A college student had to have his eyeball removed after being struck by a less-lethal projectile during a "No Kings" protest last month.
Video provided to Scripps News by attorney V. James DeSimone showed 18-year-old Tucker Collins taking photographs during the demonstration in Los Angeles when he suddenly fell to the ground. Other videos and photos showed Collins with a bloodied eye, being tended to by bystanders.
DeSimone said he believes the projectile was fired by a federal agent in violation of a federal ruling that limits the federal government’s use of force tactics.
“Tucker suffered a life-altering injury documenting a protest, not participating in violence. That should alarm anyone who cares about civil rights, press freedom, and accountability,” the attorney said in a statement. “He was not threatening anyone. He wasn’t attacking anyone.”
In a statement to Scripps News, a DHS spokesperson said, “The First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly – not rioting. DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters. Our law enforcement has followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property.”
The statement went on to say that seven warnings were issued before crowd control measures were deployed. DHS described the demonstration as a riot during which people “threw rocks, bottles, and cement blocks” at officers while hundreds of people surrounded the Roybal Federal Building, which the government said resulted in several arrests.
The incident was the latest in a series of allegations in several states about injuries caused by less-lethal munitions deployed during protests against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies over the past year.
In January, a 21-year-old said he was hit in the eye by a projectile fired by a federal agent during a protest in Santa Ana, California. DHS said the protest had turned “violent.”
Federal injunction limited the use of force after California lawsuit
Courts in several states have heard arguments about the use of less-lethal munitions by federal agents during protests, including Oregon, Minnesota, and California.
A lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles Press Club and other plaintiffs last year claimed “DHS agents have engaged in a pattern, policy, and practice of unnecessarily and indiscriminately assaulting, teargassing, pepper-spraying, and shooting protesters exercising their rights to assemble and to voice their disagreement with DHS, reporters covering these events, and legal observers seeking to document DHS’s conduct.”
The federal government denied the allegations, arguing the use of less-lethal devices by agents and officers was “reasonable, lawful, and justified under federal laws and regulations.”
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in September that limited how such munitions could be used. The government appealed, and last week an appeals court found that while there was an “avalanche of evidence” suggesting federal agents engaged in the “widespread practice of violating the First Amendment rights of journalists, legal observers, and protestors,” the preliminary injunction was “overbroad,” remanding the issue back to district court for further proceedings.
