Photojournalist arrested, equipment seized while documenting homeless encampment

Freelance photojournalist Jeremy Portje settled with the City of Sausalito, California, and its police department for $395,000, dismissing his civil rights suit on July 23, 2024, according to court and settlement records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

Portje was arrested in November 2021 while filming police activity at a homeless encampment and charged with battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. Officers seized and searched his equipment, including a camera, cellphone and two memory cards.

The Marin County District Attorney’s office declined to pursue the charges against Portje and returned his equipment to him the next month.

In February 2022, Portje sued the city, its police department and multiple officers in federal court for constitutional violations, requesting $21 million in damages and alleging that the arrest and equipment seizure were retaliation against Portje both because he is Black and because he was engaged in First Amendment-protected journalistic activity.

In addition to the settlement award, Portje received $10,445 to cover the costs of litigation, according to a copy of the agreement reviewed by the Tracker.

The agreement also stipulates that Sausalito cooperate with any investigation that the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, a California agency that investigates allegations of misconduct by law enforcement, initiates in response to a citizen complaint.

In addition, the agreement mandates that the city undertake an education campaign similar to that of nearby Mill Valley, in which the Mill Valley Police Department and a racial equity-focused community group collaborate to discourage community members from calling the police solely on the basis of perceived race.

When reached via email by the Tracker, Portje did not provide further details or comments on the settlement.

Editor’s Note: This incident has been updated to include details from Portje’s settlement agreement.

Freelance photojournalist Jeremy Portje sued the City of Sausalito, California, its police department and multiple officers on Feb. 21, 2022, alleging that officers unlawfully arrested him and seized his equipment.

Portje was detained on Nov. 30, 2021, on suspicion of battery on a police officer and resisting arrest while filming at an encampment in Marinship Park. Officers seized and obtained a search warrant for his equipment, which included his camera, cell phone and two memory cards, along with other items. The DA’s office ultimately declined to review the materials and dropped the charges against Portje.

The lawsuit, which was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, names the City of Sausalito, the Sausalito Police Department, Chief John Rohrbacher and four sworn officers, as well as 10 unidentified defendants.

“The defendants violated Mr. Portje’s constitutional rights in several ways, including obstructing Mr. Portje from newsgathering and subjecting him to an unprovoked violent assault, arrest and detention,” Portje’s attorney Charles Bonner said in a statement. “This lawsuit seeks to stop the Sausalito government from permitting its police force to engage in a policy, pattern and practice of violating the constitutional rights of citizens.”

In addition to damages, Portje is seeking injunctive relief that would include directing the City of Sausalito to develop and implement policies to protect the First and Fourth Amendment rights of citizens and the press.

The Marin County District Attorney announced on Dec. 28, 2021, that no criminal charges will be filed against freelance photojournalist Jeremy Portje, who was arrested after a confrontation with police officers while documenting a homeless encampment in Sausalito, California.

Portje was arrested on Nov. 30 on suspicion of battery on a police officer and resisting arrest while filming at an encampment in Marinship Park. In a statement, prosecutors said that after obtaining a search warrant to examine Portje’s seized cell phone and video camera, the DA’s office ultimately declined to review the materials and determined there was not enough evidence to pursue charges against Portje.

“While we take all allegations of assault on a police officer seriously, in this case a team of veteran prosecutors who reviewed the case found that the evidence did not show beyond a reasonable doubt that Portje intended to injure the officer,” District Attorney Lori E. Frugoli said.

David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the DA’s office and police department agreed during a hearing on Dec. 22 to return Portje’s property back to him, assuring that nothing had been searched.

“The police should never have had this material in the first place and should never have been able to get a search warrant to search it,” Snyder told the Chronicle.

Editor’s Note: On Jan. 4, 2022, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Pacific Sun reported that an internal police memo suggested that Portje’s equipment was searched despite law enforcement officials stating that the items would be returned unexamined.

The memo, disclosed by Portje’s attorney Charles Dresow, stated that an investigator downloaded the contents of Portje’s cell phone and visually inspected his camera and memory cards before delivering the items to a Computer Crimes Task Force. The memo was sent to District Attorney Lori Frugoli on Dec. 21, 2021.

According to the Chronicle, Dresow said downloading the cell phone data could be considered a search and the data could still be examined by police officers at any time. He also said he is prepared to argue in court, if necessary, that copies of downloaded files be destroyed and the items returned to Portje as soon as possible.

The Sausalito Police Department sought and were granted a search warrant for electronic devices belonging to freelance photojournalist Jeremy Portje on Dec. 9, 2021, in likely violation of California’s shield law.

Portje was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors and a felony while documenting a homeless encampment in Sausalito on Nov. 30. His camera equipment, including two memory cards, and his cell phone were seized as evidence.

On Dec. 7, David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, wrote a letter to Sausalito Mayor Jill Hoffman, Police Chief John Rohrbacher and Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli, advising them that California’s reporter’s shield law bars law enforcement from seizing or issuing search warrants for journalists’ unpublished work materials.

“The seizure of these materials was almost certainly a violation of California and federal law,” Snyder wrote. “The Sausalito Police Department should be on notice that it cannot, under state and federal law, view any data contained on any devices it seized from Mr. Portje.”

Sausalito Police Detective Davin Rose sought and was granted a search warrant on Dec. 9, allowing police to review materials on Portje’s Canon camera, two camera memory cards and iPhone. Portje was only notified of the search warrant days after it had been executed.

The warrant included searching his phone’s emails, texts, notes, voicemail, location data and internet search history for the day of his arrest.

Portje’s defense attorney, Charles Dresow, told the Pacific Sun he intends to file a motion to quash the search warrant and said he is outraged that police are alleging Portje was a part of a conspiracy.

“It is beyond the pale of logic that they alleged there was a criminal conspiracy,” Dresow said. “It’s absolutely offensive to everything our Constitution stands for that law enforcement would use a process of the court to allege a conspiracy when a journalist is filming police activity in public. What is he [Portje] conspiring to do — show what Sausalito police are doing?”