Photojournalist arrested covering Dallas protests, camera equipment seized

Freelance photojournalist Christopher Rusanowsky’s lawsuit against the Dallas Police Department and an officer who arrested him was dismissed on April 18, 2024, and an appeals court affirmed the dismissal on March 19, 2025, according to court records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

In May 2020, Rusanowsky was documenting a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas for Zuma Press when he was thrown to the ground and arrested by police Sgt. Roger Rudloff. After being detained overnight, he was charged with obstructing a highway. That charge was dropped a month later.

In May 2022, Rusanowsky filed a federal suit against the City of Dallas and Rudloff for violations of his First, Fourth and 14th amendment rights. He accused Rudloff of arresting him without probable cause and in retaliation for photographing Rudloff’s attacks on two protesters.

Rusanowsky also accused the city of failing to supervise and discipline Rudloff, despite 18 allegations of abuse against him starting in 1998, according to a 2021 Dallas Morning News investigation.

In August 2022, the paper reported that a police inquiry into Rudloff’s shooting of a protester with pepper balls — one of the incidents Rusanowsky photographed in May 2020 before he was arrested — had ended with no disciplinary action, the 19th time Rudloff had been cleared after allegations of misconduct.

In May 2023, the court dismissed Rusanowsky’s claims against the city and, in April 2024, it dismissed his claims against Rudloff, ruling that Rudloff had qualified immunity. Rusanowsky appealed, but in March 2025, an appeals court affirmed the dismissal.

Rusanowsky noted to the Tracker that the court’s decision was made “despite the visual evidence clearly showing my whereabouts and what transpired between me and the Dallas Police,” and said it was “deeply disappointing to see their actions viewed as appropriate.”

“This experience has added a layer of fear and emotional weight when I cover important stories involving law enforcement,” Rusanowsky said.

The Dallas Police Department confirmed to the Tracker that Rudloff is no longer an employee there. He left the department in January 2023 and no longer works as a police officer, according to his LinkedIn page.

Freelance photojournalist Christopher Rusanowsky filed a lawsuit on May 23, 2022, against the Dallas Police Department and the officer who arrested him while he was documenting protests in May 2020.

Rusanowsky, who was on assignment for Zuma Press at the time, told the Tracker shortly after the incident that an officer threw him to the ground and arrested him while he was documenting protests on May 30, 2020. He was held in police custody for approximately 26 hours and charged with obstructing a highway or other passageway; the charges were dropped approximately a month later.

Rusanowsky’s suit names the city of Dallas and Dallas Police Department Sgt. Roger Rudloff, alleging that he was singled out for arrest because he had photographed the officer violently arresting two protesters.

“At all relevant times before the arrest, Rusanowsky was working in the vicinity of a group of journalists, including other photographers. What differentiated Rusanowsky from these other journalists was not any obstruction of police activity, not any obstruction of traffic or of a highway, and not participation in a riot or the protest he was assigned to cover,” the lawsuit states. “Rather, what was different is that Rusanowsky was identified by Defendant Sgt. Rudloff capturing the sergeant’s own excessive use of force against two unarmed protesters, activity clearly protected by the First Amendment.”

Rusanowsky and his attorney, Michael Shapiro, told The Dallas Morning News they are seeking damages to compensate Rusanowsky for his anxiety and missed work as well as a ruling that deters future arrests of journalists.

“For me this suit is starting a conversation that I hope will persuade the police to let journalists do their work without fear of being jailed,” Rusanowsky told the outlet. “We live in America, and press rights are things we hold dear in our culture.”

Freelance photojournalist Christopher Rusanowsky, arrested while documenting protests in Dallas, Texas, on May 30, 2020, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that charges against him have been dropped.

Rusanowsky told CPJ, a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, via email that he received notice that the charges against him had been dropped approximately a month after his arrest, but that he had no further details.