United States: Status Coup Co-Founder Pushed To The Ground, Equipment Harmed
Location: United States, Washington D.C.
Date: June 13, 2020
Independent news outlet Status Coup co- founder Jenn Dize was covering the protests in Washington D.C. on May 30th when she was shot with a police projectile and pushed to the ground twice causing her to lose grip on her equipment.
The projectile that hit her which she believes to be a pepper ball bruised her arm. Dize, at the time of the attack was wearing her credentials and she believes the police aimed directly at her. She continued reporting and she stopped to help a protester who had fallen down, that’s when one of the officers pushed her to the ground with his riot shield causing her to lose grip of her monopod, phone and microphone. Dize then asked the officers if she could pick up her equipment and was pushed again by the same officer in the upper body making her fall onto her right hip. The whole incident was live streamed on Dize’s camera.
Last week, cops in D.C. shot me with a pepper bullet & pushed me down, knocking my equipment away (now lost), & injuring me. Just one of 100’s of cases of this sort of thing happening to journalists in the past couple of weeks, tracked by @uspresstracker. https://t.co/Uhs0q155no
— Jenn Dize 👩🏻💻Flint CORRUPTION | see pinned 🐦 (@jennelizabethj) June 9, 2020
US Press Freedom Tracker reached out to the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia for comments which were not responded to.
Demonstrations sparked across United States after murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, in the pursuit of justice. With numerous police forces deployed to protest sites, journalists face constant threat of violence, arrest and censorship. Hundreds of journalists have reported to have faced attempts at censorship, verbal attacks, blatant threats and police violence. Hundreds of journalists have been arrested while on duty and black journalists who take the ongoing civil unrest very personally are especially targeted. CFWIJ follows the events closely with great concern.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.