Photographer sues Los Angeles and LAPD over alleged assault

Freelance photographer Nick Stern has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and an officer from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) following an incident during a protest in August 2025.

Stern alleges that while covering a demonstration against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in downtown Los Angeles, Officer Wyatt Aulick aggressively advanced and struck him in the face with a baton. The lawsuit claims Stern repeatedly identified himself as a journalist and displayed his press credentials, but the officer violated a July 2025 court order that prohibited LAPD from using less-lethal weapons or obstructing journalists who posed no threat.

The legal action follows a previous injury Stern sustained on June 7, 2025, in Compton, where a fragment from a 40-mm less-lethal projectile became embedded in his thigh, requiring surgery and a lengthy recovery. The August protest was his first assignment since that injury.