A federal judge Wednesday urged city lawyers and an attorney for six journalists and legal observers who sued Portland police over their alleged targeting of reporters and photographers documenting protests to try to reach a temporary solution before the holiday weekend.
U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon suggested the city could give the six named plaintiffs special gear that prominently identifies them as members of the media who would not be forced to disperse if police cleared an area after declaring an unlawful assembly.
Police could provide them with specific identification, helmets or vests or some form of credential so “they’re allowed to observe anything and everything on the public streets,” Simon suggested.
He said he was striving for an immediate solution in the wake of the plaintiff group’s push for a temporary restraining order from the judge for police not to target journalists or legal observers when officers make a declaration of unlawful assembly or a riot and take steps to disperse a crowd.
Attorney Matthew Borden said that would benefit the plaintiffs he represents but might create problems with other media who would be treated differently.
Such a scenario “would create a situation where you have different First Amendment rights on behalf of different people doing the same thing at the same event,” Borden said.
Deputy City Attorney Naomi Sheffield said the city would be open to such an agreement.
The judge directed the lawyers from both sides to confer and return before him at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Plaintiffs named in the lawsuit are journalist Tuck Woodstock, photojournalists John Rudoff, Mathieu Lewis-Rolland and Sam Gehrke, and legal observers Doug Brown and Kat Mahoney.
One of the plaintiffs, Mahoney, an ACLU legal observer, and another photojournalist filed additional briefs Wednesday morning. Mahoney said she was subjected to tear gas and police force late Tuesday night and independent photojournalist Alex Milan Tracy said he had a camera seized by police as he was running from officers during the protest outside the Portland police union office in North Portland.
Borden said he wants a court order that stops police “from clearing out press at the most critical part of these protests.‘'
The city attorney said police have difficulty distinguishing who journalists are in a crowd when they’re trying to clear an area that becomes dangerous as objects, such as bottles, fireworks or rocks, are being thrown at police or fires are set in nearby dumpsters.
“We’re not sure they have a legal right to be treated differently,‘' Sheffield told the judge, speaking of journalists. “Anyone can show up and say they are a journalist.‘'
Tracy, who said he’s contributed to The Associated Press, wrote that he ran from a flank of police officers on Lombard Street when they issued a dispersal order, but his GoPro Hero 8 camera fell out from a pouch on his waist. Police told him they were seizing it as evidence because it was behind the police line.
Mahoney wrote to the court that she arrived outside the police union office shortly before police ordered the crowd to leave to the east. She said she got caught up in the tear gas fired and needed medical attention.
After a medic helped her, she got back on her feet and saw officers running toward her location, yelling, “Move!‘' She said there was a crowd of people in front of her, including a man on crutches who several others were helping.
“I could not get out of the way in time,‘' she said. “One officer slammed me in the back with a truncheon. He struck diagonally from the base of my right shoulder blade to my lower left side, across my spine and ribcage. Another officer ran up to me, yelled “Move!” and shoved me so hard I stumbled into a protester and had to be helped to my feet.”
Mahoney said she was wearing a clearly identifiable blue vest with the words “ACLU LEGAL OBSERVER” on it in bold letters.
“What I saw last night shocked me. The police used CS gas, CN gas, pepper spray, flash-bang grenades, rubber bullets and other projectiles — all in a residential neighborhood. People were on their porches. People were in the street — not to protest, but to go about their business. The police indiscriminately fired at, beat and shoved everyone,‘' she wrote.
The violence used against Mahoney, one of two ACLU legal observers named as plaintiffs, is especially troubling, Borden argued. “They’re actually attacking my client’s right to petition the courts for redress,” he said.
Police said they declared a riot when some people threw baseball-size rocks, frozen water bottles and full aluminum cans at officers during the protest. Several officers were hit by rocks and needed medical attention, according to police.
The Oregonian/OregonLive is not a party in this lawsuit. The news organization separately filed a complaint through the city’s Independent Police Review over police treatment of photographer Beth Nakamura while she was covering a protest, an incident recounted in the lawsuit.
-- Maxine Bernstein
Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
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