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 2024-03-13 15:50:29.887146+00:00,2024-03-28 19:15:22.472950+00:00,"Freelancer forcibly removed, press badge taken at Israeli conference in NYC",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelancer-forcibly-removed-press-badge-taken-at-israeli-conference-in-nyc/,2024-03-28 19:15:22.356382+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,press identification: count of 1,Caroline Haskins (Freelance),,2024-03-04,False,New York,New York (NY),None,None,"
Freelance reporter Caroline Haskins was asked by a security guard to leave shortly after recording pro-Palestinian protests at an Israeli tech conference in New York City on March 4, 2024, and was then shoved out, her press badge yanked from her neck, she told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Haskins, who described the encounter at a midtown Manhattan conference center to the Tracker and in an article for the independent New York outlet Hell Gate, said that the guard came up to her while she was tweeting about the protests. He asked who she was and when Haskins identified herself as a freelance reporter, he told her to leave.
After Haskins asked the security guard why she was being removed, she said the guard responded, “I don’t know, management just told me to remove you,” and advised her to reach out to the event organizers for an explanation.
She then started filming the encounter, but said that the security guard grabbed her phone out of her hands. Haskins immediately took it back, and he then clutched both of her arms, brought them behind her back, and pushed her out of the conference hall from behind. As he did, she said he reached for her conference pass lanyard, which was caught in the cords of her headphone cord, and yanked it off before shoving her out the door.
Haskins later contacted conference organizers to ask about her ejection. She tweeted March 12 that she received a response from a spokesman, who said: “I understand there was turmoil during the TED Talk of Google’s CEO, and security took those people out. I guess that they took out everyone who filmed it and thought they might be a part of this.” She wrote that the spokesman apologized for the delay in response and for her experience, and added that he had “asked for details about what really happened.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaking March 4, 2024, at a New York City conference on the Israeli high-tech industry. Reporter Caroline Haskins was forcibly removed from the event after tweeting about interruptions by protesters.
",None,None,None,None,False,None,[],None,None,False,private security,None,None,False,False,None,None,private security,yes,False,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"Israel-Gaza war, protest",,, 2023-10-16 18:51:15.422638+00:00,2024-03-14 16:09:06.343488+00:00,"Freelance journalist harassed, press badge briefly stolen at pro-Israel rally",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-harassed-press-badge-briefly-stolen-at-pro-israel-rally/,2024-03-14 16:09:06.236708+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"miscellaneous equipment: count of 1, press identification: count of 1",Talia (Jane) Ben-Ora (Freelance),,2023-10-08,False,New York,New York (NY),None,None,"Freelance journalist Talia Ben-Ora, who also publishes under the name Talia Jane, was assaulted, harassed and her press credentials briefly stolen while reporting on a pro-Israel rally in New York, New York, on Oct. 8, 2023.
Ben-Ora told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was documenting two rallies in Manhattan. After filming and publishing excerpts from a pro-Palestinian rally, she said she headed to a rally in support of Israel rally that was scheduled for later in the day.
Within minutes of arriving at the demonstration, Ben-Ora said she was recognized by two men who began harassing her, calling her “bitch,” “cunt” and “terrorist.” One of the men also deliberately tripped her, she said.
While some individuals tried to stop the harassment, the men drew supporters by claiming that Ben-Ora supports Hamas, the extremist organization that had launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, citing her coverage of the pro-Palestine rally earlier that day. Ben-Ora called the assertions “heinous slander,” and a deliberate attempt to provoke the crowd to violence.
Ben-Ora said that New York Police Department officers intervened and ushered her toward the rally crowd, where she attempted to conduct interviews. The individuals harassing her followed, however, and officers told her that she needed to leave the area and escorted her up the block.
In footage Ben-Ora captured while walking away from the demonstrations, multiple individuals can be seen shouting at her to leave as officers attempted to keep them away from her.
“I didn’t feel like the NYPD that had responded was successfully keeping anybody away from me,” Ben-Ora said. “So I was walking backward to make sure that no one ran up and tried to do anything.”
Amid the chaos, a woman grabbed Ben-Ora’s press credentials out of her hand and walked away with them, but an officer was quickly able to retrieve them, she said. Ben-Ora continued to walk away from the demonstration, but shortly after she got on a nearby sidewalk, she was once again surrounded.
