Josie Huang, a radio reporter slammed to the ground and taken into custody while covering a demonstration the night two sheriff’s deputies were shot three years ago reached a $700,000 settlement on Tuesday with Los Angeles County, the Associated Press reports. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the payout to Huang, a journalist for NPR affiliate LAist. In agreeing to the deal, the county and sheriff’s department admitted no wrongdoing. The settlement includes a requirement that the department issue guidance to deputies on the laws and policies governing their interactions with members of the news media.
“Journalists in Los Angeles County should be able to record police activity in public without fear of unlawful arrest,” Huang said in a statement after the supervisors’ vote. “My arrest was traumatic, but I hope that some good can still come of this experience.” On Sept. 12, 2020, during a series of protests following the murder of George Floyd, deputies accused Huang, who was filming an arrest, of interfering with the arrest of a protester outside a hospital where deputies were being treated for gunshot wounds.