BREAKING VIDEO- Police in Anaheim take my 'I’ve never been shot at while reporting on U.S. soil’ virginity:
Police using less-lethal rounds fired on me while I was photographing an anti-police brutality protest in Anaheim, CA for my book. Protesters had gathered outside the Anaheim City Hall Tuesday night to protest police who shot and killed unarmed 25 year-old Manuel Diaz.
Right before the incident, I was standing on a well-lit, main drag, with my camera clearly in hand and with another journalist, Tim Pool. After yelling “shit”, I ducked for cover between two U-Haul trucks, where I remained for several minutes as projectiles whizzed by me on both sides. Although the rounds are called ‘less lethal’, riot control weapons have proven to be fatal resulting in multiple deaths overseas. Fearing an ankle strike, I emerged from my hiding space with my hands in the air yelling “press”. The firing ceased. One officer told me he was glad I was ok, “I was worried about you”, he said.
Its incidents like this that are causing press freedom in the U.S., according to Reporters Without Borders, to drop 27 ranks in the past year, leaving the U.S. now trailing behind El Salvador.
For more on the story please check out the below link (although it erroneously states I was working for a local radio station at the time of shooting), the article sums up the night accurately: