Judge rules Los Angeles police can't use nonlethal weapons against journalists

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Politico

07/11/2025 01:46 PM EDT
Updated: 07/11/2025 04:25 PM EDT


A federal judge ruled Los Angeles police cannot force journalists out of protest areas or use nonlethal weapons against them after reporters alleged officers targeted them during anti-ICE demonstrations last month.

U.S. District Judge Hernán D. Vera granted the Los Angeles Press Club’s request for a 14-day restraining order against the city’s police department after the group said it documented dozens of incidents in which officers forced reporters away from public spaces where protests were taking place, hit them with rubber bullets and nonlethal weapons and exposed them to tear gas.

Vera’s ruling is an emergency order giving the court more time to consider whether to grant a longer-term block. It prohibits Los Angeles police from keeping journalists out of closed areas, assaulting or obstructing those in the process of news gathering, arresting those in closed areas and using nonlethal weapons against reporters.

“When journalists persisted in documenting the protests, it appears from the evidence presented that they faced an onslaught of projectiles and other shows of physical force,” Vera’s ruling said. “On some occasions, LAPD officers purportedly targeted individuals who were clearly identifiable as members of the press.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/11/lapd-weapons-journalists-00448476

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Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.974511/gov.uscourts.cacd.974511.44.0.pdf

REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143483223