A freelance journalist is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the city of Los Angeles alleging that documents he obtained through the California Public Records Act Request contained headshots and names of police officers in sensitive and undercover assignments who were accidentally included in the release.
“This is a tool for the public to be able to identify the officer when they are doing something in public,” said Susan Seager, an attorney with the University of California Irvine Press Freedom Project, which assists freelance journalists with legal cases. “The idea that everybody could potentially work undercover is ridiculous.”
In addition to the Press Freedom Project, the law firm of Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP, and the lawyer Colleen Flynn also are asking that the city’s lawsuit be dismissed on the grounds that it violates Ben Camacho’s constitutional rights to free speech as a journalist.
MORE INFORMATION: LAPD chief says most undercover investigations ‘unimpacted’ following photo release
Camacho’s motion is in response to a lawsuit filed against him and the activist group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition earlier this year, alleging the LAPD accidentally included in a flash drive sent to Camacho photos that were sensitive or showed undercover officers. The LAPD realized the photos were included in the release after a report by the Los Angeles Times.
The motion contends the city’s lawsuit is a SLAPP – for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation – that was filed to stop him from exercising his right to publish the information.
“To be sued by the city of Los Angeles has been an interesting experience because all I’ve been doing is my job,” Camacho said at a news conference on Tuesday. “Just the fact that I had to sue to get photos of people who are on the street every day shows how the LAPD wants to be a secret police.”
MORE INFORMATION: City of LA sues to recover photos of undercover police officers it…
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