Newspaper files suit after reporters detained outside Defense contractor plant in Ohio

The Toledo Blade filed a lawsuit Friday against various military officials after reporter Tyrel Linkhorn and photographer Jetta Fraser were detained March 28 outside a contractor-operated Department of Defense facility in Lima, Ohio.

According to the complaint, filed in a U.S. district court in Ohio, the journalists intended to take "file" photos for the newspaper's future use with stories related to the plant. They parked on a public road in front of the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center and took photographs of the outside of the facility, according to the complaint.

They began to leave but were stopped by military police and detained for an hour, according to the complaint. Their equipment was confiscated, and their photos were deleted.

The newspaper claims the detention, threats of bodily harm, confiscation of cameras, and the deletion of pictures violated Linkhorn's and Fraser's First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights.