Sergio Espejo didn’t come to Los Angeles with activism in mind. He planned to visit a friend as he had done many times in the past. Except, this summer the city was engulfed in protests, sparked by a series of ICE raids in early June.
This time, he said, he came “to support my fellow immigrants. “I don’t think it’s right that we’re being targeted in places where we should be safe.”
Espejo was one of the estimated 200,000 people who attended the “No Kings” protest in downtown L.A. on June 14. He described the protesters as being largely peaceful. People were dancing, playing music, waving Mexican and American flags, he said, and “exercising their 1st Amendment rights as Americans.”
At 4 p.m., Espejo walked to L.A. City Hall, seeing a line of LAPD and L.A. Sheriff’s Department officers on the building’s steps. By 5 p.m. the sheriff’s department began firing tear gas, foam projectiles, and pepper spray, attempting to disperse the crowd.
Then a projectile hit Espejo and exploded.
“I saw parts of my finger fly off into the side of the street,” Espejo said.
The flash bang device that changed Espejo’s life was a “less lethal” weapon. The category includes tear gas and pepper balls, which were first used by law enforcement after World War I and deployed during strikes and political actions in the 1920s and ‘30s. Rubber bullets were created by the British army to quell protesters in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Typically, these weapons were used to enforce order without using live ammunition.
However, these tools have been a source of controversy since their inception, with lawyers, activists and academics claiming they’re used too frequently and have devastating effects on targets.
After Espejo was hit, he said, he ran west on Temple Street, hand bleeding, shouting for help. Bystanders called for a medic, and he was taken to Los Angeles General Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery. His left index finger was amputated.
A data engineer, Espejo can no longer type with his left hand. Worse, he said, he is no longer able to draw.
“My passion is drawing, that’s how I express myself, and I can’t do that anymore,” Espejo said.
In a civil rights claim filed against the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the city of Los Angeles, Espejo says sheriff’s deputies “used flash bangs, thrown at Plaintiff’s face, along with other less lethal munitions,” and “it caused Plaintiff to suffer multiple injuries.”
“What happened to Mr. Espejo is not an isolated act of misconduct. It reflects a broader and deeply troubling pattern in which the Sheriff’s Department has repeatedly responded to peaceful protest with militarized violence,” reads the claim submitted to the city of Los Angeles on June 19.
The claim also critiques pervasive use of less-lethal weapons.
“These weapons—intended only for highly limited use by trained personnel in situations involving immediate threats—have instead been used indiscriminately, often without urgency, warning, or legal justification.”
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department declined to discuss the case but said all use-of-force incidents are reviewed and evaluated by department executives, according to a written statement.
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) requires all deputies to undergo extensive training in the use of less lethal force upon graduation from the basic academy and continuing throughout their service,” the department wrote.
The same statement listed the ways officers are taught to use less-lethal weapons, from an eight-hour class in patrol school, to mandatory refresher courses each year.
“We do not use less lethal tools indiscriminately; we only use them when de-escalation measures have been exhausted and when Deputies, other members of law enforcement, or innocent citizens are being attacked and assaulted with items such as bricks, stones, mortars, and Molotov Cocktails,” the sheriff’s department wrote.
According to the department’s use-of-force policy, such materials should be used only “when objectively reasonable given the circumstances.” The same rules state that officers who use excessive force will face discipline or prosecution.
But activists and attorneys say officers in the LAPD and LASD aren’t abiding by their own rules.
Law enforcement aim less-lethal weapons at protesters during the “No Kings Day” demonstration in downtown Los Angeles on June 14.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
The ACLU of Southern California has an open form for people who were injured by law enforcement or federal agents during the anti-ICE protests. In the two weeks after the initial protests, the ACLU said it was contacted by 250 people who claimed to have either been harmed, or witnessed someone being harmed, by police and federal officers, the organization said in a statement.
The organization did not share details of the responses.
There have been 59 complaints filed against the Los Angeles Police Department since June 1 related to use of force, the LAPD told The Times in a written statement.
