LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles judge Wednesday rejected a controversial request by city officials that he order a local journalist to return a flash drive of police officers’ photographs after officials said they had included images of undercover officers in the collection by mistake.
L.A. County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff’s ruling was a clear win for Knock LA photo editor Ben Camacho, who had obtained the photographs from the city through a public records request. It was also a victory for the activist group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, which the city sued along with Camacho for its role in publishing the photographs online, including on its website WatchtheWatchers.net.
Beckloff’s decision did not address the First Amendment concerns — around the freedom of the press and the right to publish legally obtained materials — of a broad coalition of media outlets. The group, which included the Los Angeles Times, had backed Camacho and denounced the city’s lawsuit as an overreach.
