to do at midnight. “They called our phones many times, so when we got to the car, we had 15 or 20 missed calls each,” Derrien said. “They were starting to imagine the worst.”
Derrien later recounted what transpired to French daily newspaper Libération and tweeted out a photo of the car’s damaged windshield, writing that the situation had left them with “more fear than harm.”
A Minneapolis hier soir, à proximité d’un barrage, la police a tiré une balle en caoutchouc sur notre véhicule en marche côté conducteur, puis nous a arrêtés avec @AmandineAtalaya . Relâchés rapidement heureusement, plus de peur que de mal pic.twitter.com/hEZtkxyDDF
— Mathieu Derrien (@MatDerrien) May 31, 2020
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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 these cases here.
While covering protests in Minneapolis for French publication TF1, Mathieu Derrien's rental car was hit with a rubber bullet shot by police. Derrien and a colleague were also arrested and charged with violating curfew.
",arrested and released,None,2020-05-31,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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-06-17 02:10:58.360968+00:00,2022-03-10 21:05:34.739518+00:00,"Police fire pepper balls at photographer in Buffalo, make grab for camera",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-fire-pepper-balls-photographer-buffalo-make-grab-camera/,2022-03-10 21:05:34.673922+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Andrew Jasiura (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Buffalo,New York (NY),42.88645,-78.87837,"Police fired pepper balls at freelance photographer Andrew Jasiura and an officer tried to grab his camera while he was reporting on protests in Buffalo, New York, on May 30, 2020.
The demonstration in Buffalo’s Niagara Square was one of many such protests held in the days following the May 26 release of a video that showed a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest. Floyd was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Jasiura told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest was peaceful until a car drove through the crowd, who responded by dragging the driver from the vehicle. Police began to attempt to clear the square by firing nonlethal projectiles and advancing in a line. One officer asked Jasiura why he was taking pictures, and Jasiura said he pointed to his bright yellow vest that said “PRESS” in English and Cantonese (Jasiura had previously covered demonstrations in Hong Kong).
The photographer subsequently tried to come to the aid of a black man who had been hit with mace and pepper balls.
“He was just pouring mucus out of his face, out of his nose, his mouth, his eyes. His whole face was red,” Jasiura said. Jasiura tried to wash the protester’s eyes out with saline spray, at which point officers shot pepper balls at him, even though his press vest was clearly visible.
I saw one young man overheating and dripping mucus out of every hole in his head in response to the police tactics. I attempted to pull him back from the frontline when I was shot multiple times by police and told to leave him in their line of fire pic.twitter.com/09wnLAQ1Ss
— DrewJazzyPhoto (@PhotoJazzy) June 5, 2020
Jasiura said he approached one officer to try to explain that he was a photojournalist, but that officer fired more pepper balls at him.
“When I took pictures of his nameplate, he swiped up my camera to try to knock it out of my hands, and then shot me another 10-plus times in the legs,” Jasiura said. He caught a photo of the officer during the encounter.
Jasiura said his camera was not damaged and he did not suffer serious injuries beyond bruises to his leg. He said he is considering taking legal action against the Buffalo Police Department, but added that he does not want to be the center of the story.
The Buffalo Police Department did not respond immediately 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.
Freelance photojournalist Andrew Jasiura captured the moment a Buffalo police officer grabbed at his camera during an altercation in New York on May 30, 2020.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-06-17 13:14:39.863005+00:00,2023-11-03 13:55:46.704690+00:00,Camera equipment stolen from Chicago Tribune photographer during protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/camera-equipment-stolen-chicago-tribune-photographer-during-protests/,2023-11-03 13:55:46.593321+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"camera: count of 2, camera lens: count of 2",Erin Hooley (Chicago Tribune),,2020-05-30,False,Chicago,Illinois (IL),41.85003,-87.65005,"A photographer for the Chicago Tribune was shoved and had her cameras stolen by two unidentified men while covering protests in downtown Chicago, Illinois, on the night of May 30, 2020.
The protests were sparked by a video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Tribune photographer Erin Hooley said she had been photographing protests and altercations between demonstrators and the police when looting broke out. While photographing the looting of a CVS at the intersection of South Wabash and East Monroe Street around 9 p.m., she said she overheard a woman yell, “Get that bitch’s cameras!” Suddenly, she said, two men shoved her to the sidewalk, grabbed the cameras she had strung around her neck and shoulder, and ran off. Hooley said she was bruised but otherwise uninjured in the attack.
Looters in #Chicago shoved me on the sidewalk and took my cameras tonight. Thanks guys. #ChicagoProtests #GeorgeFloyd #ChicagoScanner #riots2020 @chicagotribune
— Erin Hooley (@erinhooley) May 31, 2020
After picking up both herself and her press badge, Hooley said she walked down the street to see if the men had dropped the cameras but they were gone. She called her editor to report what had happened and then went home. Hooley said she saw police officers around the corner from where she was attacked but that they didn’t appear to be intervening to stop the looting.
Hooley said her cameras were owned by the Tribune company, which did not ask her to file a police report. The photographer said a Canon representative sent her loaner gear and that she returned to cover the protests in the following days.
According to the photojournalist, what bothered her most was the loss not of physical equipment, but rather several hours’ worth of photographs she had taken prior to the assault. Hooley said she had transferred about eight images to her editor while still in the streets, but that the rest were gone. “I was pretty angry about losing that stuff because it’s very historical,” she said. “It robbed me of being able to share this crazy time we are living in, and that’s very frustrating.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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.
Two Wisconsin reporters were caught up in tear gas clouds and pepper-sprayed by police while reporting on protests against police violence in Madison, Wisconsin, 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.
Reporting for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Molly Beck and Lawrence Andrea were stationed near State Street, a central business district area, from around 6 p.m. until midnight. Beck estimates that tear gas was deployed by police six or seven times during that period, she told the Committee to Protect Journalists in a phone interview.
Tweets posted by Beck and Andrea that evening documented the use of both tear gas and pepper spray. Andrea tweeted videos around 10 p.m. that showed tear gas being deployed. Nearly two hours later, Andrea tweeted, “We are getting pepper sprayed.” At 1:20 a.m., Beck noted, “I can still taste it an hour later.”
Beck doesn’t believe that she and Andrea were targeted for being journalists. Instead, they were caught up in tightly packed crowds of protesters who were tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed.
“When the spraying started, we were hit with it, and then we started running away,” said Beck. “[The police] were walking down the line spraying and it got on us, in our mouth and eyes. It wasn’t point-blank in our face or anything like that.”
Beck told CPJ that she believes that the tear gas was deployed by Wisconsin State Patrol officers, while the pepper spray was deployed by Madison police. She added that the tear gas could have been deployed by a mix of state and city police.
Beck had press credentials hanging around her neck, but they were likely not visible to police.
“I would doubt that they saw that and immediately identified me as press,” she said.
Beck told CPJ that the pair stopped reporting after they were pepper-sprayed.
A Madison Police Department incident report published on May 31 about protests the previous day outlines the actions of some of the crowd, including damage to property and vehicles and attacks on police officers. The report states that “chemical agents were utilized [by Madison police] as officers attempted to move the crowd from the area.”
Joel DeSpain, public information officer for the Madison Police Department, told CPJ in an email that pepper spray is a “chemical agent” used by the Madison Police Department.
The Wisconsin State Police did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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.
A French television correspondent was arrested for curfew violations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020, after police fired rubber projectiles at the car she was riding in, damaging the windshield and sending small shards of glass inside the vehicle. The videographer from her team was arrested at the same time.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents all arrests separately.
Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Amandine Atalaya, a Washington-based correspondent for TF1, a major French television station, was riding in a rental car driven by her colleague, videographer Mathieu Derrien, in Minneapolis just after 11:15 p.m. when an officer fired a foam projectile at the windshield, damaging it and sending small shards of glass flying inside the car, Derrien told the Tracker in an interview.
Atalaya did not return an interview request as of press time.
Derrien quickly brought the car to a stop, as a few smaller projectiles—perhaps pepper balls—hit the car, leaving behind a white powder.
Officers then approached the car shouting for them to get out and put their hands up, and they complied. They immediately told officers they were French journalists, but the officers said they did not care and that they were in violation of the city’s curfew, Derrien said. The officers pointed their weapons toward the journalists, who showed them their press credentials, issued by the U.S. Senate, but the officers were unmoved.
After securing their hands behind their backs using zip ties, the officers took them to a law enforcement facility across town, Derrien said, where they were fingerprinted and briefly placed in metal handcuffs. She received a citation for misdemeanor curfew violation, which is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail.
Derrien said that he was unsure which agency the officers who arrested them were from. Emails sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department inquiring about this matter were not returned as of press time.
Jeremy Zoss, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, wrote in an email to the Tracker that Derrien and Atalaya were cited at the Hennepin County jail, but the sheriff’s office was not the arresting agency. Upon review of the citation, Zoss said that the arresting agency was not listed, something he termed “unusual” and was likely a result of this being a mass arrest.
The arrests occurred despite the fact that members of the media were specifically exempt from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s executive order implementing the curfew.
Derrien and Atalaya were released around 2 a.m. and had to find their way back to their car without their cellphones, which were locked inside their vehicle with their gear. A protester who was released at the same time gave them a ride back to the general area where their car was. When they returned to the car, they discovered that one of the tires had been deflated.
In France, Derrien and Atalaya’s colleagues were very concerned when they were unavailable for the live shot they were supposed to do at midnight and called their phones multiple times in search of them, Derrien said.
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.
Keith Boykin, a freelance journalist and CNN political commentator, was arrested while covering a protest in Manhattan on May 30, 2020, despite identifying himself as a member of the press.
The protest was one of many demonstrations sparked by the May 26 release of a video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the prior day. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Boykin, who was an aide to Bill Clinton during his presidency, was documenting the protest for his own Twitter feed, as he has done for past protests. On this afternoon, Black Lives Matter demonstrators had gathered at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building in Harlem and marched west, eventually making their way up an exit ramp and onto the West Side Highway. Boykin, who was on his bike, had moved ahead of the protesters in order to photograph them when he encountered a phalanx of New York Police Department officers heading toward the group. They said something to the effect of “Get out of the way,” Boykin told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. He identified himself as a member of the media, and the officers walked by him, then turned around and arrested him.
“I said, ‘Why? I’m with the press.’ They said it doesn’t matter,” Boykin said, adding that he had a press ID with him but never got the chance to show it to the officers.
So here’s what happened today. The NYPD arrested me at 96th Street and West Side Highway while I was taking photos and video to post to Twitter. I told the police I was with the Press, they walked by me and then turned around and arrested me.
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) May 31, 2020
According to Boykin, officers placed zip ties tightly around his wrists and dropped his phone on the ground, cracking its screen. He was carried back to a police van, where they removed his face mask to photograph him, then placed him in the back of the vehicle, which was so hot that Boykin said he worried he would pass out, something he has a history of doing in high temperatures.
“Even being in the back of the van was traumatizing, because I thought of Freddie Gray and how he died,” said Boykin, who is black, referencing a black man who died in Baltimore police custody in 2015. “The whole experience was totally outrageous.”
After an hour in the van, Boykin said he was placed on a prisoner transport bus with other arrestees and brought to NYPD headquarters in lower Manhattan, where he was processed and placed in a cell with 34 other prisoners for several hours. Very few of them had face masks, Boykin said, and he worried that these conditions risked exposing them to the coronavirus.
“I was in that cell for four hours, never told what was going on, never given an opportunity to make a phone call,” Boykin told the Tracker, adding that he also wasn’t read his Miranda rights during the arrest. He was released at 9:30 p.m., six hours after his arrest, and given a summons to appear in court in September on misdemeanour charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic.
“Mind you, I wasn’t blocking the highway—the police and the protesters were blocking the highway,” Boykin later told CNN’s Don Lemon. “I was in between the two of them, documenting what was happening.”
After that CNN appearance, Boykin told the Tracker that he was contacted by the New York City mayor’s office, which apologized to him for his treatment. He has also filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office. But to date, the charges have not been dropped, and he is prepared to fight them in court. He said the NYPD also failed to give him his ID back with the rest of his possessions following his release, and he needs to figure out a way to retrieve that.
The NYPD did not immediately return a request for comment.
“I thought it was completely unbelievable and unacceptable,” said Boykin of the experience. “This was a clear violation of my First Amendment rights.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting several hundred total 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.
New York Police Department officers are photographed by Keith Boykin shortly before he was taken into custody.
",arrested and released,New York Police Department,None,None,True,1:21-cv-01362,['DISMISSED'],Civil,None,False,law enforcement,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-22 17:44:35.829005+00:00,2022-11-09 17:13:13.180321+00:00,Minneapolis news crew held at gunpoint by one man then menaced with crowbar by another,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/minneapolis-news-crew-held-gunpoint-one-man-then-menaced-crowbar-another/,2022-11-09 17:13:13.120446+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,A.J. Lagoe (KARE),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"In the span of two minutes on May 30, 2020, a news crew from NBC-affiliate KARE 11 that was covering protests and unrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was held up at gunpoint by one man, and threatened by another man wielding a crowbar.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Investigative journalist A.J. Lagoe and photojournalist Devin Krinke had just driven into central Minneapolis from St. Paul after hearing that there might be "something going on" under the highway underpass of Interstate 35 West around 9 p.m., Lagoe told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. He said there were not many police in the vicinity and several people in the area expressed unhappiness at seeing reporters around.
A man in the crowd approached Lagoe and started asking him about the bulletproof vest he was wearing, Lagoe told the Tracker in an interview. “He kept saying he wanted it,” Lagoe said. Eventually, the man produced a semiautomatic handgun and demanded the vest.
Lagoe was holding his cellphone on the tripod at the time and Krinke was standing a few feet away, holding his camera. “We clearly identified ourselves as press, but that didn’t help the situation at all, it only inflamed it,” Lagoe said.
As Lagoe tried to talk his way out of the situation, a man brandishing a crowbar approached him and Krinke, Lagoe recounted. The man, who was dressed in black body armor decorated with a red medic cross, menanced them with his crowbar while shouting, “Give us all your stuff,” before running off and swinging his crowbar at someone else in the area, Lagoe recounted.
This provided enough of a distraction to enable Lagoe and Krinke to back away from both men, and round the corner and quickly head back to their car, Lagoe said. They drove a few blocks away and set up to do a live shot, and the man with the crowbar drove by them, swearing at them through an open window.
Afterward, Krinke tweeted about the experience:
@AJInvestigates and I were threatened at gun point at 2nd ave S and East Lake St. Young man even swung crow bar at AJ. He then swung at another photojournalist and destroyed his camera. Journalist friends please avoid this area. @kare11 @wcco @fox9 @efrostee @KSTP pic.twitter.com/HcnvevsINg
— devinphoto (@devphotoK11) May 31, 2020
That same evening, the crowbar-wielding man struck the camera of Lucas Jackson, a Reuters photographer, breaking it. Lagoe later retweeted a video of the man striking Jackson’s camera:
This is guy who swung crowbar at me & @devphotokare11 https://t.co/8DcxaRdZ2K
— A.J. Lagoe (@AJInvestigates) May 31, 2020
That instance of equipment damage is catalogued here, in a separate post on the Tracker.
Lagoe told the Tracker that they did not file a police report about either assailant.
The Tracker emailed the Minneapolis Police Department for comment about whether anyone has been arrested in these incidents of alleged assault, or if police reports had been filed regarding these matters. The request was not answered as of press time.
Mike Max, a reporter for WCCO, a CBS affiliate station based in the city, was reporting live a few blocks from the Fifth Precinct police headquarters when he reported that a man wielding a crowbar or cane tried to assault WCCO cameraman Chris Cruz. Max also said the man assaulted another photographer, whom he didn’t identify. Neither Max nor WCCO responded to requests for comment as of press time.
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.
Protesters in Minneapolis on May 30, 2020.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-06-27 12:55:12.888166+00:00,2023-05-06 00:36:10.230872+00:00,"Reporter, news crew chased from Baltimore protest, later assaulted and robbed",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/news-crew-baltimore-chased-away-protest-later-assaulted-and-robbed/,2023-05-06 00:36:10.119927+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Dan Lampariello (WBFF),,2020-05-30,False,Baltimore,Maryland (MD),39.29038,-76.61219,"A group of individuals chased a Baltimore, Maryland, news crew away from a protest outside City Hall on the evening of May 30, 2020. Later that evening, the journalists were assaulted and robbed.
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.
Dan Lampariello, a reporter for Fox45 WBFF, and cameraman J. Thomas Fisher were standing in front of the police line outside Baltimore City Hall around 10 p.m. when a group of individuals on the other side of the line demanded they move back. “Some in the crowd began getting angry with us,” Lampariello says in a voice-over of tape filmed at the scene.
A few minutes later, the situation devolved further, and Lampariello and Fisher were forced to retreat a few blocks from City Hall. “Do not touch the camera,” Lampariello said on the video as individuals push him and Fisher.
Ray Strickland, a reporter for WMAR 2 News, Baltimore’s ABC affiliate, captured the incident on video and posted it to Twitter.
Protesters in #Baltimore just chased a camera crew away from city hall #BaltimoreProtest #GeorgeFloydProtest. It’s tense out here for sure. @WMAR2News pic.twitter.com/Rei7hL8nLP
— Ray Strickland (@realraystrick) May 31, 2020
About an hour later, the crew was chased again, and someone punched Fisher in the face, according to the WBFF report. A live unit was stolen out of his backpack, along with a microphone. Fisher’s assault and damage to the news equipment are documented here.
Early the next morning, Lampariello tweeted about the experience:
TWICE tonight myself and photojournalist @jthomasfisher were chased and assaulted by a group of people while covering the protest outside of #Baltimore City Hall. We had equipment stolen & destroyed. Scary and tense moments. I’m just thankful we’re both OK. https://t.co/fp7JbQu8ke
— Dan Lampariello (@DanFox45) May 31, 2020
Lampariello, Fisher and the WBFF newsroom did not respond to requests for comment.
“Last night, a FOX45 news crew reporting from the Baltimore demonstrations outside of City Hall was attacked and chased away by a group of protesters who resorted to violence,” Scott Livingston, senior vice president of news for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station’s parent company, wrote the Baltimore Sun in an email. “Despite this incident, we remain undeterred, and our incredible journalists will continue to fulfill their duties and report live from the protests.”
On June 8, a Baltimore pastor was arrested in connection with the incident and charged with five counts, including second-degree assault, robbery and theft under $25,000, according to the Baltimore Sun.
According to a police report the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker obtained from the Baltimore Police Department, the station was able to recover the live unit using its GPS tracker.
“Our station will always support the Constitutional right to protest, a fundamental pillar of our democracy. At the same time, we also recognize the necessity of a free press, something that is more important now than ever before,” Bill Fanshawe, senior vice president of WBFF, told the Sun in a statement. “We ask that protesters recognize the important service that journalists everywhere provide, and should not be targets of anger and frustration.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being 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.
Freelance photojournalist Brian Norberto was struck several times by crowd-control munitions fired by police in Tucson, Arizona, 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.
Norberto told the Arizona Daily Star he was livestreaming the protests on Facebook when he was struck several times by nonlethal rounds fired by police that evening.
“When I got hit directly, I was continuing what I did before, getting between the crowd and the police,” Norberto said. “It’s hard to say that police were directly targeting the media, but at the same time that night I could feel a difference from the night before.”
More details about this incident were not available as of press time, as Norberto had not responded to multiple interview requests.
Tucson Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on this incident.
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.
Journalist Juanita Ceballos’ camera was hit by a pepper ball while she covered protests against police violence in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 30, 2020.
Ceballos, a producer and cameraperson for VICE News, was filming with a colleague near Jefferson Square in downtown Louisville for several hours when police officers declared the demonstration an unlawful assembly and ordered protesters to disperse, she told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Crowds of protesters were marching in response to the March 13 killing by Louisville police of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, and the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day.
At 8:25 p.m., while filming a line of police officers advancing toward a protester, Ceballos’ camera was hit by a pepper ball, she said, adding she was filming from the corner at a removed distance. After reviewing the footage of the hit to her camera — which wasn’t permanently damaged — she said she couldn’t be sure whether or not she had been targeted.
“I always make an intentional effort to look officers in the eye. If I have to move I will move,” she said. This time she hadn’t done so, she said, because she felt she was “far enough away that I was not in their way.”
Ceballos said she expected that her equipment and the press identification she was wearing made her clearly identifiable as a journalist. The night before, a reporter and photojournalist from Louisville TV station WAVE 3 were hit by pepper balls fired by police.
The Louisville Metro Police Department didn’t respond to a call and email from the Tracker requesting comment. Following the WAVE 3 incident, an LMPD official said officers have orders to not shoot pepper balls at members of the media.
Ceballos said that after the hit she felt threatened, not knowing whether the attack had been directed toward her or not. The journalist said she stopped filming for nearly half an hour, until she had cleaned the pepper powder off her lens, changed her N95 and gas masks and stopped coughing.
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 Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
Photographer Max Gersh was shoved by police with batons while covering protests in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 30, 2020.
The Associated Press reported that recent protests in Louisville have centered around the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, both of whom were Black. Taylor was shot eight times in her Louisville home in mid-March by narcotics police who broke down her door. Floyd died on May 25, after a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, kneeled on his neck for several minutes during an arrest. Video of Floyd’s death has sparked protests across the country.
Gersh, a photographer with the Commercial Appeal, a daily newspaper in Memphis, Tennessee, had been sent to Louisville to help with the Louisville Courier-Journal’s coverage of protests in the city (both papers are part of the Gannett newspaper chain). At around 11:50 p.m., Gersh and a group of reporters from the Courier-Journal and other outlets were walking down an empty block near the Fourth Street Live Entertainment district when a flank of police officers came marching down the street, occupying the total width of the block, Gersh told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Gersh was wearing a neon reflective vest that said “Press” and had his press ID around his neck on a lanyard.
Gersh said that he and the other reporters backed up against a building to stay out of the way but were told by the officers to “get moving” and clear the area. The journalists began to leave, with the officers moving behind them.
Suddenly, Gersh told the Tracker, the officers began to jog, forcing the journalists in front of them to break into a run. Gersh, slowed down by his heavy photography equipment, was falling somewhat behind the rest of the journalists when he said several officers began shoving him with batons and telling him to move faster. Gersh said he told the officers, “You don’t need to shove me,” but they kept pushing him along.
Side note: Cops straight shoved @pd_cameraman twice with their batons while we ran. https://t.co/FJDniuHC0X
— Natalie Neysa Alund (@nataliealund) May 31, 2020
When the journalists reached the corner, they turned to move into another intersection, where the group of officers eventually arrived. Gersh said no reason was given as to why they needed to clear the empty street.
Gersh continued to cover the protests. The following night, while taking photographs of law enforcement, he said a police officer yelled at him unprovoked, “You guys are just as bad as the protesters.”
“We’re just doing our jobs,” he replied.
The Louisville Police Department did not respond to 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.
While covering May 30, 2020, protests in Kentucky, photojournalist Max Gersh documents Louisville Metro Police Department officers clearing the street, including media.
",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,,"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",,, 2020-06-30 02:35:19.094148+00:00,2022-02-16 16:33:43.302385+00:00,"Yahoo News correspondent hit in Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Park",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/yahoo-news-correspondent-hit-in-washington-dcs-lafayette-park/,2022-02-16 16:33:43.241042+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Hunter Walker (Yahoo News),,2020-05-30,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"An individual at a protest hit a White House correspondent in Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Park in the early morning hours of May 30, 2020, interrupting footage the journalist was streaming live from his phone to Periscope.
In his livestream, Yahoo News correspondent Hunter Walker narrated the scene around him on the evening of May 29 and into the early morning of May 30: “The situation has become extremely heated in the last few minutes. Again, this is Yahoo News White House Correspondent Hunter Walker. We are in front of the White House along Pennsylvania Avenue, where protesters have taken down some of the barricades and are just repeatedly clashing with Secret Service and U.S. Park Police who have plastic riot shields and riot helmets,” Walker said on the livestream, before his phone was knocked out of his hand, cutting off the livestream.
In the video, an unidentified individual verbally accosts Walker, telling the reporter to go away and accusing him of saying racist comments. Walker identified himself as a journalist and asked the individual, “What racist things did I say?" before the video cuts out.
Walker was able to recover his phone and resume live streaming. “After a brief interruption, someone hit me and threw my phone — one of the protesters here — I am back live in front of the White House,” he said in a subsequent clip posted to Periscope. “I’m doing fine, guys, I’m doing great, no worries.”
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.
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 Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
An officer brandished a weapon at two public radio reporters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, even after they identified themselves as press, just after midnight on May 30, 2020.
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 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.
American Public Media reporters Madeleine Baran and Samara Freemark had spent much of the evening covering the protests outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fifth Precinct when they decided to head back to their car and go home, Freemark told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview.
As they attempted to cross Nicollet Avenue, a formation of law enforcement officers appeared, blocking them from crossing the street.
Freemark described the situation as initially being calm, but suddenly “there was a switch that flipped.” An officer suddenly appeared next to Freemark and Baran and shoved a weapon inches from their faces while shouting, “Get the fuck out of here,” Freemark recounted. She said she was not sure exactly what type of weapon it was, but that it did not resemble a pistol and seemed designed to fire crowd control ammunition.
In a tweet recounting the experience, Baran wrote, “A Minneapolis police officer pointed a weapon at me at @sfreemark’s heads, while we were standing on Nicollet and 32nd covering the protests.”
“I yelled that I’m a journalist. He did not lower his weapon, so we ran. Calling it a night,” she wrote.
A Minneapolis police officer pointed a weapon at me at @sfreemark’s heads, while we were standing on Nicollet and 32nd covering the protests. I yelled that I’m a journalist. He did not lower his weapon, so we ran. Calling it a night.
— Madeleine Baran (@madeleinebaran) May 30, 2020
Freemark and Baran were unable to reach their car and had to walk home, Freemark said. An interview request sent to Baran was not immediately returned.
Minneapolis was under an 8 p.m. curfew that evening, but journalists were expressly exempt from it.
Freemark said that the police line they encountered included officers from multiple agencies, and she was unsure which agency the officer who pointed the weapon was from.
An email sent to the Minneapolis Police Department inquiring about this incident was not returned as of press time. Bruce Gordon, director of communications for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, replied that before he could comment he would need to know if the incident in question involved a State Patrol trooper.
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.
Minnesota State Patrol officers clear an area near the Minneapolis Police Department's Fifth Precinct on May 30, 2020.
",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",,, 2020-07-02 17:09:47.553872+00:00,2023-11-03 13:57:44.988257+00:00,Rubber bullets crack windshield on FOX 9 new vehicle,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rubber-bullets-crack-windshield-fox-9-new-vehicle/,2023-11-03 13:57:44.886282+00:00,,,,Equipment Damage,,,vehicle: count of 1,,,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"A vehicle used by FOX 9, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Fox affiliate, was hit with two rubber bullets, which cracked its windshield, on May 30, 2020, in Minneapolis, according to tweets from two network reporters, Dawn Mitchell and Amy Hockert.
The incident occurred as the crew was reporting about ongoing protests in Minneapolis relating to the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis police custody.
Hockert tweeted around 9:30 p.m. that two rubber bullets hit the car and that everyone was OK.
Please go home, they mean business, our crew just got two rubber bullets to the car. They are OK. And they are allowed to be there. pic.twitter.com/1lAPlp3XWC
— Amy Hockert (@AmyHockert) May 31, 2020
Mitchell tweeted that the Minneapolis Police Department fired the bullets. The two reporters appeared not to be with the crew at the scene.
Hockert could not be reached for comment via email. Christina Palladino, a FOX 9 reporter who was part of the crew in the car, according to Mitchell’s tweet, could not be reached via email. In a tweet about the incident, Palladino wrote “we are all good!”
FOX 9 did not return CPJ’s voicemail requesting comment.
The MPD did not return CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
Secret Service agents and U.S. Park Police chased two journalists out of Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Park in the early morning hours of May 30, 2020, minutes after the journalists were caught in a cloud of pepper spray, video footage of the incident shows.
At 3:22 a.m, officers in riot gear with the Secret Service and the U.S. Park Police sprayed pepper spray toward a crowd of protesters as they attempted to clear the park across from the White House, according to the video streamed live on Periscope by Yahoo News White House Correspondent Hunter Walker. Some of it wafted over to the side of the park where journalists were standing.
“After several hours of standoff here, this was the moment that the Secret Service and U.S. Park Police decided to advance,” Walker said, narrating the unfolding scene to his viewers on the livestream. “So they’re now pushing this crowd through the park.” Walker said he was holding up his White House “hard pass,” press credentials that allow him to enter the White House, to show he was a member of the media.
He said he inhaled some of the pepper spray through his N95 mask, leading to the sensation of “a little fire in the back of my throat,” he said. “I only got the smallest edge of that. They’re spraying more. They’re saying 'out of the park or you will be sprayed’”
The officers then rushed toward the crowd. “All of us reporters are here on the side, the police are just running forward into the crowd,” he said, coughing. “I am holding my hard pass in the air.”
A few officers then turned their attention to Walker, running towards him with their shields out, the video shows. “Press, guys, press. Press. OK. Press, press. Hard pass. Press. OK. Press. I’m press,” Walker shouts. Walker was chased out of the park, and turned off his livestream as an officer continued to come towards him, even as the reporter continued to wave his pass.
In a Yahoo News story he published later that day, he described the incident and said officers from both the Secret Service and Park Police forced identified members of the press out of the park across from the White House, shouting: “Get the f*** out of the park!”
Mike Balsamo, who covers the Justice Department and federal law enforcement for The Associated Press, also was present as the officers chased reporters out of the park.
US Park Police just told the crowd, including credentialed reporters to “get the fuck out of the park right now” as fellow officers sprayed a crowd of protesters with pepper spray
— Mike Balsamo (@MikeBalsamo1) May 30, 2020
Neither the Secret Service nor the U.S. Park Police provided comment on the incident in response to an e-mailed request.
A few hours earlier, Walker was hit by an individual, which interrupted his livestream.
The protests were held in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020. 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 United States since the end of May.
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 Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
Just after Minneapolis’ curfew went into effect on May 30, 2020, a correspondent and cameraman for Turkey’s state-run English-language news channel were hit by projectiles fired by police.
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 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.
Lionel Donovan, a Washington-based correspondent for TRT World, said he had set up for a live shot outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fifth Precinct just after the city’s 8 p.m. curfew went into effect, near some peaceful protesters staging a sit-in at an intersection. Journalists were specifically exempt from the curfew by Governor Tim Walz’s order.
“The curfew came and it was like a button got hit,” Donovan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview.
According to Donovan, the police advanced down the street and began to fire off tear gas and flash bangs to disperse the crowd. One of the tear gas canisters hit cameraman Barbaros Sayilgan’s foot during Donovan’s live shot.
Sayilgan could not be reached for comment, but Donovan said he helped the cameraman and a producer off to safety, then went back into the street to film more footage himself. Donovan was filming on his phone, he said, when a blue foam round struck him in the inside of his left thigh, breaking the skin.
“It felt like someone took a baseball bat and set it on fire and hit me in the leg,” he told the Tracker.
Donovan was wearing a helmet and flak jacket, both emblazoned with “PRESS” in white uppercase letters. He said he was not close to the crowd when he was hit.
“It definitely made us very jittery for the rest of the deployment because then we just didn’t trust the police in any way, shape or form to help us with anything,” he said.
Requests for comment sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department were not immediately returned.
On June 1, Donovan tweeted a video in which he displayed the wound on his leg:
When you hear journalists talk about getting fired on by police, this is one of the things we’re getting hit with. It felt like I got hit with a baseball bat... pic.twitter.com/Xp4ZSYalvE
— Lionel Donovan, III (@LionelDonovan3) June 1, 2020
Fahrettin Altun, Turkey’s communications director, brought up the attack on the crew in a June 3 phone call with David Satterfield, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, according to an article published in the Daily Sabah, a Turkish newspaper.
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.
Minnesota State Patrol officers move toward protesters gathered near the police department’s Fifth Precinct on May 30, 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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-07-06 21:52:28.843664+00:00,2022-03-10 19:32:40.012577+00:00,Photojournalist shot at with foam rounds while covering Minneapolis protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/despite-identifying-press-multiple-journalists-shot-projectiles-minneapolis-law-enforcement/,2022-03-10 19:32:39.952605+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Adam Bettcher (Reuters),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"Freelance photojournalist Adam Bettcher said State Patrol troopers fired foam rounds at him while he was covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
A curfew was in effect following protests sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest 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.
Bettcher, who was on assignment for Reuters, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that State Patrol troopers fired at him at around 11 p.m. near the Fifth Precinct.
Bettcher said he was holding up his press credentials and shining a flashlight at himself as he approached a police line, yelling out, “I’m press! I’m press.” Bettcher said he was wearing body armor and a denim shirt that had an embroidered patch that said “PRESS” on his chest. He said he told the troopers he was trying to reach his car and they yelled at him to “go home!”
Bettcher replied that he was trying to get home and asked them how he could reach his car, and they shouted at him to use Google Maps, he recounted. Seconds later, one of the officers fired a projectile that whizzed by his head, he said. “I heard it hit the wall behind me,” he said. At this, he left the area. “I didn’t go back to see what they shot at me, but it was a foam baton round from the sound of it.”
A request for comment about this incident sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department were not returned.
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.
A Minneapolis police officer clears a cameraman from near the department’s Fifth Precinct on May 30, 2020. Photojournalist Adam Bettcher, who captured this image, was shot at with a projectile after he identified as press.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-07-09 16:44:25.871776+00:00,2022-03-10 22:06:14.979740+00:00,Journalist assaulted while covering protests in Reno,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-assaulted-while-covering-protests-reno/,2022-03-10 22:06:14.909906+00:00,,,(2020-08-05 06:40:00+00:00) Reno police issue warrants in battery of journalist who was covering protests,Assault,,,,Don Dike-Anukam (This Is Reno),,2020-05-30,False,Reno,Nevada (NV),39.52963,-119.8138,"Don Dike-Anukam, a student political writer for the news website This Is Reno, was assaulted by several people while reporting on a protest against police violence on May 30, 2020, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
The protest 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, 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.
Dike-Anukam and several other colleagues contributing to This Is Reno were reporting on a small crowd gathered outside City Hall as evening drew close. The crowd had splintered from a rally of hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters who had marched through downtown Reno, Nevada, that day, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
The mood at City Hall had darkened as Dike-Anukam began to livestream on Facebook at around 7 p.m. Dike-Anukam’s livestream and other videos from the scene show people breaking the windows and entrance of the building. At one point, a chair is thrown from the inside of the building, shattering a window. An alarm wails as a Nevada flag smolders.
Suddenly someone yells, “We got the gavel!” Dike-Anukam approaches a person in a white bandana and baseball cap. “Where did that come from? Where did that come from? Did you go in the chambers?” Dike-Anukam tries to ask in the livestream.
“Turn that shit off,” the gavel holder says. He pushes away Dike-Anukam’s phone before walking away.
Two other people immediately confront Dike-Anukam. The livestream is largely unintelligible, but it appears to show a woman covering her face with blue fabric shouting expletives at Dike-Anukam as a man in an NBA All-Star sweatshirt stands by her side.
Dike-Anukam told the Tracker he believes the woman called him “Reno” because she saw his This Is Reno press badge hanging from his neck.
Suddenly, the camera is knocked to the ground. Another video posted to Facebook shows a fourth person, in black, who was originally standing next to the person with the gavel, backtrack toward Dike-Anukam. He swipes at Dike-Anukam’s camera before walking away through the crowd.
Dike-Anukam picks up his still-streaming camera and tries to walk away. But the woman and the man in the NBA sweatshirt follow him. Off camera, she warns Dike-Anukam, “You’re still gonna get jumped.”
“I don’t care. I don’t care. The First Amendment wins,” Dike-Anukam responds in the livestream.
Then, chaos breaks loose on the livestream in a garbled, 30-second mess of shouting as the feed goes black.
Dike-Anukam said he wasn’t certain if the woman was warning or threatening him, he told the Tracker. But he knew the crowd had grown increasingly aggressive toward the press. Earlier, he had watched protesters attempt to block a cameraman from the local NBC affiliate, KRNV, from filming the defacing of an American flag at police headquarters.
Dike-Anukam explained to the Tracker he felt “a strong feeling, a sense of duty and conviction” to continue reporting.
Ty O’Neil, a freelance photographer on assignment for This Is Reno, told the Tracker he was standing on a nearby ledge trying to photograph the crowd when he saw someone punch Dike-Anukam in the back of the head. In the chaos of the moment, O’Neil said he didn’t know who threw the punch, but a review of his photographs that day showed the man in the NBA sweatshirt making a fist right before Dike-Anukam was hit.
O’Neil ran toward his colleague as several people punched and kicked Dike-Anukam, who had fallen to the ground. Video shows the woman with a blue head covering joining the fray after Dike-Anukam was punched.
Dike-Anukam tried to protect his face, his vital organs and his phone, which contained all his footage, as best he could, he told the Tracker. As he was curled into a ball, shielding himself against multiple assailants punching, kicking and pulling at him, Dike-Anukam heard someone urge the others to go for his camera.
Lucia Starbuck, another This Is Reno contributor and reporter for NPR affiliate KUNR, filmed the assault. Her video appears to show some protesters attempting to stop the attack. Someone in a black sweatshirt throws the woman who had accosted Dike-Anukam to the ground.
O’Neil jumped into the melee to try to save Dike-Anukam.
“I shoved a bunch of people out of the way, and I grabbed Don’s shoulders and he looked up at me,” said O’Neil, his voice cracking. “He had these giant eyes of fear, and that’s definitely the thing that kind of stuck with me, how awful to see him like that was.”
Dike-Anukam said: “Had Ty not jumped in there and separated the crowd and pulled me out, I wouldn’t have made it … I would’ve sustained significant physical damage.”
“I grabbed him under the arm on his left side and I picked him up. And I just started running,” O’Neil said. “There were so many people around us. Just punches and kicks and, you know, chaos.”
Then the tear gas came.
It isn’t clear if the police, who up until this point had been conspicuously absent from City Hall, fired tear gas in an attempt to stop the assault or whether they coincidentally engaged the crowd at the same moment.
The Reno Police Department didn’t respond to multiple inquiries seeking comment.
Everyone — the journalists, those who were attacking them and those who were trying to save them — all fled from the cloud of gas.
“I just was recovering from getting my ass kicked, in a daze, and now all of a sudden I’m choking on this vile thing that’s got in my eyes,” Dike-Anukam said. “Everything hurts. My head is throbbing at this point. I’m wondering, am I bleeding?”
Despite the assault — and losing his glasses as a result — Dike-Anukam continued to report well into the night, as officials declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and imposed a curfew.
The following day, Dike-Anukam was diagnosed with a minor concussion, he told the Tracker. As of June 22, he was still feeling the effects of the assault and planned to return to receive follow-up care, he said.
O’Neil said he didn’t feel some of the blows from the crowd as his adrenaline surged. The next day, he discovered a bruise on his chest, but he didn’t know what caused it.
Dike-Anukam told the Tracker he filed a police report about the assault. On June 18, the Reno Police Department said it had identified the woman with a blue head covering and the man in the NBA sweatshirt as suspects in the assault and asked the public to help identify them.
Police chief and acting city manager Jason Soto said that the department was reviewing video and media reports to make arrests for crimes committed during the protest, according to This Is Reno. He denounced the assault on Dike-Anukam, saying the journalist was a “personal friend of mine through the media, and it breaks my heart that he was injured.”
In a personal account of the attack for the National Press Club, Dike-Anukam wrote that his heart, too, was broken by the events of May 30. He noted the irony of a Black journalist being assaulted while covering a protest in response to the killing of Floyd, an unarmed Black man.
But the assault didn’t blunt his dedication to journalism. “I am not deterred, scared, or less in love with this profession,” he wrote.
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.
This Is Reno reporter Don Dike-Anukam, center, with hat and white gloves, films just before being assaulted by multiple individuals on May 30, 2020 near City Hall in Reno, Nevada.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest",,, 2020-07-09 18:49:47.868302+00:00,2022-03-10 22:06:34.451503+00:00,"Police pepper spray, shove journalist covering anti-police brutality demonstrations in Brooklyn",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/police-pepper-spray-shove-journalist-covering-anti-police-brutality-demonstrations-brooklyn/,2022-03-10 22:06:34.389501+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Nick Pinto (Gothamist),,2020-05-30,False,New York,New York (NY),None,None,"Freelance journalist Nick Pinto was pushed to the ground by a New York City Police officer after clearly identifying himself as a member of the press during a chaotic night of protests in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on May 30, 2020.
The protests were part of the many demonstrations held across the country after the May 26 video release of a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd during an arrest the previous day. Floyd, a black man, was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Pinto, who was covering the protests for New York outlet Gothamist, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the Saturday evening protest in the Flatbush neighborhood was “the most mayhem I've seen on the streets of New York City ever.”
By the time Pinto arrived in the late afternoon, tensions between the protesters and police in riot gear were at a fever pitch. The two sides were facing off in the street, Pinto said, when the New York Police Department pushed the crowd north up Bedford Avenue. Some protesters were throwing objects at the officers, including plastic and glass bottles, but also more dangerous projectiles, Pinto said.
“I saw fire extinguishers, bricks, chunks of concrete the size of footballs; I saw a cop take a giant chunk of brick and concrete in the neck and go down and I feel certain that that cop is not OK,” Pinto told the Tracker. “The police would respond by pepper-spraying indiscriminately, charging into the crowd with bats, busting people up, making some really hard arrests, dragging them back while the crowd chants ‘shame!’ And then they would reset and do it all again. This lasted for eight hours.”
When the crowd came across any police vehicles that had been left unattended, they would vandalize them and set them on fire, Pinto said. Other anti-police partisans climbed on the roof of gas stations to throw objects at officers in an environment that Pinto compared to “urban combat.”
When the moving conflict reached the intersection of Bedford and Church avenues, the police broke up the crowd into smaller groups that the officers pursued. During this time, Pinto was hit in the back of the neck by pepper spray, which he said felt like a “very strong Tiger Balm.” Later, Pinto would inadvertently touch the back of his neck and then his eyes, resulting in a much more painful burning sensation.
The journalist, who was wearing a press pass around his neck, told the Tracker that he was not specifically targeted by the pepper spray, but soon had a more direct encounter with an officer. Pinto was on the sidewalk on Church Avenue moving away from the line of police officers who repeatedly told him to move. He said he displayed his credentials and identified himself as a member of the media.
“I was not moving fast enough for their satisfaction. And it was a challenge to their authority,” Pinto said. One officer “locked eyes on me, came at me, pushed me, knocked me to the ground. It tore open my pants and bloodied both my knees.”
“I got back up, and I was like, ‘Hey, I'm press, I'm doing my job. I understand you're doing your job, but, just respect what I'm doing,’” Pinto continued. The officer replied, “‘No, you have to respect what I'm doing.’ And I asked for his badge number and he gave it to me. I asked for his name and he gave it to me. But I was rattled enough that I was unable to read the name that I wrote—my hand was shaking.”
Pinto was not detained or charged with any crime. In a separate incident the night of June 4 in Brooklyn, Pinto said he was shoved to the ground by officers during a scrum with protesters. Pinto told the Tracker that he is unsure whether he’ll file a complaint with the NYPD about the officer’s behavior on May 30 or about the incident a few nights later.
“I'm trying to decide whether I particularly feel like talking to the police about the police,” he said. “But I may yet do so.”
The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment about the incident.
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.
A New York City police officer uses pepper spray on protesters during a demonstration in the borough of Brooklyn on May 30, 2020.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest",,, 2020-07-10 17:33:53.253264+00:00,2022-03-10 21:07:10.022806+00:00,Photojournalist struck repeatedly with pepper balls while covering La Mesa protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-repeatedly-pepper-balls-while-covering-la-mesa-protest/,2022-03-10 21:07:09.964702+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Henri Migala (East County Magazine),,2020-05-30,False,La Mesa,California (CA),32.76783,-117.02308,"East County Magazine photojournalist Henri Migala was shot with pepper balls on two occasions while covering protests in La Mesa, California, on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Migala told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was photographing demonstrations near the La Mesa police station at around 6:20 p.m., having received word that officers had begun using tear gas on demonstrators.
In an account for the magazine, Migala wrote that when he reached the station, the standoff between police and protesters was well underway. The tear gas in the air caused his eyes to burn. Migala worked his way toward the south side of the station and crossed the street to distance himself from the protesters.
“I was wearing a bright yellow safety vest with my ‘MEDIA’ badge on the front,” Migala wrote. “I stood alone, away from any of the protesters so that I wouldn’t be mistaken for one of them. But despite standing there, alone, for about 20 minutes, I was shot with a pepper spray paintball in the leg.”
Migala told the Tracker that the pepper ball hit his right thigh, leaving a large amount of the chemical irritant powder on his leg.
Police continued to engage with protesters over the next hour, he said, firing various crowd control munitions to disperse the demonstrators.
“I had been there for so long that my back started hurting,” Migala said. “So, I sat on the curb in front of the postal office across the street from the police station, pretty far from the main demonstrators.”
As he sat there, police suddenly fired pepper balls at him again, striking him an additional two to four times, he said.
“One of the pellets exploded and a bunch of the powder went into my nose, my mouth and in my eyes,” he said. “I was instantly incapacitated.”
Migala said a couple of young women were able to lead him to safety. One woman held his camera, glasses and hat as the other rinsed out his eyes for at least five minutes.
He added that the powder was still covering his respirator mask, face, clothes and beard when he got to his car, and caused him significant difficulty breathing. The following day, some powder residue still covered his camera, and when he attempted to brush it off, his eyes watered and became irritated.
“Just molecules of that stuff is enough to irritate your eyes with burning pain,” he said.
Migala told the Tracker and wrote about a second journalist who was also struck with a projectile — believed to have been a rubber bullet — while covering the protests that day. The Tracker was unable to identify the journalist as of press time.
East County Magazine Editor Miriam Raftery told the Tracker that they don’t know for sure that Migala was intentionally targeted. ”It seems to me they should have been able to see that he was media,” she said.
The La Mesa Police Department did not respond to phone 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 related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases here.
From right, photojournalist Henri Migala in a reflective vest and media credentials while covering a May 30, 2020, protest in La Mesa, California, his leg after a pepper ball hit that day, and his camera covered in residue.
",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",,, 2020-07-21 21:28:45.094527+00:00,2023-11-03 17:25:12.846434+00:00,Two news vehicles damaged during Reno protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-news-vehicles-damaged-during-reno-protests/,2023-11-03 17:25:12.756209+00:00,,,,Equipment Damage,,,vehicle: count of 2,,,2020-05-30,False,Reno,Nevada (NV),39.52963,-119.8138,"Unknown individuals damaged two vehicles belonging to ABC affiliate KOLO as the channel’s journalists reported on protests in Reno, Nevada, on May 30, 2020, the channel’s news director told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
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.
Hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters marched through downtown Reno, according to the Reno Gazette Journal. But police intervened with tear gas after a splinter group began to damage City Hall shortly after 7 p.m. Officials declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and imposed a curfew.
KOLO News Director Stanton Tang told the Tracker that unknown individuals attempted but failed to overturn one of the station’s news vehicles. The vehicle’s windshield and rear window were shattered.
Videos submitted to KOLO’s user content page show the vehicle parked a couple blocks from City Hall. One video shows someone repeatedly hit the side of the car before another person body-slams the front of it amid cheers. Another shows someone jump on the hood and repeatedly stomp on the windshield. A third shows a group of people attempt, but fail, to tip the car over.
Tang said another vehicle suffered multiple dents and a shattered side window. He said a rock was found inside the car.
Tang said he believed both vehicles were targeted because they were news vehicles.
A photo provided to the Tracker by photojournalist Ty O’Neil, who was on assignment for This Is Reno, shows a white vehicle with large KOLO branding on the side with a shattered front left window. O’Neil told the Tracker he took the photo a few blocks from City Hall on Mill Street.
The station filed a police report about the incidents, but no suspects had been identified, Tang said.
The Reno Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Police chief and acting city manager Jason Soto said that the department was reviewing video and media reports to make arrests for crimes committed during the protests, according to This Is Reno.
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.
The window of a KOLO news vehicle was shattered in Reno, Nevada, on May 30, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,KOLO-TV,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-07-28 03:49:23.978600+00:00,2023-11-03 13:59:26.228274+00:00,Two Live 5 News news vehicles damaged in one night in Charleston,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/two-live-5-news-news-vehicles-damaged-one-night-charleston/,2023-11-03 13:59:26.136825+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,vehicle: count of 2,Abbey O'Brien (WCSC-TV),,2020-05-30,False,Charleston,South Carolina (SC),32.77657,-79.93092,"A group of people hit and threw a rock into a stopped Live 5 News car carrying three journalists covering a demonstration against police violence in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 30, 2020.
The protest 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, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
The car carrying reporter Abbey O’Brien, reporter Rob Way and producer Allyson Cook was driving through a crowd to get to safety because downtown Charleston was becoming violent, O’Brien said.
“We were in a Live 5 News car obviously designated as our station,” O’Brien told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “People started banging on our windows and flicking us off.”
Demonstrations had started peacefully but turned violent as the night wore on, she said.
“Once it got dark, it turned into rioting; that was definitely not as many people,” O’Brien said. “I truly believe that it was just two different groups of people.”
While they were stopped at an intersection, members of the crowd began to bang on the windows of the car and then a rock was thrown through the back window. No one was injured.
At the time, the journalists weren’t sure whether it was a rock, tear-gas canister or an explosive, so once they got to safety, they all exited the car.
“We all jumped out and realized it was just a brick,” O’Brien said. “So, no one was hurt, which is good, but it was really scary.”
Now that we’re safe... here’s a look at what just happened to our @Live5News car. Someone threw this large rock while we were driving down King St. Very scary #chsnews #scnews pic.twitter.com/0r1Fq77nZ7
— Abbey O'Brien (@abbeyobrien) May 31, 2020
They continued to report throughout the night and made sure they didn’t leave anything valuable in the car. O’Brien said that, in a separate incident, people smashed out the front, driver’s side window of a different, unoccupied Live 5 truck. Both the car and the truck were out of commission for a few days, she said.
The windows in our @Live5News car busted in as #protesters move up king street. They are using bricks dug up to also smash windows #Charleston pic.twitter.com/zyrXyU1omv
— Lillian Donahue (@LillianDonahue) May 31, 2020
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.
Sally Ayhan, a reporter for TRT World — a Turkish state-owned, English-language broadcaster — said she was struck in the chest and leg by rubber bullets fired by law-enforcement officers while she covered a protest near the White House on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minneapolis on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
In a report for TRT, Ayhan said that as she and her cameraman walked through the streets of Washington, D.C., they saw cars, including a police car, smoldering and heard tear-gas canisters and firecrackers going off.
“The rest of the protesters came, saying that they were being chased by police with fire crackers and gas canisters and rubber pellets,” she said.
Ayhan, who didn’t respond to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s request for comment, added she didn’t see protesters struck by the projectiles, though she herself was hit several times. It wasn’t clear which law-enforcement agency’s officers fired the rounds.
She said in her report that she was first hit in the back of the leg. “Then as I turned around trying to figure out how the police were dealing with protesters, I was hit in the chest, which hurt incredibly for a few moments,” Ayhan added.
Ayhan tweeted that she was struck while reporting in front of the White House, and that it appeared to be a tactic police were using “to keep protestors from breaking through the barricades.”
I was shot twice tonight by rubber bullets while reporting in front of the White House. Just one of the strategies police are using to keep protestors from breaking through the barricades. #GeorgeFloydProtests pic.twitter.com/JQtXF1e0Ku
— Sally Ayhan (@Sally_Ayhan) May 31, 2020
Neither the Secret Service nor the D.C. Metro Police Department responded to emailed requests for comment.
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 related to the death of George Floyd. Find all of these cases here.
A Secret Service agent is seen behind a barricade as demonstrators rally near the White House in Washington, D.C. on May 30, 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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-08-05 18:16:53.529990+00:00,2023-11-03 13:59:52.201210+00:00,Photojournalist’s credentials stolen during DC protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalists-credentials-stolen-during-dc-protests/,2023-11-03 13:59:52.075190+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,press identification: count of 1,Matthew Rodier (Freelance),,2020-05-30,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Matthew Rodier, a freelance photojournalist who was covering protests in Washington, D.C., had his National Press Photographers Association credentials stolen on May 30, 2020 by an individual who said that his photos were “getting people killed.”
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 later 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.
Rodier, who frequently contributes to the Sipa USA agency, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he’d been covering events near the White House on the evening of May 30, when he was approached by a woman who asked him to stop taking photos.
“She said, ‘Your pictures are getting people killed,’” Rodier recounted. “I asked how and she responded, ‘Look what happened in Ferguson,’” seemingly a reference to speculation that a number of individuals connected to 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri, had died suspiciously.
During current protests, calls for photojournalists to blur the faces of people they photograph at demonstrations, or to not publish images that show identifying features, has inspired a debate among journalists.
Rodier said he told the woman “that it’s both my First Amendment right and my job to take the pictures.” He said that she responded violently: “She ripped the press pass from the lanyard around my neck and threw it into the crowd.”
Rodier, who continued to document that evening without his NPPA lanyard, was also the subject of multiple assaults while covering protests the following day in D.C. The Tracker captured those incidents here and here. 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 are documented by the Tracker here.
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.
Two journalists who’d been reporting for the Detroit Free Press had weapons brandished at them by law enforcement officials while covering protests in the city on May 30, 2020, they told the Committee to Protect Journalists.
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.
Detroit Free Press reporter M.L. Elrick, who’d been reporting that evening with a group of Free Press journalists, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that at around midnight, a police officer pointed a nonlethal rifle at him. Elrick was standing on a street with Free Press reporters Branden Hunter and David Jesse, several other reporters and unidentified people in civilian clothes. Elrick was wearing a press badge, khakis and sneakers, according to photographs of the evening and the incident.
Elrick said that he “explained to the cop who [he] was and nothing happened.”
Immediately following this incident, police used tear gas to disperse protesters as well as a rubber bullet gun, but Elrick said he did not feel like it was aimed at the reporters.
“There was tear gas everywhere, so some people got it in their eyes,” Elrick told CPJ about that evening. “There [were] a lot of people going out there without proper regalia,” which, in Elrick’s opinion, made it difficult to distinguish journalists from protesters.
The Free Press did not respond to an email requesting comment as of press time.
When contacted by CPJ, the Detroit Police Department’s voicemail box was full. The department did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment as of press time. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
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.
Free Press education reporter David Jesse said he was targeted with tear gas and rubber bullets by law enforcement while covering protests in downtown Detroit, Michigan, 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.
Jesse told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that around midnight on May 30th an officer threw tear gas toward the group of journalists he’d been standing with and that someone began to fire rubber bullets. Jesse wasn’t hit but felt the incident was targeted.
“I had my iPhone out in one hand, taking a picture of what’s going on, and in my other hand, I have [my] media credential out, you know, showing the media credential,” Jesse said, adding that the journalists were screaming, “Media!”
“It was very clear who we were,” he said. “We were all taking pictures. … It was very clearly aimed at us and getting us off the streets. There’s no doubt they were shooting right at us.”
Jesse told CPJ that he didn’t feel like any other deployments of tear gas were aimed at the journalists. “They were tear-gassing protesters and the cloud just sort of travels,” he said.
Several other Free Press colleagues were caught up in tear-gas and rubber-bullet fire that evening. No one was injured, and there are differing opinions as to whether the journalists were targeted. The Free Press did not respond to an emailed request for comment as of press time.
When contacted by CPJ, the Detroit Police Department’s voicemail box was full. The department did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment as of press time.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being 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.
Radio journalist Sean Greene was punched in the eye by an unknown individual who also stole a smartphone the reporter was using to cover a demonstration in Wilmington, Delaware, on May 30, 2020.
The protest 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, Minnesota, 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 late May.
Greene told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that protests he has covered in Wilmington and Dover, Delaware, for radio station WDEL were mostly free of violence and destruction of property, but some individuals took advantage of the May 30 demonstration in Wilmington to break into retail stores and steal merchandise.
Greene used his company-issued iPhone to broadcast the scene to Facebook Live. He was wearing a construction vest and had press credentials attached to a lanyard hanging from his neck.
At about 6 p.m. Greene was filming a person trying to break a storefront window when an unknown individual punched him in the eye.
“I hear someone scream ‘snitch!’ and the next thing I know someone has punched me,” Greene said. The individual also stole the iPhone and fled.
Greene said he didn’t get a good look at the assailant.
Greene said three Wilmington police officers standing nearby saw the assault but took no action. He didn’t seek medical attention and reported the incident to the police.
A Wilmington police spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Greene said some protesters saw the incident and helped him.
“To the protesters who made sure I was OK and offered me water, thank you,” Greene tweeted following the incident. “To the police officers who saw me take a punch and did nothing, I'm disappointed.”
Greene said he has since covered two additional protests from WDEL without incident.
Mike Phillips, a colleague of Greene’s at WDEL, also had a company-issued iPhone stolen while covering the May 30 protest but wasn’t otherwise harmed. Phillips reported the theft of the two iPhones to the Wilmington Police Department.
A police spokesman declined to comment on Phillips’ report.
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 news crew with Phoenix’s 3TV and CBS 5 was rushed by a crowd, and their security guard injured, while the journalists broadcast live from protests in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 30, 2020.
Demonstrations in Phoenix and Scottsdale began 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 late May.
Reporter Max Gorden and a videographer went to Scottsdale Fashion Square, a large shopping mall, in response to a tip that protesters planned to gather there around 10 p.m.
The crowd grew to several hundred as demonstrators began marching down the blocks around the mall, Gorden told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. As protesters returned to the march’s starting point, some people started smashing store windows and spray-painting walls, he said.
At that point, Gorden suggested to his producers to throw the live broadcast to him. When the light on the camera turned on, Gorden said, his group became a target.
As he was getting ready to go live, someone began pushing a sign toward the camera shot.
Security guard Jesse Torrez, a private security contractor the station hired to accompany news crews during the protests, told the Tracker that when the camera light turned on, several people rushed toward the cameraman, with one individual holding a sign moving toward Gorden. Torrez put his hand out to stop the person with the sign. As he was holding that person back, someone else struck him over the head with a hard object. Torrez believes it may have been a metal pipe.
Gorden saw a scuffle out of the corner of his eye. When he looked to see what had happened, he saw Torrez bleeding from his head. Both Torrez and his partner were carrying firearms, and they put their hands on their weapons. The crowd eventually dispersed.
After safely getting out of the area, Torrez went to the hospital to seek medical attention. He had four staples put into the laceration on his head, and had to go to a concussion clinic for two months, he said. For a month after the attack, Torrez said he couldn’t drive because his equilibrium was off as a result of the head injury.
A Scottsdale Police Department spokesperson confirmed that the incident has been reported and that police have an open investigation for aggravated assault. However, no suspects have been identified and no arrests have been made.
Gorden doesn’t believe that he and his colleagues were targeted because they were journalists. He said tensions were running high that night, and when the sign was pushed out of the way, they escalated.
“Anything could spark violence in that situation,” Gorden said. “In that moment, windows were being broken out, there was kind of this fervor that sort of really, really escalated throughout the crowd.”
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.
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.
Nolan Cramer, a journalism student interning for the Toledo City Paper, said he was targeted with tear gas by law enforcement while covering protests in Toledo, Ohio, on May 30, 2020.
The protest was held in response to a video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for more than eight minutes during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The incident sparked anti-police brutality and Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country.
Cramer told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was photographing near the corner of East Woodruff and Franklin Avenues as Toledo Police Department officers worked to disperse protesters in the street at around 5:45 p.m.
“I had my camera out, my press credentials displayed and was clearly identifiable as press,” he said. “That is when a TPD officer deployed and threw a tear gas canister in my direction.”
Cramer said that the officer deliberately targeted him and Toledo Blade editor Nolan Rosenkrans, who was standing next to them, despite both of them wearing visible press passes. Both journalists were caught in the cloud of tear gas.
“Luckily, neither of us were physically injured and our equipment was not damaged,” Cramer said. “I was very fortunate that all I had to deal with was being tear gassed. So many journalists around the country are experiencing way worse.”
Rosenkrans told the Tracker that he had not felt targeted with tear gas that day, but noted that he did not know what Nolan had experienced or seen.
Reflecting on the incidents that day, Cramer told the Tracker, “What is even worse is knowing my incident was not isolated. I witnessed multiple journalists either have less lethal force used on them or be threatened with less lethal weapons.”
“In my opinion, it seemed like Toledo police officers did not care whether someone was a protester or a member of the press; their main concern was dispersing everyone in sight.”
Lt. Kellie Lenhardt, who commands the Toledo Police Public Information Section, told the Tracker over email that the department did not receive complaints from Cramer or other journalists that day.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said during a press conference on June 22 that there was an investigation into officers’ conduct during the protests. Kapszukiewicz also announced that officers will no longer be permitted to wear military-style camouflage.
On July 22, Toledo police announced that three officers were disciplined for misconduct during the May 30 protests. One officer received a written reprimand while the other two were suspended and given last chance warnings, meaning they could be fired following another infraction.
“Police legitimacy cannot improve if departments fail at policing their own,” Police Chief George Kral said in a press release announcing the disciplinary measures. “I will ensure that officers are held accountable when their actions are found to violate department policies, and I will always support the hundreds of officers that positively represent Toledo Police.”
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.
As an intern for the [Ohio] Toldeo City Paper, Nolan Cramer said he was photographing during the early evening of May 30, 2020 when a Toldeo police officer threw a tear gas canister in his direction.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest",,, 2020-08-12 20:29:29.419479+00:00,2022-03-10 22:07:46.833913+00:00,Journalist shoved with a police baton while covering LA demonstrations,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shoved-police-baton-while-covering-la-demonstrations/,2022-03-10 22:07:46.774804+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Chava Sanchez (KPCC-FM/LAist),,2020-05-30,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"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",,, 2020-08-12 18:59:21.628492+00:00,2022-03-10 19:34:45.401479+00:00,Radio journalist shot with projectile during Pittsburgh protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/radio-journalist-shot-projectile-during-pittsburgh-protest/,2022-03-10 19:34:45.334982+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Bill O’Driscoll (WESA-FM),,2020-05-30,False,Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania (PA),40.44062,-79.99589,"Bill O’Driscoll, a reporter for the local public-radio station 90.5 WESA, was struck by a projectile fired by police while covering protests in Pittsburgh on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minneapolis on May 26 had spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
O’Driscoll told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that May 30 was the first big day of protests in Pittsburgh, with demonstrations beginning downtown around 2 p.m. He took over for a colleague covering the protests for WESA at around 5 p.m.
“In a familiar pattern now, the protest had started quite peacefully: Protesters were blocking the streets, marching, chanting, blocking the streets, etc.,” he said. “After a couple of hours, there was an incident where an unoccupied police car was set on fire. A second car was then set on fire in the same area. The protest at that point was called off by the organizers.”
While most of the protesters dispersed, O’Driscoll said up to 200 people remained on downtown streets. He found a splinter group of protesters and followed them as they marched.
When the group turned on to Smithfield Street — which cuts through the middle of downtown — they encountered a police blockade manned by officers clad in riot gear.
“The police had decided at that point to stop the protest, or, in other words, to initiate a confrontation with the remaining protesters,” he said.
O’Driscoll said that around 6:30 p.m. he was standing behind the front line of protesters and was at least 30 to 40 yards away from the police. Officers had begun firing tear gas and crowd-control munitions, though he said he wasn’t sure what type of projectiles they were using.
“I had my back turned — not intentionally, that was just the way I was facing when I knocked out a tweet about what was going on — and I just felt this impact on my left buttocks, and it felt like I’d been hit by a baseball pretty hard at short range,” O’Driscoll said. “Then I realized immediately that it had been something that had been fired, and then I started to run off down the street in the opposite direction until I could figure out what was going on.”
And your humble reporter was just hit in the left buttocks by what I think was a rubber bullet. That stang @905wesa
— Bill O'Driscoll (@ODriscoll1bill) May 30, 2020
O’Driscoll told the Tracker that he didn’t know if he was targeted. While he said officers couldn’t have seen the press credentials around his neck because of the way he was standing, he was carrying a large, noticeable microphone.
“I had been on that particular scene for a while at that point, and within sight of the police, so it’s also possible that they could have identified me and if they were targeting me they probably would have seen who I was at that point,” he said.
The Pittsburgh police didn’t respond to a request for comment.
At a press conference that evening, Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said “white males dressed in anarchist attire” had hijacked what had been a peaceful protest. Schubert didn’t discuss police use of crowd-control munitions.
While the projectile left a large bruise, O’Driscoll said it didn’t hamper his ability to work and he covered a subsequent protest as well.
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 related to the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Find all of these cases here.
George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, ignited a sweeping assembly of protesters across the United States — and the globe — in a staggering, monthslong outcry for police reform and racial justice. In many moments peaceful, in many others bracingly violent, journalists of all stripes took to documenting these demonstrations. At times, to do the job meant to expose oneself to the effects of riot-control agents, to face harassment from individuals or law enforcement officials, to fear for your safety or have your reporting interrupted. Below is a geographically-organized roundup of such examples from around the U.S. in May.
A full accounting of incidents in which members of the press were assaulted, arrested or had their equipment damaged while covering these protests can be found here. To learn more about how the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit pressfreedomtracker.us.
In Oakland, California
Many people clutching their eyes, nose running, one man bent over vomiting. Literally hard to breath
— Mario Koran (@MarioKoran) May 30, 2020
not my most dignified moment
— Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez (@FitzTheReporter) May 30, 2020
but hey, thanks random demonstrator for the baking soda and water#oaklandprotests #GeorgeFloydprotest pic.twitter.com/eitXljHuYn
Breaking: #Oakland police fire tear gas at #GeorgeFloyd protesters after series of small explosions. Crowd runs. I got gassed, as did many other media. Not fun. Burning eyes, hacking cough. Been at least 17 years since I managed not to avoid the gas at a protest pic.twitter.com/T1a0Aizkch
— SovernNation (@SovernNation) May 30, 2020
In a tweet sent just after midnight, Sovern reported: “Not one person in the #GeorgeFloyd protest crowd tonight in #Oakland was hostile to me in any way. No one refused an interview or a photo, no one swore at me, and several came to my aid after I got tear gassed.” The next morning, he added: “It was a really rough night for a lot of the media working bravely to do their best to cover a chaotic situation. Some got hit with rubber bullets. Many of us got gassed. And some good people were plain ripped off.”
It was a really rough night for a lot of the media working bravely to do their best to cover a chaotic situation. Some got hit with rubber bullets. Many of us got gassed. And some good people were plain ripped off. https://t.co/EDAAKLpKDO
— SovernNation (@SovernNation) May 30, 2020
In San Jose, California
OK. Just got tear gassed for the first time in my career.
— scott budman (@scottbudman) May 30, 2020
Time to go. pic.twitter.com/0iLniP8YLf
In Louisville, Kentucky
Shortly before going live, police threw tear gas w/o warning. I got separated and ran out of instinct. I couldn’t breathe or see. A group of #Louisvilleprotest protesters stopped to help me and poured baking soda solution in my eyes so I could see again. Thank you. @WDRBNews pic.twitter.com/PNDQwzQF6B
— Sara Sidery (@SaraSideryWDRB) May 31, 2020
In Atlanta, Georgia
Hi, just checking in. I was recording in the front line where just a few dozen protestors stood arms locked in front of police with riot gear. They were chanting but not violent. Cops came from 3 directions & closed around us in intersection. threw tear gas & maze. pic.twitter.com/E1cSlQWIrN
— Julieta Martinelli (@ItsJMartinelli) May 30, 2020
May 30, 2020
In Seattle, Washington
Plumes of tear gas on Pine near Westlake #SeattleProtest pic.twitter.com/z2Pl7EtRF1
— nathalie graham (@gramsofgnats) May 30, 2020
As I explained on air, our security guard felt that the public was in danger. He took the AR 15 from the rioter and disabled it. We called 911 and waited to hand it over and continue our reporting. Protesters surrounded us, calling us police. (1/2) https://t.co/q9jypdxfco
— Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) May 31, 2020
On June 18, the Seattle Police Department issued subpoenas to five area news outlets, requesting all video footage and photographs taken on May 30 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. within a four-block radius. The Tracker has documented that case, and its evolution, here.
In Beverly Hills, California
"We're getting hit by tear gas!" Live coverage from field reporters from @ABC7 in Los Angeles as protests rage through the luxury stores of Rodeo Drive.
— Good Morning America (@GMA) May 31, 2020
LIVE UPATES: https://t.co/xJQvixJr2S pic.twitter.com/xw9ZO9yFYN
In Reno, Nevada
.@ThisIsReno reporter @dondikeanukam got beat up. Tear gas released and the crowd scattered pic.twitter.com/YxTTezxTgS
— Lucia Starbuck (@luciastarbuck) May 31, 2020
Don Dike-Anukam, a political reporter for This Is Reno, was also assaulted by individuals while reporting that day, a case the Tracker has documented here.
In Las Vegas, Nevada
Seeing a lot of protestors helping one another, spraying water into each other’s eyes, after tear gas was deployed near 6th St.
— Rio Lacanlale (@riolacanlale) May 31, 2020
Cannon, who’d continued to livestream from his balcony perch during this time, told the Tracker: “I wasn't targeted with tear gas. Law enforcement didn’t know I was up there. I didn’t even look like a journalist because all I had was my phone.” At around 11:15, Lacanlale, who’d joined up with Cannon at this point, tweeted, “While standing on the sidewalk, Metro officers began shooting pepper bullets at us.” (She later noted that she’d not been hit.) “Nearly all the protesters had left,” Cannon told the Tracker. “There was no tear gas. We were nearly a block away. I don’t think they knew we were journalists. Rio has no gear. I only had my phone. I did have my credentials on my belt, but there was no way they could see that far in the dark.” The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Lacanlale and the Las Vegas Review-Journal did not respond to the Tracker’s requests for comment.
Paired up with @kmcannonphoto now. While standing on the sidewalk, Metro officers began shooting pepper bullets at us.
— Rio Lacanlale (@riolacanlale) May 31, 2020
In Kansas City, Missouri
My photographer @iamDSMITH86, field producer @ScottWinkler41 and I have been hit by tear gas. We had to move. We are okay. @41actionnews
— McKenzie Nelson (@McKenzieMNelson) May 31, 2020
In Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
I'm with @ByLizSawyer and 2 Kurdish journalists and 1 Japanese journalist near 5th precinct. Cops told us to go home. When we said we were press one said "Your cards are bullshit" #GeorgeFloyd
— Chao Xiong (@ChaoStrib) May 31, 2020
St. Paul Police also told media to go home tonight. I showed my press badge and was told “doesn’t matter” https://t.co/FRx06R6G0M
— Mara Klecker (@MaraKlecker) May 31, 2020
گاز انبری به همه خبرنگار ها حمله کردن #JusticeForGeorge #Minneapolis #PROTESTING pic.twitter.com/HEex0ajiLI
— Hossein Fatemi (@hosseinfatemii) May 31, 2020
In an interview with BBC Persian the following day, Fatemi shared another video, of individuals helping to rinse out his eyes following the release of a chemical irritant.
حسین فاطمی، عکاس خبری و عضو آژانس پانوس پیکچرز، در ایالت مینه سوتای آمریکا، کانون اصلی درگیریهای اخیر مشغول ضبط تصاویر درگیریهاست و از تجربهاش در این زمینه میگوید pic.twitter.com/6c0jPcZnfw
— BBC NEWS فارسی (@bbcpersian) May 31, 2020
Gaz lacrymogène pour @RadioCanadaInfo pic.twitter.com/PmZo3WNQ0K
— Raphaël Grand (@raphaelgrand) May 31, 2020
One of these groups came to my and several other journalists aid when we were tear gassed yesterday. I’m incredibly thankful for them. Thanks too @scottsphoto. Amid continued protests 'sick and tired' group of friends teams up to provide medical help https://t.co/k4LZ3jx9dt pic.twitter.com/4tOrddeiZu
— Anthony Soufflé (@AnthonySouffle) May 31, 2020
In Fort Wayne, Indiana
Had to put the phone down to catch my breath. Please lift us up in prayer. Tear gas in NO JOKE. 💔 pic.twitter.com/r6l7CExWDX
— Brianna Dahlquist (@bridahlquist) May 30, 2020
In Columbus, Ohio
Harris was struck by a projectile fired by police the following day while covering protests in Louisville, Kentucky, a case the Tracker has documented here.
Our photographer @KRobPhoto and I got pepper sprayed pic.twitter.com/OIc0WviqOH
— Lucas Sullivan (@DispatchSully) May 30, 2020
In Nashville, Tennessee
In Raleigh, North Carolina
Group of riot police fired this tear gas dump directly at my feet. Larger crowd and property damage was happening a block down the road, and ZERO ruckus from protesters in my area at time. These officers have seen me all day and know I'm a journalist. Ihave a press pass on. pic.twitter.com/BUmKkrTbCh
— Charlie McGee (@bycharliemcgee) May 31, 2020
In New York, New York
In Denver, Colorado
Covering Denver protests tonight. Standing next to the police with a crowd of photographers. One of their chemical bombs rolled back and a cop kicked it sideways right into us. Took it full on to the face, but I’m ok now. I’ll tweet camera photos tomorrow. Stay safe everyone. pic.twitter.com/u5TzAfXJI8
— Lindsay Fendt (@LEFendt) May 31, 2020
In Austin, Texas
I had been following this protest all morning and it had remained peaceful up until this moment.
— Kacey Bowen (@KaceyonFox7) June 1, 2020
Thankful for the protestors who poured solution into my photographer and I eyes so we were able to keep reporting. https://t.co/1sqy59SvIa
In Dallas, Texas
Went into downtown Dallas to cover the protest. They were happening just a few blocks away from my new apartment. Here’s the images I captured. It was peaceful for the majority of my journey, but turned intense and somewhat violent towards the end. @NBCLX pic.twitter.com/qDGTD7rVBY
— Tabitha Lipkin (@TabithaLipkin) May 31, 2020
In Cincinnati, Ohio
Cops yelled at us as we filmed, told us to “get the f***k out of here” and came toward us, I yelled that we were with the media, we’re told we needed “more visible” marking. I have my press badge in my hand
— Sarah Brookbank (@SarahBrookbank) June 1, 2020
In Washington, D.C.
As they move the protestors down H street, police fired a combination of tear gas and flash bangs. We took a little bit of the gas. Protestors stopped to help us breathe and clear our eyes out. @wusa9
— Matt Gregory (@MattGregoryNews) May 31, 2020
Struggling a bit after tear gas was thrown directly at me tonight during #DCProtests pic.twitter.com/tV7CWzEefh
— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) May 31, 2020
In Wilmington, North Carolina
A final update and personal message from me this evening.
— Emily Featherston - WECT (@EmilyWECT) June 1, 2020
Lots to work through and digest. We will be back in the morning with all the details. pic.twitter.com/GUejW3hqKy
In Richmond, Virginia
Here’s how it’s going down tonight. Police seem to be swarming vehicles and arresting those out past curfew. I attempted to get out of my car to shoot video and was approached by officers with guns pulled and was told to get on the ground. Here’s part one. @NBC12 pic.twitter.com/jFJ71kdBvy
— Olivia Ugino (@OliviaNBC12) June 1, 2020
Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted. To read similar incidents from other days of national protests also in this category, go here.
Associated Press photojournalist John Minchillo reports during a night of demonstrations in Minneapolis on May 30, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest",,, 2020-08-13 20:47:03.704771+00:00,2023-11-03 14:01:45.152246+00:00,WDEL journalist’s phone stolen during Facebook Live stream,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wdel-journalists-phone-stolen-during-facebook-live-stream/,2023-11-03 14:01:44.995885+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,cellphone: count of 1,Mike Phillips (WDEL-FM),,2020-05-30,False,Wilmington,Delaware (DE),39.74595,-75.54659,"Radio journalist Mike Phillips had his employer-issued iPhone stolen by an unknown person while covering protests in Wilmington, Delaware, on May 30, 2020.
Protesters took to the streets of Wilmington and cities across the United States following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes during a May 25 arrest.
Phillips had been reporting on demonstrations on May 30 for radio station WDEL alongside fellow correspondent Sean Greene.
Phillips told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protests had been mostly peaceful throughout the day but that during the evening hours he observed some individuals smashing storefront windows and stealing merchandise.
Phillips said that Greene had been broadcasting via Facebook Live with an iPhone at around 6 p.m. when an unknown individual punched him and stole the device.
Phillips said that at the time of Greene’s assault, which the Tracker is documenting here, he had also been broadcasting to Facebook Live. In Phillips’ video, individuals can be seen removing items from a building, which Phillips can be heard describing as “the looting of a store” in downtown Wilmington.
During Phillips’ broadcast, an unknown individual wrenched the phone from his hands and made off with the device. Phillips’ phone continued to record video after it was taken from him, and an individual can be heard laughing as they run away from the scene.
“It was disheartening that I couldn’t keep doing my job that night,” Phillips said.
Phillips later reported the theft of the phones to Wilmington police on behalf of WDEL. As of press time, Phillips said that neither his nor Greene’s phone had been recovered and no arrests had been made in connection with the alleged thefts.
Aside from incidents on May 30, Phillips said WDEL reporters haven’t faced altercations during subsequent coverage of the demonstrations.
“We have covered plenty of stuff since then and have had no incidents whatsoever,” Phillips said.
Though Greene was injured in the field, Phillips said he hasn’t feared for his safety while covering the Wilmington protests.
“Despite what happened to Sean, I didn’t feel unsafe,” Phillips said. “It was more of a crime of opportunity, if you want to call it that.”
A spokesperson for the Wilmington Police Department declined to comment on the incident or confirm whether there was a continuing investigation into Phillips’ report, citing restrictions on releasing such information under Delaware’s Victims’ Bill of Rights.
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.
A van for television network WGN News was vandalized by unidentified individuals during protests in Chicago, Illinois, 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 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.
A spokesperson for WGN said the van was in Chicago’s downtown near the Wrigley Building when the incident occurred. “Our truck was parked seemingly out of harm’s way—but then the protests spread to that area,” spokesperson Gary Weitman told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email. “No specific groups were involved—one person started spray-painting, and then others joined in."
Weitman said no crew member was hurt in the incident, but declined to elaborate on details of the incident’s timing or location.
Mark Guarino, the Chicago correspondent for the Washington Post, told the Tracker that he saw the van, which had been covered in graffiti and crude language, driving north on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago at around 6:30 p.m. on May 30. A few minutes later he posted an image of the van to Twitter.
Chicago's very own @WGNNews pic.twitter.com/AUrfsju2LR
— Mark Guarino (@markguarino) May 30, 2020
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.
The WGN news van as seen on Michigan Avenue in Chicago on May 30, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,WGN-TV,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-08-18 17:57:05.972781+00:00,2021-11-18 20:06:02.916752+00:00,VICE Media reporter arrested while covering Minneapolis protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/vice-media-reporter-arrested-while-covering-minneapolis-protests/,2021-11-18 20:06:02.841716+00:00,curfew violation: breaking curfew order (charges dropped as of 2020-08-11),,(2020-08-11 22:02:00+00:00) Charges dropped against VICE Media reporter arrested while covering Minneapolis protests,Arrest/Criminal Charge,,,,Alzo Slade (VICE News),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"Alzo Slade, a reporter for VICE Media, and three colleagues were detained and fingerprinted by police on May 30 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for being out after curfew while covering ongoing protests, according to Slade.
The protests were held in response to the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis on May 25. During an arrest, a white Minneapolis Police officer kneeled on Floyd’s neck and ignored Floyd’s pleas that he could not breathe. Floyd was later pronounced dead in a hospital.
Slade told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he was reporting on protests in downtown Minneapolis with three other VICE journalists when they encountered a long line of police in riot gear forming a wall to block the street. Slade said that the police began spraying tear gas and pepper spray. He realized that the crew — producers and camera operators Jika Gonzalez, Elis Rua, and Dave Mayer — needed to turn away to put on the gas masks they were carrying.
“We didn’t go into a peaceful protest wearing gas masks and flak jackets because visually that just says that you’re expecting trouble and that you’re looking for trouble,” Slade said.
The journalist said that he and his colleagues ducked into an alleyway and turned around to see that riot police had followed them.
“We immediately announced that we’re press, but they told us to get down on the ground,” Slade said. “We comply 100 percent. We get down on the ground and as a police officer walks toward us, I hold my credentials up and I say ‘I’m press, we’re press, sir!’,” Slade said.
A police officer then proceeded to use zip ties to secure Slade’s hands behind his back while his gas mask was still on, he said. The other crew members also had their hands zip tied behind their back.
“It is important to note that in this crew, there are four people and three of us are Black men,” Slade said.
Slade said that the officer, a Minnesota State Trooper, then asked to see his credentials. He managed to show the officer, despite having his hands tied behind his back. The journalist said he was then passed to another officer who placed Slade and his crew into a wagon in the middle of the street that was still thick with teargas and pepper spray. Police removed his gas mask while Gonzalez was sent to another part of the police wagon with other women.
“One of the crew asks for masks; they tell us we’re going to get masks when we get down to the station,” Slade said. Instead, he said, they sat in the van for about 25 minutes.
At the station, Slade said they waited for officers to figure out their case number before each crew member was fingerprinted.
“They gave us [each] a citation and VICE’s attorney immediately contacted the state of Minnesota and filed grievances,” Slade said. “The state of Minnesota assured us that [the citations] would not go on our record and that [they] would be dropped.”
About a week later, Slade and the other VICE crew members received a notification in the mail with a court date, Slade said. The notice said failure to appear would result in a bench warrant.
The Commissioner for the Department of Corrections has since confirmed to VICE that the dismissals are forthcoming, according to a VICE spokesperson, who corresponded with CPJ via email.
According to news reports, the media was exempt from curfew the night the VICE crew was arrested.
“What added insult to injury is that we lost a night of coverage,” Slade said. “We were not able to cover the protests that night. We were not able to cover the aggression by law enforcement that night, so that’s really what kind of stung just as much.”
The Minneapolis Police and Minnesota State Patrol did not respond to CPJ’s emailed 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.
Minneapolis law enforcement officers and protesters are seen amid tear gas on May 30, 2020.
",arrested and released,Minnesota State Patrol,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-08-21 13:57:45.751152+00:00,2024-02-15 16:33:36.648346+00:00,"Police push, fire projectiles at journalists on assignment for New York Times",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalists-say-police-pushed-one-over-wall-fired-projectiles-them-minneapolis/,2024-02-15 16:33:36.558845+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Mike Shum (The New York Times),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"Police officers shoved, threatened and shot projectiles at two freelance journalists while they reported for the New York Times on protests in Minneapolis on May 30, 2020, according to interviews with the journalists and videos of the incidents.
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 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.
Journalists Mike Shum and Katie G. Nelson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they were reporting in the Fifth Precinct of Minneapolis for the Times as an 8 p.m. curfew came into effect.
As seen in a video from local ABC affiliate KSTP, a line of state police formed to the south of the station on Nicollet Avenue. “Please disperse or you will be arrested,” a loudspeaker blares. Within seconds of the warning, the police appear to use flash bang grenades and tear gas. They then begin to advance.
The video shows a line of State Patrol troopers, in maroon pants and helmets, and what appear to be Department of Natural Resources conservation officers in green pants and helmets approaching a group of journalists huddled on the side of the street. As previously reported by the Tracker, State Patrol troopers pepper sprayed the group at close range as the journalists identified themselves as press.
Nelson and Shum had gas masks, but a third person working with them didn’t, Nelson said, so she escorted this person to safety as Shum stayed to film.
Shum and the other journalists fled from the advancing police. Several journalists attempted to turn west off Nicollet Avenue on West 31st Street, but found themselves trapped in an alcove on the corner of a building with no exit. They could either go back into the tear-gas clouded street or try to climb over a wall, Nelson said.
NBC journalist and producer Ed Ou filmed inside the alcove, his head bleeding from an unknown weapon or projectile and his vision blurred by tear gas and pepper spray, he told the Tracker.
Ou’s video shows several journalists climbing over the wall as Shum rounds the corner, several officers right behind him. The officers appear to be wearing green and tan DNR uniforms. As Shum attempts to scale the wall with his large camera, an officer pushes him from behind.
Shum said he heard the officer order him to “get the fuck out of here,” before shoving him. “I was pushed hard enough where I sort of lost control and fell on my shoulder and arm,” he said.
He added he rolled through the fall and suffered superficial injuries as he tried to protect his camera and body.
L.A. Times photographer Carolyn Cole wrote in an account of the incident that an officer also “lifted me up onto the wall and I fell to the other side.” Cole, who said she suffered cornea damage from the State Patrol pepper spraying her at close range, was helped to the hospital by local residents.
DNR spokesman Chris Niskanen said the department respects the freedom of the press but “disagrees with [the Tracker’s] characterization of events.” He didn’t specify why. Niskanen added he couldn’t comment further on the incident because it “may be subject to ongoing litigation initiated against the State of Minnesota by multiple media members.”
Nelson and Shum have joined a lawsuit seeking class-action status filed by the ACLU of Minnesota against Minneapolis and state officials concerning the treatment of journalists covering the Floyd protests.
The Department of Public Safety, which oversees the State Patrol, didn’t respond to the Tracker’s emailed list of questions. In a May 31 press conference, the Chief of the State Patrol, Col. Matt Langer, praised the law-enforcement effort during a dangerous and unpredictable night while also saying: “We are never perfect.”
Shum reunited with Nelson and they continued to report on the dispersal of protesters near the Fifth Precinct police station. About an hour later, the team was filming a couple of people approaching a police line with their hands up near a Kmart a few blocks from where Shum was shoved, Nelson said. A Minneapolis Police officer about fifty feet away pointed a projectile launcher at them, Nelson said.
Nelson said she yelled that they were press, adding there was no question they looked like journalists given their large cameras, ballistic helmets and protective vests.
In a video filmed shortly after that Nelson provided to the Tracker, Minneapolis police officers in a line start ordering people to move. Nelson can be heard warning Shum, “Mike, Mike, Mike, they’re gonna push us. Keep shooting Mike.”
Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder told the Tracker he couldn’t comment on the incident. He added that “every use of force by the MPD is under investigation internally.”
Late into the night, Nelson and Shum were driving a couple of blocks off Lake Street on their way to 38th and Chicago, where protesters had created a memorial on the site of Floyd’s killing.
Nelson turned the car onto a road blocked by a police checkpoint, the journalists told the Tracker. Nelson said the police shined a bright light at them. Blinded, she slowed the car down. Nelson said she yelled that they were press through the open windows of the car.
Nelson said the police yelled “Go home” and “We don’t care” in response.
Nelson pulled a U-turn and drove away as the journalists heard the pinging of projectiles hitting her car. They said they believe the car was hit with pepper balls.
At around the same time, unidentified law-enforcement officers fired projectiles at the car of a television crew for France’s TF1 and arrested them, the Tracker previously reported.
It isn’t clear which law enforcement agency fired the projectiles at Nelson’s car. Protesters, journalists and even law-enforcement officials have had difficulty at times identifying specific officers during the protests. More than a dozen different agencies joined the law-enforcement effort in Minnesota, often wearing similar looking uniforms.
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.
Freelance journalist Mike Shum looks back as a police line advances in Minneapolis’ Fifth Precinct shortly before police push him over a wall on May 30, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,0:20-cv-01302,['DISMISSED'],Class Action,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2020-08-27 14:44:11.998249+00:00,2023-11-03 14:02:40.067318+00:00,"Syracuse police shove photojournalist to ground, damaging his camera equipment",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/syracuse-police-shove-photojournalist-ground-damaging-his-camera-equipment/,2023-11-03 14:02:39.945801+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,camera lens: count of 2,Dennis Nett (Syracuse Post-Standard),,2020-05-30,False,Syracuse,New York (NY),43.04812,-76.14742,"A photojournalist with Syracuse.com and the Post-Standard newspaper was shoved to the ground by a police officer while covering protests in Syracuse, New York, on May 30, 2020, video of the incident shows. The journalist suffered scrapes and bruises and two of his camera lenses were broken.
The protest 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 brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
News photographer Dennis Nett was covering the protests in downtown Syracuse on the night of May 30 with two other photographers and two reporters. John Lammers, senior director of content at Advance Media New York, the parent company for the news outlets, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. At 9:37 p.m., a group of riot police moved to clear the area in front of the Public Safety Building on South State Street of protesters who had broken windows at police headquarters and the nearby criminal courts building, syracuse.com reported.
In a video of the incident recorded by Nett’s camera, the line of officers are seen advancing yelling “move back, get back.” One officer is seen gesturing at Nett and then breaking away from the line of officers, charging towards the journalist, and knocking him to the ground. In a separate video of the incident, Nett can be seen stumbling and then falling over from the assault. The photographer suffered cuts and bruises to his elbow and hip, syracuse.com reported. Lammers told the Tracker that two of Nett’s lenses were damaged from the fall, but that “Dennis kept working with a busted lens and a skinned up elbow and hip.” One of the lenses has been repaired and another isn’t yet repaired due to a Nikon parts shortage, a representative from syracuse.com/The Post-Standard told the Tracker on Aug. 26.
Nett was wearing a press identification card around his neck and had cameras slung from both shoulders, syracuse.com reported. A witness to the incident, Clifford Ryans, told the outlet that he was clearly identifiable as a journalist. “They couldn’t say they didn’t know he was a reporter because he had all the cameras on his person and he was taking a picture as they did it,” Ryans told syracuse.com.
Nett didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.
After conducting a review of the incident, Syracuse Police Chief Kenton Buckner said the officer, whom he identified as Sgt. Todd Cramer, had acted with “reasonable and necessary” force and wouldn’t be disciplined, syracuse.com reported on June 12.
In a video of a press conference posted by syracuse.com, Buckner is shown saying that Nett “didn’t comply with the instructions that we clearly gave him and that put him in harm’s way.” According to the report by syracuse.com, Nett told police in an interview about the incident that he “recalled hearing commands from officers a few seconds before he was shoved…[and] was preparing to move.” Buckner said Cramer “did not know, at that moment, that Nett was a journalist,” according to the website’s report.
Tim Kennedy, president of Advance Media New York, said in a statement that the company was disappointed with the announcement. “Dennis Nett was working in the public service and posed no threat to police. He didn’t deserve to get shoved to the ground, in a way that was neither necessary nor reasonable.”
Lammers told the Tracker there have been no further developments related to the incident.
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.
Law-enforcement officers punctured the tires of news crews and journalists as they reported on multiple days of protests in Minneapolis, according to news reports and an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
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 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.
According to Mother Jones, officers punctured the tires of all vehicles in a Kmart parking lot on May 30 and again on a highway overpass on May 31 after those areas briefly turned into police staging grounds.
At least three journalists and one news team — Andrew Kimmel of AuraNexus; freelance photojournalist Philip Montgomery; Lucas Jackson, a staff photographer for Reuters at the time; and a Radio-Canada news crew that included reporter Philippe Leblanc — reported returning to their respective vehicles after covering protests near the Fifth Precinct to find the tires slashed. Kimmel reported that four CNN vehicles also had their tires slashed.
This tow truck driver has been here all day. He later told me four @CNN vehicles had their tires slashed here as well. There was an entire row of press vehicles that all had to be towed. pic.twitter.com/LG40yxlrde
— Andrew Kimmel (@andrewkimmel) May 31, 2020
Jackson told the Tracker that while he and Montgomery were walking away from their parked cars that evening, police officers from the nearby Fifth Precinct shone flashlights on the photographers. Both put their hands in the air and identified themselves as members of the media, Jackson said. When they returned to their cars in the early hours of May 30, their tires had been punctured. They drove to a nearby parking lot, where they changed Montgomery’s tire (Montgomery did not respond to emailed requests for comment as of press time). Jackson, who didn’t have a spare tire, drove his vehicle to his hotel and called a tow truck the next day.
While he didn’t witness the incident, Jackson told the Tracker he believed officers were responsible because they had been the only people in the area when the photographers had parked their vehicles. Additionally, he said, on several occasions over the following days he had seen officers engaging in similar acts. When police officers “left their precincts to expand their security perimeters, they would puncture vehicle tires” along the way, he said. Spokespeople for both the Minneapolis Police Department and the City of Minneapolis declined to comment, telling the Tracker that the “incident is part of ongoing litigation.”
WCCO reporter Jeff Wagner tweeted about the tire slashings that night, noting in a follow up tweet that he couldn’t confirm whether law enforcement was responsible for the damage.
“If I tried walking up to the officers to ask, I would have been shot at w/ tear gas or a rubber bullet,” he wrote. “They were yelling at us to leave the premises.”
The Tracker is documenting several hundred incidents of journalists being assaulted, arrested, or having their equipment damaged while covering protests across the country. More than 30 press freedom aggressions in Minneapolis and St. Paul affecting 60 journalists have been documented since May 26. You can read them here.
Luke Mogelson, who was on assignment for the New Yorker magazine, told the Tracker that he parked his car on the shoulder of the South Washington Avenue overpass spanning I-35W in downtown Minneapolis on his way to cover protests at the nearby U.S. Bank Stadium on May 31. Other cars were parked in the same fashion, he said.
Many protesters dispersed at the arrival of an 8 p.m. curfew, but others marched to I-35W in the direction of Mogelson’s car, he said. Protesters “found themselves suddenly trapped: in both directions, a few hundred feet away, a wall of police obstructed the highway,” Mogelson wrote in an account in the New Yorker.
Video published by Canada’s Global News shows officers from at least three agencies deploying on the far end of the South Washington Avenue overpass as a crowd runs away. After officers form a perimeter on the block, several puncture the tires of a red car and then Mogelson’s silver rental car. The other cars that were parked near Mogelson’s car had apparently left before the video was filmed after curfew, he said.
Lt. Andy Knotz, a spokesperson for the Anoka County Sheriff, told the Star Tribune that Anoka County deputies punctured the tires on May 31 under orders of the state-led Multi-Agency Command Center, which was coordinating the law enforcement response to the protests.
Minnesota Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bruce Gordon told the Star Tribune that piercing tires was “not a typical tactic,” but “vehicles were being used as dangerous weapons and inhibited our ability to clear areas and keep areas safe where violent protesters were occurring.”
In a June 9 press release, the sheriff’s office said the order was given to deflate the tires of the “illegally abandoned vehicles” for the safety of law enforcement and protesters in the area, adding they “could have been used as deadly mobile weapons as seen on previous days.”
“That argument doesn’t really hold water,” Mogelson told the Tracker, explaining that his vehicle couldn’t have been a threat because it was surrounded by so many law enforcement officers in every direction.
Earlier that afternoon, a tanker truck drove through thousands of protesters marching on I-35W less than half a mile from where Mogelson parked his car, according to news reports. The driver was arrested and released pending investigation.
