A Los Angeles street interviewer who runs the In the Streets LA account says he was choked, punched in the jaw and stabbed in the leg at the end of the No Kings protest outside Downtown LA's Metropolitan Detention Center, requiring medical attention afterward. The man, identified only as Dante, believes he was targeted specifically because he spends his days interviewing people from across the political spectrum.
According to FOX 11 Los Angeles, Dante said the attack happened as a handful of protesters remained gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center while the rally was winding down. The Metropolitan Detention Center, an administrative federal prison at 535 N. Alameda Street that holds roughly 1,000 inmates awaiting federal court proceedings, was one of the focal points for the nationwide No Kings: Vote Early mobilization on October 17, according to the Los Angeles Times, which reported that demonstrations that day were nationwide and called for early voter turnout ahead of the midterms.
Dante told the outlet that protesters accused him of “snitch-jacketing” people — a form of deception discussed by Defend Dissent.
A Stabbing, a Choking, and a Punch
Dante described the assault itself in stark terms: he said he was choked and punched in the jaw before being stabbed in the leg, and that the injuries were serious enough to require medical attention. He told the station he was disappointed that other press members who witnessed the attack did not step in to help.
Despite the violence, Dante said he was not angry about what happened. He plans to keep interviewing people of different backgrounds and political beliefs, and said he still supports the broader movement behind the protests — he just objects to people using that movement to justify mistreating others.
A Channel Built on Crossing Political Lines
Dante's In the Streets LA account features interviews with people holding a range of political beliefs. He told the outlet his own content leans liberal about 80% of the time, but that he has interviewed Zionists and MAGA supporters alike — the kind of cross-spectrum engagement he believes made him a target that night.
The Los Angeles Police Department said it had no record of any arrests connected to the attack, per the FOX 11 report. Under California Penal Code Section 245(a)(1), assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm — including a stabbing — is a wobbler offense that can be charged as a felony carrying up to four years in state prison and a $10,000 fine, according to Power Trial Lawyers.
Press Protections Don't Stop Crowd Violence
California law has moved in recent years to shield reporters covering demonstrations from police interference. Senate Bill 98, now codified as Penal Code Section 409.7, guarantees journalists the right to enter and remain in protest zones and closed command areas without being cited for failure to disperse, and legal scholars writing in the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review have noted the law's protections extend to independent digital newsgatherers like Dante. Separately, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction last year in a lawsuit led by the Los Angeles Press Club restricting LAPD interference with journalists, detention or citation solely for failure to disperse, and use of force unless there was an imminent threat, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
None of those protections address violence from within a crowd rather than from police.
Whether LAPD or federal authorities will open a criminal investigation into Saturday's stabbing remains unclear, as does how independent street interviewers like Dante can keep doing their work amid rising polarization at these demonstrations.
