MLive photographer hit with rubber bullets in Detroit; officer charged

The Detroit police officer who fired rubber bullets at photojournalists Nicole Hester, Matthew Hatcher and Seth Herald at demonstrations in 2020 had the state’s case against him dismissed on Oct. 21, 2024.

In an order reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a Wayne County judge for the Third Judicial Circuit ruled that the case was dismissed because witnesses for the prosecution were not available. The photographers had moved out of Michigan and did not appear at the trial, the Detroit News reported.

Hester, Hatcher and Herald were documenting Black Lives Matter protests in Detroit following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, when Daniel Debono and another police officer began firing rubber pellets at them, even though the journalists identified themselves as press.

The felony assault charges against Debono were initially dismissed in October 2021 by a district court judge, who ruled that Debono was entitled to qualified immunity from prosecution. The charges were revived by a circuit court, and an appeals court affirmed the case’s revival in March 2023.

Hester and Hatcher did not respond to requests for comment from the Tracker. Herald told the Tracker via email that its request for comment was the first he had heard about the case’s dismissal.

The Detroit police officer who fired rubber bullets at photojournalist Nicole Hester of Michigan news site MLive and two other journalists will stand trial after a state appeals court remanded the case back to a lower court on March 16, 2023, according to court documents reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

The felony assault charges against Daniel Debono were initially dismissed in October 2021 by a district court judge, who argued that Debono would not have been able to clearly identify the journalists as members of the press during the chaos of the protest, and that Debono’s lawful actions entitled him to qualified immunity from prosecution.

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office appealed to a circuit court, which reversed the charges’ dismissal, MLive reported. Debono’s counsel then appealed that ruling but the appeals court affirmed it, finding that Debono’s actions granted him an affirmative defense at trial but not immunity, and remanded the case to the district court.

Hester was documenting Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd in Detroit in May 2020, when she and photojournalists Matthew Hatcher and Seth Herald encountered Debono and another police officer. The journalists identified themselves as members of the press; nevertheless, the officers fired rubber pellets at them, hitting their faces and bodies.

Debono is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 28, 2023.

Felony charges were dismissed against Detroit police officer Daniel Debono on Oct. 26, 2021, following an internal investigation that found he had fired rubber bullets at MLive photojournalist Nicole Hester and two other journalists in 2020.

Hester was documenting protests in Detroit, Michigan, on May 31, 2020, that followed the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minnesota. She told the Committee to Protect Journalists at the time that she was on her way to her car with two other photojournalists, Matthew Hatcher and Seth Herald, when they encountered two police officers, including Debono. Hester said they identified as members of the press and put their hands up before being fired upon.

Hester said she was hit with at least a dozen rubber pellets in her face and body, with one narrowly missing her eye. According to MLive, Hester testified during the hearing, saying she attended the protest only to document.

“I was terrified,” Hester said. “I have never been shot in the face before. We put our hands up to show we weren’t a threat and we were met by being shot.”

After the preliminary hearing, Wayne County 36th District Court Judge Roberta Archer agreed with the defense’s argument that police had given an order to disperse before firing and Debono could not clearly identify who was a member of the press during the chaos of the protest.

“The common sense takeaway is if they are readily identifiable, an officer wouldn’t use non-lethal force,” Archer said during the hearing. “Their press badges were the size of credit cards and large badges were not added until the day after. It’s troubling, but it forces me to pivot back to the job the officers were given. In a perfect world they would have had badges as large as the ones given out after the incident. To me, from the distance we saw, I am not satisfied (Debono) was able to determine the three were the press.”

Archer concluded that Debono was protected under state law which granted him qualified immunity from prosecution if someone is injured or killed while the officer is performing lawful duties and dismissed the charges against him.

John Hiner, vice president of content for MLive Media Group, said he was disappointed with the judge’s decision to dismiss the charges.

“Nicole and her fellow journalists were there to document an extremely important story for our communities, and did not provoke or impede police in any way,” Hiner said. “It’s alarming that a judge would sanction this kind of force against anyone – citizen or journalist – who had their hands in the air.”

Editor’s note: The assaults of Nicole Hester, Matt Hatcher and Seth Herald originally published with the date May 30, 2020. The court filing and subsequent MLive news stories mark the event as occurring after midnight the following morning; the date of all three journalists’ assaults have been updated to reflect the change.