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.
