A Kenton County jury found a journalist covering a July march across the Roebling Suspension Bridge guilty of a misdemeanor for failing to disperse when police ordered protesters off the bridge. But jurists found CityBeat photo intern Lucas Griffith not guilty on three other misdemeanor charges.
Griffith was covering a vigil for Egyptian immigrant and local faith leader Imam Ayman Soliman when a number of the attendees began marching across the bridge to protest Soliman's detention by ICE. (He has since been released.)
What happened on the bridge
Covington Police confronted the marchers about halfway across the bridge and gave commands to leave the roadway and get on the sidewalk. Griffith was among roughly a dozen people arrested by Northern Kentucky law enforcement for not immediately complying.
Initially, Griffith and others arrested faced felony riot charges. Prosecutors later dropped those charges for Griffith and CityBeat reporter Madeline Fening, who also was arrested on the bridge. Prosecutors also dropped unlawful assembly and resisting arrest charges against Griffith because he complied with the officer arresting him.
The arrests of Fening and Griffith have drawn national headlines and outcry from press freedom groups. Covington Police also have gotten scrutiny after videos circulated showing officer Zachary Stayton punching protester Brandon Hill in the head multiple times as Hill lay face down on the ground.
Griffith testified the scene was noisy and chaotic and he couldn't understand eight commands made by an officer over a police cruiser PA system to disperse and get on the sidewalks.
What happened in court
Griffith's attorney, Will Sharp of the Kentucky ACLU, argued he was simply doing his job on the bridge and should not have been arrested.
"He did not go there to be disorderly; nor was he," Sharp told the jury. "He did not go there to obstruct ... anyone, nor did he. He did not go there to intentionally refuse to comply with law enforcement."
But Kenton County Assistant Prosecutor Drew Harris argued he should have known better, especially after he saw his supervisor, Fening, arrested. Harris claimed Griffith put taking photos above complying with the law. He said the 74 seconds that elapsed between when the final order to disperse was issued and Griffith's arrest was more than enough time.
"He chose to ignore the order to get the shots," Harris said. "You can see that in the videos and in the defense exhibits."
The defense and prosecution went back and forth over the proper understanding of the charges against Griffith — whether he was actually obstructing the roadway, whether he needed to have intentionally disobeyed the orders to disperse, and other considerations.
The jury found Griffith not guilty on disorderly conduct charges as well as charges that he obstructed an emergency responder and obstructed a highway. They recommended a $50 fine, which Kenton County Judge Kenneth Easterling accepted.
“The Covington Police Department arrested and charged our client despite being made aware that he was a journalist," ACLU of Kentucky Staff Attorney Bethany Baxter said in a statement. "The jury correctly rejected the prosecutor’s request to convict him of multiple offenses, opting instead to issue a guilty verdict on a lone charge and impose a minimal fine.”
CityBeat reporter Fening will stand trial for the same charges January 13, 2026. Three other protesters still face felony riot charges in connection with the march.
Read more: