Incident Details
- Date of Incident
- June 19, 2020
- Targets
- John Rudoff (Independent)
- Case number
- 3:20-cv-01035
- Case Status
- Settled
- Type of case
- Civil
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Yes
Assault
Police advance on demonstrators during a Black Lives Matter protest in Portland, Oregon in June 2020. Journalist John Rudoff was documenting one of the nightly protests later that month when he was hit with pepper balls shot by Portland police.
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.
Independent journalist John Rudoff was documenting a protest in June 2020 when he was hit with pepper balls in what seemed to be a targeted attack by Portland police, he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker at the time.
Rudoff and a group of other journalists, as well as two legal observers, filed their suit in federal court later that month, alleging that violent behavior by law enforcement was intended to intimidate the press and suppress reporting on officers’ misconduct.
Rudoff was shot again the next month, this time by a federal agent with a rubber bullet, days before the preliminary injunction was extended to federal personnel.
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 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.”
Independent photojournalist John Rudoff said he was hit with pepper balls by police on June 19, 2020, while documenting a protest in downtown Portland, Oregon.
Portland-based Rudoff, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, CBS and ABC, was covering one of the many protests that have broken 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 Floyd’s death began on May 29, prompting Mayor Ted Wheeler to declare a curfew that lasted three days. Even after the nightly curfew was lifted, journalists continued to be targeted by the Portland Police Bureau, according to a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon in June. Rudoff is a plaintiff in the suit, which resulted in a temporary restraining order and an agreement by the city of Portland in July not to arrest, harm or impede any journalists or legal observers.
On the night of June 19, as Rudoff was documenting a protest near the Multnomah County Justice Center, police began to disperse protesters and press from the area. When Rudoff showed the police his press identification and camera equipment, and one officer responded, “Move, move, move, we don’t care if you’re media,” Rudoff wrote in his declaration for the ACLU suit.
Later that night, Rudoff was taking photographs at the Justice Center when someone from the crowd of protesters went onto the steps of the building. “Shortly afterward, the police stormed out and began firing without warning, and I was hit” by pepper balls, he said in the filing.
Rudoff, who was wearing a helmet marked “press” when he got hit, told the Tracker he believed he was targeted by PPB because he was clearly marked as press and wasn’t near the protesters.
“I intentionally stand away from crowds as best I can, and intentionally I’m dressed in light colored clothing as much as possible,” he said.
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].