Christopher, DeYanna, and Paige Ostroushko obtained ex parte restraining orders against journalist Savannah Hernandez in Minnesota court last week by submitting petitions that Hernandez says contain extensive false statements about a prior physical altercation and subsequent events.
The family, including 20-year-old Paige Ostroushko, a former member of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point women’s soccer team, faces federal indictment for an April 11 incident at an anti-ICE protest outside the Whipple Federal Building in St. Paul. A federal grand jury charged all three with assault. Chris and Paige were charged with willfully and forcefully injuring and intimidating a journalist engaged in protected activity. Hernandez has also filed a civil lawsuit against the family, alleging assault during the protest.
In their petitions for harassment restraining orders, the Ostroushkos alleged that Hernandez was the aggressor in the April incident and had been conducting a “hate and defamation campaign” as well as a “doxxing campaign” against them. Chris Ostroushko claimed in his filing that Hernandez is nearly six feet tall. Paige Ostroushko stated that Hernandez backhanded her twice and then punched her “full contact in the face.” DeYanna Ostroushko claimed Hernandez grabbed her by the neck and physically assaulted her while she was attempting to protect her daughter.
Chris Ostroushko’s petition goes further by requesting the court prohibit Hernandez from speaking about the Ostroushko family on her social media accounts. It also seeks to ban Hernandez and her entire family from the county where he resides and bar Hernandez from the Whipple ICE Facility, including the public sidewalk used by protesters. The family arranged for police to serve the papers at Hernandez’s home on three separate occasions instead of through her attorney.
Hernandez stated the allegations are false and that video evidence from the protest contradicts the family’s claims about who initiated physical contact. Under Minnesota law, petitions for harassment restraining orders require an affidavit under oath. Knowingly making a false material statement in such a filing can constitute perjury, a felony. The ex parte orders were granted based on the petitions, shifting the burden to Hernandez to contest the claims at an upcoming court hearing.
Attorney Jesse Franklin-Murdock, representing Hernandez, issued a statement describing the restraining orders as an attempt by the Ostroushkos to silence Hernandez while they remain under federal indictment and face her civil lawsuit for the alleged assault. Hernandez has publicly stated that she intends to appear in court to refute the claims with video evidence.
