Just over five years ago, nationwide protests erupted on May 25, 2020, after the murder of George Floyd received widespread condemnation on social media. The Los Angeles Police and Sheriff’s Departments completely overreacted, particularly the Sheriff’s Department, illegally using less lethal weapons to injure, terrorize, and deter peaceful protesters from exercising their First Amendment rights.
Civil rights class actions were filed against both Departments alleging serious constitutional violations by peace officers acting under color of law, such as the unprovoked use of tear gas against children and families, the indiscriminate firing of potentially lethal rubber bullets at crowds, and the use of dangerous and unpredictable “flash-bang grenades” that in some cases directly hit peaceful protesters who were leaving the area, burning and scarring their legs and bodies. In Berg v. Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the class action being handled by several firms, including Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai, the Central District of California issued a federal injunction against the Sheriff’s Department ordering it to respect the civil rights of peaceful protesters and comply with constitutional limits on the use of less lethal weapons.
Numerous George Floyd protesters filed suit individually to demand accountability for their injuries as well. Hadsell Stormer successfully handled several such cases, including one where a peaceful protester was shot with a beanbag shotgun while his hands were in the air and he was walking backwards away from the police, and another where a police officer shot a peaceful protester in the groin with a 40mm rubber bullet while he was holding a banner, requiring emergency surgery to repair his testicle. Both protesters were at their first protests at the time they were shot. David Washington, together with Morgan Ricketts and Brian Olney, all partners with Hadsell Stormer, won the first case at trial to the tune of over $1,200,000 and settled the second case for $1,500,000. Both of these cases represented historic valuations of non-lethal protester cases, and to our knowledge, even today, remain the highest or among the highest settlements and judgments for Los Angeles protester cases in history.
Hadsell Stormer has recently obtained video that proves that both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department have again been violating the constitutional rights of peaceful protesters by indiscriminately firing rubber bullets and tear gas at crowds; surrounding protesters and not permitting them to leave the area of the protest; and arresting them en masse, all in many instances when the protesters have the legal right to be present and have never been ordered to leave.
Hadsell Stormer attorneys are still litigating the class action against the Sheriff’s Department. Due to recent inexcusable and unprovoked violence and arbitrary arrests against peaceful protesters, the class action attorneys are seeking evidence and input from anyone who was arrested, injured, or hit with less lethal weapons, including tear gas or other chemical weapons, while at an anti-ICE protest.
If you have seen or experienced the use of force at recent anti-ICE protests, please fill out this intake form on our website so that we can contact you.