”You are afraid of me, aren’t you?”
That’s what notorious anti-police agitator Jason Reedy said to me as he tried to stop me covering an open public meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission Tuesday.
Meeting attendees block members of the media from filming during a recess of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners meeting. Ringo Chiu for California Post
California Post reporter, Jaime Paige, is blocked by protester. Jaime Paige/California PostIt was after the meeting that’s supposed to be a transparent forum about accountability for one of the city’s most powerful oversight bodies. Instead, it descended into chaos at the hands of Reedy and other rabble rousers.
The screaming chaos was already bad when the commissioners were escorted out.
And after they were, the mob turned and attacked me and the photographer.
An agitator tries to block a camera during the Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday. Ringo Chiu for California Post
Meeting attendees attempt to block members of the media on Tuesday. Ringo Chiu for California PostWhat followed wasn’t about transparency. It was intimidation.
The activists hijacked an important meeting to publicly address urgent policing issues facing Los Angeles, not a violent circus.
Earlier, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell had covered off significant incidents from January 13 to 27, updating crime statistics, department staffing levels, and general public safety across the city.
The commissioners were also supposed to hear a report from the inspector general and vote on a lengthy agenda involving donations, contracts, and departmental programs.
Inspector General, Matthew Barragan, and LAPD Chief, Jim McDonnell during the Police Commissioners meeting. Ringo Chiu for California PostBut public ”comment” quickly spiraled to speakers clashing with commissioners, shouting profanities, and calling the police “pigs.”
The room grew louder, angrier, and increasingly unstable.
One woman addressing the commission said she felt intimidated by the same group of activists dominating the room.
“I feel threatened, harassed,” she told commissioners, as shouting continued around her.
She said she had been bullied at a previous meeting and again felt targeted.
The disruptions escalated, the protesters couldn’t be controlled, the commissioners were escorted from the room.
Meeting attendees blocking media from filming. Ringo Chiu for California PostThen the deranged fury turned to The California Post.
They got in our space, blocking our cameras, and covered our lenses, physically boxing me in to stop filming. Others screamed insults at us and discredited what we doing; which was reporting the fact.
One laughably told me they were there to “protect journalists.”
Jason Reedy, accompanied by a young girl, speaks during a meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. Ringo Chiu for California PostWe eventually stopped recording to assess our safety and determine how to leave without further escalation.
A main instigator was Reedy, a notorious Black Lives Matter figure who regularly disrupts Los Angeles City Hall meetings.
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Many of the same individuals had even been guests of City Hall, participating in a City-sanctioned presentation hosted by left-wing DSA Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez.
We ultimately left after the commission shut down — not because we were intimidated into silence, but because the situation had become unsafe and our job was to report.
We were there to document public accountability. We did exactly that.
And we’ll keep showing up.
