A man who says he was shot in the back of the head by a rubber bullet fired by police during last summer’s No Kings protest in downtown Los Angeles is suing the city, alleging he suffered a concussion and had to miss days from work.
Jack Kearns’ Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges civil rights violations, false arrest, assault and battery, negligence and failure to summon medical care. Kearns seeks unspecified compensatory damages as well as punitive damages against individual officers named in the complaint.
A photo included in the lawsuit allegedly shows Kearns being handcuffed by officers.
A representative for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit filed Dec. 18.
According to the complaint, Kearns in early June felt a duty as a lifelong Californian and labor policy advocate to show solidarity with immigrants protesting what the suit states was ICE’s “occupation” of the county through its migrant sweeps. Kearns showed up for the No Kings protest at City Hall on June 14, President Donald Trump’s birthday, to pass out water bottles to what was initially a peaceful crowd, the suit states.
However, the demonstrators were soon surrounded by officers who began taking out zip-tie handcuffs, the suit states. Kearns, not wanting to be arrested, asked the officers how he could leave, but he received no reply, the suit further states.
Kearns saw an area where no officers were standing and began running in order to leave safely, but he was hit in the rear of his head by a 40-millimeter rubber bullet at about 6:30 p.m. on First Street, the suit states.
“You didn’t get too far now, did you?,” one officer allegedly asked Kearns.
Kearns never heard any officer order him to stop running or warn him that force would be used if he didn’t stop, according to the suit, which additionally states that the plaintiff immediately felt a sharp and intense pain in his head and collapsed.
Officers got on top of Kearns and handcuffed him as blood spilled onto his shirt and hat, the suit alleges. The officers initially interrogated Kearns instead of taking him to a hospital, then later when they did get him to a medical facility he was handcuffed to a bed and the questioning of him continued, the suit alleges.
“The officers ultimately issued Mr. Kearns an arrest citation for the offense of failure to disperse,” the suit states.
Kearns suffered a concussion and spent two nights in intensive care and the headaches and other symptoms he experienced caused him to miss some work and personal events, according to the suit, which further states that he still has severe mental trauma from the LAPD’s “violence.”