LAist 89.3 Reporter Josie Huang To Receive $700,000 In Settlement With Los Angeles County Over Arrest During Protest Coverage
09.11.2023 - 00:33
/ deadline.com
Josie Huang, a reporter for NPR member station LAist 89.3, reached a $700,000 settlement agreement with Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after she was arrested while covering a protest in 2020.
The Board of Supervisors approved the settlement following negotiations with attorneys from Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, who represented Huang.
As she was covering a demonstration on Sept. 12, 2020, Huang was using her phone to record the arrest of one protester when she was tackled to the ground by sheriff’s deputies. She was arrested and jailed overnight on charges of obstructing a police officer. Two deputies tried to step on the phone, but she later recovered it and the video of the incident.
The protests were outside a Lynwood hospital where being treated after being shot.
In May, a judge in Los Angeles Superior Court found that Huang was “factually innocent” of the charge on which she was arrested.
The terms of the settlement agreement require that the sheriff’s department provide deputies with “watch briefings” before patrol assignments when they are likely to come in contact with members of the news media. The department also must issue guidance to employees on the laws regarding journalists’ rights, including to cover demonstrations.
Huang said in a statement, “This settlement upholds the rights of journalists and helps ensure that what happened to me won’t happen to other reporters. My arrest was traumatic, but I hope that some good can still come of this experience. Journalists in Los Angeles County should be able to record police activity in public without fear of unlawful arrest. As the public’s eyes and ears, we must be able to cover