A New York City journalist was arrested on felony hate crime charges Tuesday after filming a pro-Palestinian protest earlier this summer in which activists hurled red paint at the homes of top leaders at the Brooklyn Museum.
Samuel Seligson, an independent videographer, was not involved in the vandalism, but is accused of traveling in a car with the activists and entering private property with them, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the case.
The official spoke with The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Leena Widdi, an attorney for Seligson, said New York Police Department officers twice raided Seligson’s Brooklyn apartment in the past week before he turned himself in early Tuesday.
She described the arrest and use of a hate crime statute as an “appalling” overreach by police against a journalist with a city-issued press credential. Seligson, who is Jewish, is a fixture at New York City protests who has licensed and sold footage to mainstream outlets, including Reuters and ABC News.
“Samuel is being charged for alleged behavior that is protected by the First amendment and consistent with his job as a credentialed member of the press,” Widdi said in an email. “What is even more concerning, however, is that this member of the press is being charged with a hate crime.”
An NYPD spokesperson confirmed Seligson was charged Tuesday with two counts of criminal mischief with a hate crime advancement, a felony. The spokesperson declined to say what he was accused of doing at the protest.
“This is an extremely serious charge against a journalist,” said Robert Balin, an attorney who has defended photojournalists arrested by the NYPD. “If he did not participant in these events, this could be a brazen violation of the right of the press to gather news.”
In order to prove a hate crime charge, Balin said, prosecutors would have to show that Seligson participated in the vandalism and was targeting the directors because of their religion, race or other personal characteristic. Balin represented The Associated Press in negotiations involving access to Donald Trump’s legal cases.
Seligson was previously arrested in May at a separate pro-Gaza demonstration. He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was livestreaming the demonstration as police made arrests and identified himself as a journalist. A spokesperson for the Brooklyn district attorney said that case had been closed and sealed.
The June vandalism targeted four homes belonging to members of the Brooklyn Museum’s board, including its Jewish director, generating allegations of antisemitism and condemnations from across the political spectrum.
The activists wore face masks and dark clothing as they spray-painted slogans on the board members’ homes accusing them of funding genocide, according to court papers. They also hung banners featuring an inverted red triangle that authorities say is a symbol used by Hamas to identify Israeli military targets, prosecutors said.
The vandalism came days after hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters occupied the Brooklyn Museum’s lobby and vandalized artwork. Organizers at that event said the museum was “deeply invested in and complicit” in Israel’s military actions in Gaza through its leadership, trustees, corporate sponsors and donors — an allegation museum officials deny.
Last week, police arrested another suspect, 28-year-old Taylor Pelton, who is accused of driving the car used by the vandals. Authorities are still seeking four people involved in the vandalism.
As fierce protests erupted in New York City against Israel’s war in Gaza, the NYPD has come under scrutiny for its treatment of both protesters and journalists.
In May, officers were accused of tackling and arresting two photojournalists covering an encampment at a state university. Top police officials have also gone after journalists on social media, accusing one freelance reporter of “inventing false narratives” about their treatment of protesters.
