KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Two freelance photographers have filed a lawsuit alleging that police unlawfully shot them with rubber bullets during a protest over police racism in Wisconsin three years ago.
Alyssa Schukar and Scott Olson filed the lawsuit in federal court in Milwaukee on July 4. According to the lawsuit, Schukar and Olson were assigned to cover protests in Kenosha in August 2020 for the New York Times and Getty Images, respectively.
The protests erupted after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, seven times during a domestic disturbance. The shooting left Blake paralyzed.
The demonstrations went on for days. Kyle Rittenhouse, a teen who lived in nearby Illinois at the time, shot three men during a protest on Aug. 23, killing two of them. A jury acquitted Rittenhouse of homicide and reckless endangerment charges in November 2021 after he said he acted in self-defense. Rittenhouse was 17 years old on the night of the shootings.