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 2022-09-07 20:42:42.812265+00:00,2023-12-06 16:44:57.613488+00:00,Independent journalist shot with pepper ball at Modesto protest,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-shot-with-pepper-ball-at-modesto-protest/,2023-12-06 16:44:57.511067+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Jake Lee Green (News2Share),,2022-08-27,False,Modesto,California (CA),37.6391,-120.99688,"
Independent journalist Jake Lee Green was shot with a crowd-control munition while documenting the clash of protesters and counterprotesters at a National Straight Pride Coalition event in Modesto, California, on Aug. 27, 2022.
Green told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was on assignment for News2Share, a collective that sells footage to news outlets, to document the fourth annual “straight pride” parade outside of a Planned Parenthood. Though the event didn’t take place — because LGBTQ+ rights activists arrived before them to stop it — the demonstrators and counterprotesters began to clash, with some brawling in the street.
The Modesto Police Department told The Modesto Bee it declared the event an “unlawful gathering” after a bush caught fire. MPD officers and Stanislaus County Sheriff’s deputies formed a line pushing the counterprotesters back, according to the Bee.
Green said he and other colleagues asked police officers where to be, and they were told they had to “go with the crowd.”
“We kept constantly trying to let them know that we were press and even when we tried to cross the street to get out of the crowd so we could differentiate ourselves from them, the police ended up taking over the entire street and pushing the entire street out and away,” Green said.
Green told the Tracker he had been photographing a group of young activists at the police line who were being struck with batons and shot with pepper balls during the forced dispersal at around 11:15 a.m. According to Green, that’s when an MPD officer shot him with a pepper ball munition.
“I was focused on that group of people because I saw that [the officer] was shooting at them, I wasn’t actually necessarily paying attention to him although he was in the frame,” Green said. “And while I was focused on them he must have turned to me and shot toward my left pretty indiscriminately.”
Green told the Tracker he was carrying a professional camera and had attached his press credentials to his hat so that they could be easily seen. He said that the officer wasn’t being careful enough to notice that he was a member of the press or did notice and decided to fire at him anyway.
When things calmed down shortly after, Green checked his wound. “I thought, ‘OK, I’m bleeding a little bit but not too bad,’ and I continued to do my work throughout the day.”
MPD did not respond to a call requesting comment.
Independent journalist Jake Lee Green was shot in the leg with a pepper ball, a type of crowd-control munition, while documenting a ‘straight pride’ event and counterprotest in Modesto, California, on Aug. 27, 2022.
",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,[],,"chemical irritant, LGBTQ+ rights, protest, shot / shot at",,, 2022-06-28 14:22:30.740589+00:00,2022-08-05 19:15:10.075498+00:00,Photojournalist struck with police batons while covering reproductive rights protests in LA,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-with-police-baton-while-covering-reproductive-rights-protests-in-la/,2022-08-05 19:15:10.015807+00:00,,,,Assault,,,,Jake Lee Green (Independent),,2022-06-24,False,Los Angeles,California (CA),34.05223,-118.24368,"Independent photojournalist Jake Lee Green was assaulted by Los Angeles Police Department officers on June 24, 2022, while documenting reproductive rights protests in Los Angeles, California.
Protesters gathered in Downtown LA following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. Green told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was photographing the demonstrations and wearing multiple press badges and a shoulder mounted camera when two police officers jabbed him in the side with their batons. Green said he had been filming when the officers jabbed him in the ribs, catching him by surprise.
So, I made it onto the LA Times @latimes Web Site. That’s me getting jabbed in the ribs by an @LAPDHQ Officer. I was wearing my PRESS badge. I decided NOT to go in armor and now I wish I had. My side still hurts. https://t.co/tX0EfNkR0C
— Jake Lee Green (@AeonPhotoCo) June 26, 2022
“I was so focused on setting up my shot that I really wasn’t paying attention when the officers approached me,” Green said. “I told them I was just trying to do my job but I immediately got out of there.”
Green said he repeatedly encountered police throughout the day while covering the protests and noticed them acting aggressively toward reporters.
“My encounter wasn’t as bad as some of my colleagues that night but that use of force was unnecessary,” Green said.
Green was among several other journalists who reported assaults or detainments while covering demonstrations in LA. The Los Angeles Times reported police officers repeatedly ignored a recent law, passed in October 2021, that granted broader protections to journalists covering civil protests and access to areas closed off by police.
“According to Times reporters, witnesses' videos and interviews with other media members on the ground, journalists were pushed, struck with batons, forced out of areas where they had a right to observe police activity and blocked from entering other areas where police and protesters were clashing and arrests were being made.”
LAPD Chief Michel Moore told the Times that the department would be investigating the complaints made by press members. LAPD did not return an emailed request for comment.
Find press freedom violations documented by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at reproductive rights demonstrations across the U.S. here.
Jake Lee Green, an independent video journalist for News2Share, a collective that sells footage to news outlets, was slapped, kicked and sprayed with a chemical irritant while covering an anti-vaccination rally in Los Angeles, California, on Aug. 14, 2021.
Green told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was covering the “stop socialism, choose freedom march against medical tyranny” rally, a demonstration outside LA’s City Hall, where demonstrators gathered to protest against mask and vaccination mandates.
When counterprotesters arrived, Green moved away from the gathering to record a brawl that had broken out on the outskirts of the rally. Footage of the incident shared on Twitter shows an individual slap Green, who was wearing a black ballistic helmet and flak jacket, both labeled “PRESS.”
Video footage shows the same person then swinging a helmet at Green while a second individual kicked Green and then grabbed at his camera in an attempt to pull it away. In footage captured by Green, he is heard identifying himself as a journalist.
Green said he backed away from the crowd to readjust his camera equipment and refocus his camera on the escalating violence when someone sprayed him with pepper gel.
“I couldn't see anything and then I felt someone grab my camera, start pulling at it, and that’s when my mic broke off and damaged the screen on the side,” Green said.
Green said the attack damaged his microphone but he attempted to keep recording until the pain from the irritant became unbearable.
Green told the Tracker he did not file a police report about the incident. At least two other journalists were assaulted by individuals during the rally.