Welcome to L.A. TACO’s weekly Investigations Newsletter. I’m Lexis-Olivier Ray, the Head of Investigations for L.A. TACO. This newsletter was originally published on May 6, 2026.
On May 1, I was covering a May Day protest outside of the federal Metropolitan Detention Center on Alameda Street in Downtown, when a motorcycle cop with a thin handlebar mustache approached me and said, “On the sidewalk, please.”
“I’m with the media,” I responded.
“It doesn’t matter,” LAPD Officer Robert E. Lockhart said back. “I’m asking you, please.”
Before I knew it, Officer Lockhart and another motorcycle cop wearing a gaiter mask that obstructed his face, grabbed me by my arms and escorted me behind their police line, near their motorcycles.
Immediately, a gaggle of photographers, streamers, journalists, and protesters surrounded me.