Incident details
- Updated on
- Date of incident
- June 8, 2020
- Location
- Seattle, Washington
- Targets
- Jordan Pickett (Freelance)
- Case number
- 20-2-14351-1
- Case status
- Settled
- Type of case
- Civil
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Unknown
Assault
Shortly after being hit with a crowd-control munition while covering a protest in Seattle on June 8, journalist Jordan Pickett posted these images on Twitter, saying he was clearly identifiable as working press.
Journalist and co-plaintiffs settle suit with Seattle for $10 million
Former freelance journalist Jordan Pickett and more than 50 others who documented or participated in Black Lives Matter protests in Seattle, Washington, in 2020, settled their claims against the city on Jan. 23, 2024, for $10 million.
The suit was filed in King County Superior Court in September 2020, alleging civil rights violations, including excessive force, by the Seattle Police Department during the protests. The settlement came before a trial scheduled for May 2024, projected to last three months, according to the city attorney.
Pickett was documenting protests in June 2020, wearing a press badge and with “PRESS” labels on his hat and backpack, when he was shot with a 40 mm baton round by law enforcement. The projectile, shot from more than 50 feet away, hit the back of his right thigh, tore through his pants, broke the skin and made him collapse in pain.
Pickett told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker in August 2025 that he would have preferred if the suit had gone to trial. “I wanted the chance to take the stand,” he said.
He said he thought the settlement fell short of providing accountability for his experience in 2020, but acknowledged that attorneys representing the plaintiffs anticipated a “risky trial.”
“I think the fact that the city agreed to pay out $10 million speaks volumes about their culpability in the violence that took place,” he said.
He told the Tracker that he has since left journalism, but still photographs protests, and that his 2020 experience has affected his preparations for doing so. “I definitely bring far more protective gear and stay very aware of the location of law enforcement officers if things ever get tense,” he said.
Independent multimedia journalist Jordan Pickett was hit and injured by a crowd-control projectile fired by law enforcement officers while he covered protests against police violence in Seattle on June 8, 2020.
The Seattle demonstrations were one of many that have swept across the country in response to the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25.
On the evening of Sunday, June 7, most protesters were gathered in one area near Capitol Hill along East Pine Street and 10th Avenue, Pickett told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. He had been covering the action in the front, but began to slowly retreat as police officers deployed tear gas to force protesters to disperse.
“At that point, a flash bang grenade went off almost directly on my foot and that was scary enough that I started to push back further,” Pickett remembered. “I was walking with both of my cameras held up to try to appear as not intimidating as possible.”
Pickett said he also had a press badge around his neck and large pieces of white duct tape with the word “PRESS” written in black Sharpie on his hat and backpack.
At 12:23 a.m. on June 8, officers hit Pickett with what he believes was a 40mm baton round in the back of his right thigh, he told the Tracker. In a tweet sent at 3:02 a.m., he wrote the projectile tore through thick jeans from more than 50 feet away, breaking the skin and making him collapse in pain.
According to his estimates, officers were still more than 50 feet away. Picket crawled behind a parked car to regain his composure while more tear gas was released around him. He said he was momentarily blinded and still disoriented when he got up and started walking towards Broadway, where a protester sprayed a baking-soda solution in his eyes.
“Either officers identified me as press and shot anyway, are shooting so quickly or indiscriminately that they can’t identify their targets first or weren’t aiming for me and shot inaccurately,” Pickett wrote in another tweet. “All three seem problematic.”
On Sept. 25, the law firm of Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore filed a lawsuit against the city of Seattle and state of Washington on the behalf of “peaceful protesters,” including Pickett, claiming the city enabled police officers’ “unreasonable and disproportionate conduct” and the “widescale use of excessive force,” violating rights protected under the First Amendment.
Seattle Police Department spokesman Randy Huserik declined to comment, citing a policy of not discussing pending litigation. He confirmed that SWAT officers were deployed but said they do not use baton rounds.
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 protests across the country.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].