On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council shut down a proposal that would have limited the Los Angeles Police Department's (LAPD) legal authority to use “40mm foam launchers” and tear gas against protesters and people in Los Angeles.
The proposal was made in response to the LAPD's excessive use of so-called “less-lethal” munitions during anti-ICE protests over the summer.
During one protest, on June 8, LAPD officers fired over 600 hard foam rounds at a few dozen people hiding behind pink metal benches and plastic municipal signs outside City Hall. Then they used tear gas against protesters and members of the media to disperse the crowd.
“In recent months, we’ve watched this equipment deployed in ways that echoed the same intimidation tactics we condemn in ICE Raids,” Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez said during Tuesday’s city council meeting. “Tactics that erode trust and violate basic rights. Our residents should be able to express their rights without being met with rubber bullets and tear gas
Prior to June 8, the LAPD had not used tear gas in crowd-control settings in almost 50 years, an LAPD spokesperson told L.A. TACO.
On June 14, during a No Kings Day protest, LAPD officers used tear gas for a second time against anti-Trump protesters in Downtown Los Angeles. The police deployed tear gas again on November 1, after the Dodgers secured their second consecutive world title.
Following the night's World Series celebrations, bartenders and bar patrons, a restaurant owner, and people who happened to just be in Echo Park on the night of the Dodgers historic win told L.A. TACO that tear gas seeped into the interiors of businesses lining Sunset Boulevard, affecting people who posed no threat to police.
One man, who was headed to a bar on Sunset for a nightcap, said they had to get surgery on their finger after they were struck with some sort of so-called “less-lethal” bullet.
The LAPD’s heavy-handed response to recent public gatherings has led to dozens of claims for damages from protesters, medics, and people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, according to public records obtained by L.A. TACO. It has also led to a federal lawsuit filed by press advocates over the LAPD officer’s firing of “less-lethal” projectiles at reporters.
In one claim, a woman who says she was peacefully protesting on June 8 alleges that she was hit multiple times, including in the head, with “less-lethal” 40mm rounds, before being struck four times by police with batons and trampled by a police officer on a horse.
After being trampled, an officer dragged the woman from the middle of the street over to the sidewalk and radioed for an ambulance to come to the aid of “a civilian with a severe head wound,” according to the complaint.
The woman was hospitalized for five days afterwards, the complaint says, and sustained serious injuries that included bleeding inside her head and multiple open wounds on the exterior of her scalp that required staples. In addition to multiple abrasions, bruises, and pain to her neck, left shoulder, and back.
During a tense back-and-forth between LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and members of the city council at Tuesday’s meeting, McDonnell noted that during the protest on June 8, officers were attacked with “commercial grade fireworks” and other hazardous objects. Over 50 officers were injured during protests over the summer, McDonnell told members of the city council.
The LAPD’s top cop described “tear gas”—a generic term for a variety of chemical agents that are banned by the Geneva Conventions in warfare—as a “highly effective,” “de-escalation tool” that is only used as a last resort when officers or members of the public are being attacked.
“So it's not a de-escalation tactic, it’s a crowd-moving tactic?,” Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez questioned during an exchange with the chief of police, during which he interrupted her multiple times.
“It’s a de-escalation tactic for people in the environment after they’ve been ordered to leave the environment and continue to assault officers,” McDonnell answered.
McDonnell said he found it “amazing” that the city council would consider a proposal that would restrict the LAPD's ability to use 40mm projectiles, not just during protests, but under all circumstances, including when officers are attempting to arrest armed suspects.
“A 40mm projectile is used everyday to be able to deal with people who have edged weapons, people who have shards of glass, people who have weapons and are coming at officers or coming at some residents, to be able to protect them,” McDonnell said in response to a question from Councilmember John Lee, a regular LAPD supporter who was one of eight council members who voted against the proposal to limit the department’s use of “less-lethals.”
If LAPD officers can't fire hard-foam rounds at people, then their only other option will be lethal-force, McDonnell suggested several times during Tuesday's meeting.
“The last thing we want to use is deadly force,” McDonnell said.
In response to McDonnell, Councilmember Soto-Martinez clarified that the proposal in front of the city council wouldn’t limit the LAPD’s ability to use 40mm projectiles against armed suspects.
(A spokesperson later clarified that Soto-Martinez's motion would have limited the use of 40mm launchers and tear gas in all scenarios, not just crowd control settings. But the LAPD would still have multiple alternative "less-lethal" options including tasers, bean bag rounds and 37mm projectiles, that they could use.)
“The issue that I'm trying to get to is how this city is being perceived in the moment where folks are hitting the street to protest against the authoritarian federal government and the rise of fascism in America, and how we as a city are acting,” Soto-Martinez said during his final push to convince his colleagues to vote in favor of his proposal.
Soto-Martinez noted that state law and LAPD policy says that less-lethals should only be used against specific targets that pose a physical danger to an officer or someone else. The councilmember questioned how officers could be shooting at specific targets when they’re firing over 1,000 rounds during protests and have been caught on camera shooting journalists who are live on air.
McDonnell reiterated that officers only target specific people but they often shoot and miss, sometimes even hitting their fellow officers instead of their intended target.
“They do not hit their target, many of those projectiles,” the Los Angeles chief of police said. “And you're in a very kinetic, very chaotic, very violent environment . . . we have body-worn cameras that you could look at if you care to come and see how we do business.”
“Well, I think I speak for many people in the city of Los Angeles that are troubled by the way we have been responding to peaceful protests,” Soto-Martinez countered.
Towards the end of the discussion, Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, one of the four council members to vote in favor of the proposal, thanked Soto-Martinez for raising the issue and for the conversation.
He also thanked Chief McDonnell for attending the meeting and for answering questions.
“I'm supportive of our officers, I'm supportive of the work we do, but this is not an area where there isn't room for great improvement,’ Harris-Dawson told the chief.
The council president and former activist added that he had attended protests where tear gas was used.
“I've been where tear gas is being shot at me, and when tear gas is shot at me, and someone looks me in the face and says, ‘well I just deescalated.’”
“It doesn’t match with reality.”
