In eight seconds, Pablo Vera’s life changed when three LAPD officers on horseback surrounded him in Downtown Los Angeles and battered him with 40-inch wooden batons modeled after a Japanese sword.
A lifelong Los Angeles Lakers fan, Vera was out that evening celebrating with hundreds of other jubilant fans after the Lakers won their 17th NBA Finals, outside of what was then still called the Staples Center, when the officers on horseback arrived and dispersed the crowd. The historic victory came during a dark year for Angelenos marked by the loss of Kobe Bryant, whom Vera idolized, and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The impact of one of the baton strikes caused what surgeons call a “nightstick” fracture, according to Dr. David Auerbach, an orthopedic surgeon with over 30 years of experience who performed surgery on Vera’s right forearm. The term is a reference to the fact that the injury has historically been caused by the “nightstick” (or baton) of a police officer, Auerbach testified.