Watchdog: Park Police Used Excessive Force Against Media During 2020 Protest Crackdown

Two U.S. Park Police officers used excessive force against members of the media during the violent crackdown at Lafayette Square in Washington in June 2020, according to a new report from the Interior Department’s internal watchdog.

The investigation by the agency’s Office of the Inspector General focused exclusively on a June 1, 2020, confrontation between Park Police officers and two Australian journalists who were covering protests outside the White House during the nationwide demonstrations against police brutality following the May 25, 2020, police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Video of the incident showed one officer violently striking cameraman Tim Myers in the stomach with the edge of a police shield, then shoving the camera toward Myers’ face. A second officer then strikes Amelia Brace, a correspondent at 7 Network Australia, in the back with a baton as she and Myers try to run away.