Incident details
- Updated on
- Date of incident
- June 9, 2025
- Location
- Los Angeles, California
- Targets
- Ford Fischer (News2Share)
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- No
Assault
Law enforcement officers stand face-to-face with a protester during an anti-deportation demonstration in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 9, 2025. Independent journalist Ford Fischer was struck by a projectile while filming the protest that day.
LAPD clears officers of projectile strike on journalist covering protest
The Los Angeles Police Department determined on Sept. 11, 2025, that its officers were not involved in a June incident in which video journalist Ford Fischer was hit by a foam projectile while filming a protest in Los Angeles, California.
Fischer, editor-in-chief and co-founder of the independent media outlet News2Share, was filming a tense standoff between anti-immigration enforcement protesters and police officers on June 9 when he was struck in the stomach with a foam projectile.
Fischer described the pain upon impact as “very sharp” and told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the ensuing bruise remained for a month.
“They knew, or should have known, that I was press,” he told the Tracker at the time. “It’s either a negligent act to then hit me, an unacceptable mistake, or it was specifically targeted.”
The incident was submitted for review to the LAPD by Adam Rose, the LA Press Club’s press rights committee chair and deputy director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project.
In September, the department informed Rose that the investigation had determined that no LAPD officer was involved. The signers of the letter, Chief of Police Jim McDonnell and Captain James Hwang, did not provide any evidence to support their conclusion or name another law enforcement agency as responsible.
Asked for comment on the conclusion, Fischer told the Tracker: “As you can see in the footage, I was obviously hit with a law enforcement munition. I wasn’t able to see the actual law enforcement member who fired it, in the dark and apparently from across the intersection. With them failing to provide evidence or name the agency they determined to be responsible, I can’t really say their conclusion is credible or not credible.”
In a written response to the LAPD’s letter reviewed by the Tracker, Rose wrote, “I’m surprised you classified this as ‘No Department Employee,’” and argued that video footage of the incident shows officers in dark uniforms commonly worn by LAPD officers.
Rose added that other law enforcement agencies with similar uniforms, such as California Highway Patrol or the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Services, were not reported near the scene that evening.
“It seems far more plausible that this group of officers in dark uniforms could have just walked out the very short distance from LAPD HQ,” he added.
In a follow-up, Rose asked the department to provide evidence both proving that the LAPD was not involved and confirming which agency was indeed responsible.
“I think you can see from things like this why so few people in Los Angeles find the Department credible when they issue such empty boilerplate denials, which at this point have become a running joke in civic circles,” he added.
He never received a response.
Ford Fischer, editor-in-chief and co-founder of the independent media outlet News2Share, was struck by a foam projectile while filming a protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 9, 2025.
The protests began June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.
Fischer had traveled to LA to document the protests and spent four consecutive days on the ground. He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was filming a tense but mostly stagnant standoff between protesters and the Los Angeles Police Department when some demonstrators began throwing objects. Officers responded with tear gas and impact rounds.
At the time, Fischer was positioned near a group of journalists and clearly identifiable as press. He wore a Capitol Hill press badge and carried a full-size studio camera rig with a mounted phone for livestreaming — gear he described as “unmistakable.”
In a video Fischer posted to social platform X, a wide gap is visible between protesters and police officers, with some demonstrators throwing objects toward the police line. As officers returned fire with what Fischer identified as 40 mm foam rounds, one struck him about 30 seconds into the footage.
“Got shot in the stomach,” he said with a groan, while continuing to document the scene as flash-bang grenades exploded nearby.
The strike left a painful welt and a ring of burst blood vessels. The bruise, Fischer said, remained visible for more than a month. Though a friend later confirmed the injury wasn’t serious, he described the pain as “very sharp.”
“They knew, or should have known, that I was press,” he told the Tracker. “It’s either a negligent act to then hit me, an unacceptable mistake, or it was specifically targeted.”
He kept filming for another 20 to 30 minutes that night, then returned to cover the protests over the next three days. But the incident shifted his sense of safety.
“It creates a greater level of precaution,” Fischer said. “I might be more bold about my vicinity to the action if I wasn’t as scared of the possibility of being hit.”
When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. In a June 10 statement posted to X, the department acknowledged that LAPD officers used numerous “less-lethal rounds” when responding to the protests, but did not address the use of munitions against identifiable press.
The Tracker has documented four other instances in which Fischer was assaulted while covering protests, including two involving law enforcement.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
