San Francisco Chronicle

Reporter shot with rubber bullet sues Richmond

- By Bob Egelko Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@ sfchronicl­e.com Twitter: @BobEgelko

An East Bay freelance journalist who was shot by police with a rubber bullet while covering a protest over the George Floyd killing has sued the city of Richmond, saying she was wearing her press badge and posed no threat when an unidentifi­ed officer opened fire.

Police “used excessive force to prevent (Sarah Belle Lin) from exercising her right to document public protests as a member of the press and in retaliatio­n for her presence,” said the lawsuit, filed last month in federal court in San Francisco. It seeks damages against Richmond and the officer or officers involved in the shooting.

Lin, an independen­t reporter and photograph­er for local publicatio­ns in the East Bay for several years, covered a nighttime protest May 30 in downtown Oakland over the death of Floyd in Minneapoli­s five days earlier, when a policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

She said police started shooting rubber bullets at protesters shortly before midnight, and they withdrew 30 to 40 feet from where she was standing. Lin said she then started walking across a street, carrying her cell phone, with a camera strapped around her neck and wearing a press badge, when a rubber bullet struck her in the inner thigh.

She said she managed to pull herself up and stagger across the street, where she was forcibly shoved by police using their riot shields. She said they expressed no concern and offered no medical assistance.

Lin was in “excruciati­ng pain” for several weeks when she tried to walk, suffered nerve damage and has lost significan­t income and work opportunit­ies because of her injury, the suit said. It said Oakland officials told her the shot had been fired by an officer from Richmond, whose police had been summoned to aid in monitoring the protest, but they refused to identify the officer. Richmond likewise declined to name the shooter, Lin said.

Richmond referred questions Wednesday to the city manager’s office, which did not respond to a request for comment.

“We don’t know what caused them to fire on her,” said Lin’s lawyer, Adante Pointer. “She hadn’t interacted with any of the protesters, hadn’t done anything disruptive, any chanting or yelling.”

Lin said Wednesday she wasn’t sure why she had been shot. But Pointer said Lin was a small, nonthreate­ning woman who was “clearly identified as a member of the press.”

“Why else would they target her?” he asked.

The suit also accuses police of battery and unlawful detention and seeks punitive damages for a “malicious” shooting.

 ??  ?? Sarah Belle Lin was covering a protest when an officer fired.
Sarah Belle Lin was covering a protest when an officer fired.

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