first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2023-01-19 15:41:37.800666+00:00,2023-07-31 20:42:56.195050+00:00,"SC reporter arrested, banned from tribal lands",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sc-reporter-arrested-banned-from-tribal-lands/,2023-07-31 20:42:56.073192+00:00,trespassing (charges dropped as of 2023-07-17),,(2023-07-17 16:31:00+00:00) Trespassing charge against reporter dropped,Arrest/Criminal Charge,,,,Maggie Brown (The Post and Courier),,2023-01-14,False,Rock Hill,South Carolina (SC),34.92487,-81.02508,"
Post and Courier reporter Maggie Brown was arrested and charged with trespassing after being removed from a Catawba Nation general council meeting near Rock Hill, South Carolina, on Jan. 14, 2023.
The Post and Courier, which originally reported the arrest in a since-deleted article, wrote that Brown was in attendance to cover discussions around whether to cut ties with the operators of a Catawba-owned casino that is under federal scrutiny. That article is available for reference from an internet archive. Brown and Managing Editor Andy Shain declined to comment when reached by email.
Queen City News reported that tribal administrators denied Brown’s request to attend the meeting — which was only open to tribal members and invited guests — in the days leading up to the event. The News reported that approximately 200 people were in attendance.
The York County Sheriff’s Office told the outlet that a deputy gave Brown a citation for trespassing, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail or a $200 fine, and released her. Brown left the Catawba reservation under a police escort.
The Catawba Nation condemned her actions in a statement released on Twitter after the incident, referring to her as Maggie Brown Driggers. The statement said that she had flaunted tribal sovereignty and disrespected their boundaries.
“Catawba General Council meetings are gatherings of Catawba citizens to discuss, debate, and ultimately vote on issues facing the Nation,” the statement said. “We are a sovereign nation with the power to set boundaries and laws on our land to protect and serve our people. This includes restricting those who are allowed and not allowed in our meetings.”
According to the statement, Brown has been banned from tribal lands.
The York County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a voicemail requesting further information.
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.
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.
Pastor Hope Carpenter appeared to threaten Greenville News during a sermon at a South Carolina church on April 2, 2019.
Toward the end of Carpenter's monologue at Relentless Church in Greenville, she expressed gratitude to the church leadership before targeting Greenville News.
"I cut people. I got a knife right in that pocketbook," Carpenter told the congregation, according to the Washington Post. "Greenville News, come on. We done went through this. I'm still here, and guess who else is still going to be here?" Carpenter ended, pointing to controversial pastor John Gray.
Relentless Church's new leaders, pastors John and Aventer Gray, had recently been the subjects of investigative reporting by Greenville News, which wrote in January 2019 how John Gray lives in a nearly $2 million home funded by the church. In another piece, Greenville News covered lavish personal purchases he made for his wife.
Carpenter did not respond to request by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker for comment.
"The Greenville News strives to cover every organization in our community in a fair and unbiased way and also aggressively and comprehensively,” said Greenville News Executive Editor Katrice Hardy. “Our robust coverage of Relentless church has included stories ranging from the church's assistance in helping launch an emergency homeless shelter in Pickens County to the way that the church has used its resources."
Jenna Kurzyna and Susan Ardis, reporters for local ABC affiliate WLTX, were arrested at a public housing complex in Columbia, South Carolina. The reporters were attempting to receive additional public records concerning a carbon monoxide gas leak in the complex that killed two in mid-January.
On the morning of Jan. 29, 2020, Kurzyna and Ardis knocked on the door to the office where public documents released by the Columbia Housing Authority are kept, seeking additional information about the ongoing gas issues at the CHA facility, WLTX reported. When there was no response and the office appeared to be closed, the two reporters returned to their car, intending to leave the property.
However, according to a video recorded by Ardis during the incident, a pair of private security officers blocked the exit from the parking lot and approached the journalists’ vehicle.
In the video, an officer can be heard saying, “You are being charged with trespassing after you’ve been asked to leave off the premises several times.”
Kurzyna responded to the officer, “We were in the process of leaving, though.”
Both reporters stepped out of the car as directed and were handcuffed and detained on the premises, despite clearly identifying themselves as reporters, WLTX President and General Manager Rich O’Dell told The State.
A third WLTX reporter seen in the video said that the officers were unhappy that she was filming the incident. The unidentified reporter also recounted that officers informed her that if she crossed onto the housing complex property she, too, would be detained.
Kurzyna and Ardis were released from custody the same day, shortly after 11 a.m.
Bob Coble, Columbia Housing Authority attorney and former City of Columbia Mayor, told The State, “I couldn’t imagine why a reporter was arrested if they identified as a reporter.”
Later that day, the CHA released a public statement, saying, “We, at the Columbia Housing Authority, apologize for the unfortunate incident that occurred earlier today with WLTX reporters, Jenna Kurzyna and Susan Ardis.”
The Housing Authority also stated that they would be holding a meeting with all security personnel later that day to review the incident. “Procedures are being put in place immediately to ensure that this does not happen again.”
WLTX accepted the apology that afternoon, and said, “We are looking forward to working together with the Housing Authority to immediately go through all the public records for the benefit of the residents.”
Kurzyna and Ardis returned to work, and WLTX reported that their Deep Dive team is continuing to review other CHA documents.
We have been sifting through hundreds of maintenance request here at Allen Benedict Court all day today - more on what we found tonight @WLTX #deepdive pic.twitter.com/ivNInD3n5D
— Jenna Kurzyna (@JkurzynaTV) January 24, 2019
O’Dell told The State that, to his knowledge, neither of the journalists were charged nor given a trespass warning.
Private security officers block the exit as South Carolina WLTX reporters Jenna Kurzyna and Susan Ardis attempt to leave a public housing complex.
Two reporters for ABC affiliate WLTX were arrested while leaving a public housing complex in Columbia, South Carolina, on Jan. 29, 2019. Susan Ardis and Jenna Kurzyna were at the complex to gather public documents about a carbon monoxide gas leak there that killed two people earlier in the month.
WLTX reported that Ardis and Kurzyna had knocked on the door to the office where documents released by the Columbia Housing Authority are kept. When there was no response, the two reporters returned to their car to leave the property.
As they left, Ardis recorded video as a pair of private security officers blocked the exit from the parking lot and approached the journalists’ vehicle.
In the video, an officer can be heard saying, “You are being charged with trespassing after you’ve been asked to leave off the premises several times.”
Kurzyna responded to the officer, “We were in the process of leaving, though.”
Both reporters stepped out of the car as directed and were handcuffed and detained, despite clearly identifying themselves as reporters, WLTX President and General Manager Rich O’Dell told The State.
Kurzyna and Ardis were released from custody shortly after 11 a.m. that same day.
O’Dell told The State that to his knowledge, neither of the journalists were charged nor given a trespass warning.
Bob Coble, Columbia Housing Authority attorney and former City of Columbia Mayor, told The State, “I couldn’t imagine why a reporter was arrested if they identified as a reporter.”
Later that day, the CHA released a public statement, saying, “We, at the Columbia Housing Authority, apologize for the unfortunate incident that occurred earlier today with WLTX reporters, Jenna Kurzyna and Susan Ardis.”
The Housing Authority also stated that they would be holding a meeting with all security personnel later that day to review the incident, and that procedures were being put in place to prevent the incident from happening again.
In accepting the apology, WLTX said it was looking forward to working with the Housing Authority to review the public documents.