In her footage, the group can be seen shouting at and filming Ben-Ora and a woman appears to repeatedly smack her cellphone, attempting to rip a cord from it or knock it from Ben-Ora’s hands.
A portable charger and its attached cord fell out of her pocket, Ben-Ora said, and when she attempted to retrieve them the individuals stomped and stood on them. She told the Tracker she was able to eventually pick up the items and leave the area after police officers intervened. The items still work, she said, but sections of the protective coating of the cord were scrapped off.
“I was there to actually try and report on both sides of the story and I was prevented from doing that,” she said.
Freelance journalist Talia Ben-Ora films New York Police Department officers interceding after she was harassed and assaulted while she reported on a pro-Israel demonstration in Manhattan on Oct. 8, 2023. Her press credentials were also briefly stolen.
",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,None,False,[],,"Israel-Gaza war, protest, robbery",,, 2021-01-11 21:42:15.578889+00:00,2023-11-01 14:43:25.582101+00:00,"New York Times reporter assaulted, cameras stolen and damaged amid Capitol riot",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-times-reporter-assaulted-cameras-stolen-and-damaged-amid-capitol-riot/,2023-11-01 14:43:25.446372+00:00,,,"(2023-09-14 00:00:00+00:00) Pennsylvania woman sentenced for actions during J6 riot, (2021-06-28 09:12:00+00:00) Pennsylvania woman charged connection to assault of NYT photojournalist during Capitol riot, (2023-06-06 14:48:00+00:00) Pennsylvania woman found guilty on charges connected to assault of photojournalist","Assault, Equipment Damage",,,"camera: count of 1, camera lens: count of 1, press identification: count of 1",Erin Schaff (The New York Times),,2021-01-06,False,Washington,District of Columbia (DC),38.89511,-77.03637,"New York Times reporter Erin Schaff wrote that she was assaulted, one of her cameras stolen and the lens of a second broken by rioters as they stormed the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.
A riot broke out as supporters of President Donald Trump marched on the Capitol, swarmed the building and broke inside in an attempt to disrupt the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, Reuters reported. At a noon rally held in front of the White House, Trump called on his supporters to protest the vote on the basis of unfounded claims of election fraud. According to Reuters, the building was breached at approximately 2:15 p.m.
Schaff, who did not respond to a request for comment, wrote in an account published by the Times that she followed the noise of protesters on the first floor of the Senate side of the building.
Schaff recounted that the single Capitol Police officer guarding the ceremonial doors to the Rotunda was rushed by the crowd, forcing open the door.
“I ran upstairs to be out of the way of the crowd, and to get a better vantage point to document what was happening. Suddenly, two or three men in black surrounded me and demanded to know who I worked for,” Schaff wrote.
“Grabbing my press pass, they saw that my ID said The New York Times and became really angry. They threw me to the floor, trying to take my cameras. I started screaming for help as loudly as I could. No one came. People just watched. At this point, I thought I could be killed and no one would stop them. They ripped one of my cameras away from me, broke a lens on the other and ran away.”
Schaff’s congressional press credentials were also stolen in the attack.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting multiple assaults, detainments and equipment damages from Jan. 6 events. Find those here.
Independent videographer Melissa Lewis was hit multiple times by crowd-control munitions while covering dueling demonstrations in downtown Olympia, Washington, on Dec. 12, 2020. One of the rounds struck and damaged her press pass.
Lewis told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was covering a “Stop the Steal” protest organized by the far-right group Patriot around the state Capitol, where counterprotesters had also gathered.
“There was a much larger ‘Stop the Steal’ presence than anti-fascist presence, so the anti-fascists were beat back by the far-right very quickly,” Lewis said.
The Olympian reported that the two groups began to clash around 12:30 p.m., and soon after Olympia police declared a riot and issued orders to disperse.
Around 2:30 p.m., Olympian reporter Rolf Boone tweeted that police pushed back antifa protesters using flash-bang grenades.
Lewis told the Tracker the Olympia Police Department officers were using small, round flash-bang grenades, some of which contained OC “pepper” capsaicin dust, an irritant also used in some tear gas and pepper sprays.
As the officers pushed the antifascist counterprotesters away from downtown, Lewis said officers blocked the north and south sides of the street, forcing protesters to choose between facing them or entering a private parking garage.
