Contact: [email protected]
LOS ANGELES – Today the Los Angeles Press Club (LAPC) and investigative reporting groups Status Coup and The Southlander sued the County of Los Angeles and its Sheriff Robert Luna for violating journalists’ rights under the U.S. Constitution and state law. The groups are represented by Carol Sobel and Weston Rowland of the Law Office of Carol Sobel; Susan Seager; the firm of Schonbrun, Seplow, Harris, Hoffman & Zeldes LLP; and the First Amendment Coalition.
Among the journalists harmed are Southlander reporters covering protests against immigration raids on June 7 in Paramount who were fired upon by sheriff’s deputies with “less-lethal munitions.” One reporter, Ben Camacho, was helping an injured photojournalist, Nick Stern, when he too was shot in the leg.
Sheriff’s deputies were shooting so indiscriminately at protestors and press alike that other law enforcement officers were harmed. In one instance recounted in the lawsuit, on June 14, a Los Angeles Police Department officer yells over the police radio: “We’re still taking gas and less-lethal munitions from the Sheriffs over on Temple and Main…Hold your goddamn crossfire.”
Today’s lawsuit charges that the County and its Sheriff’s Department violated plaintiffs’ rights under the First and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. Additionally, the case charges defendants violated California state law, including Senate Bill 98, which specifically prohibits law enforcement from assaulting the press to obstruct reporting. The case, Los Angeles Press Club v. County of Los Angeles, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District.
The complaint can be found here: https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/LASheriff-v-City-of-LA-Complaint-6-18-2025.pdf