Two reporters say sheriffs pushed them during Portland protest

Journalists Beth Nakamura and Melissa Lewis were pushed by law enforcement officers in separate incidents while they were covering demonstrations in downtown Portland on Aug. 16, 2020.

Nakamura and Lewis were covering one of the many protests that have broken out across the U.S. in response to police violence and in support of the Black Lives Matter movement following the May 25 death of George Floyd. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is documenting assaults, arrests and other incidents involving journalists covering protests across the country.

Law enforcement officers in Portland have targeted journalists since the outbreak of the demonstrations, according to a class-action lawsuit filed on June 28 by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oregon. The ACLU lawsuit resulted in a temporary restraining order against the Portland Police Bureau and other law enforcement agencies working with the Portland police, and eventually led to a preliminary injunction in July barring the police from harming or impeding journalists and legal observers.

Nakamura, a photojournalist for The Oregonian newspaper, said she spent much of the night of Aug. 16 covering demonstrations outside the Multnomah County Justice Center, an epicenter of Portland protests because it houses a jail, courtrooms and a police precinct. In an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Nakamura said that around 10 p.m. she went to the back of the Justice Center, which is also the entrance to the Portland Police Bureau’s Central Precinct, where some protestors had gathered. The entrance is on Southwest Second Ave., between Southwest Main St. and Southwest Madison St.

Video published on Twitter at 10:20 p.m. by Portland-based independent journalist Catalina Gaitan shows Nakamura, wearing a vest with the word “press” on it, filming police near a garage door where a police vehicle from Gresham, Oregon, was trying to enter. Gresham is a suburb of Portland. The video shows an officer, who appears to be from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, pushing Nakamura away from the garage entrance. The same officer can be seen pushing away another person who is wearing a vest marked “press” and riding a bicycle. The Tracker was unable to verify the identity of that person.

Nakamura said she was not interfering with the garage entrance or the police car driving up to it. “That was a very aggressive officer and it was completely uncalled for. You end up feeling targeted,” she said.

Meanwhile, Lewis, an independent journalist who at the time was documenting Portland protests for Cascadianphotog Media, was also covering law enforcement officers stationed outside the Central Precinct. Lewis was filming on the corner of Southwest Second Ave. and Southwest Main Street, just north of the precinct.

Lewis’ livestream of the downtown Portland protest was published on Twitter at 10:36 p.m. At about 48 minutes into the video, the livestream captures more than a dozen officers advancing on Lewis and other journalists from multiple sides. Lewis can be seen in the video wearing a helmet with “press” on it. As officers from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office walk aggressively toward Lewis, she can be heard asking “Where would you like me to go, the street or the sidewalk?” A voice is then heard saying, “Keep going, keep going, keep going.”

As Lewis says she’s “trying” to comply with the sheriffs’ directions, one officer appears to push her with a baton.

In an interview, Lewis said that Portland Police Bureau officers and Multnomah County Sheriff’s officers were giving her contradictory directions while advancing on her.

“The officers said get on the sidewalk and the sheriffs said get off the sidewalk. I was obeying PPB’s orders,” she said, referring to the Portland Police Bureau. “As a result I got pulled back from the backpack and batoned in the ribs by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office.”

Lewis said she later went to a hospital. “As the adrenaline wore off, it really hurt. I wanted to go and get an X-ray on my ribs,” she said. “They were bruised, not broken, but it hurt to inhale.”

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on the shoving incidents.