“It was pretty overwhelming,” Lewis said, adding that police were using so many chemical irritants that residue built up in her eyes.
“[It got] to the point that it was gritty and I had to have my eyes washed out,” Lewis said, “and I was afraid that it might scratch my corneas.”
Lewis said she was physically struck twice in the thigh and once in the chest with the plastic flash-bang grenades. The one that struck her in the chest damaged the press pass from the Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union that she was wearing on a lanyard.
I was hit in the chest with a flash bang fragment. It blew my press pass apart. pic.twitter.com/oz4K4CPd82
— Melissa “Claudio” Lewis (@Claudio_Report) December 13, 2020
“If they had been the [flash-bang grenade] canisters, I would have been incredibly injured and I’m honestly very glad they were the plastic kind,” Lewis said. She added that the multiple layers she was wearing because of the cold also prevented her from being harmed more extensively.
Lewis said that in addition to the press pass around her neck, she had “PRESS” markings on her backpack. Lewis said she believed police were deliberately targeting her because the incident took place in broad daylight and because of her identifying markings.
The Olympia Police Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Freelance photojournalist Lee Smith said he was hit with crowd-control munitions shot by federal agents while he covered protests against police violence in Portland, Oregon, on July 24, 2020.
Smith was documenting protests that continued for months in downtown Portland and across the U.S. in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests.
On the evening of July 23, demonstrators gathered outside the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse where law enforcement had constructed a fence around the perimeter. According to news reports, federal officers occasionally warned protesters when they shook or hit the fence. The officers later fired pepper balls at the protesters. At 12:30 a.m. on July 24, Portland Police declared an unlawful assembly after firework mortars and other objects had been launched over the fence, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security.
Smith told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker federal agents had conducted numerous pushes throughout the night to disperse the protesters, but mostly stayed behind the fence, deploying tear gas, pepper balls and other crowd-control munitions. Officers also positioned themselves on top of the courthouse with long-range flashlights that would emit green lasers, which Smith said law enforcement was using to point out particular individuals.
“They kept singling me and a couple of people out, targeting specific press and activists,” he said. Smith said he had distinct “press” markings on his helmet and backpack and wore a press pass issued by Raindrop Works, a Portland-based site that has covered the protests there. “Eventually that person was either arrested or shot with munitions,” he said, of those picked out by the green lasers.
In a video Smith tweeted later that morning, there is a loud bang at 0:48 and the camera jerks. He can be heard saying, “They just hit me again.” Smith said his press pass had been hit by a canister that exploded and shattered the case.
Feds exploded a CS triple chaser on my chest. Shattering the case my press pass was in. #FedsOut #PortlandProtest pic.twitter.com/hysSDYqobp
— Lee “Threat level -7” Smith (@LeeSmithPDX) July 24, 2020
Smith said he was shot at least 12 times that night by a variety of crowd-control munitions, including pepper balls and foam rounds. He said the hits left bruises across his body, especially on his chest. He said he also suffered effects from tear gas and pepper spray, and he told the Tracker that at some point his iPhone 6S camera was broken.
Smith’s injuries came just hours after a judge’s July 23 preliminary injunction barred federal agents from harming or impeding journalists. The ruling was upheld by an appeals court in October.
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incidents.
Documentary photographer Rian Dundon was on assignment for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project on July 22, 2020, when he was repeatedly thrown to the ground and pinned down by a federal officer while covering protests in downtown Portland, Oregon, according to a lawsuit filed by the photographer in 2022.
Protests had been held in Portland on almost a nightly basis since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. The Portland protests had grown more intense as the presence of federal law enforcement increased in early July. A temporary restraining order on July 2 that barred the Portland police from harming or impeding journalists wasn’t expanded to include federal agents until July 23. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering BLM protests across the country.
Dundon filed a lawsuit against the regional director of the Department of Homeland Security, which coordinated the federal presence in Portland, and more than 100 federal officers in April 2022. Dundon declined to comment on advice from counsel.
According to the suit, Dundon was photographing a fire started outside the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse in downtown Portland alongside other journalists in a group away from protesters, and was wearing a press badge.
“Federal officers dressed in military fatigues and wearing gas masks approached Plaintiff [Dundon] and the other journalists from behind,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiff turned to run, but federal officers grabbed him and threw him to the ground.”
Dundon landed on a live, unexploded gas canister which then exploded.
