Journalists in Los Angeles filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the city and LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
The Los Angeles Press Club, a nonprofit organization, and Status Coup, an investigative newsroom, argue that the LA Police Department has violated the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, as well as state law through their treatment of journalists covering the region’s protests against immigration raids, according to the 22-page complaint obtained by HuffPost.
“Being a journalist in Los Angeles is now a dangerous profession,” the complaint reads, saying the LAPD’s actions during the downtown Los Angeles protests “reveal a brazen refusal to abide by the Constitution and state law.”
“This action seeks judicial assistance once again 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 complaint adds.
As the lawsuit mentions, California law limits police use of “less-lethal weapons” like kinetic impact projectiles and protects journalists who are reporting on civil unrest. Those laws include California Penal Code Section 13652 and Section 409.7.
The lawsuit lists several instances in which authorities used force on journalists reporting on the gatherings, including when law enforcement shot Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi with a rubber bullet while she was reporting on camera on June 8.
“In each of these cases the journalists in question were simply reporting on the protests as they had a right and duty to do,” the complaint continues. “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.”
At the direction of the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers began increasing raids in Los Angeles County on people suspected of being in the country without full legal status. The raids have been met with protests, and, subsequently, the president mobilized National Guard and Marine troops in Los Angeles against the wishes of California lawmakers, including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and LA Mayor Karen Bass (D).
“Our democracy depends on an informed public. When press rights are threatened, it’s the public that suffers,” Carol Sobel, lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said, according to a statement.
Adam Rose, press rights chair of the LAPC, added in the same statement that the organization is “fighting for the rights of all of its nearly 1,000 members to report the news without risking their health and safety.”
The LAPD and the LA City Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment.