The City Attorney’s Office is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a man who sued Los Angeles for injuries suffered when hit by an officer’s rubber bullet while celebrating the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series victory, arguing in new court papers that the alleged injuries occurred outside the city.
Angel Rincon’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit includes two color photos of him with injuries to the right side of his face near his eye. He alleges negligence, battery, civil rights violations and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He seeks unspecified compensatory damages as well as punitive damages against the still unidentified officers.
On Friday, the City Attorney’s Office filed court papers with Judge Randolph Hammock in advance of a Nov. 12 hearing, stating that because Rincon contends he was injured in unincorporated East Los Angeles, which is under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, his lawsuit is “vague and uncertain” about the city’s alleged liability.
“The city of Los Angeles and the county of Los Angeles are separate governmental entities and they legally are not responsible for the conduct of each other’s employees,” according to the City Attorney’s Office’s pleadings.
In sum, there are no specific allegations in the complaint, which deprives the city of the ability to adequately defend itself, and no amendment of the lawsuit can correct the problems, the City Attorney’s Office further states.
According to Rincon’s suit, last Oct. 30, the plaintiff and his family attended a public assembly at Whittier and Atlantic boulevards to celebrate the Dodgers’ victory over the New York Yankees in the World Series. Los Angeles Police Department officers were among those watching over the crowds, the suit filed June 6 further states.
After Rincon and his relatives decided to leave on foot, a large group of LAPD officers began shooting rubber bullets into the assembly area, according to the suit.
“While plaintiff was peacefully leaving the area, an unidentified LAPD officer recklessly and inhumanely shot plaintiff with a rubber bullet on the right side of his face,” the suit states.
The projectile missed Rincon’s right eye by less than an inch, but he immediately felt “excruciating” pain throughout the right side of his face and head as well as dizziness and disorientation as blood dripped down the side of his face, according to the suit, which further states that Rincon “posed absolutely no threat to either the officers at the scene of the incident or to other civilians.”