On September 19th, around 4:50 p.m., deputies responded to the Lake Spanaway Golf Course for an unwanted person, and it turned out to be masked journalists conducting an unknown type of project. Deputies learn that the goal of these journalists are to go to publicly owned properties and get staff members to violate their constitutional rights by not allowing them to film or be in certain areas of the public property. The journalist was asked to leave after going onto the golf course and taking pictures of others while not being a paying customer.
On September 24th, the journalists visited our Parkland Spanaway Precinct to request a sergeant, file a complaint, and submit a records request as part of their effort to test public officials’ compliance with their rights.
On October 7th, one of the same journalists shows up at the Women’s Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor and is upset that staff members did not want him filming inside the facility. The facility went into lockdown, and the journalist ended up leaving on his own.
And finally, on October 10th, the same independent journalist shows up to take pictures and film citizens from a Pierce County public easement on the Key Peninsula. A verbal altercation takes place with two victims, and the journalist ends up pepper-spraying the couple.
Probable cause was established for felony assault in the second degree, and the male suspect was located and arrested at his residence in the Spanaway area. Pepper Spray and a loaded firearm were removed from the suspect’s person. The 39-year-old was booked into the Pierce County Jail for the two counts of assault.
For anyone who works in a public area, please talk with your supervisors and have a plan in place for professionally handling these independent journalists. Please know that anyone can be filmed and photographed in a public space or business, and the whole idea is to scare and intimidate our public employees into violating a constitutional right.