Criminal Law
Reporters Sue LAPD Over Arrests During 2021 Protest
A lawsuit filed Monday by two independent journalists alleges the Los Angeles Police Department violated their civil rights when the pair was arrested last year while reporting on a confrontation over the removal of a large homeless encampment at a city park.
Jon Peltz and Kate Gallagher, reporters for the nonprofit local news website KnockLA, were among more than 180 protesters and several members of the news media detained March 25, 2021, during demonstrations at LA’s Echo Park Lake.
All charges were eventually dropped. But Peltz and Gallagher allege their arrests for failure to disperse violated their First Amendment rights and a California law protecting journalists, according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court.
