What’s one more? From OPD’s attacks on Iraq war protesters, to the Riders case which ultimately brought on Federal monitoring – which continues to this day, to the Oscar Grant and J28 kettling lawsuits (only the former has been settled), to Scott Olsen, Scott Campbell et al and Kevan Sabeghi, one more is hardly a blip.
But one more it is. As the San Francisco Chronicle reports
Two independent journalists filed a federal civil rights lawsuit… saying they were wrongfully detained and ticketed for minor infractions at protests because of their critical reporting on the department…
On July 19, Crawford said he was given a “groundless” citation for jaywalking… after he took photos of and asked for the identities of Oakland police monitoring demonstrators… protesting the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin…
On Jan. 13, Crawford and Morse said they were riding their bicycles home from a demonstration — which never materialized — that had been called to protest the acquittal of Fullerton police officers who killed homeless man Kelly Thomas. Oakland Officers… gave each of them a citation for “supposedly running a red light”…
((Their attorney Rachel)) Lederman said, “OPD has a misguided and illegal policy of selectively targeting demonstrators for bike and pedestrian tickets. In my clients’ case, they were targeted as journalists who were documenting the police, in violation of their First Amendment rights. We’re trying to put a stop to this practice.”
Morse… received $162,500 in 2012 to settle a lawsuit he filed alleging that UC Berkeley police wrongfully arrested him and seized photos he took during a raucous protest… of former UC Berkeley Birgeneau.
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