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Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell defended the department’s recent handling of protests, saying officers acted appropriately to subdue the anxiety.
McDonnell said in a statement released Monday that the department will conduct a “comprehensive assessment of each use case.” The chief said LAPD would be inevitable to scrutiny and would take action against officers who “were short on” departmental standards.
The statement referenced a Times article published over the weekend. This included explanations from protesters who injured LAPD officers who fired hard foam projectiles and other so-called less lethal ammunition. The act of police forces on board horses during the protest faces scrutiny after video footage shows people being trampled and attacked by batons.
McDonnell, who repeatedly refused the interview request, said the story “contains serious accusations and I have not underestimated them.”
He said what was missing from the public narrative was the “dangerous, fluid and ultimately violent conditions that our officers encountered.” The protests are “almost marked by peaceful expressions,” he said, sometimes “hijacked by violence, vandalism, criminal attacks.”
“When demonstrators began to throw objects, set fire and refuse to disband after repeated legal orders were given, officers were justified to take swift and measured actions to prevent further harm and restore public safety,” McDonnell said.
The Chief’s statement cited many “documented” cases where officers were “hardly attacked” with bottles, bricks, Molotov cocktails and commercial grade fireworks. He said 52 officers suffered injuries requiring treatment.
Critics in the department said they “use edited video clips or anecdotal accounts as conclusive evidence of fraud.”
McDonnell disputed allegations that officers did not issue a dispersal order before firing hard-form projectiles or tear gas, saying protesters were informed in both English and Spanish to leave “using ground-level amplification systems or by helicopters.”
He also denied that the actions against the protesters were “made in direct response to targeted, proportional and immediate, reliable threats,” and that officers had indiscriminately used force.
However, many eyewitness accounts from protesters, along with several video clips that have become virus online in recent weeks, have raised doubts about whether LAPD officials have used their power on people who pose no threats.
After paying millions over the past decade for protest-related cases, the department is likely to face another wave of civil lawsuits by plaintiffs claiming excessive force.
A coalition of media rights groups filed a lawsuit earlier this month, explaining that journalists were shot dead in a non-fatal police round of detained by LAPD officers in tears for no reason during protest.
John Burton, the lawyer representing the three injured protesters, includes one person, including one who burst a test circle with a foam projectile — said video footage from the demonstration shows an officer routinely disregarding the state’s regulations that dominate crowd control tactics.
“Didn’t these people learn anything?” Burton said. “We went through this with George Floyd.
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