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The city of Los Angeles has tentatively agreed to pay $500,000 to two Knockla journalists who claimed their constitutional rights were violated when police arrested them while covering the protests at Echo Park four years ago.
Without acknowledging the misconduct, the city agreed to settle the lawsuit filed by reporters on Monday, avoiding a federal civil trial just before the ju judges began. Payments that still require approval from the city council will cover damages and attorney’s fees.
Kate MacFarlane, the lawyer who argued for the suit on behalf of the pair, said the outcome was somewhat empty. The treatment of the Los Angeles Police Department, a journalist covering recent protests against the Trump administration, shows that despite the lawsuits, the department’s culture has not changed.
“In recent weeks, journalists who have been attacked by LAPD have been attacked by LAPD with one of the other weapons they use to curb the right to initial corrections reported by LAPD,” McFarlane said.
A LAPD spokesman declined to comment. The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office did not answer any questions.
Another recent lawsuit filed by several news media advocacy groups after dozens of people were injured by police actions during the June protests led to a court order banning officers from targeting reporters with hard-form projectiles and other crowd-controlled ammunition.
The Nocklah Incident comes from the evening of March 25th, 2021. Jonathan Peltz and Kathleen Gallagher both work for online news nonprofits, reporting on the removal of homeless encampments from banks at Lake Echo Park.
Despite “clearly identifying” himself as a reporter and “engaging in similar conduct” among other journalists, Peltz or Gallagher said in their lawsuit that he was arrested and booked after the LAPD declared an illegal assembly. State law generally allows journalists to cover police activities even after the public is ordered to dissolve.
Among those detained were reporter James Creeley, spectrum news reporter Kate Cagle and La Tacos reporter Lexis Olivier Ray. Unlike the two knockra journalists, they were all released on-site.
However, police tied Peltz and Gallagher to their wrists with plastic zip ties. They also searched the pair and their phones and confiscated other belongings before placing them on the bus with dozens of other arrested protesters. Both were detained for more than four hours.
Peltz, a lawsuit allegation, was later taken to the hospital, where medical staff said they had swelling arms and hands, and said that the nerves were held for a long time by a zip tie.
More than 180 people arrested that night were not charged.
The two journalist lawyers argued that their arrests fit the pattern of LAPD officers in “obstruction, targeting, and retaliation” who attended the 2000 Democratic National Convention, reporting on their actions, particularly those from small, non-traditional media outlets.
In a text thread disclosed during the lawsuit, then-LAPD Chief Michelle Moore sent a message to some of his senior staff on the night of the Echo Park protest, asking about Queally’s detention. Moore said he received a text by another Times reporter for explanation.
The thread included former aides Daniel Randolph and Beatrice Gilmara, and Deputy Chief Donald Graham, incident commander of the night.
For the record:
9:23 PM August 5, 2025 Previous versions of this story were a text message disclosed during the lawsuit against former LAPD chief Michelle Moore. The message was from another LAPD employee on the thread.
A LAPD official wrote: [the public information officer] We will support and support as much as possible. If Queally is in custody, it will attract great attention due to his latitude and status. ”
Graham sent a spokesman to the scene and replied, “I will identify Creeley.”
Moore said he was “[w]We recommend that you hold the transport until you know it. ”
The LAPD later released a post-action report in which it acknowledged several mistakes in dealing with news media members but defended the police response, claiming that officers were threatened and arrested.
The department said it has strengthened outreach to local media organizations and provided additional training to new sergeants and detectives to identify journalists in large-scale demonstrations.
MacFarlane, a lawyer for reporters Knockla, said their case was not about who LAPD considers a member of the media, but rather a reflection of the department’s ongoing efforts to block scrutiny.
“The broader theme is that it is clear that LAPD is trying to hide their actions, especially when you know that their actions are illegal,” she said.
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