Incident details
- Updated on
- Date of incident
- June 11, 2025
- Location
- Los Angeles, California
- Targets
- Romi De Frias (Univision)
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- No
Assault
Video screenshot shows the moment reporter Romi De Frias is pushed by a mounted police officer during an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 11, 2025.
LAPD exonerates officer who used horse to push reporter at June 2025 protest
A mounted police officer who used his horse to jolt forward a Univision reporter while she was covering a 2025 protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, was exonerated on June 17, 2026.
Roni De Frias, a national correspondent for the Spanish-language TV channel Univision, was reporting from a June 11, 2025, demonstration against immigration raids, when a Los Angeles Police Department officer’s horse pushed her, video showed.
The incident was submitted for review to the LAPD by Adam Rose, the LA Press Rights Club’s press chair and currently deputy director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project. A year later, the department informed Rose that the investigation was complete and that it had exonerated the officer.
In a letter, Chief of Police Jim McDonnell and Captain Andre Rainey said that the incident had indeed occurred, but was “justified, lawful, and proper.”
Rose told the Tracker, “By LAPD’s own definition, exonerated means the actions were ‘justified, lawful and proper.’ That’s a strange way to describe a video of running into people with a horse when they were complying with orders and moving down the street.”
Rose added: “This could be a simple open-shut, ‘We could have done better, sorry.’ Instead, we get a clear example of how overaggressive denials undermine LAPD credibility.”
Romi De Frias, a national reporter for Univision, was thrust forward by a mounted police officer while covering a protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 11, 2025.
The protests began June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.
In a video posted to Instagram, a mounted officer with the Los Angeles Police Department can be seen striking protesters with a baton and pushing De Frias and others as law enforcement on horseback moved in to disperse the crowd.
In another video provided by the LA Press Club and reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, De Frias is seen navigating the protest and reporting as officers form a skirmish line to block demonstrators from advancing. Protesters chant “Peaceful protest!” as De Frias holds a Univision-branded microphone and speaks to the camera.
As mounted officers advance on horseback, the footage shows De Frias moving with the crowd. When one of the officers’ horses pushes her, she audibly gasps. “Let’s go,” officers can be heard urging the throng of people.
“I’m OK! Oh, my god,” De Frias says, visibly startled as flash bangs go off nearby. The video shows her continuing to report while walking, trailed closely by the mounted officers. “Be careful, be careful, we’re OK, I’m OK,” she says to the camera.
Neither Univision nor De Frias responded to requests for comment. In a statement to the Tracker regarding other employees assaulted while covering the protest, Univision News President Daniel Coronell said the team continued its reporting amid a tense environment and was doing well.
“We condemn any type of aggression against those who fulfill their duty to inform citizens,” Coronell wrote. “The authorities must protect journalistic work and guarantee access and safety in places of newsworthy locations.”
When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. In a statement posted to X, the department said it and other law enforcement agencies responded to “protests and criminal activity” in the downtown area, using numerous crowd-control munitions. It did not address the use of force against identifiable press.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
