Photojournalist knocked down, targeted with stun grenade by state police

Photojournalist Neil Constantine was forced to the ground with a metal barricade and targeted with crowd-control munitions by state police while documenting protests outside a federal detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on May 30, 2026.

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.

Constantine told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was on assignment for NurPhoto Agency covering demonstrations May 30, the second day that New Jersey State Police managed the protest response.

As officers advanced, Constantine said a few used a metal barricade to push him backward into a grassy, elevated area across the street from the facility.

“I got pushed down when getting pushed backward because I’m recovering with a broken leg and I’m not able to run, jump or maneuver really at all,” he said. “I had a mask and a visor on, and I was yelling, ‘Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Press! Press! Press!’”

Constantine told the Tracker one of the officers responded, “I don’t give a fuck. Shut the fuck up!”

Then, while the photojournalist was still on the ground, the officer prepared to lunge forward with the barricade again. Constantine said a second officer intervened and pulled the first away.

Later that evening, officers threw multiple stun grenades directly at Constantine and another journalist, he told the Tracker.

“We both still clearly had our press badges on, and flash bangs were thrown at our feet,” he said, adding that some of the devices could have been tear gas, which state police were also deploying repeatedly that night.

He told the Tracker he was also caught in tear gas several times and was affected by the residue from pepper ball rounds being shot near him.

Constantine added that he fell once again as riot police advanced toward him, causing him to trip over another metal barricade and damage his flash.

The New Jersey State Police Office of Public Information did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

In a statement posted to X early May 31, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport wrote that, after a large number of individuals took “aggressive actions” at the facility, “a coalition of state and local law enforcement, including the Newark Police Department and the New Jersey State Police, had to step in to disperse crowds.”

She did not address the use of force against members of the press.