In the Global News video, Anoka County deputies wearing dark brown pants with a stripe puncture the tires with the assistance of another wearing a full camouflage uniform.
Lt. Knotz of the sheriff’s office told the Tracker he was uncertain which law enforcement agency’s officer was clad in the camouflage uniform. Gordon of the Department of Public Safety didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Capt. Melanie Nelson, a spokesperson for the Minnesota National Guard, told the Tracker it wasn’t involved in the incident. A couple of days before the tire slashing, the Minnesota National Guard tweeted that “not everyone you see in camouflage” is a guardsman.
Mogelson told the Tracker he approached law enforcement officers from several local and state agencies, identified his car to them, and asked them not to tow it. He said he believed in retrospect that his tires were already punctured, but he didn’t realize it at the time. When he returned later to retrieve his car, he said a couple of officers laughed when he learned all four of his tires were punctured.
Mogelson left his vehicle and found a ride to continue reporting at a memorial for George Floyd, he said. The protesters he had followed were corralled at a gas station near the highway, he said. Police across the country have been using a maneuver called kettling to hem in crowds at demonstrations. About 150 protesters in Minneapolis that day were arrested, according to Mogelson’s New Yorker article and other news reports.
Mogelson later filed a report with Minneapolis police to make an insurance claim, he said.
Mogelson said he didn’t want to focus too much attention on the car. “It seems pretty clear they did not know it was my car when they slashed the tires,” he said. “A lot of journalists that were there in Minneapolis were physically abused, harassed and attacked.”
Information in this roundup was gathered from published social media and news reports as well as interviews where noted.
Minneapolis police slash a car’s tires on Washington Avenue by the I-35W highway on-ramp during demonstrations on May 31, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,Media,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-09-02 15:29:42.560303+00:00,2022-03-10 19:35:26.007198+00:00,Reporter struck with pepper balls during live broadcast on Omaha protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-pepper-balls-during-live-broadcast-omaha-protests/,2022-03-10 19:35:25.945752+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Jessika Eidson (KMTV-TV),,2020-05-30,False,Omaha,Nebraska (NE),41.25626,-95.94043,"Jessika Eidson, a reporter for CBS-affiliate KMTV, was hit by projectiles fired by police while reporting live on protests in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 30, 2020, according to footage of the incident.
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 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.
Eidson was reporting on the second night of protests in Omaha, which had moved as the night progressed from 72nd and Dodge Streets to downtown, according to Eidson’s tweets and other news reports.
Shortly before 10:30 p.m., Eidson tweeted protesters had gathered near the police headquarters, where she observed tear gas and fireworks.
Eidson then went live on air to report from the scene near Howard and South 12th Streets. In a video of the incident, Eidson says her crew got a “very painful” whiff of tear gas earlier. She reports she just saw a man throw something at police, just as a bang from a firecracker can be heard. The video feed cuts to a view of the city.
Almost immediately Eidson exclaims, “OK, we gotta go though! I just got hit!” Eidson tweeted that Omaha Police shot at her and her colleague with pepper balls.
It isn’t clear whether Eidson’s crew was targeted by police. “We were several feet away from any officer or protester,” Eidson tweeted. “We had a large tripod, camera and bright light showing we were doing a newscast when I was directly struck twice.”
At a press conference earlier that night, Chief of Police Todd Schmaderer said police deployed tear gas and pepper balls after the protest was declared an unlawful assembly. Lt. Sherie Thomas, a spokesperson for the Omaha Police Department, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the department was conducting an ongoing review of the protests, but didn’t comment specifically about the incident.
Eidson and KMTV didn’t respond to the Tracker’s requests for comment.
In a video update from her home an hour after the incident, Eidson says she and her cameraman were both safe, but she had a large welt on her leg where she was hit.
“I’m doing OK. I have little bit of a cough right now,” she says in the video. “I think I'm going to go inside and maybe drink some milk and see if that helps.”
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 Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
The offices of INDY Week, The News & Observer, and ABC11 in downtown Raleigh, N.C. were damaged during protests in the city on May 30, 2020.
Alternative weekly newspaper INDY Week reported extensive damage to its newsroom, while ABC11 and The News & Observer newspaper both had windows smashed as protests stretched late into the night.
The protests in Raleigh echoed demonstrations across the country sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The newsrooms in Raleigh were damaged late in the first major day of protesting in the city. Demonstrations had been peaceful through the day, but late in the evening, after police began using tear gas to disperse crowds, a small group of people began destroying property in the city’s downtown.
INDY Week Raleigh news editor Leigh Tauss told U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she had returned to the office while covering the protests to wash her face off and get some water, after she had been caught up in tear gas. She was in the back of the ground-floor office near the water cooler, shortly before 10 p.m., when she heard the window shatter, she said.
She sank down to the floor and called her editor, before she moved out toward the front of the office and saw a brick had been thrown through the window, she said. She posted about the damage on Twitter.
Tauss said she tried to leave the office then, but when she stepped outside, there was more tear gas in the street so she came back inside. She was in the hallway when she heard someone enter the office and ducked into the basement to hide. After waiting for a few minutes, she got a text from another journalist who was outside and who told her it was clear for her to leave. She posted on Twitter at that point that it appeared that someone had tried to take water, but no computers were missing.
Later that night, according to Tauss, somebody entered the office and caused more extensive damage. Large windows were entirely smashed. Couches in the office were set on fire, setting off the sprinkler system. While other equipment was damaged by the water, her desktop computer went missing, she said.
I’m devastated. We are a progressive newspaper. Last night I was inside when the first brick was thrown #Raleigh pic.twitter.com/MJvPdscyqf
— Leigh Tauss (@LeighTauss) May 31, 2020
The three offices were just some of many businesses damaged in the city. According to an article in the News & Observer, “nearly every” business in Raleigh’s downtown area was damaged overnight.
A spokesperson for the Raleigh Police Department said police were aware of damage to INDY Week and the News & Observer. There haven’t been any arrests related to the incidents, according to the department.
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.
INDY Week Raleigh news editor Leigh Tauss was washing off tear gas in the North Carolina newsroom when the vandalizing began. “I’m devastated,” she said the next day posting the damage — burned furniture, water damage and stolen equipment.
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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.
Jika González, a producer for VICE Media, and three colleagues were arrested on May 30 in Minneapolis, for being out after curfew while covering ongoing protests.
The protests were held in response to the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis on May 25. During an arrest, a white Minneapolis Police officer kneeled on Floyd’s neck and ignored Floyd’s pleas that he could not breathe. Floyd was later pronounced dead in a hospital.
González told the Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, that she was reporting on protests in downtown Minneapolis with VICE film crew members Alzo Slade, Ellis Rua, and Dave Mayers. The crew was following protesters when police began forming a line to block the protest’s progression, González said.
“We stayed to get a few shots of police forming the line, and then the first thing of [an irritant] was launched,” said González, who referred to police when she meant Minnesota State Troopers. The crew ducked into a side alley off of the main avenue, the journalist said.
“We were thinking that police had established that line and were going to stay there because this march was very peaceful,” González said. Law enforcement then came around the corner and started yelling at the journalists to get on the ground, and they complied, she said.
González said she could see Slade and Mayer but Rua was behind her. Her colleagues were lying on the ground. González said she was kneeling on the ground with her hands up. Her mask was on halfway.
González said that an officer approached Slade, who said they were press. The state trooper glanced at his press badge before taking him away.
Troopers took Mayer and then González to a holding vehicle that was partitioned by gender. González was held with a woman who was not a journalist, she said. Rua was then brought to the other side of the vehicle to join Mayer and Slade.
The detention took place near Nicollet and Franklin Avenues in downtown Minneapolis, according to the citation that was later issued. The Tracker documents all arrests separately.
González said her hands were ziptied. A trooper removed her gas mask and ignored her request for a medical mask, she said.
Troopers put the journalists' equipment — including several cameras and microphones — into bags and took them along with the journalists to the precinct. Troopers also confiscated the crew’s cellphones, González said.
“There was no way protesters would be carrying all of those cameras,” González said.
When they got to the precinct, law enforcement deliberated over what citation they should use to process the journalists, according to González. At no point was the team read their Miranda rights, the journalist noted.
González said she again requested a surgical mask and was given one by police.
Eventually, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office charged the journalists with violating curfew, according to the citation viewed by CPJ.
As the police were walking González out of the precinct, she said one of the officers mentioned thinking that they weren’t supposed to arrest “you guys,” meaning journalists. González said another officer responded, “Well, now you can put it on your resume.”
The crew’s equipment, including their cellphones, was returned during their release and no footage was deleted, González said.
According to news reports, the media was exempt from curfew the night the VICE crew was arrested.
About a week after the arrest, González received via mail a court summons from the Hennepin County District Court for October 26, according to a copy of the summons that was seen by CPJ.
A VICE spokesperson told CPJ that the Commissioner for the Department of Corrections has said the charges will be dropped.
But as of late September, González told CPJ that she had not yet received any notification of dropped charges.
Ellis Rua, a camera operator for VICE Media, and three colleagues were arrested on May 30, 2020, in Minneapolis for being out after curfew while covering ongoing protests, Rua told the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The protests were held in response to the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis on May 25. During an arrest, a white Minneapolis Police officer kneeled on Floyd’s neck and ignored Floyd’s pleas that he could not breathe. Floyd was later pronounced dead in a hospital.
Rua said that he and the VICE crew — Alzo Slade, Jika González, and Dave Mayers — were spending time with protesters at a food distribution center when they decided to follow a protest that was starting up so they could get B-roll.
Police appeared in front of the group of protesters and the journalists, obstructing their way forward, and began firing tear gas, Rua said. Law enforcement emerged from vehicles labeled as belonging to Minnesota State Troopers. They were wearing riot gear that also identified them as state troopers, according to Mayers.
When law enforcement started firing tear gas, Rua suggested the crew find a corner to put on their gas masks. Rua didn’t think the state troopers would arrest journalists with press passes. But the troopers approached the journalists and told them to get on the ground, Rua said. The group complied.
One of the officers said he would need to speak to his commander. The officer spoke with someone by phone, and then told the journalists that they were under arrest, Rua said.
“I was quite surprised,” Rua said. “We did identify ourselves as press, but they still proceeded to arrest us.”
The detention took place near Nicollet and Franklin Avenues in downtown Minneapolis, according to the citation that was later issued.
Rua was carrying a gas mask with canisters, a helmet, and a camera. The rest of the crew had other equipment including two Sony Fs7 cameras and multiple lenses, according to Rua.
Initially law enforcement used plastic ties to secure the wrists of all four crew members, Rua said. First Slade, then Mayers, and then González were walked to a police vehicle, while Rua was left waiting in the side street for what he said felt like 15 to 30 minutes before he was also brought to the vehicle.
The journalists were then taken to a police building where the plastic zip ties were replaced with metal handcuffs and they were fingerprinted, Rua said. The journalists were not allowed to make a phone call or read their Miranda rights at any point during their detention, Rua said.
Each of the journalists was given a citation for breaking curfew from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department, the journalist said. They were expected to appear in court in late October.
Eventually, Rua and Mayers were notified that the charges against them have been dropped. As of late September, Slade and González were still waiting for a similar notification.
Dave Mayers, a producer for VICE Media, and three colleagues were arrested on May 30, 2020, in Minneapolis for being out after curfew while covering ongoing protests.
The protests were held in response to the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis on May 25. During an arrest, a white Minneapolis Police officer kneeled on Floyd’s neck and ignored Floyd’s pleas that he could not breathe. Floyd was later pronounced dead in a hospital.
Mayers told the Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, that he was reporting on protesters in downtown Minneapolis with three VICE journalists — Alzo Slade, Jika González, and Ellis Rua — prior to their arrests.
The journalists were following a protest at about 8:10 p.m. when several state troopers pulled up in front of them, Mayers said. “They pop out of their cars and they have state trooper body armor on and tear gas launchers and stuff. They cut the protest off from being able to head downtown.”
Mayers said that he and González, a VICE producer, were filming the line of officers when the troopers started firing tear gas toward the crowd.
“It was unprovoked,” Mayers said. “It was a very peaceful protest and didn’t seem like it was going to be confrontational in any way and it turned confrontational very, very quickly. It was the police that ratcheted it up.”
Mayers said he heard a state trooper tell a colleague to get one of the protesters just before the troopers shot tear gas.
Mayers said he saw a yellow tear gas canister hit a person who was standing in front of a correspondent from another network. Once the crew decided that the state troopers were shooting tear gas indiscriminately, they ran down a narrow side street and put on their masks. Yellow and white gas swirled in the air. Mayers said he saw the troopers advancing from the main street.
“One of the police looks down [the side street] at us and points a gun at us and says, ‘Get down, get down, get down,’” said Mayers, who used police interchangeably with state troopers and other law enforcement. Slade’s microphone was still on. Mayers was wearing an earpiece that connected to the microphone and was able to hear Slade clearly.
“At this moment, I was terrified,” Mayers said, noting that the crew included three Black men and González, who’s Latina.
As the state troopers approached, the crew yelled that they were members of the press. The state troopers looked at Slade’s VICE-issued press pass, handcuffed him with zip ties and took him to a police van, Mayers said.
“They looked at my ID and I asked, ‘What are we being arrested for?’” Mayers said. “They didn’t really answer, and did the same thing.” The state troopers handcuffed Mayers with zip ties too.
“We shouldn’t have looked like anything other than press,” Mayers said. “We had tens of thousands of dollars of camera equipment on us.”
The detention took place near Nicollet and Franklin Avenues in downtown Minneapolis, according to the citation that was later issued.
Police took Mayers’ camera, put it in a plastic bag, removed his gas mask, and led him into the police van next to Slade, Mayers said. The van, he said, was in the middle of a street where tear gas had just been released. Mayers and Slade were both coughing from the gas that hung in the air.
They waited in the van for about an hour before moving, Mayers said. The van was partitioned with Rua, a VICE camera operator, later joining Slade and Mayers. González was on the other side of the van with a woman who was not a journalist, Mayers said.
The journalists were transported to the Hennepin County Jail. Their gear was brought there in plastic bags, Mayers said. They waited in the police vehicle while the police determined their charges. Law enforcement included officers from Hennepin and a second county, the journalist said.
Police then took the journalists out of the vehicle and into the jail where each crew member was fingerprinted and photographed, Mayers said. While they were fingerprinted, their plastic zip ties were replaced with metal cuffs, Mayers said.
The journalist said he didn’t see any other people being processed aside from the VICE crew and the woman who was arrested with them though there were about 50 police in the facility, Mayers said.
Each member of the VICE crew was charged with violating curfew, according to the journalists.
After about four hours, the journalists were released and their equipment was returned without damage, Mayers said. The crew walked back to their hotel because their vehicle was in the opposite direction, he said.
Mayers said that a VICE lawyer told the crew their charges would be dismissed. Weeks later, the crew members received a court summons in the mail.
The journalist received a letter dated August 4, 2020, from the Deputy City Attorney for the City of Minneapolis stating that the charges were dismissed, a copy of which was seen by CPJ.
A reporter for the Fayetteville Observer said he was hit, knocked unconscious and kicked while he and a colleague livestreamed the looting of stores in a North Carolina shopping mall on the night of May 30, 2020.
A group of people broke into the Cross Creek Mall about six miles west of downtown Fayetteville following protests earlier that day against police violence in the city’s downtown. Demonstrations had erupted nationwide days before, following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, while he was in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.
Paul Woolverton, a senior state reporter for the Observer, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he headed downtown to start reporting on the protests at around 7 p.m. This was shortly after people had set fire to the Market House, a historic downtown Fayetteville building that was once the site of a market for enslaved people.
Woolverton said the Market House was still burning when he arrived downtown, where he saw people acting aggressively toward TV camera people nearby. He said he wore press credentials in full view on a lanyard around his neck, and that he was carrying a notebook, pens, cellphone and selfie stick. While downtown, he ran into colleague Melody Brown-Peyton, and the two decided to stick together. Downtown Fayetteville would later be closed to all traffic, so the pair drove in Brown-Peyton’s car to the Cross Creek Mall, where they heard that looting was taking place. They stopped at Woolverton’s home on the way to get his camera.
Woolverton and Brown-Peyton parked across the street from the mall and walked over to it. They saw a group of white men with pickup trucks and long guns, and saw people running out of a J.C. Penney store with dresses and other merchandise.
“It was kind of ‘Mad Max’-looking,” Woolverton said.
Woolverton was struck and knocked unconscious just after 11 p.m.. by an unknown male assailant, Brown-Peyton told the Fayetteville Observer. He was livestreaming on Facebook at the time and video from the scene cuts off a few seconds before he was hit. Woolverton said he was trying to be careful about raising the phone because he was aware that it would attract attention. He remembers hearing the man who attacked him say “Don’t be taking no pictures,” before he grabbed Woolverton’s selfie stick and phone.
“My memory is him grabbing at my cellphone, me yelling at him, struggling with him upright,” Woolverton said. “My next memory is waking up and a police officer next to me.”
Brown-Peyton told him the attacker got into a pickup truck and drove away. She also told Woolverton that he was lying down with his eyes rolling back.
“I have no memory of the conversation,” Woolverton said. “I didn’t know my phone number, I didn't know why I was at the mall or how I got there.”
Brown-Peyton contacted Woolverton’s editor and his girlfriend, and they went to the hospital. Brown-Peyton told Woolverton the assailant was struggling to get hold of Woolverton’s camera, but he couldn’t because of the strap. The attacker also kicked Woolverton when he was unconscious on the ground. Woolverton’s camera bag was ripped and his camera was slightly scuffed.
On the morning of May 31, 2020, Woolverton tweeted: “Got a knot on my head, scrapes, bruises from head to foot and a concussion. The looters at Cross Creek Mall didn’t like that I was shooting video (see their activities on the @fayobserver Facebook page). I am told I was kicked and punched but don’t remember that.”
Woolverton filed a police report after the incident, but police didn’t identify the suspect. The Fayetteville Police Department didn’t respond to a request for updates on the case.
Woolverton said he didn’t know whether he had been targeted for being a journalist. “I think he just saw a guy with a camera.”
He told the Observer that this was the first time anyone had attacked him while he was doing his job in 30 years as a journalist, and that he felt lucky his colleague was by his side.
“I was trying to be situationally aware, but it came really fast out of the blue. A big lesson is don't go alone,” Woolverton said. “Thank God Melody was there.”
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.
In North Carolina, Fayetteville Observer senior reporter Paul Woolverton was knocked unconscious while livestreaming looters on May 30, 2020. He was treated for a concussion and other injuries.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private individual,None,None,False,False,None,None,private individual,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,None,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest",,, 2020-10-12 18:36:12.517442+00:00,2020-10-12 18:42:28.408960+00:00,"Photojournalist tackled, colleague assaulted, while covering protests in New York",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-tackled-colleague-assaulted-while-covering-protests-new-york/,2020-10-12 18:42:28.339490+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Jack Diamond (WHEC-TV),,2020-05-30,False,Rochester,New York (NY),43.15478,-77.61556,"Unknown individuals physically assaulted two journalists covering protests on May 30, 2020 in Rochester, New York, allegedly tackling one of the correspondents to the ground.
Jack Diamond, a photojournalist for News10NBC in Rochester, was covering a demonstration alongside his colleague, reporter Andrew Hyman, at about 5 p.m. in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park.
The rally attracted hundreds of attendees and was mostly peaceful, Hyman told News10NBC for its report on the assault on him and Diamond.
A group of police at the scene began firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd. Thereafter, Hyman said an individual approached him, asking him questions about his support for the Black Lives Matter movement, recording the exchange with a smartphone.
Hyman told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the inquisition attracted the attention of five or six men passing nearby. One of the men snatched Hyman’s earpiece, which was connected to a smartphone he was using to cover the demonstrations. Then the others began shoving him. The Tracker has documented Hyman’s assault and the damage to his equipment here.
“I was just out of it,” Hyman told the Tracker, noting that his assailants were all wearing masks. “I couldn’t see their faces.”
As the reporter tried to flee from the scuffle, he looked back and saw that some individuals had tackled Diamond and took him off his feet.
But then two or three other individuals who were not involved with the tackle helped the photojournalist to his feet and he was able to escape without injuries or damage to his equipment, Hyman said.
“In the parking lot across from the Public Safety Building, News10NBC Photojournalist Jack Diamond and I were both grabbed by a group,” Hyman told News10NBC. “I had my earpiece taken, and Jack was tackled. We were not hurt, just shaken up.
Hyman told the Tracker that neither journalist sought medical attention following the attack. He said that the Rochester Police Department contacted him about the incident but as of his Aug. 18 interview with the Tracker he had not received additional information about possible charges against the assailants.
Diamond and the Rochester Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.
A TV reporter and photojournalist with the Rochester, New York, NBC affiliate were assaulted by unknown men while covering a protest on May 30, 2020.
Reporter Andrew Hyman told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was covering the protests for News10NBC in Rochester alongside station photographer Jack Diamond when the incident occurred.
Hyman said that a man approached him, took out a phone and began recording while asking the reporter questions about his support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Hyman said he declined to provide direct answers to the queries, which appeared to agitate the individual.
“I was just trying to be an unbiased journalist,” he said.
At that point, several other individuals approached Hyman. One of the individuals grabbed an earpiece that Hyman had plugged into a smartphone to broadcast coverage of the demonstrations to Facebook Live, Hyman said. He said he didn’t get a good look at the person who took the earpiece.
Hyman said five or six men — all wearing masks — spotted the exchange and approached his location. A scuffle ensued. Hyman said the men pushed him a few times but he managed to flee the area without injury.
The reporter said he looked back and noticed that Diamond was not with him. Diamond had been tackled to the ground. Other individuals at the scene helped the cameraman to his feet, Hyman said. The Tracker has documented Diamond’s assault here.
After regrouping with Diamond, the two NBC10 journalists continued coverage of the protest and broadcast their reporting to Facebook Live.
Neither sought medical attention. Hyman did not report the loss of his equipment to police. He said that police reached out to him after NBC10 posted video of the incident online and told him they “wanted to look into” the attack.
Hyman said he gave police raw footage that shows the person who made the initial contact with him, but he had not received any updates from authorities as of press time.
The Rochester Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on Hyman’s case.
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.
Lucas Jackson, a staff photographer for Reuters at the time, was hit by law enforcement with a pepper ball while covering protests against police violence in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Jackson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and other photojournalists had been documenting people throwing firecrackers at the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fifth Precinct and breaking into nearby local businesses on the night of May 29 and into the morning of May 30. At roughly 1 a.m. on May 30, he said, officers began to fire tear gas at protesters who had gathered in the street outside a Wells Fargo bank on Nicollet Avenue.
As the photographers were taking pictures of the crowd dispersing, Jackson said, officers started to fire less lethal weapons at their group. Jackson was hit with a large-caliber rubber bullet on the rear end, leaving a “massive” bruise, he said. Photographer Philip Montgomery was hit in the chest, Jackson said, as were other journalists in their group. Montgomery did not respond to emails seeking comment on the incident.
Jackson and the group left the scene and walked back to their cars, only to find that their tires had been punctured, an incident the Tracker has documented here.
Spokespeople for both the Minneapolis Police Department and the City of Minneapolis declined to comment, telling the Tracker in separate emails that the “incident is part of ongoing litigation.”
Jackson told the Tracker that he and his fellow photographers had been standing on the sidewalk, off to the side from the protesters, when the police started to fire the less lethal weapons. “We were all carrying cameras and wearing helmets, so it was fairly obvious we were not generic protesters,” he said.
In addition to his photographic equipment and helmet, Jackson said he was wearing his press credential and a gas mask, and that other journalists in the group were wearing vests that said “press” in big letters. “I don’t know if we were specifically targeted, but they knew that we weren’t protesters and they still shot at us,” Jackson said. “It’s the only place I’ve been where I’ve had the police specifically aim at me with their less lethal stuff.”
Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May. They 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 on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
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.
A window on the door of the Indianapolis Star was shattered during protests against police violence in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 30, 2020.
At 10:23 p.m., Indianapolis Star investigative reporter Ryan Martin posted on Twitter that the front door of the Star’s newsroom had been broken. The damage to the newspaper’s office in downtown Indianapolis came as violence and damage to other city businesses was reported.
— Ryan Martin (@ryanmartin) May 31, 2020
The protests, sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25, had been peaceful during the day, but tension grew in the evening, the Star reported. At around 9 p.m., police declared the remaining protest an unlawful assembly and told demonstrators to disperse. Soon after, the Star reported, police began using tear gas.
In a tweet at 9:49 p.m., Martin wrote that it was “getting really tense down here,” and mentioned broken glass and shouting.
Less than an hour later, he posted that the door window had been broken. “Chaotic stuff happening outside,” he wrote. A photo he shared on Twitter showed that the pane of glass had been smashed, scattering shards throughout the entryway.
Martin told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an email that someone had spray-painted the wall outside near the damaged door. He didn’t know how the window had been broken.
The intent of the damage was unclear. “To the average person, that door and wall could be mistaken for an entrance to Circle Centre Mall; not a newsroom entrance,” Martin wrote.
Indianapolis Star Senior News Director Ginger Rough didn’t respond to requests for additional comment. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department didn’t respond to an inquiry about the damage.
Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
The 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.
A photojournalist was assaulted while assisting a Fox 13 News crew during protests in Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 30, 2020.
Fox 13 correspondent Sydney Glenn wrote on Twitter that she, her unnamed colleague and a photojournalist from another station were assessing damage to a Fox 13 news vehicle when a crowd attacked the two photojournalists. The Tracker has documented the assault of the Fox News 13 photojournalist and damage to the outlet’s vehicle here.
This. Is. Unacceptable. Tonight a group of protestors attacked my co-worker.. a very talented photojournalist as we were assessing the damage to our @fox13 news car after it was smashed. A kind photojournalist from another station was helping and attacked as well. pic.twitter.com/ic3bDOOBle
— Sydney Glenn (@SydneyGlennTV) May 31, 2020
Glenn did not respond to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s calls or emails requesting comment. When emailed for comment, Fox 13 News Director Marc Sternfield said, “At the request of those involved, we are not releasing additional information about the incident.”
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the group Utah Against Police Brutality had organized a car caravan protest, but that individuals took to the streets when there were not enough vehicles to fit all the demonstrators.
Following looting and vandalism, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall announced an 8 p.m. curfew. Salt Lake City Police Department officers were joined by police from 13 cities and up to 200 National Guardsmen.
Detective Greg Wilking of the SLCPD confirmed to the Tracker that two photojournalists were “roughed up.”
“There were so many things happening that day that we didn’t even break the incident with the journalists down into a separate report,” he added.
The SLCPD did not respond to the Tracker’s requests for additional information about the incident or whether arrests were made in connection with the assault or vehicle damage.
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.
A photojournalist for Fox 13 News was attacked while covering protests in Salt Lake City, Utah, on May 30, 2020.
Fox 13 correspondent Sydney Glenn wrote on Twitter that she, her unnamed colleague and a photojournalist from another station were assessing damage to the Fox 13 news vehicle when a crowd attacked the two photojournalists. She also shared an image of her colleague, who appeared to have abrasions on his right arm and calf.
This. Is. Unacceptable. Tonight a group of protestors attacked my co-worker.. a very talented photojournalist as we were assessing the damage to our @fox13 news car after it was smashed. A kind photojournalist from another station was helping and attacked as well. pic.twitter.com/ic3bDOOBle
— Sydney Glenn (@SydneyGlennTV) May 31, 2020
In the image posted by Glenn, the van appears to have a shattered windshield. It is unclear what, if any, injuries the second photojournalist sustained, which the Tracker has documented here.
Glenn did not respond to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s calls or emails requesting comment. When emailed for comment, Fox 13 News Director Marc Sternfield said, “At the request of those involved, we are not releasing additional information about the incident.”
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the group Utah Against Police Brutality had organized a car caravan protest, but individuals took to the streets when there were not enough vehicles to fit all the demonstrators.
Following looting and vandalism, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall announced an 8 p.m. curfew. Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD) officers were joined by police from 13 cities and up to 200 National Guardsmen.
Detective Greg Wilking of the Salt Lake City Police Department confirmed to the Tracker that the two photojournalists were “roughed up.”
“There were so many things happening that day that we didn’t even break the incident with the journalists down into a separate report,” he added.
The SLCPD did not respond to the Tracker’s requests for additional information about the incident or whether arrests were made in connection with the assault or vehicle damage.
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.
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",,, 2020-12-04 20:37:59.843180+00:00,2022-03-10 21:14:11.643076+00:00,Video journalist hit in head with projectile during DC protests,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/video-journalist-hit-head-projectile-during-dc-protests/,2022-03-10 21:14:11.587467+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Ford Fischer (Zenger),,2020-05-30,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"Ford Fischer, co-founder and editor-in-chief of News2Share, was struck with crowd control munitions twice while on assignment for digital wire service Zenger covering protests in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2020.
The Washington protests were part of a surge of demonstrations across the country, sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis.
Fisher, whose video news service focuses on "the latest on politics and activism,” told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was watching a “stand-off” between riot officers and protesters in front of the White House in Lafayette Park. He said some demonstrators threw objects at police and ignited fireworks, and officers pushed back and shot crowd control munitions.
“At one point during that chaos I did get a sharp sting into my gut, and I was able to feel that it was a pepper ball because it releases a pepper-spray equivalent around it,” Fischer said. “But that was far enough from my face that it didn’t have the sort of blinding effect that being maced or taking a pepper ball closer to the face would have, so I essentially ignored it.”
At around 11:45 p.m., Fischer said that fireworks set off by a protester landed somewhere between where he was standing and the officers.
“I made a remark into my stream, jokingly, to the effect of, ‘Sorry, a firework blew up next to my head,’ and I was saying that because it was probably extremely loud to people watching,” Fischer said. That clip can be viewed here. The scene is then relatively quiet, until “about 20 seconds later, there was a pepper round that was shot and that hit my right shoulder,” Fischer said.
Fischer said that the round exploded close enough to his face that he felt the chemical irritant powder, which he said left him blinded for several minutes. He posted an image of the abrasion on his shoulder on Facebook.
Throughout the night, Fischer said, he heard a “rat-tat-tat-tat-tat” of officers firing off multiple rounds of pepper balls. When he was struck the second time, he said that he could hear only one shot fired. Because of that, he believes he was targeted: “I don’t think anybody could have focused in on me and seen anything other than a journalist.” Fischer said he was wearing his Congressional and White House press passes around his neck and carrying a “studio-sized” video camera.
“There was somebody who very quickly came to my aid and poured water in my eyes,” Fischer said. “And I was still kind of struggling as I walked north-bound away from it.”
“Because I was still in residual pain and shaken up from that, I ended up leaving that protest pretty early,” Fischer said. “Once there was a safe way to exit, I did so.”
In Fischer’s footage from that night, some law enforcement officers appear to be carrying shields labeled with “military police” and “U.S. Park Police,” but it was not immediately clear to which agency the officers shooting belonged. Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
The following night, Fischer was struck in the forehead with a rubber bullet and detained by police. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented those incidents here.
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.
KATV News reporter Shelby Rose said she and several colleagues were hit with tear gas deployed by police while they covered protests in Little Rock, Arkansas, on May 30, 2020.
The demonstrations in Little Rock were among many anti-racism protests across the country that were sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, as well as other deaths of Black people at the hands of police.
Rose was covering the protests in downtown Little Rock as tensions escalated between police and protesters. According to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Arkansas State Police used tear gas multiple times that night to disperse protesters who gathered in the city’s downtown.
Rose said she and four other KATV journalists were first hit with tear gas when they stood near a small group of protesters, shortly after the Arkansas State Police arrived. One journalist, digital reporter Paige Cushman, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she had seen police using tear gas indiscriminately in a different area shortly before the news team was hit with it, and said she didn’t believe the news team had been targeted.
Rose said there were a handful of protesters near where she was standing with her colleagues, preparing for a live broadcast. She and members of her team were clearly identified as journalists. They were wearing polos with the KATV news logo and carrying camera equipment, including a powerful light used to shoot video, she said.
“There was no warning for tear gas,” she said. “They shot it right at us.”
In a live broadcast shot immediately after tear gas was used, Rose walked along a sidewalk, with protesters visible nearby, describing the effects. “My eyes are currently burning right now,” she said.
In a clip from a Facebook Live video recorded by a colleague, Rose and other members of the team kneel on the ground, as someone helps her pour water in her eyes.
Rose said she believes police intentionally fired tear gas toward her. “It was obvious who we were, and we were standing right next to them.”
Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said in an email that the incident hadn’t been reported to the agency. He said police wouldn’t have fired on reporters standing near the police line, because the officers wouldn’t have deployed tear gas on themselves. “I assure you no tear gas was directed at any state troopers or reporters.”
He also said police always issue a loud warning to disperse before using tear gas. Rose said she heard no announcement from police before the tear gas was deployed.
About 15 minutes later, Rose was standing on a corner on Martin Luther King Drive with no protesters near her when a tear gas canister landed near her, she said.
Video reviewed by the Tracker that was shot as Rose was broadcasting live shows a line of police carrying riot shields, blocking a street. A tear gas canister appears to be shot from the line of police, alight and trailed by a shower of sparks. As she reported on the scene, Rose initially called the canisters “fireworks,” before she realized they were tear gas.
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.
Pete Freedman, the co-founder and editor of the Dallas alternative news site Central Track, was hit with a flash-bang grenade while he was reporting on a protest in the Texas city on May 30, 2020.
The protest against police brutality and racial injustice in Dallas was one of many held across the country in response to a video of the police killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25.
Demonstrators gathered outside City Hall in Dallas early in the afternoon and briefly marched through downtown, The Dallas Morning News reported. When the protest returned to the plaza, confrontations escalated with police, and law enforcement used tear gas and flash bangs on the crowd.
Freedman told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he started livestreaming the demonstration from around 3 or 4 p.m. He said tensions between protesters and police were high, with protesters shouting their frustrations at police, and police shouting instructions at the demonstrators. At one point, he said, a SWAT team arrived in armored trucks, shouting at protesters to move back onto the plaza from the street, and deploying tear gas on the crowd.
Freedman said he was trying to get to the other side of City Hall around the east side of the building, but the police would only allow people to leave by going around the west side. He said he was walking with a crowd of people against the building while police fired flash-bang grenades and tear gas toward them.
In a video posted on Instagram, Freedman can be seen walking with protesters as police move the group toward the City Hall building.
“They are literally putting our backs up against the wall here,” he says.
At the 33:30 mark, Freedman’s camera is pointing out to the empty plaza in front of the building, when a canister can be seen passing by before an orange flash in the lower right side of the frame. Freedman told the Tracker that was when the device hit him in the leg and exploded.
“There's no avoiding it,” he said. “It skirts right into my path and it happens to, like, explode right as it hits like my shin.”
Freedman said he was wearing a press badge, including his photo, outlet and the words “press” and “media,” on a lanyard. He said he didn’t believe he was targeted because he was a journalist. He said that the use of crowd-control devices seemed indiscriminate.
“The scary thing to me was that there was no regard for who anybody was,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Dallas Police Department told the Tracker they couldn’t find any record of the incident.
The explosion shocked him, he said. When he looked down a little while later, he said he saw he was bleeding. The device left him with a bruise and a cut, altogether the size of a baseball. He said the wound wasn’t very deep and he was able to follow the protests for the next eight hours without treating it, but it took about a month to fully heal.
Freedman said that he has covered many protests in Dallas in the past, but after he was hit with the flash-bang grenade, he was more alert about how to identify himself as a journalist. A few days later, he said he bought a vest marked “PRESS.”
“Covering the rest of the summer I think I was much more aware of maybe having to better identify myself,” he said.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
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.
Documentary filmmaker Christopher Frierson was pepper-sprayed in the face by police while he filmed a protest in the Brooklyn borough of New York on May 30, 2020.
The protest was among the many demonstrations that broke out in response to police violence and in support of Black Lives Matter following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Frierson, whose work includes the award-winning documentary “The King” and the forthcoming “Don’t Try to Understand,” said in an interview with Democracy Now that the May 30 protest in Brooklyn had been peaceful until a woman threw a water bottle toward police from the group he was filming. He said that police began running toward the group spraying liquid at people, including him.
The Tracker couldn’t reach Frierson for comment.
Video Frierson recorded shows an officer in a helmet and face shield approaching and directing a stream of liquid in the direction of the camera from several feet away. The camera points toward the ground and Frierson can be heard groaning. He told Democracy Now that it was the second most painful experience in his life.
“I think that it’s more than the pain,” he said in the interview. “It’s just not knowing what’s happening all of a sudden, because you’re robbed of your sight. You’re robbed of your senses.”
Frierson kept the camera rolling after he was sprayed. Shortly after, voices can be heard around him asking if he had been sprayed and helping to treat him. Someone pours a liquid into his eyes and on his face, explaining that it will reduce the stinging, and wiping his face and nose.
“They got me right in the face, I saw it happening,” Frierson says in the video.
Frierson was incapacitated, unable to see, for more than 10 minutes after he was sprayed, according to The Guardian.
The Guardian reported that Frierson was clearly displaying a press badge at the time he was sprayed.
“I’d assumed they wouldn’t do anything to me because I was press and I had a camera in my arms, but I found out that I was wrong,” Frierson told the Guardian.
The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
A KMTV 3 News Now car was found vandalized in the early morning hours of May 30, 2020, while the reporter was covering protests against police violence in Omaha, Nebraska.
Reporters from KMTV 3 News Now, a CBS-affiliate station, were documenting protests that began across the U.S. in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25.
According to the Omaha World-Herald, thousands of protesters gathered at 72nd and Dodge, one of Omaha’s busiest intersections on May 29th. Deputy Chief Ken Kanger said that there was generally no violence and harm, according to the World-Herald, but as of 10:30 p.m. Lt. Sherie Thomas said the demonstration was no longer peaceful.
KMTV-TV 3 News Now News Director Geoffrey Roth told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news vehicle was parked about 3 blocks away from the protests as a safety precaution. Roth said a reporter returned to the car shortly after midnight on the 30th to find it spray painted with profanity and what appeared to be gang symbols, but there was no other damage.
“The vandalizing of our news vehicle was only a small part of what happened to our reporters in the field that evening,” he said. “Two were shoved to the ground by police officers while covering the protest that night and another was threatened with arrest.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
Brad Svenson, a Minnesota-based journalist who runs the social media outlet Watchdog Citizen News, said he was hit with a crowd-control round fired by a Minnesota State Patrol trooper while covering a protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Months of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody. Svenson, who videos and live-streams protests, told the Tracker he was covering a protest near the intersection of Nicollet Avenue and Lake Street in Minneapolis.
He said he was in a parking lot near an apartment complex and saw other journalists who had apparently been hit by crowd-control munitions. As a line of law enforcement officers was coming up the street, Svenson said he and another member of the press went over to see if the other journalists were OK.
Svenson said he was holding up his press badge, a card he made that had his photograph and the word “PRESS” in large letters, to the officers as they advanced. He said he saw that the officers were holding weapons, so he shouted out “press” to identify himself and turned around and started walking away.
As he was walking, he said, a Minnesota State Patrol trooper shot him with a bean-bag round, a crowd-control projectile consisting of a fabric bag filled with lead shot. The round hit him in the back just below his left armpit.
Svenson said the impact was painful and it hurt to breathe after he was hit, but he didn’t think it broke a rib. He said he was able to continue to cover protests for the next several weeks. Svenson said he has been in treatment for PTSD after covering protests in 2020, and believes that being shot with the munition was “the catalyst.”
Svenson believes he was targeted for being a journalist.
MSP didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Johnathen Duran, content editor at Colorado-based Yellow Scene Magazine, said he was shot with pepper balls and hit with tear gas while livestreaming from a Black Lives Matter protest in Denver on May 30, 2020.
“I was shot in the arm and foot with pepper balls,” Duran, who writes under the name De La Vaca, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “This was at approximately 5:40-6 p.m.,” he said, adding that police officers used chemical agents including smoke bombs and pepper balls, as well as flash-bang grenades, on protesters in a dirt lot adjacent to the city’s Civic Center Station.
“I was on the far sidewalk, taking photographs while wearing a press badge,” he said. “I was subsequently hit with tear gas twice, once on the Capitol lawn, and the second time of which forced me to leave the protest to recover.”
Duran shared images with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker of bruising on his arms, which he said were caused by the pepper balls.
A Denver Police Force spokesperson said the department didn’t have a record of the incident. However, the spokesperson said the department had undertaken a review of its response to the large-scale demonstrations in the city following the killing of George Floyd, some of which escalated into violence.
The department reviewed the use and tracking of “less-than-lethal” munitions, the processes for documenting use of force during protests, the use of body cameras and improving dispersal orders, among other issues.
Fox News correspondent Leland Vittert and his new crew were chased out of Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Park by a mob of people on May 30, 2020.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Vittert told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he arrived with photojournalist Christian Galdabini and two Fox security officers to report on the protests near the White House at about 8:30 p.m.
The protest was “entirely peaceful” during the early evening, Vittert said, but grew more restless later into the night.
Around midnight, one protester wearing a black and white bandana kept approaching them, questioning which outlet they worked for and why they were there.
“Typically when that happens in the field it’s not really a good sign,” Vittert said. “My answer typically is to demure and move on and not really address anything.”
An hour later, Vittert said he noticed that the protester had stopped recording them and was looking at his phone.
As photojournalist Galdabini told Fox, “Somehow he figured out that we were Fox News and decided that that should be announced.”
Vittert told the Tracker that soon after, “A crowd of about 50 people surrounded us, a number of them stopped throwing things at the Secret Service [officers] and started beating on us.”
In footage captured by The Daily Caller, Vittert, Galdabini and their security officers can be seen making their way out of the park while numerous voices call out curses and shout “Fuck Fox News!”
Vittert told the Tracker that while they attempted to leave, individuals threw objects at them, grabbed their microphone and used it as a club against them. One of the security officers was punched in the face, and Vittert received more than one blow to his stomach.
A Fox camera was also broken when one of the individuals attempted to grab it. Galdabini’s assault and damage to the news equipment is documented here.
“What was different here was we became the prey,” Vittert said. “We weren’t reporting on an event, the attack on us was the event. And that was a very big difference.”
The crew eventually found refuge near a police cruiser outside the park, Vittert said.
“We were all pretty roughed up, to the point of — you woke up the next morning pretty damn sore,” he said.
Vittert said that another news crew reporting in the park that night later found Fox’s microphone and returned it.
Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott denounced the assault in a statement published by the outlet.
“We strongly condemn these actions against FOX News Media reporting teams as well as all other reporters from any media outlets who are simply trying to do their jobs and report the news during an extraordinary time in our country’s history,” Scott said.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being 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.
A group of individuals chased a Baltimore, Maryland, news crew away from a protest outside City Hall on the evening of May 30, 2020. Later that evening, the journalists were assaulted and robbed.
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.
J. Thomas Fisher, a cameraman for Fox45 WBFF, and reporter Dan Lampariello were standing in front of the police line outside Baltimore City Hall around 10 p.m. when a group of individuals on the other side of the line demanded they move back. “Some in the crowd began getting angry with us,” Lampariello says in a voice-over of tape filmed at the scene.
A few minutes later, the situation devolved further, and Lampariello and Fisher were forced to retreat a few blocks from City Hall. “Do not touch the camera,” Lampariello said on the video as individuals push him and Fisher.
Ray Strickland, a reporter for WMAR 2 News, Baltimore’s ABC affiliate, captured the incident on video and posted it to Twitter.
Protesters in #Baltimore just chased a camera crew away from city hall #BaltimoreProtest #GeorgeFloydProtest. It’s tense out here for sure. @WMAR2News pic.twitter.com/Rei7hL8nLP
— Ray Strickland (@realraystrick) May 31, 2020
About an hour later, the crew was chased again, and someone punched Fisher in the face, according to the WBFF report. A live unit was stolen out of his backpack, along with a microphone. Lampariello’s assault is documented here.
Early the next morning, Lampariello tweeted about the experience:
TWICE tonight myself and photojournalist @jthomasfisher were chased and assaulted by a group of people while covering the protest outside of #Baltimore City Hall. We had equipment stolen & destroyed. Scary and tense moments. I’m just thankful we’re both OK. https://t.co/fp7JbQu8ke
— Dan Lampariello (@DanFox45) May 31, 2020
Lampariello, Fisher and the WBFF newsroom did not respond to requests for comment.
“Last night, a FOX45 news crew reporting from the Baltimore demonstrations outside of City Hall was attacked and chased away by a group of protesters who resorted to violence,” Scott Livingston, senior vice president of news for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station’s parent company, wrote the Baltimore Sun in an email. “Despite this incident, we remain undeterred, and our incredible journalists will continue to fulfill their duties and report live from the protests.”
On June 8, a Baltimore pastor was arrested in connection with the incident and charged with five counts, including second-degree assault, robbery and theft under $25,000, according to the Baltimore Sun.
According to a police report the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker obtained from the Baltimore Police Department, the station was able to recover the live unit using its GPS tracker.
“Our station will always support the Constitutional right to protest, a fundamental pillar of our democracy. At the same time, we also recognize the necessity of a free press, something that is more important now than ever before,” Bill Fanshawe, senior vice president of WBFF, told the Sun in a statement. “We ask that protesters recognize the important service that journalists everywhere provide, and should not be targets of anger and frustration.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being 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.
Free Press reporter J.C. Reindl said he was pepper-sprayed by law enforcement while covering protests in downtown Detroit, Michigan, 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.
Reindl told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that on May 30, the protests had shifted in tone from when he’d begun reporting earlier in the afternoon. At around 10:30 p.m., Reindl said he was “trying to get closer to the action” for a tweet to document the escalating scene before he was sprayed.
Last thing I saw before I got sprayed. I was even holding up “media” badge pic.twitter.com/XGNN32dl1v
— JC Reindl (@jcreindl) May 31, 2020
“[An officer] began to pepper-spray some of the demonstrators and I began trying to photograph this because I was surprised. The protesters ran away and I kind of thought, I’m so far away there’s no way he’s going to come after me,” Reindl told CPJ. “Then [the officer] started coming at me and I held up my press badge and still had the phone going. I naively thought that I’m so far away he’s definitely not going to pepper-spray me, but he did.”
Reindl, who was wearing contact lenses and a cloth mask at the time of the incident, left the protests after being sprayed, but decided not to seek medical attention. Reindl also told CPJ that he did not file a police complaint because “[he] did not want to be a little whiner.”
After the incident, Reindl tweeted, “Last thing I saw before I got sprayed. I was even holding up ‘media’ badge." The accompanying image shows a law enforcement official in a gas mask. In the shadow he casts on the pavement below, a canister and line of spray can also be seen aimed in the direction of another shadow, presumably that cast by Reindl.
Last thing I saw before I got sprayed. I was even holding up “media” badge pic.twitter.com/XGNN32dl1v
— JC Reindl (@jcreindl) May 31, 2020
When contacted by CPJ, the Detroit Police Department’s voicemail box was full. The department did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment as of press time.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being 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.
Two Dallas Morning News reporters said a Texas state trooper rolled a can of tear gas at them while they covered protests in downtown Dallas on May 30, 2020.
The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
On May 30th, Dallas Morning News reporters Jesus Jiménez and Corbett Smith were documenting police efforts to clear out protesters from outside of their newspaper’s office.
Smith told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the incident happened just after 8 p.m., when a state trooper, who was standing 20 to 25 yards away, made eye contact with Smith as the pair stood on South Harwood Street near the The Dallas Morning News headquarters.
“There's a state trooper who turns and looks right at me,” Smith said, “and pulled the pin on the gas.” The trooper rolled the canister toward Jiménez and Smith, but the canister “kind of skittered off to the west underneath a car that was 10 feet away.” The pair was able to quickly retreat, avoiding being enveloped by the gas.
