Reporter struck in the eye with less-lethal round during second day of Minnesota protests

Jared Goyette and multiple other journalists assaulted or arrested by law enforcement during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020–21 will receive a $950,000 settlement from the City of Minneapolis. The city council approved the agreement on Feb. 8, 2024.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota had filed the class-action suit in June 2020 on behalf of Goyette against the city and various members of law enforcement, including officials at the Minneapolis Police Department and the Minnesota State Patrol.

Over the following year and a half, the Communications Workers of America union and eight other journalists joined the suit; one later withdrew. The union will receive a portion of the settlement award.

Journalists who covered the protests in Minnesota over the police killings of George Floyd in 2020 and Daunte Wright in 2021 reported being violently attacked by law enforcement at the demonstrations, including with rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear gas. Goyette was struck in the eye with a crowd-control munition and then tear-gassed while documenting protests in May 2020.

The plaintiffs reached an earlier settlement with the Minnesota State Patrol in February 2022, winning $825,000 and a permanent injunction barring state troopers from arresting or assaulting journalists.

Separately, the city and police department are bound by a consent decree with the Department of Justice, which reported in June 2023 that its multiyear investigation into the MPD had exposed a number of civil rights violations.

In the latest settlement, however, neither the city nor the police department agreed to any policy changes.

“While this settlement is a crucial step toward protecting freedom of the press, we are troubled that the city of Minneapolis was unwilling to acknowledge any wrongdoing despite MPD’s long history of excessive force,” said Teresa Nelson, legal director for the ACLU of Minnesota. “There clearly is more work to be done. Journalists who are covering police brutality should never be met with more police brutality.”

Goyette, who did not reply to a request for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, told the ACLU: “I do not feel a sense of victory, but rather hope that this case, alongside others and the impending consent decree between the city and the Department of Justice, will lead to a future where Minneapolis law enforcement is less likely to recklessly infringe upon First Amendment rights and assault and intimidate journalists.”

His suit against a former sheriff and the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office continues, according to the ACLU, which said oral arguments are expected this May or June in an appeal over the sheriff’s bid for qualified immunity.

Journalists represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota reached a settlement with the Minnesota State Patrol on Feb. 8, 2022. In addition to an award of $825,000, the agreement includes a permanent injunction barring MSP troopers from arresting or assaulting journalists.

The ACLU filed the class-action lawsuit in June 2020 on behalf of freelance journalist Jared Goyette. The Communications Workers of America — the largest journalist union in the country — and eight other journalists were added as plaintiffs over the next year and a half.

According to the ACLU, the settlement agreement includes a 6-year injunction prohibiting:

• Arresting, threatening to arrest, and/or using physical force or chemical agents against journalists;
• Ordering journalists to stop photographing, recording or observing a protest;
• Making journalists disperse; and
• Seizing or intentionally damaging equipment such as photo, audio or video gear.

The settlement also includes amending MSP policy so that allegations of aggressions against the press are considered “serious misconduct,” triggering an Internal Affairs investigation, and that independent experts review all complaints alleging mistreatment of journalists during Black Lives Matter protests from 2020 to 2021.

“The Court’s ground-breaking injunction will hold state law enforcement accountable and require them to respect the First Amendment, rather than use violence and threats that deter the media from covering protests and police conduct,” ACLU-MN Legal Director Teresa Nelson said in a statement released by the organization. “We need a free press to help us hold the police and government accountable. Without a free press, we don’t have a free society, and we can’t have justice.”

The settlement resolved the complaints against MSP; the allegations against the City of Minneapolis, former Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, former Minneapolis Police union head Robert Kroll and the Hennepin County Sheriff are still ongoing.

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker documented 97 assaults and 41 arrests of journalists in Minnesota while covering protests sparked by the police killings of George Floyd and Daunte Wright. At least 12 journalists also had their equipment damaged. Find all of these cases here.

Freelance journalist Jared Goyette filed a lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis and law enforcement after he was struck in the face with a projectile and subjected to tear gas.

The ACLU filed the complaint on Goyette’s behalf on June 2, 2020, naming as defendants the city, Police Officers Federation President Lt. Robert Kroll, police chief Medaria Arradondo, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington and Minnesota State Patrol Col. Matthew Langer, as well as two John Does.

On May 27, Goyette was reporting on the second night of protests spurred by the death of George Floyd while in police custody. According to the complaint, police issued no warning prior to firing a projectile that struck Goyette as he stood alone with no one else in his immediate vicinity.

Goyette told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he had wanted to step away from the area he considered dangerous. “It was at that moment that I was hit directly in the head,” Goyette said

The complaint alleges that Goyette’s injury was part of a pattern of excessive use of force and targeting of journalists amid the Minnesota protests. It therefore motioned for the lawsuit to be ruled a class action suit, citing the arrests of journalists like WCCO photojournalist Tom Aviles and CNN reporter Omar Jimenez, as well as injuries suffered by journalists including independent photojournalist Linda Tirado and MSNBC reporter Ali Velshi.

“When I was hit, I had flacks, I had a ‘PRESS’ shirt, I had a notebook, at various times I had a camera, I made a point not to run,” Goyette said. “If they were looking at who they were firing at they had every reason to know that I was a journalist.”

He added that there was no communication or directives from the police ahead of their use of crowd-control munitions, and that he believes police were targeting journalists and protesters alike.

“The past week has been marked by an extraordinary escalation of unlawful force deliberately targeting reporters,” the complaint says. “This pattern and practice of conduct by law enforcement tramples on the Constitution. It violates the sacrosanct right to freedom of speech and freedom of press that form the linchpin of a free society.”

Goyette told the Tracker that he hopes the lawsuit will put those in positions of power at the police department and city government on the stand to answer for the decisions made that day, and inform the public on who is being held accountable for those decisions.

U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright denied the motion for class certification on June 9, on the basis that it is premature to issue such a ruling before discovery has taken place.

However, Wright wrote in her decision, “Goyette has asserted extensive allegations of egregious conduct by law enforcement directed at members of the news media.” Members of the news media “deserve better” she wrote.