Nick Stern had moved into position to take a photograph of a group of people waving Mexican flags near a line of police officers in the Los Angeles area on Saturday when he felt a sharp pain in his right thigh.
Before long, Mr. Stern, a seasoned photojournalist who works mostly with British news outlets, had passed out. Then he was in surgery.
A deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had shot Mr. Stern with some kind of projectile, Mr. Stern said, the munition lodging in his thigh and putting him on a weekslong path to recovery.
Over the last few days, several journalists have been injured by law enforcement officers during the protests that have played out in parts of downtown Los Angeles and led to an escalating battle between California and the Trump administration.
Mr. Stern, 60, has covered protests for decades, and said he always keeps either his press badge or camera visible, to indicate he is a journalist. He said he wasn’t sure if the police targeted him or if the deputy who fired on him was just “a bad shot.”
Still, press freedom groups have condemned law enforcement for injuring journalists over the last few days, noting several instances of law enforcement officers firing projectiles at journalists.
In one instance, a police officer on Sunday turned in the direction of an Australian reporter during a broadcast and shot her with a projectile. That reporter, Lauren Tomasi, said the officers were with the Los Angeles Police Department. An L.A.P.D. spokesman, Drake Madison, said the department was investigating the deployment of “less lethal” projectiles during the protests, but he did not respond to questions about the incident with Ms. Tomasi.
The National Press Club, a professional organization for journalists, said reporters had been singled out, and also called on the L.A.P.D.’s police chief to make sure journalists could “safely observe and report” on the protests.
“Police cannot pick and choose when the First Amendment applies,” the group’s president, Mike Balsamo, said in a statement. “Journalists in Los Angeles were not caught in the crossfire — they were targeted.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it was “reviewing video footage related” to Mr. Stern’s injury and was not able to confirm whether it was a sheriff’s deputy who had fired the shot. “We are committed to maintaining an open and transparent relationship with the media and ensuring that journalists can safely perform their duties, especially during protests, acts of civil disobedience, and public gatherings,” the department said.
Journalists have also reported being injured by California Highway Patrol officers and by agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Among several instances compiled by reporters and press freedom groups, a reporter said a Homeland Security agent had shot her with a projectile, and another said he may have been struck with a tear-gas canister fired by a line of Homeland Security agents. The department did not respond to an inquiry.
A collection of press freedom groups wrote a letter on Monday to Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, saying that, in some instances, it appeared federal officers had “deliberately targeted journalists.” The groups urged the department to refrain from unlawful force against reporters, “who are merely covering events of public concern in the Los Angeles area.”
