West Texas reporter forcibly removed from public meeting

David Flash, a reporter and publisher for the Big Bend Times, was grabbed, handcuffed and forcibly removed by sheriff’s deputies from a June 27, 2025, meeting of the Jeff Davis County Commissioners Court in Fort Davis, Texas.

Flash was cited for disorderly conduct, but the charge was dropped in late July.

Flash told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he went to the county building to pick up an audio recording of the meeting, only to find that the proceedings had been delayed and were in progress.

He remained to report on the meeting — one of many he’s covered over recent years — setting up a stationary video camera at the back of the room to stream the proceedings live, as instructed by a sheriff’s deputy.

That video, available on the Big Bend Times’ Facebook page, shows Flash sitting and observing the meeting, and occasionally moving around the room to take photos. He said he wasn’t wearing a press pass, but that “my role was widely known.”

At one point, Flash walks toward the back of the meeting room, and has a whispered conversation with an officer — identified by the Texas Tribune as Sheriff Victor Lopez — about taking his photo. After Lopez leaves the room, Sheriff’s Deputy Adriana Ruiloba confronts Flash, telling him, “Don’t come in my personal space,” and ordering him to “back off.”

Flash left the room and continued to record, narrating what had just occurred for the livestream.

Flash later returned to continue to report and to get a photo of Ruiloba, he said. He set up the video camera again in the corner of the room for the livestream and began taking photos of her from an empty row of chairs.

She then walked over to him, grabbed him and pushed him toward the corner of the room, saying he was disrupting the meeting. Flash was taken to the ground and can be heard on the livestream saying, “I’m not resisting.” Ruiloba orders him to put his hands behind his back, and the sound of handcuffs clicking can be heard.

His video camera was knocked over during the encounter and stopped recording.

In body camera video obtained by another local news outlet, the Big Bend Sentinel, several officers, including the sheriff, can be seen detaining Flash and taking him out of the meeting room in handcuffs.

The Sentinel reported that his removal was requested by presiding County Judge Curtis Evans. The video shows Flash being taken to an adjacent room and questioned by Lopez and Ruiloba.

Flash told the Tracker that he was detained for around 30 minutes and then released at the scene. He received a citation for disorderly conduct.

He said he believed he was targeted for taking photos of a public official during a public meeting. “I had complied with all instructions. I wasn’t saying a word, wasn’t bothering anyone, and wasn’t obstructing anything. The only ‘trigger’ was that I turned my still camera toward a deputy who apparently didn’t believe she should be photographed doing her job in a public space.”

He added, “The force used against me appeared retaliatory, not lawful.”

Flash said he received medical treatment after the incident. “The deputy dug her fingernails into my arm with such force that the resulting marks were clearly visible to the urgent care provider who treated me afterward. I also had a visible bruise on my bicep.”

He added that he has experienced “lasting musculoskeletal pain in that arm and shoulder,” impacting his daily movements.

The Big Bend Times reported July 24 that the disorderly conduct charge was dropped due to insufficient evidence.

“His agenda is to be disruptive in court,” Evans told KWES-TV. “He thinks the rules do not apply to him. We do have court decorum in Jeff Davis County that has been adopted by our Commissioners Court, and he was violating it.”

Evans and the Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to emailed requests for comment.