LA police face lawsuit for injuring, removing reporters at protests

LOS ANGELES (CN) — Two newsgathering organizations on Monday sued the Los Angeles Police Department over its actions during recent immigration protests, arguing that officers had targeted journalists doing their jobs.

The Los Angeles Press Club and Status Coup filed a federal lawsuit against the city and police chief, citing police violence against journalists covering recent immigration protests. Incidents include two reporters being shot with less-lethal rounds and another being removed from a protest scene.

The plaintiffs are seeking both preliminary and permanent injunctions to halt what they describe as unconstitutional actions and to obtain a court ruling affirming that their rights were violated by police.

“With today’s lawsuit, the LA Press Club is fighting for the rights of all of its nearly 1,000 members to report the news without risking their health and safety,” said Adam Rose, the club’s press rights chair.

A police spokesperson couldn’t be reached for comment as of publication time.

The protests followed federal immigration enforcement actions earlier this month in Los Angeles, drawing national media attention.

In their lawsuit, the groups argue that the LAPD—citing a history of press obstruction—has deliberately targeted journalists. They list several reporters who were either forcibly removed from protest sites or subjected to physical force while working.

Among them is Lauren Tomasi, a correspondent for Australia’s 9 News Queensland, who was hit by a less-lethal round on June 9 while delivering a live on-air segment.

“The video of the shooting shows the LAPD officer looking directly at her and aiming specifically at her without the slightest justification,” the groups write. “She held a microphone; she was accompanied by a camera crew. None of that mattered to the LAPD officers.”

Other violent interactions with law enforcement followed.

Documentary filmmaker Ford Fischer was hit in the stomach with a less-lethal round on June 9. The following day, Channel 5 editor and camera operator Gabriel Ovalle was struck in the abdomen with a similar munition, according to the groups.

Status Coup journalist Tina Berg was removed from multiple locations despite identifying herself as press. In one instance, an officer told her it was “for her own safety,” even though she was standing more than 100 feet from the protest. Berg cited a California law barring police from obstructing newsgathering. The officer acknowledged it, then removed her anyway.

The groups argue these incidents reflect a pattern of unjustified force and interference. Rather than isolated missteps, they say that the actions indicate a broader institutional effort to evade public scrutiny.

“The facts of the assaults on so many reporters support the conclusion expressed by the National Press Club that reporters had been singled out by the LAPD and other law enforcement agencies,” the groups write.

Journalists weren’t caught in crossfire, they add. They were targeted.

Issues with the LA police aren’t new. The groups point to a 2000 suit over accusations that officers clubbed reporters and shot them with less-lethal rounds during that year’s Democratic National Convention. Police later settled with the American Civil Liberties Union.

In 2007, police attacked protesters and the press at an immigrants’ rights rally, violating the settlement agreement from 2000. A later police report stated that the police had failed to apply the lessons they had learned from years before.

Additionally, police arrested and prevented journalists from doing their jobs during the 2020 George Floyd protests. And they repeated their unlawful actions when trying to disperse an encampment of unhoused people in 2021, the groups argue.

“The press are simply trying to do their job for the community, acting as the eyes and ears of the public,” they add.