“We call on the city of Los Angeles, we call on the mayor, we call on our police chief: get your officers under control, have them comply with the law,” said civil rights attorney James DeSimone at a June 25 news conference.
DeSimone is representing three clients: Miguel Mendoza, Atlachinolli Tezcacoatl, and Daisy Bravo. All three attended the anti-ICE protest in downtown L.A. on June 8, according to claims for damages DeSimone filed against the city, and all suffered injuries from less-lethal projectiles.
Mendoza and Bravo spoke to reporters on June 25. Tezcacoatl remained silent, DeSimone speaking for him. After being hit in the face by a projectile, Tezcacoatl’s jaw was wired shut.
Mendoza was in Koreatown visiting a friend while anti-ICE protests swept across L.A. A content creator, he began to notice other influencers posting about a City Hall protest on June 8. A first-generation son of Mexican immigrants, Mendoza believed that attending was something he had to do.
“I was born here … in California, in the Bay Area. I have to stand up for my beliefs,” Mendoza said in a interview.
Mendoza was among the thousands who marched to City Hall that day. At approximately 6 p.m., after police had already begun using batons and less-lethal projectiles to push back the crowd, Mendoza was looking through photos of the event he had taken on his phone.
All at once, Mendoza’s felt the sudden shock of impact, and his ears began ringing.
“And then I, like, looked down, and blood is just gushing out of my face, and my hands are just covered, like they’re all red,” he said.
Mendoza had been struck in the face by a less-lethal projectile. According to Mendoza’s claim, the LAPD “intentionally and/or recklessly subjected Mr. Mendoza to physical injuries and pain by shooting these projectiles at him or indiscriminately in his direction.”
“They broke my nose on both sides, there was acute fractures to my cheek, my cheekbone, there was a deep laceration where the rubber bullet almost went completely through,” said Mendoza, who first went to the PIH Urgent Care Center Westlake, then Glendale Memorial Hospital. “I think they did a total of seven stitches.”
“LAPD is absolutely violating their own policies, as well as the United States Constitution as well as state law,” DeSimone said in an interview.
The LAPD declined to comment on Mendoza’s claims.
Signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021, Assembly Bill 48 places prohibitions on the use of less-lethal weapons, The law says such weaponry can only be used by law enforcement to defend against physical threats or to bring dangerous situations under control. Such weapons cannot be fired indiscriminately into crowds, or aimed at the head, neck, or any other vital organs, according to Section 2 of the bill.
This legislation came in the aftermath of the George Floyd protests, in which thousands marched across Los Angeles demanding racial justice and an end to police brutality. According to an analysis by the L.A Times, police actions related to these protests cost $11.9 million in settlements and jury awards.
Law enforcement use of less-lethal weapons and general protest tactics were a source of scrutiny then, and later the cause of mass retraining for LAPD officers.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, more than 500 people have been arrested for protest-related activity in Los Angeles from June 7 to June 15. Charges range from assault to obstruction, and unlawful assembly. Others have been charged with use of Molotov cocktails against sheriff’s deputies and throwing bricks at federal law enforcement.
Pastor Stephen “Cue” Jn-Marie was an organzier during the Floyd protests, and he witnessed the policy changes being implemented in L.A. law enforcement. But during the anti-ICE protests, he said, law enforcement has begun “reverting back to their old ways.”
“I saw a brother who showed me his scar that he’d received from from a projectile, a rubber bullet. The first thing they did was they started gassing folks,” Jn-Marie said.
Law enforcement’s response to the protests erodes the public trust, he said, and the Trump administration’s use of the National Guard has roiled many in the region.
“How can you be protecting us when you’ve got guns and and they’re pointed at us?” he asked.
Mendoza only recently started eating solid foods again, although he still finds it painful. Even as his physical condition improves, Mendoza said, he expects the mental impact of the incident will be long-lasting.
“I’m already looking into therapy as well,” he said. “When I’m in crowds, now is a little bit different. When I see officers, it’s a little bit different. Even to a security guard, it’s a little bit different.”