Baker, Burton & Lundy Secures $1.5 Million Recovery From City of Los Angeles in LAPD Protest Injury Lawsuit

By Evan Koch
Partner & Trial Attorney

On May 30, 2020, near Pan Pacific Park in Los Angeles, our client attended a peaceful protest in response to George Floyd’s death. As she joined other peaceful protesters, a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer armed with a Remington 870 beanbag shotgun arrived at her location to provide “less lethal” weapon support. Despite LAPD policies restricting beanbag shotgun use to situations involving violent resistance or immediate threats—and prohibiting shots to the head or beyond 45 feet— the of officer fired multiple rounds into the crowd at ranges of 55 to 145 feet. As the officers advanced on our client while she was protesting, she began walking backwards with her hands raised to show compliance with their dispersal orders. However, despite the fact that she was complying with their commands and posed no threat to the officers, she was first shot in the abdomen with a rubber bullet and then, moments later, in the face by a beanbag round, causing severe injuries, including a dislodged nose requiring emergency surgery.

Most of the officers in the skirmish line approaching our client had body worn cameras (“BWC”) that were filming the encounter, which directly captured the moment our client was shot, as well as the circumstances leading up to the shooting. The LAPD’s video regarding this incident can be found here, with the specific portion showing the shooting located here. The following image was captured from the BWC of the officer who shot our client in the face, moments before he pulled the trigger:

Our client’s peaceful protest was similarly caught by the BWC of another officer in the skirmish line who was carrying a 40mm launcher, another “less lethal” weapon utilized by the LAPD in protest crowd-control settings as follows:

The LAPD’s Use of Force Tactics Directive clearly requires that officers must avoid targeting sensitive areas like the face to prevent serious injury, and that beanbag shotguns are target-specific weapons, not to be fired indiscriminately into crowds. During litigation, our attorneys were able to gather admissions from Officer Alvarado acknowledging that our client posed no threat, was not violently resisting, and was not a viable target for a beanbag round under LAPD guidelines. Compounding the issue, this was Officer Alvarado’s first time using a beanbag shotgun or participating in crowd control, and he acted under pressure from a sergeant’s panicked orders to fire, highlighting a failure in training and supervision by the LAPD.

Through the diligent efforts of Baker, Burton & Lundy, we secured a $1,500,000 recovery from the City of Los Angeles to compensate Ms. Hill for her severe physical and emotional injuries. This outcome reflects our firm’s commitment to holding law enforcement accountable for excessive force and ensuring justice for those harmed during peaceful demonstrations. Our thorough litigation exposed critical violations of LAPD policy and officer inexperience, reinforcing the importance of protecting individuals’ rights to assemble and protest safely.

Please note: This document does not constitute legal advice. Please consult an attorney for legal advice on what to do in a particular situation.