San Francisco settled on a $369,000 payout to a freelance reporter whose home was raided by police in an attempt to find his source for a report critical of the city.
Bryan Carmody’s home was raided by San Francisco police after he published details from a leaked police report about the death of public defender Jeff Adachi. Police accused Carmody of obtaining the report illegally from a department employee and convinced a judge to grant warrants for searches of his home and his cellphone records.
Authorities handcuffed Carmody while they raided his home and offices. The department confiscated his computers, cameras, phones, and other records during the search.
The problem with the raid, however, was that the department sought the warrants without fully informing the judge that Carmody was a reporter even though he had been credentialed by the San Francisco Fire Department for 16 years. California law protects reporters from such searches.
Carmody filed a complaint against the city about the searches in August. Judges agreed with Carmody and nullified the search warrants authorities had used during the raid. On Tuesday, the city’s board of supervisors agreed unanimously that Carmody should be paid $369,000 for the wrongful raid on his home and office.
“This was a shame to the city and county of San Francisco, and I am delighted that we are settling this case,” Supervisor Aaron Peskin said. “And I hope that we never in this town, ever again, suppress the rights of the free press.”