There was no one standing between the journalists and the trooper at the time he rolled the canister at them, Smith said.
Both Jiménez and Smith said they were clearly identifiable as members of the media. “I feel like they could easily distinguish us as press,” Jiménez said. “We had our press passes on, our notebooks out and we were standing right in front of our office.”
Smith identified the officer as a state trooper, part of the Texas Department of Public Safety, based on the shield he was carrying. The Tracker documented Smith’s assault here.
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson from the Texas DPS wrote in an email that the department “does not have a record of any of our personnel deploying a gas canister in the area of the Dallas Morning News offices in Dallas on the evening of May 30, 2020.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being 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.
This article was updated to reflect comment from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Two Dallas Morning News reporters said a Texas state trooper rolled a can of tear gas at them while they covered protests in downtown Dallas, Texas, on May 30, 2020.
The protests were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
On May 30th, Dallas Morning News reporters Corbett Smith and Jesus Jiménez were documenting police efforts to clear out protesters from outside of their newspaper’s office.
Smith told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the incident happened just after 8 p.m., when a state trooper, who was standing 20 to 25 yards away, made eye contact with Smith as the pair stood on South Harwood Street near the The Dallas Morning News headquarters.
“There's a state trooper who turns and looks right at me,” Smith said, “and pulled the pin on the gas.” The trooper rolled the canister toward Smith and Jiménez, but the canister “kind of skittered off to the west underneath a car that was 10 feet away.” The pair was able to quickly retreat, avoiding being enveloped by the gas.
There was no one standing between the journalists and the trooper at the time he rolled the canister at them, Smith said.
Both Smith and Jiménez said they were clearly identifiable as members of the media. The Tracker documented Jiménez's assault here.
“It was very clear who I was and what I was doing,” Smith said. “I never thought that I would have an officer do something like that.”
Smith identified the officer as a state trooper, part of the Texas Department of Public Safety, based on the shield he was carrying.
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson from the Texas DPS wrote in an email that the department “does not have a record of any of our personnel deploying a gas canister in the area of the Dallas Morning News offices in Dallas on the evening of May 30, 2020.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being 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.
This article was updated to reflect comment from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Mikko Marttinen, a reporter for Finnish outlet Ilta-Sanomat, was struck in the face with a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 29, 2020.
Multiple days of protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. On the fourth night of protests, the National Guard was called in to disperse crowds and enforce the 8 p.m. curfew in place that evening.
At approximately 11:30 p.m., Minneapolis Police officers near the department’s Fifth Precinct began indiscriminately firing projectiles and tear gas to disperse the crowd, Marttinen told the Committee to Protect Journalists. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
One of the rubber bullets ricocheted off the ground and struck him in the face. Marttinen said his glasses, which were broken by the projectiles, saved his eye.
“I only got a few scratches on my eyelid and around my eye,” Marttinen said. “So I was pretty OK.”
Marttinen eventually met up with other foreign correspondents in an alley, including an Australian news team sheltering with its security team.
The Minneapolis Police Department did not respond to multiple phone and emailed requests for comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documents journalists being 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.
Jenn Schreiter, a reporter for the nonprofit media collective Unicorn Riot, was threatened and shoved by a state patrol officer while covering the fourth night of protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the early hours of May 30, 2020.
Protests in Minneapolis and across the nation were sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Schreiter told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker over text that she and her colleague Niko Georgiades were interviewing a local businessman just after 3 a.m. on the 30th when Minnesota State Patrol officers in riot gear and carrying assault rifles approached them and shouted, “Get inside or go to jail!”
“We hurried into the restaurant and one officer shoved me with his baton then slammed the door,” Schreiter said.
Clip from our stream earlier shows when Minnesota state police in riot gear & SWAT w assault rifles pushed UR off an empty street, threatening our reporters w arrest. At the time were were interviewing Louis Hunter about his restaurant, Trio Plant Based, which he's been guarding. pic.twitter.com/bSnnks4Vxg
— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) May 30, 2020
Schrieter told the Tracker that both she and Georgiades have been reporting each night with their press badges visible and helmets branded with Unicorn Riot.
The journalists remained inside the restaurant until the state patrol officers had left the intersection of Lake Street and Lyndale Avenue. The Minnesota State Patrol did not respond to an emailed request for 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.
Two journalists who’d been reporting for the Detroit Free Press had weapons brandished at them by law enforcement officials while covering protests in the city on May 30, 2020, they told the Committee to Protect Journalists.
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.
Detroit Free Press reporter Branden Hunter, who’s no longer with the newspaper, told CPJ in an interview that he’d been reporting on May 30 with a group of Free Press reporters. At about 11:30 p.m., as he was standing near a handful of his colleagues and trying to see through a haze of tear gas, a police officer approached him with a rubber bullet gun and told him to leave, according to a tweet from Hunter’s twitter account and his interview with CPJ. CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
“I put my press pass up and immediately stopped what I was doing,” Hunter told CPJ.
Hunter, who is Black, said he felt the officer was “100 percent” going after him because of his race.
In a Facebook Live hosted by the International Center for Journalists on June 5, Hunter said he’d been wearing streetwear that evening, including a Black Panther jacket, and that, aside from his press badge, he “fit the description of the protesters.”
According to both Hunter and a video of the incident on his Twitter account that was viewed by CPJ, a tear gas canister rolled toward the journalists from another direction immediately after the officer had stepped away from him.
M.L. Elrick, who’d also been reporting that evening with a group of Free Press journalists, also had an officer aim a crowd-control weapon at him later that night. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented his assault here.
The Free Press did not respond to an email requesting comment as of press time.
When contacted by CPJ, the Detroit Police Department’s voicemail box was full. The department did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment as of press time.
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.
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.
NBC News producer Kailani Koenig and correspondent Cal Perry were shot at with pepper balls while covering protests in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 30, 2020.
Protests in Louisville have centered around the deaths of Breonna Taylor, shot and killed inside her home by Louisville police in March, and the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police on May 25.
Perry told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news team and their security guard were reporting from a bus stop with plexiglass barriers in downtown Louisville shortly after 8:30 p.m. when police began to disperse the crowd. Both news crew members were wearing press passes, Perry said.
The news team took off running, Perry said, and when they made it around the corner and out of the way of the police advance, Koenig turned around and Perry noticed that her bag had been hit with pepper balls anywhere from six to 12 times.
In a tweet posted the following day, Koenig’s backpack can be seen with numerous residue marks where it was struck by the less-lethal pepper ball rounds.
Producer @kailanikm backpack marked by the many spots pepper pellets hit as we were running away last night in #Louisville #MSNBC pic.twitter.com/ynQBuDjoQf
— Cal Perry (@CalNBC) May 31, 2020
Perry said that while Koenig’s bag had prevented her from being hit by any of the rounds, the security officer with them was struck in the center of his back with a rubber bullet, causing a large welt.
“There was no question: they were moving us along by firing the little pepper rounds and rubber bullets at us,” Perry said. The Tracker documented Perry’s assault here.
The Louisville Police Department did not immediately respond to request for 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.
Andrew Buncombe, the chief U.S. correspondent for the British Independent newspaper, was struck by crowd-control munitions and caught in tear gas while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. An 8 p.m. curfew was put into effect on May 30.
At about 8:40 p.m., a group of Minnesota state police and National Guard officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a group of protesters, which also hit several journalists covering the demonstrations.
Buncombe told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that he and several other reporters were trying to retreat from the area where police were advancing on protesters when police fired a non-lethal round that hit his backpack, leaving a white powder behind. He posted a photo of the backpack to Twitter.
Independent’s backpack also hit despite holding press credential high in air pic.twitter.com/f64VnT4eUs
— Andrew Buncombe (@AndrewBuncombe) May 31, 2020
After journalists separated themselves from the crowd, police released more tear gas in their direction, despite journalists repeatedly showing their press credentials and saying they were press, Buncombe said.
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Los Angeles Times photographer Carolyn Cole was one of more than a dozen journalists fired at with crowd-control munitions and pepper spray while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Half an hour after the 8 p.m. curfew began, Minnesota State Patrol officers fired pepper spray and rubber bullets at a group of at least 20 journalists including Cole, according to Cole’s account of the incident in the LA Times.
Cole wrote that many of the journalists were wearing clearly marked press vests, and that another journalist loudly identified the group as journalists. Cole wrote that an officer came very close to the group and fired pepper spray, and that she “could feel the full force of the pepper spray go into my left ear and eye.”
Cole wrote that a local resident helped her get to a hospital for assistance after being pepper-sprayed.
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune reporter Chris Serres was struck by a rubber bullet and caught in tear gas while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Serres wrote on Twitter that Minneapolis police tear gassed him and shot him in the groin with a rubber bullet while he was covering the protests, despite waving his press badge.
“I was twice ordered at gunpoint by Minneapolis police to hit the ground, warned that if I moved ‘an inch’ I’d be shot,” Serres wrote.
Regarding police behavior last night, I was twice ordered at gunpoint by Minneapolis police to hit the ground, warned that if I moved "an inch" I'd be shot. This after being teargassed and hit in groin area by rubber bullet. Waiving a Star Tribune press badge made no difference. pic.twitter.com/pfBm7ubzOg
— Chris Serres (@ChrisSerres) May 31, 2020
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
A member of a CBS news crew was struck with a rubber bullet while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew began, police fired a rubber bullet that hit John Marschitz, a CBS sound engineer, in the arm, according to tweets from CBS correspondent Michael George.
“We were not standing within 500 feet of any protesters at the time, and we had credentials displayed and cameras out,” George wrote.
This is the moment Minneapolis Police fired on our CBS News crew with rubber bullets. As you can see, no protesters anywhere near us- we all were wearing credentials and had cameras out. Our sound engineer was hit in the arm. #cbsnews pic.twitter.com/UAy7HYhGnL
— Michael George (@MikeGeorgeCBS) May 31, 2020
Marschitz told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news crew had retreated down the street and into the parking lot where the team's car was parked after police began deploying tear gas into the crowd. The protesters kept moving in the opposite direction, and were several hundred feet away when officers began shooting crowd-control munitions at the news crew.
"My colleagues and I were fired upon without warning and [were] clearly identifiable as journalists," Marschitz said. "We were no threat to law enforcement and in no way impeding them from doing their job. Then they just began firing rubber bullets at us."
One of the rounds struck Marschitz in the arm; a second round struck a light on one of the team's cameras, but did not damage the equipment.
When asked whether he felt police targeted the crew, Marschitz said, "I don't think they cared, they just shot at us."
Marschitz told the Tracker in November 2021 that his arm still hurts where he was struck more than 17 months later.
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect comment from John Marschitz received via email on June 15, 2020, and via call on Nov. 8, 2021.
Reuters producer Julio-César Chávez was struck with multiple crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Shortly after an 8 p.m. curfew began on the 30th, police fired rubber bullets that hit Chávez in his neck and left arm, according to an account of the event published by Reuters and a tweet from Chávez.
Tonight I was shot in the arm and the back of my neck with rubber bullets in the middle of covering the Minneapolis protests. My security advisor was shot in the face; his gas mask protected him.
— Julio-César Chávez (@JulioCesrChavez) May 31, 2020
Here’s what happened: https://t.co/fwwVLAxFIY
Here’s what it looks like: pic.twitter.com/UwSBqpHv5N
“A police officer that I’m filming turns around points his rubber-bullet rifle straight at me,” Chávez told Reuters. According to the Reuters report, minutes later Chávez and Reuters security advisor Rodney Seward were both struck with crowd-control munitions as they took shelter at a nearby gas station.
Seward yelled that he had been hit in the face by a rubber bullet, and was later treated by a medic for a deep gash under his left eye, according to Reuters.
Chávez was holding cameras and had a press pass around his neck; Seward was wearing a bulletproof vest labeled “press,” according to their employer.
“We strongly object to police firing rubber bullets at our crew in Minneapolis and are addressing the situation with the authorities,” a Reuters spokesperson told the wire service. “It was clear that both our reporter and security advisor were members of the press and not a threat to public order. Journalists must be allowed to report the news without fear of harassment or harm.”
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
A photographer runs amid tear gas during demonstrations in Minneapolis on May 30, 2020.
",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,,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2021-10-07 16:43:00.942438+00:00,2022-03-10 22:09:46.312713+00:00,"Vice News reporter pushed to the ground, pepper sprayed amid Minneapolis protests",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/vice-news-reporter-pushed-to-the-ground-pepper-sprayed-amid-minneapolis-protests/,2022-03-10 22:09:46.254612+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Michael Anthony Adams (VICE News),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"Police attacked dozens of journalists with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on May 30, 2020, during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
At about 11 p.m., police pushed Vice News reporter Michael Anthony Adams to the ground and pepper-sprayed him while he was identifying himself as press and displaying his credentials, as seen in a series of videos shot by Adams. Vice News producer Roberto Daza witnessed the incident and confirmed events to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Police just raided the gas station we were sheltering at. After shouting press multiple times and raising my press card in the air, I was thrown to the ground. Then another cop came up and peppered sprayed me in the face while I was being held down. pic.twitter.com/23EkZIMAFC
— Michael Anthony Adams (@MichaelAdams317) May 31, 2020
The Vice News team, including Adams, Daza, co-producer Amel Guettatfi and cameraperson Daniel Vergara, were filming a report about police and state troopers storming a local business as its owners were trying to protect the property from looters, Daza told CPJ.
Daza said that, several hours earlier in the evening, state troopers fired a non-lethal round that struck him in the back.
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Mikhail Turgiev, a correspondent with the Russian news agency RIA, was targeted with pepper spray while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Turgiev told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that police pepper-sprayed at about 11 p.m. after he had taken refuge in a Vice News crew’s vehicle.
Turgiev said he told the officer he was a member of the press and showed his State Department-issued press credentials, and then an officer pepper-sprayed him, according to a video from the Russian government-funded channel Sputnik. The journalist was able to turn his head and the spray only got into his right eye, he said in that video.
“There’s no explanation of why they used this kind of force,” Turgiev told Sputnik.
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Los Angeles Times correspondent Molly Hennessy-Fiske was one of more than a dozen journalists fired at with crowd-control munitions and pepper spray while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Half an hour after the 8 p.m. curfew began, Minnesota state patrol officers fired pepper spray and rubber bullets at a group of at least 20 journalists including Hennessy-Fiske and LA Times photographer Carolyn Cole, according to Cole’s account of the incident in the LA Times and social media posts by the journalists.
You can hear me and @Carolyn_Cole attacked in this video; see me scaling a wall at the end. I stand corrected: @MnDPS_MSP did shout something at us: "Move!" Hence, I replied "Where do we go?" Thanks @ryanraiche #MinneapolisUprising #Minneapolis https://t.co/1fT36u03kZ
— Molly Hennessy-Fiske (@mollyhf) June 3, 2020
Cole wrote that many of the journalists were wearing clearly marked press vests, and that Hennessy-Fiske loudly identified the group as journalists.
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Vice News producer Roberto Daza was struck with a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Daza told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that in the early evening state troopers fired a less-lethal round that struck him in the back.
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Police attacked dozens of journalists with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on May 30, 2020, during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Half an hour after an 8 p.m. curfew began on the 30th, Minnesota State Patrol Officers fired pepper spray and rubber bullets at a group of at least 20 journalists including KSTP-TV investigative television reporter Ryan Raiche, according to social media posts by the journalists.
“Myself, photographer, and producer just made it back to the car. We were with a group of media and thought we were in a safe spot,” Raiche wrote on Twitter. “We kept saying we’re media. Police tear gassed and pepper sprayed the entire group. Everyone ran. It was insane. It happened so fast.”
Myself, photographer, and producer just made it back to the car. We were with a group of media and thought we were in a safe spot. We kept saying we’re media. Police tear gassed and pepper sprayed the entire group. Everyone ran. It was insane. It happened so fast. pic.twitter.com/Wl3Fzzlsnw
— Ryan Raiche (@ryanraiche) May 31, 2020
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Police attacked dozens of journalists with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on May 30, 2020, during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Half an hour after an 8 p.m. curfew began on the 30th, Minnesota state patrol officers fired pepper spray and rubber bullets at a group of at least 20 journalists including independent photographer Sait Serkan Gurbuz.
Gurbuz told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that he was covering the protests as a contributor to Zuma Press.
Gurbuz said police pepper sprayed him while he was holding his credentials and saying “journalist” as loudly as he could. Gurbuz said that he was wearing a respirator when police used pepper spray, but his hands and right ear burned for a day after the event.
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Police attacked dozens of journalists with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on May 30, 2020, during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Minneapolis police fired projectiles at Deutsche Welle reporter Stefan Simons and his camera operator, according to a tweet from the news agency.
A DW reporter and his camera operator have been shot at with projectiles by Minneapolis police and threatened with arrest while covering the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd. pic.twitter.com/SFKMv5SFW6
— DW News (@dwnews) May 31, 2020
“A DW reporter and his camera operator have been shot at with projectiles by Minneapolis police and threatened with arrest while covering the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd,” the network tweeted.
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Police attacked dozens of journalists with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on May 30, 2020, during protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
On May 30, police fired a rubber bullet that hit Canadian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Susan Ormiston in her shoulder, and fired an unidentified canister that hit her in the buttocks, she said in a report for the broadcaster.
#GeorgeFloyd Protests: CBC in Minneapolis#BREAKING The curfew is in effect but protesters are still out so police started tear gas and rubber bullets at them.
— Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) May 31, 2020
People have been hit including our colleague, CBC Senior Correspondent Susan Ormiston. pic.twitter.com/N8XcXaAyHH
“For the last 10 minutes we have seen a very robust police response,” Ormiston said in her report. “Police came out, they pushed the crowd back, they were firing canister after canister of tear gas and we were right in the middle of it. They were firing rubber bullets: a bullet hit me in the shoulder.”
Ormiston said that police opened fire on her and her CBC team while they were in a parking lot filming officers’ actions.
“The thing is we were in that parking lot all by ourselves with two other people behind us, everybody else was cleared out and they fired at us,” Ormiston said. “We clearly had our television camera visible, so they were definitely taking an aggressive action to move everybody out including us.”
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police, and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
Police officers shoved, threatened and shot projectiles at two freelance journalists while they reported for the New York Times on protests in Minneapolis on May 30, 2020, according to interviews with the journalists and videos of the incidents.
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 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.
Journalists Katie G. Nelson and Mike Shum told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they were reporting in the Fifth Precinct of Minneapolis for the Times as an 8 p.m. curfew came into effect.
As seen in a video from local ABC affiliate KSTP, a line of state police formed to the south of the station on Nicollet Avenue. “Please disperse or you will be arrested,” a loudspeaker blares. Within seconds of the warning, the police appear to use flash bang grenades and tear gas. They then begin to advance.
The video shows a line of State Patrol troopers, in maroon pants and helmets, and what appear to be Department of Natural Resources conservation officers in green pants and helmets approaching a group of journalists huddled on the side of the street. As previously reported by the Tracker, State Patrol troopers pepper sprayed the group at close range as the journalists identified themselves as press.
Nelson and Shum had gas masks, but a third person working with them didn’t, Nelson said, so she escorted this person to safety as Shum stayed to film.
Shum reunited with Nelson and they continued to report on the dispersal of protesters near the Fifth Precinct police station. About an hour later, the team was filming a couple of people approaching a police line with their hands up near a Kmart a few blocks from where Shum was shoved, Nelson said. A Minneapolis Police officer about fifty feet away pointed a projectile launcher at them, Nelson said.
Nelson said she yelled that they were press, adding there was no question they looked like journalists given their large cameras, ballistic helmets and protective vests.
In a video filmed shortly after that Nelson provided to the Tracker, Minneapolis police officers in a line start ordering people to move. Nelson can be heard warning Shum, “Mike, Mike, Mike, they’re gonna push us. Keep shooting Mike.”
Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder told the Tracker he couldn’t comment on the incident. He added that “every use of force by the MPD is under investigation internally.”
Late into the night, Nelson and Shum were driving a couple of blocks off Lake Street on their way to 38th and Chicago, where protesters had created a memorial on the site of Floyd’s killing.
Nelson turned the car onto a road blocked by a police checkpoint, the journalists told the Tracker. Nelson said the police shined a bright light at them. Blinded, she slowed the car down. Nelson said she yelled that they were press through the open windows of the car.
Nelson said the police yelled “Go home” and “We don’t care” in response.
Nelson pulled a U-turn and drove away as the journalists heard the pinging of projectiles hitting her car. They said they believe the car was hit with pepper balls.
“I start coughing and it’s really hard to see. My eyes are watering. It felt very close to tear gas,” Nelson said. “I was just like, we gotta get out of here.”
At around the same time, unidentified law-enforcement officers fired projectiles at the car of a television crew for France’s TF1 and arrested them, the Tracker previously reported.
It isn’t clear which law enforcement agency fired the projectiles at Nelson’s car. Protesters, journalists and even law-enforcement officials have had difficulty at times identifying specific officers during the protests. More than a dozen different agencies joined the law-enforcement effort in Minnesota, often wearing similar looking uniforms.
Nelson’s car wasn’t damaged and the journalists were uninjured. However, Nelson told the Tracker on Aug. 13 that a doctor diagnosed recurring eye inflammation as a result of tear gas exposure.
DNR spokesman Chris Niskanen said the department respects the freedom of the press but “disagrees with [the Tracker’s] characterization of events.” He didn’t specify why. Niskanen added he couldn’t comment further on the incident because it “may be subject to ongoing litigation initiated against the State of Minnesota by multiple media members.”
Nelson and Shum have joined a lawsuit seeking class-action status filed by the ACLU of Minnesota against Minneapolis and state officials concerning the treatment of journalists covering the Floyd protests.
The Department of Public Safety, which oversees the State Patrol, didn’t respond to the Tracker’s emailed list of questions. In a May 31 press conference, the Chief of the State Patrol, Col. Matt Langer, praised the law-enforcement effort during a dangerous and unpredictable night while also saying: “We are never perfect.”
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.
Nelson told the Tracker this Minneapolis police officer pointed a projectile launcher directly at her and her reporting partner, Mike Shum, on May 30, 2020.
",None,None,None,None,False,0:20-cv-01302,"['ONGOING', 'SETTLED']",Class Action,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,yes,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2021-10-14 15:10:58.986068+00:00,2022-11-09 17:14:11.590017+00:00,"Minneapolis news crew held at gunpoint, menaced with crowbar",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/minneapolis-news-crew-held-at-gunpoint-menaced-with-crowbar/,2022-11-09 17:14:11.524982+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Devin Krinke (KARE),,2020-05-30,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"In the span of two minutes on May 30, 2020, a news crew from NBC-affiliate KARE 11 that was covering protests and unrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was held up at gunpoint by one man, and threatened by another man wielding a crowbar.
Protests that began in Minnesota on May 26 have spread across the country, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Photojournalist Devin Krinke and investigative journalist A.J. Lagoe had just driven into central Minneapolis from St. Paul after hearing that there might be "something going on" under the highway underpass of Interstate 35 West around 9 p.m., Lagoe told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. He said there were not many police in the vicinity and several people in the area expressed unhappiness at seeing reporters around.
A man in the crowd approached Lagoe and started asking him about the bulletproof vest he was wearing, Lagoe told the Tracker in an interview. “He kept saying he wanted it,” Lagoe said. Eventually, the man produced a semiautomatic handgun and demanded the vest.
Lagoe was holding his cellphone on the tripod at the time and Krinke was standing a few feet away, holding his camera. “We clearly identified ourselves as press, but that didn’t help the situation at all, it only inflamed it,” Lagoe said.
As Lagoe tried to talk his way out of the situation, a man brandishing a crowbar approached him and Krinke, Lagoe recounted. The man, who was dressed in black body armor decorated with a red medic cross, menanced them with his crowbar while shouting, “Give us all your stuff,” before running off and swinging his crowbar at someone else in the area, Lagoe recounted.
