Knock LA journalists sue Los Angeles over LAPD arrests at Echo Park protest

People board an LAPD bus after being arrested at a protest in Echo Park in March 2021. Jonathan Peltz and Kathleen Gallagher, both of the online news outlet Knock LA, were covering protests over the removal of a homeless encampment from the banks of Echo Park Lake on the evening of March 25, 2021, when Los Angeles police declared the gathering unlawful, surrounded the protesters and journalists gathered there and began detaining and arresting them. The lawsuit argued that the LAPD violated Peltz‘s and Gallagher’s 1st Amendment rights “by arresting them for performing their jobs as journalists to document the actions of police officers and protesters in a public place.” Citing the release of journalists at larger outlets, the lawsuit also alleged that Peltz and Gallagher were subjected to disparate and unlawful treatment simply because Knock LA — a nonprofit news organization started by members of the community activist collective Ground Game LA — is not a traditional media outlet. “The LAPD treated Jon and Kate like criminals, because Knock LA is not part of the establishment press,” said UC Irvine law professor Susan E. Seager, one of the journalists’ attorneys. “But the 1st Amendment — and the LAPD’s own policy — do not require reporters to work for the mainstream media or carry official LAPD press passes.” The detention and arrest of so many journalists in Echo Park was one of many encounters in recent years in which journalists were targeted by police, and one example of harassment that journalists and media advocacy organizations pointed to last year as they successfully advocated for the passage of SB 98, a law now in effect in California that adds protections for journalists covering protests.