Incident Details
- Date of Incident
- August 18, 2018
- Location
- St. Martin Parish, Louisiana
- Targets
- Karen Savage (The Appeal)
- Case number
- 6:20-cv-00983
- Case Status
- Appealed
- Type of case
- Civil
- Arrest Status
- Arrested and released
- Arresting Authority
- St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office
- Charges
-
-
Trespassing: unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure project
- Aug. 18, 2018: Charges pending
- July 13, 2021: Charges dropped
-
Trespassing: unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure project
- Unnecessary use of force?
- No
Arrest/Criminal Charge
Journalist appeals dismissal of First Amendment claims
Journalist Karen Savage has appealed a district court ruling dismissing claims her First Amendment rights were violated when she was arrested at Louisiana pipeline protests in 2018, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. The notice of appeal was filed on April 22, 2024.
Savage was first arrested in St. Martin Parish in August 2018 and again the next month while reporting on protests; she was charged with felony trespassing under a new Louisiana statute against “unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure project.”
She and various participants in the pipeline protests sued the sheriff, district attorney and attorney general, arguing that the statute violated the First Amendment. A U.S. district judge disagreed, dismissing Savage’s claims on March 28.
Savage’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment from the Tracker.
Judge dismisses journalist's First Amendment claims stemming from Louisiana arrests
Journalist Karen Savage’s claims of First Amendment violations from her arrest at a Louisiana pipeline protest were dismissed by a U.S. district judge March 28, 2024, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Savage was arrested in August 2018 and again the next month for felony trespassing while reporting for news site The Appeal on protests against the construction of the Bayou Bridge oil pipeline in St. Martin Parish. She was one of the first people to be arrested under a new Louisiana statute against “unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure project.”
In May 2019, Savage filed a federal lawsuit with various participants in the pipeline protests, arguing that the infrastructure statute violated the First Amendment. The Louisiana district attorney dropped the trespassing charges against Savage in July 2021.
In March 2024, the court ruled that the state’s statute did not violate the First Amendment because the government was reasonable in its effort to protect critical infrastructure facilities, the statute applied to protesters of all viewpoints and was therefore politically neutral, and the facilities themselves were not public forums.
Savage did not respond to a request for comment from the Tracker.
Charges dropped against investigative journalist who sued following arrests in Louisiana
On July 13, 2021, Louisiana District Attorney Bofill “Bo” Duhé dropped the charges against freelance investigative journalist Karen Savage following her 2018 arrests while reporting on protests against the construction of the Bayou Bridge oil pipeline in St. Martin Parish, the Louisiana Illuminator reported.
Savage was arrested for trespassing first on Aug. 18, 2018, and then again exactly one month later on Sept. 18, under the then-newly enacted state law against “unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure project,” along with many others.
According to a lawsuit filed on behalf of Savage and a dozen others in May 2019, Savage was charged with two felonies under the law and faced a combined 10 years imprisonment and heavy fines. In an article for DeSmog, Savage wrote that Louisiana prosecutors had four years to decide whether to pursue the charges against her.
“Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a Louisiana district attorney confirmed in July [2021] that he will not prosecute me or the nearly two dozen pipeline opponents, known as ‘water protectors,’ who were also arrested,” Savage wrote.
“I do know the felony charges against me — and fear of what would happen if I was arrested while on bail for two felonies — prevented me from covering some of the most important events of the past three years, including protests after the police murder of George Floyd,” Savage wrote. “Election night I stayed home. I watched the January 6 insurrection on TV.”
In May 2021, District Judge Robert Summerhays granted District Attorney Duhé, Attorney General Jeff Landry and St. Martin Parish Sheriff Ronald Theriot’s motion to dismiss the claims brought by the landowners and organization plaintiffs in Savage’s lawsuit, but allowed Savage’s claims to move forward.
The case was transferred to the Western District of Louisiana and a trial is tentatively scheduled for August 2022.
On Aug. 18, 2018, freelance investigative reporter Karen Savage was arrested under a felony trespassing law, while reporting on protests against the construction of the Bayou Bridge oil pipeline in Louisiana. At the time, Savage was on assignment for The Appeal, a progressive news site focused on criminal justice issues.
Savage was embedded with a camp of protesters, known as water protectors, who were aiming to defend a piece of land in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya River Basin, a wetlands area co-owned by hundreds of people. Energy Transfer Partners, the company responsible for the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, is trying to build its new Bayou Bridge oil pipeline through the area. Although some of the co-owners of the Atchafalaya Basin property have given the company permission to build the pipeline, hundreds of others have refused to do so. Despite this, the company had already begun making alterations to the land, including removing trees and digging a ditch. It has also asked the state of Louisiana to use eminent domain to seize the land from the co-owners who object to the pipeline.
Savage told Freedom of the Press Foundation that one of the co-owners of the Atchafalaya Basin land who is resisting the pipeline had given her permission to be on the property.
“Some were actively resisting, and I had a letter from a landowner saying we were welcome to be on the property,” she said. “For people to visit the property, you only need permission from one landowner.”
On Aug. 18, Savage was with three water protectors, taking pictures and reporting, when she was arrested by sheriff's deputies from the nearby St. Martin Parish.
“I wasn’t even on the contested part of the land,” she said. “Sheriff’s deputies showed up and said I had to leave. I said I had permission to be there. I didn’t think I, or anyone else, would be arrested.”
She showed the officer a photograph of letter she had from a landowner, granting her permission to remain on the property. She said that she urged the officer to call the landowner, but he declined to do so. Officers then arrested her and the three water protectors who were with her.
Savage was one of the first people to be arrested under a newly-enacted Louisiana state law against “unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure project,” which went into effect on Aug. 1. The new Louisiana state law makes trespassing on a “critical infrastructure project” like an oil pipeline a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. (Trespassing on land that is not a “critical infrastructure project” remains a misdemeanor.)
Although Savage was arrested under the law, the local district attorney has not yet brought any criminal charges against her.
After Savage was released on bail, she returned to the area to continue reporting on the protests against the Bayou Bridge pipeline.
“I bonded out, and kept reporting,” she said. “I wasn’t going to be intimidated.”
She later published a piece in The Appeal about her arrest and the way that Energy Transfer Partners employs off-duty law enforcement officers as a private security force, which works closely with uniformed St. Martin Parish sheriff's deputies to arrest pipeline protesters.
The St. Martin’s Sheriff Department did not respond to request for comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
