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 2021-01-15 18:47:42.055308+00:00,2024-02-29 19:33:35.741791+00:00,Independent filmmaker pepper sprayed while covering Ferguson protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-pepper-sprayed-while-covering-ferguson-protest/,2024-02-29 19:33:35.642073+00:00,,,,"Assault, Equipment Damage",,,camera: count of 1,Chris Phillips (Freelance),,2020-08-09,False,Ferguson,Missouri (MO),38.74422,-90.30539,"
Chris Phillips, an independent filmmaker, was hit in the face with pepper spray at close range while he covered a protest in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 9, 2020.
The demonstration was held on the sixth anniversary of the day Michael Brown, a Black teenager, was shot and killed by police in 2014. Mass protests against police violence and racial injustice were held across the U.S. for months in 2020, fueled by the killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, among others.
Phillips, a resident of the same complex where Brown lived, made a documentary, Ferguson 365, about the movement that followed Brown’s killing, and has been documenting the aftermath of Brown’s killing ever since. Phillips runs the production company Maverick Media Group and said his work has been published by outlets including The Associated Press and CBS.
Phillips said he arrived at the police department at night, where protesters and police had been in a standoff. However, he said, about an hour after he arrived, the atmosphere seemed relaxed. He remembered filming a scene of a woman sitting in a lawn chair in the police department parking lot, chatting with officers.
He went to pick up a camera battery he had left charging on the opposite side of the street from the police department. As he pulled the plug from the outlet, he said he heard screaming and turned to see police rush into the crowd.
Phillips said he grabbed his camera and started toward the confrontation to film it. His camera was still powering up, he said, and he was getting positioned to film two police officers who were throwing someone to the ground. Suddenly, he said, a different police officer fired pepper spray into his face from less than 10 feet away. Phillips said there were no protesters close to him at the time.
“For me to get sprayed like that — that was a deliberate act,” he said.
Phillips said the spray was very painful and temporarily blinded him. He said he turned around and tripped, slamming his camera into the pavement.
Protesters came to his aid and helped him to a medical station, where they tried to neutralize the impact of the spray with milk and water, he said. His eyes and face hurt for two days after he was sprayed, he said.
Thank you @MissJupiter1957 for capturing this. One of my eyes is still in pain this morning from the pepper spray. The police use these harsh chemicals without warning. #policebrutality #policeaccountability #ferguson #ferguson365 https://t.co/udquiBycKa
— Chris Phillips (@maverickmedia1) August 10, 2020
Phillips said he heard no warning before police rushed into the crowd, or before he was sprayed. He wasn’t wearing any form of press identification, he said, but he was carrying an elaborate, professional-grade cinema camera. He said he didn’t have an opportunity to identify himself to police before he was pepper sprayed, though he is well-known as a filmmaker in Ferguson, according to other journalists in the area.
Chris Phillips of Maverick Media was pepper-sprayed. He is well-known media by everyone in Ferguson and STL. This is what journalists deal with in Ferguson since 2014.
— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) August 10, 2020
6th Anniversary of Michael Brown Jr. murder. #MikeBrown pic.twitter.com/jhLknFsQLa
Phillips said his camera rig was inoperable after the fall. The only component that still worked was the microphone. He said the RED Scarlet-W “brain” of the camera, which he purchased for $12,500, suffered significant interior and exterior damage, so he decided to replace it with a newer model, which he did with the help of an online fundraiser. He also needed to replace a $280 Zoom H-5 audio recorder that was damaged. He said he hadn’t been in contact with police about the incident, but he was considering his legal options.
St. Louis County Police Department spokesperson Tracy Panus told the Tracker in an email that the agency wasn’t familiar with Phillips or aware that he was pepper sprayed. According to Panus, police directed protesters to disperse multiple times over a loudspeaker before beginning to arrest people who didn’t follow the orders.
“While taking several individuals into custody, St. Louis County Police Officers did deploy pepper spray in an effort to make the arrests or prevent interference by others attempting to interfere with those arrests,” Panus 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 these protests across the country. Find these incidents here.
While covering an on Aug. 9, 2020, protest in Ferguson, Missouri, filmmaker Chris Phillips was pepper-sprayed at close range by law enforcement. “For me to get sprayed like that — that was a deliberate act,” he said.
",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,[],,"Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter 1 year, Black Lives Matter 2020, chemical irritant, protest",,, 2021-02-12 18:41:16.058638+00:00,2021-02-12 18:41:16.058638+00:00,Independent filmmaker hit with a flash-bang grenade while covering Minneapolis protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-filmmaker-hit-with-a-flash-bang-grenade-while-covering-minneapolis-protest/,2021-02-12 18:41:16.022062+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Chris Phillips (Freelance),,2020-05-27,False,Minneapolis,Minnesota (MN),44.97997,-93.26384,"Chris Phillips, an independent filmmaker, was hit in the leg with a flash-bang canister while covering a protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 27, 2020.
Protests began in the city in response to the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, during his arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. Floyd’s death sparked weeks of protests across the country.
Phillips is a Ferguson, Missouri-based filmmaker who made a documentary about the Black Lives Matter movement following the 2014 shooting of Black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson. He has covered protests across the country, posting live videos on Facebook. In May, he drove to Minneapolis to report on the response to Floyd’s killing, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Phillips said that when he arrived near the city’s Third Police Precinct, tear gas was being used by police to try to disperse a protest there. About 45 minutes later, he said, protesters and police were in a standoff. Minneapolis police, Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies, Minnesota State Patrol officers and St. Paul police were present at the protest, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
Phillips said he squatted down in order to film a shot looking up from behind a protester toward the police. He said they were about 100 feet from a line of police officers when a flash-bang canister was fired in their direction. Phillips said the grenade exploded and the canister struck him on his right leg.
“It was kind of like the war movies where your ears just ring,” he said. “You know, you get that high pitch, white noise in your ears.”
The object that hit him was about two inches long and one inch wide, he said. He said that he did not require any medical attention.
Phillips said he was not displaying press credentials or wearing anything that would identify him as a journalist beyond his professional-grade camera. He noted that he was surrounded by hundreds of people, and he did not believe that press identification would have made a difference.
“They look at, there's 50 people around you that are not press, and if they just want to do what they want to do or they just want to get people to move back, they don't care who's in the mix,” Phillips said.
A spokesperson for the Minneapolis Police Department declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation related to police use of force.
Multiple other journalists were struck by police crowd control munitions while covering protests in Minneapolis on May 27.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting hundreds of 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.