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.
For months after the attack, Vera struggled with sleep, he testified. On some nights, he was kept awake by the immense pain in his arm. On other nights he experienced night terrors where he’d wake up screaming, reliving the moment when he was attacked.
Nearly six years after his arm was broken, and four years after he first sued the City of Los Angeles, Vera finally had his day in court in June. The almost three-week civil trial featured testimony from Vera himself and roughly a dozen other witnesses, body-worn camera footage shot from the perspective of the officers who attacked him, as well as a foam cutout of a life-size horse to emphasize the size of a 1000+ pound American Quarter Horse.
During the trial, Michael Williamson, the attorney representing the defense, questioned Vera’s psychologist, Dr. Michele Cooley-Strickland, over whether or not his depression and anxiety were legitimate. Williamson made the case that individuals seeking a certain diagnosis could manipulate their answers in self-reported questionnaires and psychological tests.