$1,500,000 Settlement the Largest Settlement Against the LAPD in Cases Arising from 2020 Protests

A 40mm foam projectile caused such severe damage that it required a surgical procedure.

On May 16th, 2023 the law offices of Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai announced that their plaintiff, Benjamin Montemayor, received $1.5 million as a settlement. According to Montemayor’s attorneys, in June of 2020 Montemayor was shot by a “less lethal” 40mm round in the groin. The damage had been so severe that Montemayor would require surgery to reattach portions of his genitalia. According to Montemayor’s attorneys, the settlement payout represents the largest to date against the LAPD which has arisen from their response to 2020 George Floyd solidarity protests.

Montemayor held a large sign at a protest in Hollywood on June 2nd of 2020 . Video released by LAPD shows officers in riot gear began advancing. Within the video released by LAPD, offficers can be heard stating that objects were being thrown towards them in the area. Montemayor is shown with his hands up.

Montemayor is pushed and told to “Get the hell out!”

Source: LAPD

Montemayor claims he had not heard a dispersal order. He claims that he was walking in the direction that he believed police wanted him to go. Sergeant Ruben T. Martinez and Officer Anthony Lopez rushed forward, ripped the sign from his hands and shoved him backward. Officer Henry Felix then fired a 40mm “less lethal” round into Montemayor’s groin. The suit would also claim the officer was less than 10 feet away.

A less lethal, traveling directly into Montemayor’s groin

Source: LAPD

The sign Montemayor was carrying

Source: Court Records

All three LAPD officers were assigned to the Operations South Bureau Mobile Field Force at the time.

The protest that day was initially announced by rapper YG, and brought thousands. Though YG would cancel that day citing concerns of police violence, thousands assembled in Hollywood and eventually broke out into several groups. “I’m not trying to get any of my people hurt or shot so I’m gonna cancel today,” he’d state. “Come back bigger and better on the part of Black Lives Matter.” According to then-LAPD Chief Michel Moore, 2,000 National Guard troops were also expected to be deployed.

The response by LAPD to protests in the summer of 2020 was widely panned, and an after-action report would be critical of their use of less lethal munitions. Findings in the report included that the “review Team did not find the two hours of training to be sufficient given the skill level needed to deploy the 40mm in a chaotic public order policing environment.” The report would also go on to state that many of the officers deployed were not going through recurring training and that that many hadn’t gotten training at all since 2018. According to the report, 11,305 rounds of “less lethal” munitions were fired during protests in May and June of 2020.

Perhaps the most controversial “less lethal” munition fired by LAPD at those protests was directed at an unhoused man’s face.

Black Lives Matter Los Angeles would later sue the City of Los Angeles over LAPD’s tactics and use of “less lethal” munitions. Consuelo B. Marshall, a US District Court Judge in the Central District of California, would grant a preliminary injunction and limit many uses of “less lethal” munitions in May of 2021.

In a press release David Clay Washington, a partner at Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai, would say that “the LAPD’s response to demonstrations was chaotic and excessive in 2020, and despite independent investigations and dozens of lawsuits, it remains that way today. We saw it most recently in the LAPD’s response to demonstrations at UCLA.” The police response during a clearing of an encampment in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, done by multiple agencies including LAPD, is being criticized widely on social media.

Dan Stormer, a founding partner at Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai said in the press release that “at some point the LAPD needs to end its cowardly attacks on innocent citizens. Until Mayor

Bass decides to act, this horrific and lawless behavior will continue.”

LAPD responded to ACWN that they do not have comment on this piece.

The Los Angeles City Attorney’s office has been contacted and ACWN has requested comment but have not yet received it. ACWN will update this piece if they receive comment.

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