Latest news with #LosAngelesPressClub
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
LAPD can't use less-lethal weapons against journalists, federal judge orders
A federal judge issued a two-week restraining order barring the Los Angeles Police Department from using less-lethal munitions against journalists not posing a threat to law enforcement while covering protests over immigration raids in the city. The July 10 order came less than a month after the First Amendment Coalition filed a lawsuit against the department on behalf of the Los Angeles Press Club and the independent media outlet Status Coup in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The order upholds the 'critical role that journalists serve in Los Angeles,' Adam Rose, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Press Club, said on July 11. 'It also affirms what we've been telling LAPD for years: they're not following the law,' Rose said. The order said the department cannot use less-lethal munitions or other crowd-control measures against journalists who 'are not posing a threat of imminent harm to an officer or another person.' USA TODAY reached out to the LAPD for comment. The order also said the department was enjoined, or prohibited, from: 'Prohibiting a journalist from entering or remaining in the closed areas.' 'Intentionally assaulting, interfering with or obstructing any journalist who is gathering, receiving or processing information for communication to the public – including by restricting journalists to areas from which they do not have sufficient opportunity to observe and report on protests, including the interaction between police and protesters.' 'Citing, detaining or arresting a journalist who is in a closed area for failure to disperse, curfew violation or obstruction of a law enforcement officer for gathering, receiving or processing information." A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for July 24. BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment Reporting Fellow at USA TODAY. Reach her at bjfrank@ USA TODAY's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LAPD can't use less-lethal weapons against journalists, judge orders
USA Today
15-07-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
LAPD can't use less-lethal weapons against journalists covering protests, judge orders
A federal judge issued a two-week restraining order barring the Los Angeles Police Department from using less-lethal munitions against journalists not posing a threat to law enforcement while covering protests over immigration raids in the city. The July 10 order came less than a month after the First Amendment Coalition filed a lawsuit against the department on behalf of the Los Angeles Press Club and the independent media outlet Status Coup in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The order upholds the 'critical role that journalists serve in Los Angeles,' Adam Rose, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Press Club, said on July 11. 'It also affirms what we've been telling LAPD for years: they're not following the law,' Rose said. The order said the department cannot use less-lethal munitions or other crowd-control measures against journalists who 'are not posing a threat of imminent harm to an officer or another person.' USA TODAY reached out to the LAPD for comment. The order also said the department was enjoined, or prohibited, from: A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for July 24. BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment Reporting Fellow at USA TODAY. Reach her at bjfrank@ USA TODAY's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Press group sues LAPD, city over actions during anti-ICE protests
A press freedom group is suing the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the city itself over what the organization says is mistreatment of journalists covering the civil unrest there in response to President Trump's immigration initiatives. As part of a lawsuit filed Monday, the Los Angeles Press Club argued police officers trying to contain demonstrations across the city have 'responded with excessive force against both the press and public.' 'Journalists covering the protests have been shot with 'less-lethal munitions,' charged by horses, and forcibly prevented from filming,' the group argued in a statement on the lawsuit after it was filed. 'Our democracy depends on an informed public. When press rights are threatened, it's the public that suffers,' said Carol Sobel, lead counsel for the LA Press Club. Cameras have caught tense interactions among press, protesters and police in recent days, including the brief handcuffing of a CNN reporter and video showing an Australian news reporter apparently being struck by a rubber bullet. The LAPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. The suit comes just days after the First Amendment Coalition, Freedom of the Press Foundation and National Press Club wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, expressing 'alarm that federal officers may have violated the First Amendment rights of journalists covering recent protests and unrest,' in the area. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
11-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Judge Orders Los Angeles Police to Stop Shooting Projectiles at Journalists
