A judge has ruled for a second time that a woman who sued the city of Los Angeles and then-LAPD Chief Michel Moore — alleging both are liable for injuries she suffered after officers allegedly shot her in the face with a rubber bullet while she was celebrating the Lakers’ victory in the 2020 NBA Finals — can take her case to trial.
Erika Miguel Menendez’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges civil rights violations, assault and battery, false arrest and imprisonment, negligence and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. In December, Judge Theresa M. Traber denied a city motion to dismiss Menendez’s case wholly or in part for the fist time, finding that the defense’s court papers were not in proper legal form.
“Defendants’ motion thus invites the court to scour the record and the copious supporting materials in search of the proverbial needles in the haystack supporting or challenging each cause of action,” Traber wrote.
The city filed the motion again and Traber denied the motion for a second time on Tuesday, finding among other things that even if Menendez had no right of assembly at the time in the vicinity of the Staples Center, she had an expectation she would not be subjected to excessive force.
Attorneys for the city disputed Menendez’s claim she was hit by a rubber bullet and said paramedics told her she appeared to have been hit by a bottle.
But Menendez maintained the LAPD “was on notice that its practice of shooting less-lethal weapons at peaceful individuals had caused numerous severe injuries to the face and other vital areas.”
Menendez, now 34, went to the Lakers’ NBA Finals championship celebration at the venue then known as the Staples Center on Oct. 11, 2020 with a male companion to exercise their First Amendment rights with other fans when they were intercepted by LAPD officers in riot gear, the suit filed in November 2021 states. Menendez, her companion and other Lakers fans complied with the officers’ order to walk away from the Staples Center and L.A. Live.
Menendez stopped to buy a hot dog from a vendor and, without warning, an officer “recklessly and inhumanely” shot her with a rubber bullet on one side of her face and the impact caused her to fall to the ground, according to the suit.
“While on the ground, plaintiff immediately felt excruciating pain throughout the side of her face and head, intense ringing in her ear and felt blood dripping out of her ear,” the suit states.
While in shock and disoriented from the pain, Menendez heard officers yelling for people to get down on the ground to be arrested as the officers continued randomly shooting less-lethal projectiles into the crowd, the suit states. Menendez complied and sat on the ground, but pleaded, “I need help, help me, I got shot.”
The officers responded by telling Menendez to be seated, according to the suit.
An LAPD supervisor later called an ambulance, which took half an hour to arrive and she was not given first aid in the interim, the suit states. She was diagnosed with a concussion, swelling and contusions and was kept overnight.
Trial of Menendez’s case is scheduled for Nov. 18.