“Plaintiff stood and again tried to flee, but federal officers again threw him to the ground. Federal officers then pinned Plaintiff on the ground,” the lawsuit says. In footage of the incident, Dundon can be seen pinned under an officer as a cloud of gas engulfs them.
Federal officers stormed towards the crowd from the North entrance arresting many along the way. There was a brief exchange of tear gas cannisters flying in different directions. #PortlandProtest #Portland #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/ggIS9vhLv9
— Justin Yau (@PDocumentarians) July 22, 2020
“One of the Marshals rips the press ID from around my neck,” Dundon wrote in a description of the incident for The Washington Post. “Another pinned me under the gas with his nightstick for 10 excruciating seconds before allowing me to leave the area.
“I walked home with third-degree burns that night, bedraggled but buzzing on residual adrenaline,” Dundon wrote.
The lawsuit alleges that the officers violated Dundon’s First and Fourth Amendment rights and restricted his ability to cover the protests. Neither Dundon’s attorneys nor DHS responded to requests for additional information.
“Targeting journalists was not a quirk of the federal enforcement efforts, it was one of its objectives,” the suit alleges. “DOJ and DHS agents could have completed the objectives of their response without causing harm to Plaintiff.”
The Tracker documented seven other journalists assaulted while covering the Portland protests that day.
Dundon is seeking noneconomic, economic and punitive damages in the lawsuit.
This screenshot, cited in Rian Dundon’s lawsuit, shows the photographer after he was thrown to the ground amid protests in Portland, Oregon, in July 2020. The 2022 suit alleges that federal officers deliberately targeted him.
",None,None,None,None,False,3:22-cv-00594,['ONGOING'],Civil,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",,, 2021-04-20 17:59:49.313454+00:00,2023-11-01 15:53:37.154758+00:00,"Omaha news anchor detained by police, shoved by National Guard while covering protest",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/omaha-news-anchor-detained-by-police-shoved-by-national-guard-while-covering-protest/,2023-11-01 15:53:37.056881+00:00,,,,"Arrest/Criminal Charge, Assault, Equipment Damage",,,press identification: count of 1,Maya Saenz (KMTV-TV),,2020-06-01,False,Omaha,Nebraska (NE),41.25626,-95.94043,"Maya Saenz, a news anchor for Omaha-metro area CBS affiliate KMTV, said she was shoved by National Guard officers while covering a June 1, 2020 protest in Omaha, Nebraska, against police violence.
Protests against police violence had spread across the country following the May 25 death of George Floyd. On June 1, demonstrations in Omaha also protested a decision by Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine to not charge a white bar owner, who had shot and killed 22-year-old Black man James Scurlock two days earlier, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
After an 8 p.m. curfew went into effect June 1, the World-Herald reported that at least 150 protesters remained on downtown streets. According to Mayor Jean Stothert's proclamation, as reported by WOWT 6 News, members of the media were exempt from the curfew.
Saenz told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she and her KMTV colleague, Kent Luetzen, were covering protests near Jackson Street and South 13th Street when they were aggressively confronted by National Guard officers.
“Guardsmen quickly ran towards the middle of the street and started grabbing protesters and throwing them on the ground and then placing zip-ties around their wrists,” she said. “I started recording on my cellphone and recorded when one guardsman shoved my colleague and I against a wired fence and attempted to arrest both of us and place zip-ties around us. We yelled, ‘We’re media! We’re media!’ and that’s when they let us go, but several others barked at us to leave the scene.”
In a video posted to Twitter at 9:07 p.m., both reporters repeatedly scream that they are media as a National Guard officer grabs Luetzen. Saenz said she was wearing a shirt with a KMTV logo in the top corner as well as her media credential on a lanyard around her neck. “During the forceful encounter with the guardsmen, my lanyard tore,” she said. “After that, I put it in my pocket.”
Luetzen told the Tracker he was briefly put into zip-ties, but quickly released. At the same time on the same block, one of their colleagues, Jon Kipper, was tackled and also briefly detained.
Approximately half an hour later, Luetzen and Saenz were briefly detained by Omaha police.
Around 9:30 p.m., Luetzen said protesters had spread out after police made a series of arrests in the downtown area. He told the Tracker that he and colleagues from his station, including Saenz, were walking away from the main demonstration area after being told repeatedly that they would be arrested if they didn’t leave. At the intersection of Leavenworth Street and South 15th Street, they came across four Omaha police officers who had detained two people.
