(The Center Square) – The man accused of attacking an independent journalist during protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle last month was arrested Wednesday.
The victim, Cam Higby, told The Center Square he got a text from a detective with the Seattle Police Department confirming 33-year-old Jeremy Lawson was in custody.
The Center Square also received notice via email from SPD Detective Eric Munoz at 2:23 p.m. Wednesday.
“Jeremy Calvin Lawson, 33, was arrested this afternoon by SPD’s Community Response Group Officers,” Munoz said. “He was booked into KCJ [King County Jail] for Felony Investigation of Assault. CRG, in coordination with homicide detectives, located and arrested a suspect wanted for a politically motivated felony assault that occurred during an anti-ICE protest. The suspect was booked into KCJ without incident.”
In a Wednesday afternoon phone call with The Center Square, Higby said the detective who called him provided details of how the arrest went down.
“He was in Sultan, and he was going floating on the river, and they caught him just as he was about to get on his raft with this cooler, and they arrested him and took him in,” Higby said.
As reported by The Center Square, Higby was covering June 14 protests near the Seattle federal building when he was attacked.
“It was out of nowhere, completely out of nowhere that they got violent,” said Higby, whose attack was captured on video and posted to X.
The attack left him bloodied, bruised and with a concussion that was still causing headaches and blurred vision a week later.
Ten days after the attack, Seattle Police forwarded a recommended felony assault charge against Lawson to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. At that point, it became the prosecutor’s decision whether or not to arrest Lawson and pursue the recommended charge.
With today’s arrest, Higby expressed some optimism.
“I’m hoping that it sticks. I’m hoping that they get official charges down and that he stays in jail,” he said, noting that he’s continued to receive threatening text messages from unknown accounts that he believes have been coming from Lawson.
“It’s just been this constant terrorizing of me, and it’s not just me either; you know, it’s like my family. So it’s just tough, and I’m hoping that that this will put an end to most of it,” Higby said.
Higby said his concussion is still healing, along with his mental health from the trauma related to the incident.
“It’s still tough because literally until today, I’ve been actively terrorized,” he said.
Lawson previously texted The Center Square, denying any involvement in the June 14 incident.
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“It definitely is a case of mistaken identity … I wasn’t at the protest that night,” he said.
The date of Lawson’s first court appearance is unclear.