Incident Details
- Date of Incident
- June 6, 2020
- Case number
- 3:20-cv-01035
- Case Status
- Settled
- Type of case
- Civil
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
A police officer tackles a protester in this still image from a video shot by journalist Sergio Olmos at a protest against police brutality in Portland, Oregon, on June 7, 2020. Olmos had been shoved by police while reporting the previous night.
Journalists settle with Portland, Oregon, over 2020 protest violations
A group of journalists who were assaulted and had their equipment seized by police officers in Portland, Oregon, while covering Black Lives Matter protests in June 2020 have settled a federal lawsuit with the city for nearly $1 million. The Portland City Council approved the settlement payment on March 5, 2025.
The $938,000 settlement also reinforces protections through 2028 for journalists who document protests in Portland, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case on the journalists’ behalf.
The protections were initially put in place by a preliminary injunction in July 2020, which barred the Portland Police Bureau from arresting journalists or seizing their equipment without probable cause, and exempted journalists from dispersal orders.
A similar injunction was later entered against the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Marshals Service personnel. That order was dissolved in March 2022, when the court ruled that fewer, smaller protests in Portland had reduced the need for it.
Journalist Sergio Olmos was reporting for Oregon Public Broadcasting in the early morning hours of June 6, 2020, and wearing a press pass, when he was shoved with batons by two police officers.
On July 10, he joined a suit filed by a group of journalists and legal observers in federal court, alleging that violent behavior by law enforcement was intended to intimidate the press and suppress reporting on officers’ misconduct.
The injunction targeting Portland police was dissolved in May 2023 after the court dismissed some of the plaintiffs’ claims against the city, pointing to changes in state law governing police crowd-control techniques, including limiting the use of tear gas.
The Portland Police Bureau had also updated its directive on responding to lawful demonstrations to include protections similar to those established by the injunction, according to the ACLU.
Attorney Matthew Borden, whose firm BraunHagey & Borden LLP also represented the journalists, celebrated the protections established by the agreement.
“Freedom of the press is a constitutional check against abuse of government power—one that has become all the more critical in light of the current federal regime,” he said. “Nobody should have to face the nightly storm of violence that our clients braved to capture what actually happened at the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in Portland.”
Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Sergio Olmos was shoved by a police officer while covering a protest in downtown Portland, Oregon, in the early morning hours of June 6, 2020.
Olmos was covering one of the many protests that broke out across the U.S. in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.
In Portland, nightly protests over the death of Floyd began on May 29, prompting Mayor Ted Wheeler to declare an 8 p.m. curfew that lasted three days. Even after the curfew was lifted, journalists continued to be targeted by police, according to a class action suit the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon filed against the Portland Police Bureau in June. The city agreed to a preliminary injunction in July to not to arrest or harm any journalists or legal observers of the protests or impede their work. Olmos is a plaintiff and provided a declaration in support of the suit.
Olmos was covering a protest at the Multnomah County Justice Center that began the evening of June 5 and stretched into the next morning. Shortly after 11 p.m., he tweeted that the PPB had declared an “unlawful assembly.”
Tear gas pushed the protesters further into the downtown, according to a tweet Olmos posted at 11:41 p.m. Ten minutes later, Olmos posted an image of an email from a police spokesperson urging the media to “leave the area please for your safety.” In the tweet accompanying the image, Olmos wrote, “This reporter is staying.”
After midnight, the crowd returned to the Justice Center and was soon dispersed by police yet again. Olmos gets shoved by an officer using a baton while leaving the area. “This reporter is shoved by police, I try to vocalize my moments and tell police officer I’m behind him and blocked,” he tweeted at 1:27 a.m.
The accompanying video shows Olmos filming two police vans from across the street. “I’m going this way,” Olmos can be heard saying to an officer. “Hey, I’m behind you.” Another officer approaches and shoves Olmos with his baton, then points a can of tear gas at him. The officer gestures for him to follow the path of the sidewalk, which appears to have been rerouted for construction. “I didn’t see that, I’m going,” Olmos can be heard saying.
At 4:15 a.m., Olmos posted footage of the incident from another angle. “I vocalize my movements, telling two police officers I’m behind them. I think the sidewalk is closed and I’m stuck. I call out to police to let them know. Police officer shoves as I explain,” he wrote in the post.
Olmos also tweeted a photo of himself marked as “press” and wearing a press pass around his neck.
“He had his press pass clearly visible,” the ACLU court filing said. “Nevertheless, the police attacked him with a baton.”
Olmos didn’t respond to a request for comment. The PPB has said it wouldn't comment on incidents involving journalists covering the protests, citing the continuing ACLU litigation.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].