"They made us get on the ground and put our hands behind our backs," Luetzen said. "Even though we work with them daily and they knew my co-worker, they still made us get down, put our chests to the ground."
Luetzen said he had his press credentials around his neck and a KMTV logo on his hat. He said that Saenz told the officers that they were all working journalists and were leaving the area. After Saenz’s clarification, he said, the officers let them leave.
The Nebraska National Guard did not respond to an immediate request for comment. When asked for comment about Luetzen’s detainment, Lt. Sherie Thomas, a spokesperson for the Omaha Police Department, told the Tracker that Police Chief Todd Schmaderer had ordered “an overall review of the protests.” Thomas later said that the department sent “clear communication” to news outlets “to make sure employees had visible badges showing that they work for the media” and to “wear highly visible vests.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
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.
A photojournalist for The Denver Post was struck with pepper balls multiple times while documenting protests in Denver, Colorado, on May 28, 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.
Photographer Hyoung Chang was covering a protest in downtown Denver when police began firing tear gas and pepper balls at the crowd, the Post reported.
Chang, who had been taking photos near the officers and had not been told to move, told the Post that the officer fired directly at him.
“If it was one shot, I can say it was an accident,” Chang said. “I’m very sure it was the same guy twice. I’m very sure he pointed at me.”
The first shot struck Chang in the chest, shattering the press credential he was wearing around his neck. As he held his camera to his chest, the second shot struck his forearm, tearing through his coat and cutting a gash near his elbow.
Chang told the Post that he moved south to escape the pepper and tear gas, continuing to take photos as he went. Some protesters aided him, pouring milk over his face to alleviate the burning.
According to the Post, Chang did not seek medical attention but is resting at home. He told the newspaper that the situation made him feel weird, particularly as it appears members of the media are being targeted.
So far, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented four other journalists struck by crowd control ammunition on two separate nights of protests and a CNN news crew of three arrested while covering the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis.
A second Post journalist, reporter Elise Schmelzer, also reported being shot at by a police officer while covering the protest. The Post reported that at least one pepper ball was fired at her feet, despite the fact that she was wearing a reflective “PRESS” vest.
The Colorado Press Association and the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition reiterated the importance of journalists covering public demonstrations without interference, the Post reported.
Press Association CEO Jill Farschman told the Post, “There seems to be a frightening trend of restraining and targeting reporters during public protests and other civil unrest even when clearly displaying press credentials.”
“Let me stay with clarity that any infringement on our First Amendment right to a free press not only undermines the safety of reporters, but oppresses the public’s access to live news coverage which is completely unacceptable,” Farshman added.
Neither the Denver Police Department nor the Post journalists immediately responded to requests for comment.
In Denver, Colorado, protestors gather on May 28, 2020, following the death of a black man in police custody in Minnesota. At least one journalist was hit with pepper balls while documenting the downtown Denver protest.
",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",,, 2018-01-16 09:26:13.926727+00:00,2023-12-06 16:06:54.835393+00:00,DNAinfo reporter Noah Hurowitz accosted by 'Proud Boy' at NYU protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/dnainfo-reporter-noah-hurowitz-accosted-proud-boy-nyu-protest/,2023-12-06 16:06:54.735609+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,press identification: count of 1,Noah Hurowitz (DNAinfo),,2017-02-02,False,New York,New York (NY),None,None,"DNAinfo reporter Noah Hurowitz was punched in the face by Salvatore Cipolla, a member of the alt-right group "Proud Boys," on Feb. 2, 2017, DNAinfo reported.
Hurowitz was reporting at New York University, where "Proud Boys" founder Gavin McInnes was scheduled to speak and where large groups of protesters and counterprotesters had gathered.
Hurowitz told the Freedom of the Press Foundation in an email that he was attempting to photograph Cipolla, a member of the "Proud Boys" who was yelling at protesters, when Cipolla approached him and physically accosted him.
"As I backed up, verbally identifying myself as press and holding up my NYPD-issued press pass, which was around my neck, Cipolla shoved me, grabbed me by the collar of my coat, and yanked on my press pass, damaging it," Hurowitz said. "He was immediately arrested."
Cipolla was cited for disorderly conduct and second-degree harassment. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to community service.