Bridget Coveli arrived near Los Angeles City Hall for the “No Kings” festivities last Saturday and found what she described as a peaceful scene. As far as she knows, no one was discussing with the police.
The city’s curfew enforcement has not started for hours. But at first glance, officers began firing rubber bullets and smoke bombs at the crowd, gathering to protest the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign.
“There is no order of variance. There is nothing,” she said. “We were doing everything right. There was no attack on them.”
Covelli, 23, grabbed an electric bike and climbed the third street, with another police blocking part of the road. She felt a pain in her arm as she fell off her bike and hit the sidewalk.
Absentminded, she found herself bleeding after being hit by a violent projectile shot by an unidentified LAPD officer.
The young tattoo artist was hospitalized with an injury that included a broken forearm and she was unable to do her job.
“I couldn’t draw, I can’t even brush my teeth properly,” she said.
Bridget Coberg says he was shot in a non-fatal round by law enforcement last week during the “King’s Day” protests in downtown Los Angeles.
(Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)
She is one of the protesters, and the journalist will paint pepper spray into the air this month after being targeted by LAPD officers with weapons like foam projectiles, tear gas, flash bang hand rena bullets and paintballs.
Despite years of expensive litigation, surveillance measures and promises by leaders to curb indiscriminate use of force during protests, LAPD is once again facing sharp criticism and litigation of the tactics used in the past two weeks.
At a press conference at police headquarters last week, LAPD chief Jim McDonnell promised a “comprehensive review when this is all over,” but said he was dealing with “a very confusing, dynamic situation.”
Officers said the army was only used after a group of agitators began attacking bottles, fireworks and other objects. At least 12 police injuries occurred during the conflict, including one example of protesters driving motorcycles to police lines. LA County prosecutors have charged several defendants with assault on law enforcement.
Behind the scenes, tensions could be heightened between LAPD commanders and city hall officials, pushing for restraint early in the downtown protest, according to communications reviewed by the Times, who requested anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly.
Bridget Coveli holds a 40mm form round, like the type she and thousands of people fired over the weekend in protest against Trump administration policies.
(Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)
June 6th – Friday when demonstrations began – Communication records show Mayor Karen Bass called incident commanders, Colonel Raul Jovel and McDonnell. Over the next few days, sources said that members of Base or her senior staff were constantly present at the command post in Elysian Park, where local and federal officials were monitoring developments on the ground.
Some LAPD officials have personally complained that protesters will not be allowed to arrest earlier before they are poured downtown. Mostly peaceful, but a few people who flooded shops, vehicles and other property destroyed on the streets. LAPD leaders also point to improvements over the past few years, including restrictions on the use of Bean-Bag shotguns for crowd control and efforts to free people arrested more quickly.
However, among long-time LAPD observers, the latest response to protests is widely seen as another step back. After paying millions over the past decade for protest-related lawsuits, the city is now staring at a string of expensive court battles.
“City leaders like Mayor Bass [are] “Yeah, this is Trump’s fault, this is the Fed’s fault,” he conveniently says. No, look at your own forces,” said James Desimone, a longtime civil rights lawyer, recently filed some overly armed government claims against the city and county.
A Bass spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
McDonnell, a member of the LAPD Command Staff during an aggressive police crackdown on immigration rights protesters on May Day in 2007, fell on defense when he appeared before the city council last week about whether more could be done to prevent property damage.
“We see and see, are there any training issues, are there any tactics? [issues]are there any non-fatal issues that need to be addressed?” McDonnell told reporters a few days later.
During Saturday’s “No Kings” rally, one of the most embarrassing and potential incidents was heard on public radio channels, saying LAPD officials were causing a friendly fire after LA County Sheriff’s deputies were shooting a non-fatal round.
Three LAPD sources not authorized to publicly confirm that an incident occurred. A Sheriff’s Department spokesman said in a statement that the agency “has not been reported to a “friendly fire” incident.”
When curfew enforcement began near Temple Street on June 10th, the driver encountered a mounted LAPD officer.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Some protesters claim that LAPD officials deliberately targeted individuals who pose no threat.
