Photojournalist hit with wooden board while covering New Jersey protest

Photojournalist Angelina Katsanis was struck in the knee and injured by a wooden board while covering protests outside a private immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on May 30, 2026.

While seeking medical attention at the scene, she left behind her equipment bag containing around $10,000 worth of camera gear and her keys, which was stolen. The New Jersey attorney general announced June 4 that an Essex County Prosecutor’s Office sergeant, Darryl Brown, had been charged in connection with the theft.

Protests outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility began May 22, when many detainees went on a hunger strike. Members of Congress, state and local lawmakers and rights groups have alleged dire conditions at the facility.

Federal officers responded to the protests with chemical irritants, physical force and arrests, as did state police in the days that followed. The Department of Homeland Security has denied allegations of detainee mistreatment.

According to multiple news reports and an online fundraiser posted on her behalf, Katsanis — on assignment for The Associated Press — was covering the protest on the front line when she was hit in the knee by what was described as a six-foot-long two-by-four.

Katsanis told The New York Times that she didn’t know who threw the board.

The blow caused a serious injury that made it difficult for her to walk, but Katsanis fled the area as a line of New Jersey State Police advanced. She left behind the equipment bag, which also contained a keychain with an Apple AirTag — clearly labeled with her name and contact information.

“I knew if I didn’t run, I would be more severely hurt,” the photojournalist told the Times. “I ran or hobbled pretty far — the adrenaline kicked in.”

She sought assistance from medics at the scene, who provided her with a wheelchair. With the help of other journalists, she went back to the front line and negotiated with police in riot gear to let her through to retrieve her bag and seek further medical care, in a scene captured on video.

However, the bag was no longer there. It was later traced via the AirTag to Brown’s residence in northern New Jersey, according to the attorney general’s office.

Katsanis was treated at a nearby hospital for what an AP account described as swelling and bruising on her leg, but no broken bones. Her attorney, Wylie Stecklow, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on June 8 that she has since returned to work.

Stecklow praised the response of the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office to the theft of her bag.

“The NJAG office took this very seriously and within two days of us first contacting them, they had obtained a search warrant, executed it, and arrested the individual,” he said.

A GoFundMe set up to assist Katsanis had raised nearly $20,000 as of June 10. In addition to the costs of replacing her equipment, it also listed expenses related to replacing her car and house keys, accessing and towing her car, and medical care.