L.A. Police Sued Over Force Against Reporters Covering Protests

Los Angeles Police Department officers struck journalists with less-lethal munitions, charged them with horses, and detained them as they reported on protests in June, violating their constitutional rights, according to a federal lawsuit.

Australian correspondent Lauren Tomasi, shot in the back of the leg by an LAPD officer as she filmed a live on-air segment, is among the nine examples of police misconduct that press freedom groups cited in their Monday complaint in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

Tomasi stood in a mostly empty intersection, held a microphone, and stood with her camera crew but “none of that mattered to the LAPD officers” who knowingly shot her with less-lethal munitions, the complaint said.

“Being a journalist in Los Angeles is now a dangerous profession,” the complaint said.

The alleged violations came despite the California legislature in 2021 codifying guarantees for press covering protests, including protection from assault and from interference with news gathering and operations.

According to the lawsuit, the LAPD has for decades used force to violate press freedoms. The pattern continued in 2025 when police responded to protests against immigration raids that escalated when President Donald Trump mobilized the National Guard in L.A., the complaint said.

Officers’ conduct shows the city failed to maintain policies on police behavior around press, and, if it had any policies, failed to provide enough training, according to the lawsuit.

The L.A. City Attorney’s Office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Law Office of Carol Sobel; Susan Seager of Pasadena; Peter Bibring of Los Angeles; Schonbrun, Seplow, Harris, Hoffman & Zeldes LLP; and the First Amendment Coalition represent the plaintiffs.

The case is Los Angeles Press Club v. City of Los Angeles, C.D. Cal., No. 2:25-cv-05423, 6/16/25.