A federal judge on Friday ordered the Los Angeles Police Department to stop using foam projectiles, tear gas and flash-bang devices against journalists covering protests after reporters and photographers were struck during demonstrations last month. The temporary restraining order by Judge Hernán D. Vera of U.S. District Court also prohibits police officers from blocking journalists from closed areas, obstructing them from gathering information and detaining them for violating curfews or failing to disperse. The case stems from injuries that journalists experienced while covering street demonstrations against the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration enforcement. A lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles Press Club and Status Coup, an investigative reporting site, documented 35 instances in which Los Angeles police officers had used projectiles, tear gas or other forms of force against journalists or blocked them from public areas. The press organizations are likely to succeed in arguing that the journalists' First Amendment rights were violated and that they would suffer harm in covering future protests in Los Angeles, the judge wrote in granting the temporary order, which lasts 14 days. 'Indeed, given the fundamental nature of the speech interests involved and the almost daily protests throughout Southern California drawing media coverage, the identified harm is undoubtedly imminent and concrete,' Judge Vera wrote. He set a hearing for later this month to consider whether to issue a preliminary injunction and ordered the Los Angeles Police Department to disseminate the restrictions in his order to its officers within 72 hours. Adam Rose, the press rights chair for the Los Angeles Press Club, said the ruling was important because it showed the critical role journalists play in informing the public. It also shows that the Los Angeles police have not been following state laws that are meant to protect reporters covering protests, he said. 'The press should be able to do their job without fear of being injured by police, without fear of their rights being chilled in other ways,' Mr. Rose said. The Los Angeles Police Department declined to comment, and the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit describes a widely covered incident in which a police officer shot Lauren Tomasi, an Australian journalist, in the leg with a projectile while she was holding a microphone and facing a camera for a live television report. Other journalists clearly identified as members of the media were shoved by police officers, pushed by police horses or shot with projectiles in the knee, head, abdomen and chest, the suit said. A reporter for The New York Times was shot in the torso with a foam projectile while she covered a large demonstration in downtown Los Angeles on June 8. Her incident is one of many mentioned in the lawsuit, but The Times is not a party in the case.
Los Angeles Times
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Federal judge orders LAPD to stop shooting journalists with rubber bullets at protests
A federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order that blocks Los Angeles police officers from using rubber projectiles and other so-called less-lethal munitions against reporters covering protests against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. In a ruling made public Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Hernán D. Vera said a coalition of press rights organization successfully argued that a court injunction was necessary to protect journalists and others exercising their First Amendment rights. The Los Angeles Press Club and investigative reporting network Status Coup filed suit last month to 'force the LAPD to respect the constitutional and statutory rights of journalists engaged in reporting on these protests and inevitable protests to come.' The lawsuit challenged the 'continuing abuse' by police of members of the media covering the demonstrations. Vera's order bars the department from using less-lethal munitions and other crowd-control tools such chemical irritants and flash-bang grenades 'against journalists who are not posing a threat of imminent harm to an officer or another person.' 'On some occasions, LAPD officers purportedly targeted individuals who were clearly identifiable as members of the press,' Vera wrote. The judge cited a June 8 incident at a demonstration in downtown where an Australian reporter named Lauren Tomasi was wrapping up a report on live TV, dozens of feet away from a line of officers. 'No protesters are visible near her, Vera wrote. 'Despite this, an LAPD officer appears to aim at Tomasi, hitting her leg with a rubber bullet.' The judge ruled that the LAPD cannot prohibit a journalist from entering or remaining in protest areas that have been closed off to the public while 'gathering, receiving, or processing information.' The order also forbids intentionally 'assaulting, interfering with, or obstructing any journalist who is gathering, receiving, or processing information for communication to the public.' Free press advocates who brought the suit praised the judge's decision. 'The press weren't accidentally hurt at the immigration protests; they were deliberately hurt,' said attorney Carol Sobel. 'It's astonishing to me that we are at the same point with LAPD over and over again.' City lawyers could challenge the order before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has said he's 'very concerned' by instances of journalists being targeted by police munitions and vowed each incident would be investigated. He said he did not believe officers were aiming at reporters with less-lethal weapons. 'It is a target-specific munition,' he told reporters at a press briefing. 'That's not to say that it always hits the intended target, particularly in a dynamic situation.' Vera's order says that if the LAPD detains or arrests a person who identifies themselves as a journalist, that person may contact a supervisor and challenge their detention. The order also required the LAPD to report back to the court with details of officers being informed of the new rules. The judge set a preliminary injunction hearing for July 24, where both sides will argue the merits of the case. The lawsuit accuses the LAPD of flouting state laws passed in the wake of the 2020 protests over the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, when journalists were detained and injured by the LAPD while covering the unrest. Apart from journalists, scores of protesters allege LAPD projectiles left them with severe bruises, lacerations and serious injuries. Under the restrictions ordered by the judge Friday, police can target individuals with 40-millimeter rounds 'only when the officer reasonably believes that a suspect is violently resisting arrest or poses an immediate threat of violence or physical harm.' Officers are also barred from targeting people in the head, torso and groin areas. Staff Writer Libor Jany contributed to this story.