This provided enough of a distraction to enable Lagoe and Krinke to back away from both men, and round the corner and quickly head back to their car, Lagoe said. They drove a few blocks away and set up to do a live shot, and the man with the crowbar drove by them, swearing at them through an open window.
Afterward, Krinke tweeted about the experience:
@AJInvestigates and I were threatened at gun point at 2nd ave S and East Lake St. Young man even swung crow bar at AJ. He then swung at another photojournalist and destroyed his camera. Journalist friends please avoid this area. @kare11 @wcco @fox9 @efrostee @KSTP pic.twitter.com/HcnvevsINg
— devinphoto (@devphotoK11) May 31, 2020
That same evening, the crowbar-wielding man struck the camera of Lucas Jackson, a Reuters photographer, breaking it. Lagoe later retweeted a video of the man striking Jackson’s camera:
This is guy who swung crowbar at me & @devphotokare11 https://t.co/8DcxaRdZ2K
— A.J. Lagoe (@AJInvestigates) May 31, 2020
That instance of equipment damage is catalogued here, in a separate post on the Tracker.
Lagoe told the Tracker that they did not file a police report about either assailant.
The Tracker emailed the Minneapolis Police Department for comment about whether anyone has been arrested in these incidents of alleged assault, or if police reports had been filed regarding these matters. The request was not answered as of press time.
Mike Max, a reporter for WCCO, a CBS affiliate station based in the city, was reporting live a few blocks from the Fifth Precinct police headquarters when he reported that a man wielding a crowbar or cane tried to assault WCCO cameraman Chris Cruz. Max also said the man assaulted another photographer, whom he didn’t identify. Neither Max nor WCCO responded to requests for comment as of press time.
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.
Just after Minneapolis’ curfew went into effect on May 30, 2020, a correspondent and cameraman for Turkey’s state-run English-language news channel were hit by projectiles fired by police.
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 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.
Lionel Donovan, a Washington-based correspondent for TRT World, said he had set up for a live shot outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fifth Precinct just after the city’s 8 p.m. curfew went into effect, near some peaceful protesters staging a sit-in at an intersection. Journalists were specifically exempt from the curfew by Governor Tim Walz’s order.
“The curfew came and it was like a button got hit,” Donovan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in an interview.
According to Donovan, the police advanced down the street and began to fire off tear gas and flash-bang grenades to disperse the crowd. One of the tear gas canisters hit cameraman Barbaros Sayilgan’s foot during Donovan’s live shot.
Sayilgan could not be reached for comment, but Donovan said he helped the cameraman and a producer off to safety, then went back into the street to film more footage himself. Donovan was filming on his phone, he said, when a blue foam round struck him in the inside of his left thigh, breaking the skin.
Requests for comment sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department were not immediately returned.
Fahrettin Altun, Turkey’s communications director, brought up the attack on the crew in a June 3 phone call with David Satterfield, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, according to an article published in the Daily Sabah, a Turkish newspaper.
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.
While covering the fifth night of protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, three Swiss journalists were shot at with crowd-control munitions shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew went into effect on May 30, 2020.
Journalists were specifically exempt from the curfew by Gov. Tim Walz’s order. The curfew followed protests in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest 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.
Shortly after 8:30 p.m. in Minneapolis, officers fired foam rounds at the journalists after they held up their press passes and yelled that they were members of the media.
Massimiliano Herber, the Washington-based television correspondent for RSI (Radiotelevisione svizzera), an Italian-language channel of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, told the Tracker in an interview that he and videographer Jean-Pascal Azaïs had been reporting on protests downtown with Gaspard Kühn, a Washington-based correspondent for RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse), the public broadcaster’s French-language channel. Neither Azaïs nor Kühn could be reached for comment.
Police had begun to throw tear gas and shoot foam rounds at protesters, according to Herber. Some of the tear gas wafted toward the Swiss journalists, stinging their eyes.
As the journalists attempted to reach their car, he said, they found police lines on either end of the block, preventing them from moving.
Standing in the middle of the road, the journalists held up their press passes issued by the U.S. Congress and shouted, “Media! Media! Press!” toward the police and asked if they could pass by to reach their car. Azaïs was holding a small video camera. They had taken a couple steps forward, Herber said, when the officers told them to “back up”. The officers then began to shoot at the journalists, firing off four or five foam rounds, all of which missed the journalists, Herber said.
They were able to flee to the safety of a nearby parking lot, but when they tried to move, the officers again opened fire, firing two to three foam rounds, Herber said. Eventually, with the help of a local resident, they found a safe route back to their car.
The officers in the area were from the Minneapolis Police Department and the Minnesota State Patrol, Herber said, but he was not sure who fired the rounds.
The broadcaster filed a complaint about the matter with the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland on June 1, Herber said.
Requests for comment on these incidents sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department were not returned.
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.
While covering the fifth night of protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, three Swiss journalists were shot at with crowd-control munitions shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew went into effect on May 30, 2020.
Journalists were specifically exempt from the curfew by Gov. Tim Walz’s order. The curfew followed protests in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest 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.
Shortly after 8:30 p.m. in Minneapolis, officers fired foam rounds at the journalists after they held up their press passes and yelled that they were members of the media.
Massimiliano Herber, the Washington-based television correspondent for RSI (Radiotelevisione svizzera), an Italian-language channel of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, told the Tracker in an interview that he and videographer Jean-Pascal Azaïs had been reporting on protests downtown with Gaspard Kühn, a Washington-based correspondent for RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse), the public broadcaster’s French-language channel. Neither Azaïs nor Kühn could be reached for comment.
Police had begun to throw tear gas and shoot foam rounds at protesters, according to Herber. Some of the tear gas wafted toward the Swiss journalists, stinging their eyes.
As the journalists attempted to reach their car, he said, they found police lines on either end of the block, preventing them from moving.
Standing in the middle of the road, the journalists held up their press passes issued by the U.S. Congress and shouted, “Media! Media! Press!” toward the police and asked if they could pass by to reach their car. Azaïs was holding a small video camera. They had taken a couple steps forward, Herber said, when the officers told them to “back up”. The officers then began to shoot at the journalists, firing off four or five foam rounds, all of which missed the journalists, Herber said.
They were able to flee to the safety of a nearby parking lot, but when they tried to move, the officers again opened fire, firing two to three foam rounds, Herber said. Eventually, with the help of a local resident, they found a safe route back to their car.
The officers in the area were from the Minneapolis Police Department and the Minnesota State Patrol, Herber said, but he was not sure who fired the rounds.
The broadcaster filed a complaint about the matter with the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland on June 1, Herber said.
Requests for comment on these incidents sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department were not returned.
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.
While covering the fifth night of protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, three Swiss journalists were shot at with crowd-control munitions shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew went into effect on May 30, 2020.
Journalists were specifically exempt from the curfew by Gov. Tim Walz’s order. The curfew followed protests in response to a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest 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.
Shortly after 8:30 p.m. in Minneapolis, officers fired foam rounds at the journalists after they held up their press passes and yelled that they were members of the media.
Massimiliano Herber, the Washington-based television correspondent for RSI (Radiotelevisione svizzera), an Italian-language channel of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, told the Tracker in an interview that he and videographer Jean-Pascal Azaïs had been reporting on protests downtown with Gaspard Kühn, a Washington-based correspondent for RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse), the public broadcaster’s French-language channel. Neither Azaïs nor Kühn could be reached for comment.
Police had begun to throw tear gas and shoot foam rounds at protesters, according to Herber. Some of the tear gas wafted toward the Swiss journalists, stinging their eyes.
As the journalists attempted to reach their car, he said, they found police lines on either end of the block, preventing them from moving.
Standing in the middle of the road, the journalists held up their press passes issued by the U.S. Congress and shouted, “Media! Media! Press!” toward the police and asked if they could pass by to reach their car. Azaïs was holding a small video camera. They had taken a couple steps forward, Herber said, when the officers told them to “back up”. The officers then began to shoot at the journalists, firing off four or five foam rounds, all of which missed the journalists, Herber said.
They were able to flee to the safety of a nearby parking lot, but when they tried to move, the officers again opened fire, firing two to three foam rounds, Herber said. Eventually, with the help of a local resident, they found a safe route back to their car.
The officers in the area were from the Minneapolis Police Department and the Minnesota State Patrol, Herber said, but he was not sure who fired the rounds.
The broadcaster filed a complaint about the matter with the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland on June 1, Herber said.
Requests for comment on these incidents sent to the Minnesota State Patrol and the Minneapolis Police Department were not returned.
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.
Brad Simmons, a photojournalist for North Carolina station WRAL-TV, was struck with a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Raleigh, North Carolina, on May 30, 2020.
The protest was among several demonstrations held across the country sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minnesota on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Simmons told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — that he was shooting video at the protest in Raleigh, which he said was “peaceful” until around 7:30 p.m., when it began to escalate.
“There was tear gas, people running. People started being a little bit more combative when law enforcement showed up,” Simmons says.
Simmons witnessed protesters throwing bottles and garbage can lids, as well as breaking windows and storefronts. At around 10:20 p.m., he was struck in the left knee by a rubber bullet. He assumes it was fired by police. Simmons estimates he was about 75 feet from police when he was struck. At the time he was struck, he saw many officers in riot gear.
Simmons doesn’t believe he was targeted for being a member of the media and thinks he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Raleigh Police Department did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for 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.
The offices of ABC11, INDY Week and The News & Observer in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, were damaged during protests in the city on May 30, 2020.
Alternative weekly newspaper INDY Week reported extensive damage to its newsroom, while ABC11 and The News & Observer newspaper both had windows smashed as protests stretched late into the night.
The protests in Raleigh echoed demonstrations across the country sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The newsrooms in Raleigh were damaged late in the first major day of protesting in the city. Demonstrations had been peaceful through the day, but late in the evening, after police began using tear gas to disperse crowds, a small group of people began destroying property in the city’s downtown.
A reporter for ABC11, Bridget Condon, posted videos on Twitter showing windows smashed out on the station’s street-level studio. Fragments of glass littered the sidewalk outside.
— Bridget Condon (@BridgetABC11) May 31, 2020
ABC11 didn’t respond to requests for comment about the damage.
The three offices were just some of many businesses damaged in the city. According to an article in the News & Observer, “nearly every” business in Raleigh’s downtown area was damaged overnight.
A spokesperson for the Raleigh Police Department said police were aware of damage to INDY Week and the News & Observer. There haven’t been any arrests related to the incidents, according to the department.
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.
The offices of The News & Observer, INDY Week and ABC11 in downtown Raleigh, N.C. were damaged during protests in the city on May 30, 2020.
Alternative weekly newspaper INDY Week reported extensive damage to its newsroom, while ABC11 and The News & Observer newspaper both had windows smashed as protests stretched late into the night.
The protests in Raleigh echoed demonstrations across the country sparked by a video showing a white police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The newsrooms in Raleigh were damaged late in the first major day of protesting in the city. Demonstrations had been peaceful through the day, but late in the evening, after police began using tear gas to disperse crowds, a small group of people began destroying property in the city’s downtown.
At The News & Observer, business reporter Aaron Sánchez-Guerra saw windows at the entrance to the offices being smashed by a small group of people who broke off from a larger group that had been destroying property and looting in the area.
Sánchez-Guerra told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he recognized one of the individuals as a protester whom he had interviewed a short time earlier. He said that he shouted at the group to stop, that they were journalists. The protester appeared to recognize him, and they left.
The newspaper didn’t appear to be targeted, but was just one of many businesses that were impacted that night, according to members of the publication’s staff. Many nearby restaurants sustained damage and were looted, Sánchez-Guerra said. “We were just another open target.”
Two windows at The News & Observer were damaged during the protest, according to Betsy Womble, executive assistant to the publisher and president of the paper. The damage was reported to police, but there have been no developments with the report, she said.
The three offices were just some of many businesses damaged in the city. According to an article in the News & Observer, “nearly every” business in Raleigh’s downtown area was damaged overnight.
A spokesperson for the Raleigh Police Department said police were aware of damage to INDY Week and the News & Observer. There haven’t been any arrests related to the incidents, according to the department.
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.
Blade photojournalist Kurt Steiss was struck with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Toledo, Ohio, on May 30, 2020.
The protest was held in response to a video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for more than eight minutes during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The incident sparked anti-police brutality and Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country.
Steiss reported on Twitter he was fired upon by police while documenting the police advance from the Lucas County Courthouse toward the police headquarters that afternoon. In a series of tweets, he recounted being struck multiple times with pepper balls, which left a welt on his arm.
Been hit a few times as police advanced their line between the Lucas County Courthouse and the Safety Building (TPD HQ). Heading in to edit and file. @AmyEVoigt is taking over for now on photo. pic.twitter.com/vitIM4ZNkQ
— Kurt Steiss ⚔️ (@kurtsteiss) May 31, 2020
Steiss, who did not respond to an emailed request for comment, was also struck on the forehead.
“Ironically there isn’t much of a mark there (compared to my arm), but I can still feel soreness on my head while my arm feels fine,” he wrote.
Lt. Kellie Lenhardt, who commands the Toledo Police Public Information Section, told the Tracker over email that the department did not receive complaints from Steiss or other journalists that day.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said during a press conference on June 22 that there was an investigation into officers’ conduct during the protests. Kapszukiewicz also announced that officers will no longer be permitted to wear military-style camouflage.
On July 22, Toledo police announced that three officers were disciplined for misconduct during the May 30 protests. One officer received a written reprimand while the other two were suspended and given last chance warnings, meaning they could be fired following another infraction.
“Police legitimacy cannot improve if departments fail at policing their own,” Police Chief George Kral said in a press release announcing the disciplinary measures. “I will ensure that officers are held accountable when their actions are found to violate department policies, and I will always support the hundreds of officers that positively represent Toledo Police.”
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.
Toledo Blade editor Nolan Rosenkrans said he was caught in tear gas and shot at with crowd-control munitions by law enforcement while covering protests in Toledo, Ohio, on May 30, 2020.
The protest was held in response to a video showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for more than eight minutes during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The incident sparked anti-police brutality and Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country.
Nolan Cramer, a journalism student interning for the Toledo City Paper, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was photographing near the corner of East Woodruff and Franklin Avenues as Toledo Police Department officers worked to disperse protesters in the street at around 5:45 p.m.
Cramer said that an officer deliberately threw a tear gas canister at him and Toledo Blade editor Nolan Rosenkrans, who was standing next to them, despite both of them wearing visible press passes. Both journalists were caught in the cloud of tear gas.
Rosenkrans told the Tracker that he had not felt targeted with tear gas that day, but noted that he did not know what Nolan had experienced or seen.
“What police did do was shoot pepper spray balls when I crossed some arbitrary line toward them,” he said.
Rosenkrans tweeted shortly after 6:30 p.m. that he had also been shot at with a “paintball gun” by an officer who knew he was a reporter.
Just was shot at with a paintball gun by a cop who knows I’m a reporter. He’s wearing fatigues.
— Nolan_Rosenkrans⚔️ (@NolanRosenkrans) May 30, 2020
He told the Tracker that he had continued documenting the protest and speaking with protesters and police as the march continued down Franklin Avenue to where it becomes 17th Street.
“[The police] knew I was a journalist. The camo team was near me for several miles and I had been talking to them from the street for quite some time,” he said. “I can’t say I was targeted because I was a journalist, but I can’t say for sure.”
Lieutenant Kellie Lenhardt, who commands the Toledo Police Public Information Section, told the Tracker over email that the department did not receive complaints from Rosenkrans or other journalists that day.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said during a press conference on June 22 that there was an investigation into officers’ conduct during the protests. Kapszukiewicz also announced that officers will no longer be permitted to wear military-style camouflage.
On July 22, Toledo police announced that three officers were disciplined for misconduct during the May 30 protests. One officer received a written reprimand while the other two were suspended and given last chance warnings, meaning they could be fired following another infraction.
“Police legitimacy cannot improve if departments fail at policing their own,” Police Chief George Kral said in a press release announcing the disciplinary measures. “I will ensure that officers are held accountable when their actions are found to violate department policies, and I will always support the hundreds of officers that positively represent Toledo Police.”
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.
Eric Rosenwald, a freelance video journalist, was struck with crowd-control munitions while documenting protests in Tucson, Arizona, 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.
Rosenwald told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he had been photographing a group of 10 to 20 individuals who had begun violently engaging with police. They had erected a makeshift structure in the middle of the road that they were sheltering behind as they threw rocks and water bottles toward a line of officers some 100 yards away. Nearby, someone had set a dumpster on fire.
Rosenwald said he was moving around, photographing other individuals who were throwing rocks from behind a building, when police began to advance toward the makeshift structure. When they advanced, Rosenwald found himself standing very close to the protesters.
“My backpack got hit as I was moving away,” he said.
He was identifiable as a journalist, carrying his cameras as well as a backpack adorned with “PRESS” patches, but does not feel as though he was targeted. “I was so close to the people who were constructing these barrier structures to throw rocks from, that I had no sense I was being targeted.”
Rosenwald did not suffer any injuries from the pepper balls, nor was his equipment damaged.
Tucson Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on this incident.
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.
HuffPost editor Philip Lewis was struck by a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Washington, D.C., on May 30, 2020.
The protests were sparked by a video showing a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for 7 minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest on May 25. Floyd was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Lewis told the Committee to Protect Journalists — a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker — he was covering the protests near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute when vandals began breaking out the windows of the building.
Police began releasing tear gas and setting off flash-bang grenades to disperse the crowd, Lewis said, and so he decided it was time to leave the area. As he tried to leave, he said he was struck by a small object in the left leg at around 11:35 p.m. “It was definitely a stinging pain,” he said.
Lewis did not recover the projectile after it hit him, but said he believed it to be a rubber bullet, due to the size of the mark it left and the fact that he had seen one on the ground earlier in the day. The Tracker could not confirm the type of projectile he was hit with.
Lewis tweeted about the incident a few minutes later:
Just got shot in the leg with rubber bullets. Not great!
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 31, 2020
Lewis, who was wearing press credentials at the time, did not believe he was the intended target. The projectile left behind a slight red bruise several days later, he said.
Kristen Metzger, a D.C. police spokeswoman, wrote in an email to the Tracker that the Metropolitan Police Department has not “deployed rubber bullets during the demonstrations.” In a follow-up email, she confirmed that the department “may deploy … when necessary,” pepper spray, sting ball grenades that expel tiny rubber balls at high velocity and tear gas.
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.
Peter Norton, photojournalist and founder of the production company RumJungle, was shot at with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
According to CBS News sound engineer John Marschitz, Norton had been hired to assist a CBS crew that was covering the demonstrations. Shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew began, police began shooting rubber bullets and other crowd-control munitions at the crew.
Marschitz told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news crew had retreated down the street and into the parking lot where the team's car was parked after police began deploying tear gas into the crowd. The protesters kept moving in the opposite direction, and were several hundred feet away when officers began shooting crowd-control munitions at the news crew.
"My colleagues and I were fired upon without warning and [were] clearly identifiable as journalists," Marschitz said. "We were no threat to law enforcement and in no way impeding them from doing their job. Then they just began firing rubber bullets at us."
One of the rounds struck Marschitz in the arm; a second round struck a light on Norton’s camera, but did not damage the equipment. Norton could not be reached for comment as of press time.
When asked whether he felt police targeted the crew, Marschitz said, "I don't think they cared, they just shot at us."
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
CBS News correspondent Michael George and his news crew were shot at with crowd-control munitions while covering protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 30, 2020.
Protests began in Minnesota on May 26, sparked by a video showing a police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, during an arrest the day before. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Shortly after the 8 p.m. curfew began, police began shooting rubber bullets and other crowd-control munitions at the crew, according to tweets posted by George.
Sound engineer John Marschitz told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news crew had retreated down the street and into the parking lot where the team's car was parked after police began deploying tear gas into the crowd. The protesters kept moving in the opposite direction, and were several hundred feet away when officers began shooting crowd-control munitions at the news crew.
“We were not standing within 500 feet of any protesters at the time, and we had credentials displayed and cameras out,” George wrote.
This is the moment Minneapolis Police fired on our CBS News crew with rubber bullets. As you can see, no protesters anywhere near us- we all were wearing credentials and had cameras out. Our sound engineer was hit in the arm. #cbsnews pic.twitter.com/UAy7HYhGnL
— Michael George (@MikeGeorgeCBS) May 31, 2020
George did not respond to a message requesting comment.
One of the rounds struck Marschitz in the arm; a second round struck a light on RumJungle photojournalist Peter Norton’s camera, but did not damage the equipment.
When asked whether he felt police targeted the crew, Marschitz said, "I don't think they cared, they just shot at us."
More than three dozen journalists were assaulted, arrested or had equipment damaged while covering protests that night. The Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Police and Minnesota National Guard did not reply to emailed requests for comment about these incidents.
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.
A group of people hit and threw a rock into a stopped Live 5 News car carrying three journalists covering a demonstration against police violence in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 30, 2020.
The protest 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, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
The car carrying reporter Rob Way, reporter Abbey O’Brien and producer Allyson Cook was driving through a crowd to get to safety because downtown Charleston was becoming violent, O’Brien said.
“We were in a Live 5 News car obviously designated as our station,” O’Brien told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “People started banging on our windows and flicking us off.”
Demonstrations had started peacefully but turned violent as the night wore on, she said.
“Once it got dark, it turned into rioting; that was definitely not as many people,” O’Brien said. “I truly believe that it was just two different groups of people.”
While they were stopped at an intersection, members of the crowd began to bang on the windows of the car and then a rock was thrown through the back window. No one was injured.
At the time, the journalists weren’t sure whether it was a rock, tear-gas canister or an explosive, so once they got to safety, they all exited the car.
“We all jumped out and realized it was just a brick,” O’Brien said. “So, no one was hurt, which is good, but it was really scary.”
Now that we’re safe... here’s a look at what just happened to our @Live5News car. Someone threw this large rock while we were driving down King St. Very scary #chsnews #scnews pic.twitter.com/0r1Fq77nZ7
— Abbey O'Brien (@abbeyobrien) May 31, 2020
They continued to report throughout the night and made sure they didn’t leave anything valuable in the car. O’Brien said that, in a separate incident, people smashed out the front, driver’s side window of a different, unoccupied Live 5 truck. Both the car and the truck were out of commission for a few days, she said.
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 group of people hit and threw a rock into a stopped Live 5 News car carrying three journalists covering a demonstration against police violence in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 30, 2020.
The protest 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, Minnesota, on May 25. Floyd was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Protests against police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement have been held across the United States since the end of May.
The car carrying producer Allyson Cook and reporters Rob Way and Abbey O’Brien was driving through a crowd to get to safety because downtown Charleston was becoming violent, O’Brien said.
“We were in a Live 5 News car obviously designated as our station,” O’Brien told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “People started banging on our windows and flicking us off.”
Demonstrations had started peacefully but turned violent as the night wore on, she said.
“Once it got dark, it turned into rioting; that was definitely not as many people,” O’Brien said. “I truly believe that it was just two different groups of people.”
While they were stopped at an intersection, members of the crowd began to bang on the windows of the car and then a rock was thrown through the back window. No one was injured.
At the time, the journalists weren’t sure whether it was a rock, tear-gas canister or an explosive, so once they got to safety, they all exited the car.
“We all jumped out and realized it was just a brick,” O’Brien said. “So, no one was hurt, which is good, but it was really scary.”
Now that we’re safe... here’s a look at what just happened to our @Live5News car. Someone threw this large rock while we were driving down King St. Very scary #chsnews #scnews pic.twitter.com/0r1Fq77nZ7
— Abbey O'Brien (@abbeyobrien) May 31, 2020
They continued to report throughout the night and made sure they didn’t leave anything valuable in the car. O’Brien said that, in a separate incident, people smashed out the front, driver’s side window of a different, unoccupied Live 5 truck. Both the car and the truck were out of commission for a few days, she said.
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.