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Two US Park Police officers used excessive force against two journalists during an action against racial justice protesters outside the White House nearly three years ago, the US Department of the Interior Inspector General said. States in a report released Wednesday.
The two journalists, known in the report not by their names but as ‘the cinematographer’ and ‘the reporter’, were in Lafayette Park in Washington DC, on June 1, 2020, to cover protests over the police killing of George Floydserving an Australian television network.
The police officers, who are also not named in the report and each had more than 10 years of experience, used force against the reporters during the subsequent operation to disperse protesters in and around the area ahead of the photo shoot. of then President Donald Trump in front of the Church of San Juan.
In Photos: The faces of the protests in Washington
During the operation, an officer hit the cinematographer with his shield, then grabbed him and shoved the camera at him. The report determined that the first use of force, the shield slam, complied with department policy, but the second, the camera push, did not.
The camera jostle caused the cinematographer to “see stars” and suffer “a bit of whiplash” and damaged his camera, the report said.
Meanwhile, a second officer hit the reporter with a baton. The report states that the baton attack did not comply with the use-of-force policy because the reporter was withdrawing, following the officer’s orders, and was not a threat.
The report coincides with footage and testimony showing police beating Australian reporters Amelia Brace and Timothy Myers, according to The Washington Post.
Eric Feder, an attorney for Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, which represents Myers and Brace, told the post that “all details are completely consistent” with their clients’ experiences, despite the fact that a representative for the US Department of the Interior Inspector General would not tell them directly that the report was about them.
“We appreciate the close attention of the Inspector General (OIG) to this troubling incident,” Feder told the voice of america. “We do not agree with all aspects of the report; from our perspective, nothing the Park Police officers did to Mr. Myers and Ms. Brace that day was appropriate. But we are pleased that the report correctly concludes in the end that officers clearly used excessive force on our clients.”
“No one should be subjected to violence by law enforcement for peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights, whether they are journalists or protesters,” Feder added.
“I appreciate the thorough investigation by the Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General and am reviewing the full report,” Parks Police Chief Jessica Taylor said in a statement to the VOA. “Following the completion of the OIG report, this matter was referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) to recommend any corrective action, including disciplinary action, if warranted.”
The Australian journalists were part of a much larger pattern because they were among nine journalists attacked earlier that day while covering protests in the nation’s capital, according to Kirstin McCudden, vice president of editorial at Freedom of the Press Foundation.
“Recognizing that law enforcement used excessive force against journalists Amelia Brace and Tim Meyers is an important first step in accountability when it comes to protecting the right of the press to be present and safe when documenting historically news events. important,” McCudden told the VOA.
“The rest of June only got worse for the free press, as we documented nearly 100 assaults on journalists covering protests across the United States,” McCudden said.
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