Gothamist77%
NJ cop stole journalist's camera gear at Delaney Hall protest, AG says 30%
By Michael Sol Warren74%
6/4/2026, 8:42:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 25 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Anecdotal, and Ambiguity (Equivocation), with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 29.5% saturation with 244 hits. Analysis detected 1,915 faulty-reasoning hits from 827 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 39.7% and a BS Rank of 30% (15,468 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 70.70% of the article peer group.
New Jersey prosecutors say an Essex County Prosecutor’s Office sergeant stole the camera bag of a photojournalist who was injured while covering protests outside an ICE detention center in Newark.
Sgt.
Darryl Brown is accused of stealing a bag with $10,000 worth of equipment that Angelina Katsanis, a photographer on assignment for the Associated Press, dropped at the scene near the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark on Saturday night.
Brown was charged with third-degree theft on Wednesday, the state attorney general’s office said.
“When an officer does what is alleged in this case, it is a disservice to the profession and the public,” New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a statement.
“I previously pledged that our office would review allegations of improper conduct by law enforcement.
We are doing exactly that, and this case is a result of that effort.
Let me be clear: Absolutely no one is above the law.”
Katsanis was hurt while photographing the protest when she was hit in the knee by a piece of lumber, according to an account detailed on a GoFundMe campaign that is meant to help cover her medical costs.
The camera bag was lost as she tried to move out of the area and seek medical care.
A friend of Katsanis tracked an AirTag in the bag to a house in Sparta Township that investigators later determined was Brown’s residence, according to the attorney general’s office.
Brown had been working at the protests that night, and investigators found his body camera footage, which captured him handling a dark bag that matched the description of the missing camera bag, the AG’s office said.
Brown faces up to five years in prison and up to $15,000 in fines if convicted.
The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has suspended him without pay.
Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens said the allegations against Brown are “serious and concerning.”
“Conduct that undermines the public’s trust in law enforcement is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Stephens said.
“The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office remains committed to accountability, integrity, and maintaining the public’s trust in the criminal justice system.”
Attorney information for Brown was not immediately available.
Katsanis referred to her attorney, Wylie Stecklow, for comment.
Stecklow praised the attorney general’s office for moving quickly to recover the camera bag and charge Brown.
“This officer, he wasn't just taking a backpack full of clothes and maybe a phone or a wallet with some money in it,” Stecklow said.
“He was taking First Amendment equipment, photographic equipment, the very items a journalist needs when they're documenting newsworthy events to share with the community at large.”
Stecklow said Katsanis is still trying to recover from her injuries.
“ This is not the most comfortable place for her,” Stecklow said.
“She's not super-excited to be in front of the camera and being part of the story.”
The AP did not respond to a request for comment.
Press freedom advocates have complained that journalists were harmed and that authorities violated their rights on multiple occasions at the Delaney Hall protests.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation says it received reports of two journalists arrested, 30 assaults on journalists, three instances of damaged equipment and at least one search and seizure of a journalist's equipment between May 26 and Monday.
That would include times when both ICE and state police were in charge of the scene.
Davenport said state police were deployed after state leaders learned the Trump administration was preparing a surge of ICE agents into the area, a justification Gov.
Mikie Sherrill also gave during a one-hour interview with WNYC on Wednesday evening.
“Gov.
Sherrill and I made the decision to act in the best interests of public safety,” Davenport said.
“We take seriously all reports of unconstitutional or unlawful policing and we will carefully review all such reports.”
The Department of Homeland Security has previously said its agents try to mitigate harm to journalists, but warned that covering such situations comes with risk.
Yaakov Strasberg, a self-identified conservative independent journalist, has said on social media he was arrested Sunday night after being punched in the face by state troopers who had him pinned to the ground.
Strasberg has said his belongings, including reporting equipment, were lost that night and still haven’t been recovered.
The attorney general’s office said it could not address Strasberg’s specific claims.
Adam Rose, the deputy director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said Strasberg’s case is “galling” because the gear was allegedly taken by police during an arrest, then apparently lost by police.
Rose noted that federal law bars police from seizing or searching or journalist’s work property.
“The fact that his equipment was taken while in custody — obviously they're gonna remove it from him — but if it's lost, if it's been searched, there's a big problem here under federal law as well,” Rose said.
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