A noted investigative journalist for the website L.A. Taco is suing the Los Angeles Police Department, alleging in federal court that officers have regularly violated his civil rights by blocking him from covering homeless encampments throughout the city, according to papers obtained Friday.
Lexis-Olivier Ray contends that LAPD officers and city sanitation employees have threatened him with arrest — and once even placed him in handcuffs — as he attempted to report on encampment sweeps in Skid Row and West L.A. between August and November of last year, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles federal court on Thursday, alleges that during one incident, an officer approached Ray and demanded he leave the area. Another time, Ray was observing a sanitation operation behind yellow tape when a city worker obstructed his view and ordered him to move back, the suit alleges.
An LAPD spokesman declined to comment, saying the department does not comment on pending lawsuits.
Among other things, Ray, who is also a news photographer, has sought to observe and document the operations of LAPD and city sanitation workers to clean and remove encampments, including the disposal of tents and shelters and the possessions of people that lived there, the lawsuit says.
The complaint documents about a half-dozen incidents where Ray has allegedly been confronted by police or sanitation workers while trying to report on encampment clean-up operations.
“Because of defendants’ wrongful conduct, Mr. Ray ceased attempting to document the city of Los Angeles’ sweeps of homeless encampments out of fear that he would experience continued harassment, detention, and arrest,” the lawsuit states.
According to the lawsuit, Ray contends that “in no way” was he “obstructing or interfering with cleanup operations or with any LAPD officer, sanitation worker, or other city worker” while attempting to do his job.
The suit seeks general, punitive and special damages, as well as a court order stopping defendants from “engaging in the unlawful and unconstitutional actions” described in the complaint.
Last week, a judge barred police and federal law enforcement from using less-lethal weapons on journalists after incidents in which reporters were hurt during protests against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement raids. The city also recently settled two lawsuits filed by journalists who claimed they were injured or wrongfully arrested during protests.