Freelance journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was knocked to the ground by police and then struck in the back with a baton in Whittier, California, while documenting immigration protests on June 11, 2025.
The protests began June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.
Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was freelancing for the Los Angeles Public Press, reporting on demonstrations at the DoubleTree Hotel in Whittier, where protesters believed federal immigration officials were staying as they carried out raids throughout Los Angeles County.
In a post on the social platform Bluesky, Beckner-Carmitchel wrote that Whittier Police Department officers arrived after a window was broken. In photos and footage he posted, the officers appear to be positioned to prevent protesters from entering the hotel.
He told the Tracker that officers then came rushing out of the hotel to push back the crowd.
“When Whittier PD surged out of the hotel, an officer pushed me with his baton and I lost my balance and fell,” Beckner-Carmitchel said. “While I was on the ground, I also had an officer put his hand on me. I don’t necessarily want to call it a punch, but there was force.”
In footage he posted to Bluesky, officers can be seen charging forward, pushing the crowd with their batons and shouting “Back! Get the fuck back!” It appears that two officers pushed Beckner-Carmitchel, knocking him to the ground. As he begins to get up, another officer seems to rush toward him, striking and pushing the journalist back down despite him shouting, “Press! Press! Press!”
Beckner-Carmitchel told the Tracker he was able to get up once the officers had moved past him, but he was left with bruises on his left arm and hip.
In a statement posted on Instagram, the city of Whittier and the Whittier Police Department said that the claims that federal agents were staying at the hotel were incorrect.
“In response to an urgent plea from hotel management, a regional law enforcement response, led by the Whittier Police Department, was activated to help restore safety,” the statement said. “The crowd was safely dispersed around 2:00 a.m., with no injuries reported and no arrests made.”
Whittier police did not respond to a request for further comment.
This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.