In court documents, attorneys claim that the Los Angeles Police Department and its chief, Jim McDonnell, intentionally employed “excessive force” against reporters, making journalism in the city a “dangerous profession.”
The First Amendment Coalition has filed a lawsuit on behalf of journalists who were allegedly targeted by the Los Angeles Police Department during an ongoing wave of anti-immigration enforcement protests.
According to USA Today, the lawsuit was filed earlier this week in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. It names plaintiffs including the Loss Angeles Press Club and independent media outlet Status Coup.
In court documents, attorneys claim that the Los Angeles Police Department and its chief, Jim McDonnell, intentionally employed “excessive force” against reporters, making journalism in the city a “dangerous profession.”
Carol Sobel, a civil rights attorney representing the plaintiffs, said that LAPD officers appear to have intentionally prevented journalists from accessing areas they had a right to enter. Sobel emphasized that such alleged actions would constitute violations of both departmental policy and California Senate Bill 98.
“You have people holding up their press credentials saying, ‘I’m press,’ and they still get shot,” she told The Los Angeles Times. “The Legislature spent all this time limiting how use of force can occur in a crowd control situation, and they just ignored it all.”
Sobel was involved in similar claims in response to the LAPD’s actions during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. She succeeded in obtaining a court order restricting the department’s use of certain “hard-foam” projectiles, a type of non-lethal round used to disperse protesters and control riots. Litigation in that case remains pending, but the restrictions are still in effect.
The order, among other things, specifies that officers can use non-lethal 40-millilmeter projects “only when the office reasonably believes that a suspect is violently resisting arrest or poses an immediate threat of violence or physical harm.”
Los Angeles has so far paid out millions of dollars in Black Lives Matter-related claims.
“The widespread use of force against journalists by LAPD officers indicates an intent to prevent public scrutiny of police conduct toward demonstrators, a refusal to abide by constitutional and statutory safeguards for journalists in these circumstances, and an institutional failure by the LAPD,” the lawsuit alleges.
The Los Angeles Press Club states that it has, thus far, identified at least 30 separate incidents of journalists being injured while covering the protests.
Before filing suit, the plaintiffs sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem expressing concerns that federal officers present in the city may have “violated the First Amendment rights” of journalists. The letter emphasized that individual agents could be held liable for infringing upon the rights of the free press.
David Snyder, the First Amendment Coalition’s executive director, said that the “LAPD did not heed” the letter’s warning. The consequences for journalists have purportedly been dire, with one experienced reporter telling National Public radio that there should be no confusion about who is and isn’t a member of the press.
Michael Nigro, who says that he has covered violent protests and international conflicts—including the war in Ukraine—wears a helmet and flak jacket, each marked “press” on both sides. He also carries “two professional grade cameras” that should identify him as a working reporter rather than a participant in the protests.
Nigro claims that, while taking pictures of an LAPD formation engaging protesters, he felt the “ding” of a non-lethal round striking his bullet. He was not injured, but says the shot felt “very, very intentional.”
“We’re not up in their faces. We are not preventing them from doing their job,” Nigro told NPR. “When you have professionals that are gauging a situation as volatile as that, and there are press around, a head shot like that at close range feels intentional.”
[writer’s note: non-lethal projectiles, including “rubber bullets” and hard-foam projectiles, are capable of inflicting serious and, in some cases, life-threatening injuries when fired at close range or at sensitive parts of the body, such as the head and neck]
Sources
LAPD sued over journalists’ treatment at Los Angeles immigration protests
Los Angeles, LAPD Chief Sued Over Alleged Assaults of Journalists at Protests
Press groups sue LAPD over use of force against journalists during protests
Press group sues L.A., alleging police abuse of reporters at ICE rallies
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