ACLU Sues Minneapolis Police Over Alleged Violence Against Reporters

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has filed a class action lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis and several officials associated with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and the Department of Public Safety (DPS) on behalf of members of the press who claim to have been targeted and attacked by law enforcement during protests against police brutality.

Lead plaintiff Jared Goyette, a Minneapolis-based freelance reporter, says “The press is under assault in our City,” and goes on to detail his experience of covering the Minneapolis riots of late May and early June 2020.

According to Goyette, he was observing a protest outside of the MPD Third Precinct on May 27 around 5 p.m., documenting the events with a camera and camera stand, as well as a notepad and a mobile phone. Due to these items, he believes he was clearly identifiable as a member of the press.

At this protest, the MPD officers were reportedly stationed outside of the precinct and were frequently firing less-lethal ballistics including rubber bullets, marker rounds, and tear gas without warning.

Goyette claims that he was standing between 30 to 50 yards from the precinct when he noticed a man who appeared to have been injured by one of these projectiles.

According to Goyette’s Twitter feed, where he was live-tweeting about the protest, the man was lying on the ground, bleeding, and in pain.

As he stood alone watching protesters attempt to care for the injured man, Goyette says he was struck in the face suddenly and without warning by a less-lethal projectile fired by the MPD, resulting in immediate injuries to his nose and eye. Goyette claims he was forced to abandon any further reporting duties for the evening and left the protest.

The following day he went to a doctor and was informed that the injury resulted in a dangerous level of pressure in his eye, and had he not been treated, he may have suffered permanent vision loss.

At the time of the attack, Goyette was reporting on the protests over the recent death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by police on May 25 after an officer held his knee to the man’s neck for almost nine minutes.

Two autopsies have ruled Floyd’s death a homicide. The incident was captured on film by several bystanders, as well as footage from a nearby security camera and the officers’ body cameras.

Of the four officers involved in the killing, one has been charged with second-degree felony murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

The other three have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree felony murder, in addition to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

In addition to his own experience, Goyette claims that multiple other members of the press have been tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, threatened at gunpoint, shot in the face with rubber bullets, and arrested without cause by members of the Minneapolis Police and State Patrol while they reported on the recent protests.

He claims that these incidents occurred after journalists had identified themselves to law enforcement, and that many of these reporters were clearly marked as press or were visibly engaged in reporting.

At Least 19 Incidents of Targeting Reported by Journalists

Local news in Minneapolis has reported on many similar incidents, including one where a freelance photojournalist was permanently blinded in one eye after being struck by a less-lethal ballistic.

While the MPD has released statements claiming that law enforcement officers may not have been able to identify these reporters as members of the press, and has asked journalists to begin wearing enlarged press credentials, the ACLU’s lawsuit disputes that these attacks are accidental.

At least 19 such attacks have been reported by news crews, journalists, and photographers during the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis. On May 29, a CNN reporter and news crew were arrested during a live broadcast. On May 30, an MSNBC news crew claims that they were fired upon in an empty parking lot devoid of protesters.

On the same day, two Los Angeles Times journalists in Minneapolis report that they were backed into a wall and tear-gassed by state troopers.

Multiple other reporters and news crews claim they were targeted, harassed, and attacked by the MPD while they were clearly engaged in their positions as members of the press or had identified themselves as such.

Even journalists who were not subject to tear gas or less-lethal rounds have reported violations of the First Amendment by MPD officers.

On May 31, two Star Tribune reporters and three international reporters claim that MPD officers told them their press passes were “bull—-” and ordered them to leave. Several other members of the press report being forced to the ground or arrested for curfew violations, despite the current curfew in Minneapolis exempting press.

The ACLU and Goyette claim that these incidents are not random, and are instead indicative of a pattern of constitutional violations perpetrated by the MPD against journalists in Minneapolis.

In addition to seeking compensation for reporters’ medical expenses and injuries, they are requesting a temporary restraining order preventing the MPD from continuing to target members of the press while the case proceeds, and a permanent injunction barring the MPD from violating journalists’ constitutional rights in the future.

According to The New York Times, the ACLU’s lawsuit alleging that the city of Minneapolis has violated the constitutionally ensured freedom of the press is believed to be the first of its kind.

The ACLU’s lawsuit accuses the city of Minneapolis, MPD Chief of Police Medaria Arradondo, MPD Lieutenant Bob Kroll, Minnesota DPS Commissioner John Harrington, Minnesota State Patrol Colonel Mathew Lander and John Does 1 and 2 of violating the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments by retaliating against reporters, and arresting or detaining them without cause.

Have you participated in any recent protests against police brutality? Share your experience in the comments below. 

The plaintiff is represented by Kevin Riach, Dulce Foster, Pari McGarraugh, and Jacob Harris of Fredrikson & Byron PA, Adam Hansen of Apollo Law LLC, and Teresa Nelson of the ACLU of Minnesota.

The Minneapolis Police Violence Class Action Lawsuit is Goyette v. City of Minneapolis, et al., Case No. 0:20-cv-01302, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

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