A protester whose testicle exploded when an LAPD officer shot him with a "less than lethal" firearm during a George Floyd demonstration in 2020 received a $1.5 million settlement from the city of Los Angeles, according to the victim's lawyers.
The payout to Benjamin Montemayor is the largest settlement related to the protests that erupted in Los Angeles and across the world after George Floyd was murdered, according to attorneys from Montemayor.
The L.A. Times reported after reviewing a copy of the settlement that the city did not admit any liability.
Montemayor had been protesting on Hollywood Boulevard for several hours on June 2, 2020, when at least 50 police officers descended upon his group and began firing munitions at the crowd, according to his civil rights lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court.
Within minutes and without provocation, Officer Henry Felix shot Montemayor in the groin with a 40 mm foam projectile, causing such severe damage that it required a surgical procedure to reattach portions of his genitals, Montemayor's attorney, David Clay Washington, said.
"There is an ongoing need for the LAPD to answer for their malfeasant conduct against demonstrators,'" Montemayor said. "I believe this case is a building block for others to continue challenging institutionalized violence. This settlement shows there are repercussions for police misconduct against the people they have sworn to protect. If financial restitution is one of the only languages a broken system speaks, then we must make it speak in volumes until the sound is inescapable: everyday citizens' rights are not just theoretical concepts.''
City News Service contributed to this report.
