Before Game 7 of the World Series even went to extra innings, Los Angeles police officers were already threatening to arrest and shoot “less-lethal” munitions at Dodgers fans who were watching the game on an Ipad outside of The Douglas, a bar in Echo Park.
“We need to break up this assembly. If you do not do so, you may be arrested or subject to other police action,” an LAPD incident commander announced over a loudspeaker at around 8 p.m., while people cheered on L.A.’s championship baseball team. “Other police actions may include the use of kinetic energy projectiles and/or chemical agents, such as foam baton rounds or tear gas.”
During a Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners meeting, LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said that The Douglas and other bars were shut down by the fire department “due to overcrowding.”
Johnny Jeltema, a co-owner of The Douglas, told L.A. TACO that police said they were over the permitted capacity of their parking lot, where 100 or so Dodgers fans were watching the game on an outdoor television.
“They instructed us to turn off our outside TVs, so the crowd would disperse,” said Jeltema. “Once our TVs were turned off outside (again, instructed by LAPD) we were not told any further details, including regarding an unlawful assembly. We were too busy with running the business to concentrate on the game or LAPD.”
Minutes before the Dodgers secured their second World Series victory in two years, cops in riot helmets, wielding batons, moved in and established a perimeter around The Douglas.
“We’re surrounded by cops right now,” a spectator said just before the game ended and people began cheering uncontrollably.
The celebrations didn’t last long.
Within a couple of minutes, police officers pushed the crowd of fans west towards Echo Park Boulevard, where hundreds of other fans were lighting off fireworks, burning rubber tires, and tossing back beers.
The early encounter outside of The Douglas set the tone for the rest of the night, during which people who were just trying to celebrate their beloved Dodgers were beaten with batons, tear gassed, and chased by 1,500 pound police horses.
Assistant Chief Dominic Choi told the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners on Tuesday that officers were responding to “unruly crowds” who were vandalizing city buses and Waymos, discharging fireworks, and engaging in illegal street takeovers.
The rowdy celebrations near the corner of Echo Park Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard continued for about a half an hour before LAPD officers mounted on horses trotted down Sunset Boulevard and established skirmish lines.
“As skirmish lines were established to disperse these crowds, officers were met with aggressive behavior, including objects being thrown at them,” Assistant Chief Choi told the board of police commissioners. “Due to the escalating violence, the use of less lethal munitions and chemical agents was authorized.”
In an extremely aggressive show of force, LAPD’s Mounted Unit officers charged at hundreds of Dodgers fans, families, and journalists, who had little room to move around freely. Officers on horses knocked people over while officers on foot struck Dodgers fans and journalists with their batons and hands.
A woman who was knocked off of a Lime bike by an officer on a police horse told L.A. TACO that she spent more than 20 hours in an LAPD jail after she was arrested by police for allegedly injuring the horse that sent her to the ground. Video footage shot by the reporter of this story shows that the woman attempted to bike around the horse and was immediately knocked over and taken into custody. The police horse did not appear to be injured.
Seven people were arrested during the Dodgers celebrations, according to the LAPD.
After pushing the crowd west of Alvarado Boulevard, LAPD officers with the department’s Metropolitan Division threw tear gas canisters at a diminishing crowd of Dodgers fans outside of a 24-hour 7-Eleven on Rosemont Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.
The tear gas came into the interior of La Fe like a “huge cloud,” and made everyone cough, she told L.A. TACO. Afterwards a few people had to wash their eyes out.
After the toxic tear gas settled, and the police made their way back towards Echo Park Boulevard, a Metro bus unloaded a group of passengers steps away from the spent tear gas canisters. The bus riders covered their mouths with their shirts as they exited the bus.
Meanwhile, back at Sunset and Echo Park Boulevards, officers geared up to use tear gas against a crowd of people still gathered at the intersection. Additionally, there were hundreds of people outside of bars and on the sidewalks.
Andrea Jaramillo, the founder of Latina-owned wine brand Mas Vino Please, was outside of the popular Echo Park restaurant La Fe when officers tossed canisters of tear gas into the street around 11:30 p.m..
At first she didn't realize they were using tear gas until bar managers began yelling at everyone to come inside the restaurant and she started choking.
The tear gas came into the interior of La Fe like a “huge cloud,” and made everyone cough, she told L.A. TACO. Afterwards a few people had to wash their eyes out.
Across the street, a few staff members from Lowboy were hanging out on the bar’s patio when tear gas quickly began to spread down Sunset Boulevard.
“People started running east up Sunset and that’s when we closed our doors and had staff wait inside the bar,” a bartender told L.A. TACO.
After the tear gas settled, officers mounted on horses continued pushing people east of Echo Park Boulevard.
Aziza Fellague Ariouat was standing calmly in line outside of the Short Stop when two officers on horses, wearing gas masks, approached the line of people and ordered them to all leave the area.
Fellague Ariouat said that she heard the police order everyone to leave, “but being caught in all the tension made it really hard to listen.”
“Everyone around us was making it very clear that we were waiting to get into line at Short Stop and that we weren't trying to cause any trouble,” Fellague Ariouat told L.A. TACO. The police also mentioned that they were prepared to use tear gas on the group and that they would use batons on anyone who was “throwing stuff or fighting back,” Fellague Ariouat said.
Later, officers charged their horses into people standing in line and struck one man in the right bicep with a baton as he walked away calmly with his back turned to the officer who hit him.
Video footage of the officer striking the man with a baton, captured by the reporter of this story, was subsequently seen by over a million and a half people, including Mayor Karen Bass, commissioners with the LAPD Police Commission, and the city council member who represents Echo Park.
“The video is incredibly disturbing,” Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez said in a written statement to L.A. TACO. “Especially considering the tactics we're seeing from the federal government, everyone in the city should be demonstrating what the rule of law looks like, instead of using their same playbook.”
“He was just running away and they got him in the leg and shot the top of his finger off,” the man’s girlfriend told L.A. TACO. The couple didn’t want their names to appear in this story, as they are pursuing legal action against the city. Bone fragments were removed from the man’s finger during surgery that morning, the girlfriend said.
During a town hall meeting on Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also referenced the video and expressed her concern.
“I will say that I have seen several tapes that are very concerning to me, and you might not see me having press conferences about it, and that might frustrate you, but I am very concerned about it,” Mayor Bass said in response to a question from a community member. “I've raised it, and want it to be investigated”
“And I will tell you the one that I saw from the other night where the mounted patrol officer was using his horse to nudge the crowd and then pulled out a stick or something, and was hitting protesters,” Bass continued. “I have met with the chief and I am very concerned about that, but there are others.”
Dodgers fans gathered on Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park into the early morning. At around 1:30 a.m., a man who was trying to get to the Gold Room bar for a nightcap found himself running from police.
“He was just running away and they got him in the leg and shot the top of his finger off,” the man’s girlfriend told L.A. TACO. The couple didn’t want their names to appear in this story, as they are pursuing legal action against the city. Bone fragments were removed from the man’s finger during surgery that morning, the girlfriend said.
During Tuesday’s Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners weekly meeting, several police commissioners questioned Assistant Chief Choi about the department's use of tear gas and horses during the celebrations.
Commissioner Rasha Gerges Shields said she had seen “concerning uses of force from the mounted position" and asked if the incidents were being investigated and if other agencies used horses during crowd control situations.
“To both those questions, the answer is yes.” Assistant Chief Choi said. “I’m also familiar with that particular video that’s floating around. That incident is documented [and] being investigated, and other agencies have been known to use horses during crowd control situations.”
Choi said that the department uses horses “as a tool, when the time is appropriate.”
Later, in response to a question from Commissioner Fabian Garcia, Choi clarified that officers mounted on horses can only use batons against people when there is a “threat” to the officer or someone else.
At this point, it’s easy to predict what will happen after the Dodgers win a World Series title.
A similar night played out a year prior when the Dodgers beat the Yankees, as well as during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays.
After each of these World Series victories, raucous celebrations broke out shortly after the Dodgers secured the win, both in Echo Park, Downtown, and east of the L.A. River in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles.
Adam Rose, the press rights chair for the Los Angeles Press Club, told L.A. TACO that he didn’t see shutting down The Douglas bar as a press rights issue, but “it is another example of LAPD’s endless incompetence in dealing with crowds.”
With the Dodgers already eyeing a third consecutive World Series title, it’s not unlikely that the city might find itself in the same position again in another year. Which raises the question: How could the city respond to these celebrations differently?
One approach that other countries and cities, like Santa Monica, have embraced is creating “fan zones” for people who want to celebrate, where streets are closed off to vehicles and people are allowed to drink alcohol in public.
This year the Los Angeles Police Department shut down parts of Sunset Boulevard between Alvarado Street and Douglas Street, but they left certain streets open to traffic. And instead of trying to facilitate safe celebrations, they declared an unlawful assembly before the game was even decided.
Adam Rose, the press rights chair for the Los Angeles Press Club, told L.A. TACO that he didn’t see shutting down The Douglas bar as a press rights issue, but “it is another example of LAPD’s endless incompetence in dealing with crowds.”
Rose said, based on limited reports, that the gathering was peaceful, “declaring an unlawful assembly during the 9th inning of World Series game 7 seemed senseless and frankly cruel to a city in need of something worth celebrating."
“Using unlawful assembly this way is like pre-crime or thought-crime enforcement,” Rose continued. “It’s a dystopian punishment of lawful people and lawful business. The only thing it accomplishes is giving pretextual excuses for LAPD’s thoroughly documented bloodlust during public assemblies.”
Rose added that if the Los Angeles fire department had concerns about overcrowding, then “the municipal code gives the fire department the power to shut things down for a good safety reason.”
“I think Angelenos trust LAFD a lot more than LAPD with that responsibility,” he said.
The LAPD’s response to this year’s celebrations was even more heavy handed then in year’s past. Notably it was the first time that LAPD officers used tear gas on Dodgers fans and people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Prior to this summer, the LAPD hadn’t used tear gas in crowd control situations in decades, Assistant Chief Choi confirmed.
“It was gnarly and such an aggressive use of unprovoked force,” said Jaramillo, the woman who was tear gassed outside La Fe.
