A man who said he was shot in the back of the head with a rubber bullet by Los Angeles police during a 2020 protest against the killing of George Floyd has reached a tentative settlement in his lawsuit against the city.
Attorneys for Randall Stewart filed court papers on Wednesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Murphy notifying him of the “conditional” accord as well as the expectation that a request for dismissal will be filed by Sept. 13. No terms were divulged.
According to Stewart’s attorneys, on May 30, 2020, the plaintiff and other protesters marched down Gardner Street, turned west on Third Street, and eventually stopped near Fairfax Avenue. When the protesters refused to vacate as the officers demanded, Officer Bryan Dameworth allegedly began telling them to “leave the (expletive) area” while shooting rubber bullets into the crowd, one of which struck Stewart in the head, causing him severe and permanent injuries.
The allegations in the suit were originally filed in March 2021 and later expanded with additional claims, include assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil rights violations.
In their court papers, attorneys for the city cited multiple defenses, including civil immunity and a violation of the statute of limitations in filing the case, and asked that it be dismissed.
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted in April 2021 of murder in Floyd’s May 25, 2020, death and was sentenced in June 2021 to more than 22 years in prison.