Shakeer Rahman, a civil rights lawyer and community organizer who halted the LAPD Spy Coalition, said he was passing LAPD headquarters on June 8 to monitor the demonstrations.
In the recordings he shares the incident, Rahman can be heard confronting officers who are threatening to fire in front and back pace on the elevated platform.
“I’m going to pop you now because you’re taking my focus,” the officer lifts his weapon onto the glass partition that separates them, fires two form rounds with Rahman, almost hitting him with his gro caliber.
“I’m an officer who doesn’t want to be questioned and I know I can get away by firing these shots,” he said the 2021 court injunction bans the use of 40mm launchers in most crowd-controlled situations.
Later on June 8, department leaders allowed the use of tear gas on crowds as clashes between officers and protesters escalated in other parts of downtown.
“In these circumstances, it was necessary for officers to deploy when commercial fireworks began to hit. “It’s another day and we’re using tools that we can access.”
City and state leaders opposed the deployment of Trump’s soldiers to LA claimed that the LAPD is more suited to handle demonstrations than federal forces. They say local officers regularly train tactics that are beneficial for crowd control, including de-escalation, and know the downtown terrain where most demonstrations occur.
Police prepare to fire less lethal projectiles at protesters after an illegal rally was declared from a “no-kings” protest on Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles on June 14th.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
However, many protesters who spoke with the Times said they felt that LAPD officials were using violence faster than in any time in recent years.
Rafael Mamone, 36, continued from City Hall on June 8th to the Federal Metropolis Detention Center on Alameda Street. Mamoon, who works in digital security, said his group eventually merged with other protesters and was bottlenecked by the LAPD near the intersection of Temple and Alameda.
About an hour later, he said, the chaos erupted without warning.
“I don’t know if they announced it or if they gave a dispersing order, but basically you’re like a police line coming behind the police officers on foot, they just started charging, they moved forward very quickly, pushing people, screaming at people, shooting rubber bullets,” he said.
Mamoun’s complaints repeated complaints from other protesters and several times more observations of reporters in multiple protest scenes throughout the week. The LAPD distribution order could only be heard when delivered from an overhead helicopter. Towards the end of the “king” protests for several hours on Saturday, many protesters claimed that officers used their force against the crowds, which were relatively peaceful all day.
The use of LAPD horses has also raised widespread concern, with some protesters saying that the department’s installed units caused injuries and confusion rather than bringing something similar to the order.
One video captured by independent journalists Tina and Decily Berg on June 8 shows the line of officers advancing into the crowd on horseback, while other officers fire a less-than-fatal round with protesters protecting themselves with chairs and road signs. The protester fell to the ground and appears to have been injured at first glance. Even if people desperately try not to get in the way, the mounted unit continues to move forward. Several horses trample on the person’s bento body before the officers arrest them.
In other scenes, mounted officers were weaving traffic and running alongside vehicles that were not involved in the demonstration. In one incident on June 10th, Times reporters saw cavalry repeatedly smashing the roof of their cars with wooden sticks.
“They seem to be doing whatever they want to get protesters and hurting protesters,” Mamoon said.
Protesters were pushed back by Broadway LAPD officers during the “No Kings Day” protest in downtown.
(Carlin Steel/Los Angeles Times)
Screenwriter and teacher Audrey Knox, 32, was also marching with a group at City Hall on June 8th. She stopped to watch a tense skirmish near Grand Park Metro Stop as officers began firing projectiles at the crowd.
Some protesters said officers fired fire on a group of less deadly people in response to the attacks of flying objects. She said she was on track to her side, but she was hit in the head by one of her still intense form rounds.
Other protesters helped her go to the hospital. There, Knox said he received five staples to close the wounds on his head. In a follow-up later in the week, doctors said they had postconcussion symptoms. The incident made her reluctant to demonstrate again despite her total dislike for the Trump administration’s actions in Los Angeles.
“Even if you think you’re in a low-risk situation, it’s obviously not so it doesn’t seem wise to go back,” she said. “I feel that my freedom of speech was intentionally and directly attacked.”
Times staff writers Julia Wick, Conner Sheets and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
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