In one instance, a registered nurse with a cart holding medical supplies was treating wounds and head injuries during a “No Kings” protest in June, when a 40mm projectile allegedly shot by a Los Angeles police officer suddenly ripped the flesh from the outside of his thigh.
In another instance, a photographer showed up to the same protest with a camera and left with a fractured cheekbone and ruptured eye that swelled shut, after allegedly being shot with a so-called “less-lethal” by an LAPD officer.
During a different protest, a woman was allegedly hit multiple times with LAPD’s “less-lethal” munitions, then pummeled by officers on horses as they wielded wooden samurai swords known as bokken, before she was trampled by a police horse and dragged off to the sidewalk.
These are only a few examples of the more than 120 claims for damages associated with protests and public gatherings that have been filed against the city of Los Angeles since anti-ICE protests broke out on June 6 of last year.
The claims range from less-serious allegations of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers allegedly destroying personal or public property to much more substantial claims of protesters, journalists, street medics, and bystanders sustaining serious or life-altering injuries as a result of allegedly excessive police force.