Journalist, ACLU Sue Minneapolis Over Police Violence

A freelance journalist is suing Minneapolis and Minnesota authorities for “an extraordinary escalation of unlawful force deliberately targeting reporters” who are covering protests against police brutality and racism in the wake of the May 25 police killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd.

Minneapolis police and Minnesota State Patrol officers “have tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, shot in the face with rubber bullets, arrested without cause, and threatened journalists at gunpoint, all after these journalists identified themselves and were otherwise clearly engaged in their reporting duties,” Jared Goyette says in his complaint. Any actions officials have taken to rein in this conduct “have proven toothless,” he says.

Goyette seeks an injunction barring the defendants from engaging in unconstitutional conduct targeting journalists, as well as monetary damages including medical expenses.

Goyette was documenting demonstrations on May 27 near the MPD’s Third Precinct, where officers were “firing ballistic rounds, marker rounds, and tear gas intermittently and without warning or orders for dispersal,” according to the complaint. When Goyette approached a young man who seemed severely injured, he “was shot in the face with less-lethal ballistic ammunition” with no warning from police, he says.

He was able to return to covering the protests after receiving medical attention, but experienced several instances of intimidating and obstructive behavior from law enforcement, he says.

Goyette seeks to have his case certified as a class action on behalf of other members of media. His complaint details a number of instances of officers using physical force, threats, or arrests against journalists, and includes pictures of injuries some have suffered. He also details incidents of police use of force going back as far as 2002 that he says shows the authorities have longstanding “policies and customs of violating the constitutional rights of members of the press.”

The complaint also names Robert Kroll, president of the Minneapolis Police Federation union, as a defendant. “Kroll has a long history of racist and inflammatory statements and conduct,” Goyette says, and he has recently presented coverage of the protests by the “liberal media” as a threat to rank-and-file officers.

“This pattern and practice of conduct by law enforcement tramples on the Constitution,” Goyette says. “It violates the sacrosanct right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press that form the linchpin of a free society.”

Cause of Action: First, Fourth, and 14th Amendments.

Response: The Minnesota Department of Public Safety, which oversees the state patrol, didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg Law’s request for comment. Minneapolis City Attorney Erik Nilsson said, “We will review the allegations and take them seriously. We continue to support the First Amendment rights of everyone in Minneapolis.”

Attorneys: Goyette is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, Fredrikson & Byron PA, and Apollo Law LLC.

The case is Goyette v. Minneapolis, D. Minn., No. 0:20-cv-01302, filed 6/2/20.