A Los Angeles police sergeant is asking a judge to rescind a department reprimand issued against him over the use of force he ordered during the 2020 George Floyd protests.
Sgt. Daniel Bunch contends, among other things, the evidence does not fit the punishment, that he was denied a fair hearing and that he did not engage in misconduct or violate LAPD policy.
A representative for the City Attorney’s Office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the petition filed Wednesday.
Responding to the Floyd protesters’ “hostile and dangerous actions,” Bunch on May 30, 2020, told his officers to use less-lethal weapons that fire non-deadly projectiles, according to the petition.
However, a Use of Force Review Board panel determined in March 2021 that Bunch’s orders were a “substantial deviation, without justification,” from LAPD policy and training, according to the petition, which further states that the board’s findings were adopted by then-Chief Michel Moore.
Two months later the Police Commission accepted Moore’s findings and Bunch’s appeal before a hearing officer was denied, the petition states. Current Chief Jim McDonnell issued an order sustaining the reprimand on Nov. 13, 2025.
Bunch also is seeking attorneys’ fees due to what he says were the department’s “arbitrary and capricious actions” against him.
Floyd. who was Black, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill on May 25, 2020. Floyd’s death prompted nationwide protests, including in Los Angeles.