Photojournalist’s camera damaged during arrest in Portland

November 5, 2020
Freelance photojournalist Clementson Supriyadi was assaulted and arrested by Oregon State Police while covering a protest in Portland, Oregon, on Nov. 5, 2020.In Portland, protests had been held on almost a nightly basis since late May 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.At around 8 p.m., …

Independent videographer arrested during Los Angeles protest

November 4, 2020
Independent videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was arrested while filming election-related protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in Los Angeles, California, on Nov. 4, 2020.Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that protesters had planned to march from City Hall downtown to Pershing Square a little less than a mile away. By approximately 7 p.m., most of the crowd had dispersed and Beckner-Carmitchel said he thought he could head out for the night.A few unmarked police cars moved in …

Federal agents shoot independent videographer three separate times with crowd-control munitions, damage camera

October 29, 2020
Independent journalist Mason Lake said he was shot three separate times with crowd-control munitions by federal law enforcement officers while he was covering a protest outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, Oregon, in the early hours of Oct. 29, 2020. The pepper balls also damaged his video camera, he said.Lake, a videographer, was covering one of the many Portland protests against law enforcement violence that first erupted after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in …

Videojournalist assaulted, equipment broken during Austin demonstration

October 24, 2020
Austin-based independent videojournalist Hiram Gilberto Garcia was assaulted and had his equipment damaged while covering a protest in Texas’ capital city on Oct. 24, 2020, according to social media posts.At approximately 6:40 p.m., Garcia — who posts his livestreams and interviews on Facebook and his website — was documenting a march against police brutality organized to mark the six-month anniversary of the death of Mike Ramos, an unarmed Black and Hispanic man who’d been fatally shot by an Austin police …

Camera kicked by individual during Rhode Island protest

September 23, 2020
WLNE-TV ABC 6 cameraman Paul Duddy had his camera kicked by an individual during a protest in Providence, Rhode Island, on Sept. 25, 2020, according to social media posts by station employees.An ABC 6 news crew had been following a protest march against the Sept. 23 announcement that a Kentucky grand jury would not be filing charges against police officers for the killing of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old unarmed Black woman who was shot and killed during a botched police …

Photojournalist arrested while covering Portland protests, her phone damaged

September 7, 2020
Rach Wilde, an independent photojournalist working with Black Zebra Productions, told the U.S. Press freedom Tracker that she was shoved and arrested while covering protests against police violence in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 7, 2020.Wilde was documenting protests that had been ongoing for months in downtown Portland and across the U.S. in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. The Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents …

Police action damages camera of journalist as he covers protests in Washington, D.C.

August 27, 2020
Actions by Metropolitan Police Department officers led to damage of a camera used by freelancer Andrew Jasiura while he was covering protests in Washington D.C., according to the journalist.On the night of Aug. 27, 2020, Jasiura, who has been documenting the protests against police brutality and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement for several months, was covering demonstrations in downtown Washington D.C. Protesters were gathered in the pedestrian area outside of the White House that was renamed “Black …

Multimedia journalist says she was tackled by Portland police officers, her phone lost

August 23, 2020
Independent multimedia journalist Grace Morgan said she was tackled to the ground by several police officers while walking away from them during protests in Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 23, 2020.Morgan was documenting one of the nightly protests held in downtown Portland in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis on May 25. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other …
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