The Lapd Captain says the city is enforcing a misleading statement of protest

It was April 2021 and the Turks were facing sharp criticism for their handling of mass protests against police brutality. Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles Alic Alicrain of the temple has been accused of firing non-lethal weapons into the cells of non-threatening demonstrators, among other abuses.

Smith said that the Los Angeles City Actor’s assistant demanded his signature on the declared declaration that the Lapd mobs did not have bombs in the mobs that were burning bombs and Tujunga.

He refused to put his name to it.

Instead, eight months later, Smith filed his lawsuit against the city, alleging that he faced retaliation for trying to blow the whistle on misconduct within the lapd.

Smith and his lawyers declined to be discussed at the time, but the testimony in his army provides a revealing look at the illegal viewings – and the city attorney’s office and the Lapd’s office in defending the use of police for protests.

Smith’s lawsuit alleges that he felt pressured to give a misleading statement to cover up police misconduct.

The Captain’s lawsuit, filed in December 2021 in Los Angeles Superior Court, is taking on new importance with the City facing new Lapd Second Control Tactics during the recent protests against the Trump Administration.

The 2020 protests led to a court order restricting how lapd officers can use certain weak weapons, including launchers that shoot heavy projectiles that are usually used to disable them.

The city is still fighting the proposed restrictions, along with others set to file a separate lawsuit in June by civil rights groups.

Last month, City Attry. Hydee Feldstein Soto renewed the city council after obtaining a temporary stay of the order issued by US District Judge Hernán D. Vera.

Feldsteintein Soto argued that the laws – which prevent officials from decorating journalists and disparate protesters – are too broad and unenforceable. Vera rejected Feldstein Soto’s request, but the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals is taking up the matter, hearing in mid-November.

Smith said he was surprised that he would not put his name on Tujunga for the TUjunga announcement because he showed evidence that lapds were shooting from beanbag shotguns, and 40mm projectiles – about the size of a mini soda can – at about 200 mph.

Smith’s lawsuit said the launchers were designed to be “targeted,” or fired at individual people who posed a threat — not to disperse a crowd.

Smith said he raised alarms for months after Tujunga’s protest, which came amid nationwide police outrage against black and Latino men near the president’s first name.

But it wasn’t until the City went viral, Smith’s complaint says, that the incidents he flagged began to receive attention.

The city denied the allegations in Smith’s court, saying in the court’s decision that the use of lapd in each case was properly investigated.

Smith’s lawsuit shows emails from top LAPD officials that they say show cleanup efforts to support the department’s over-handling of complaints from protests.

The internal task force found most of the citizens’ complaints “baseless.” But about a dozen of those cases were later reopened after Smith and a small group of officials found that the department’s review had missed policy violations, his law said.

Smith also called out what he saw as “problematic choices” in the way Tujunga’s protest was reported up the chain of command.

His complaint describes the presentation given by Michel Moore, which is burning down the severity of the damage caused by the unjust projectiles. According to Smith, the report left photos of “severe injuries” to one man, who said in the lawsuit that he had to have plastic surgery after being shot in the chest and surrounded by beans.

The PD stopped using bean-bag guns at protests after federal law banned the practice, but the department allows officers to use the weapons in other situations, such as when subduing an uncooperative suspect.

Alan Skobin, a former Police Commissioner and friend of Smith, told The Times he was at the house when Smith received a call in April 2021 from the city attorney’s office about the announcement that he declined to make public.

The exchange seemed to turn the tide, Skobin recalled, as Smith repeated that the details contained in the document were “false.”

Skobin said he wondered if the assistant city attorney had gone “back and reviewed the videotaped and all the other evidence.”

“That’s what I would hope would happen,” Skobin said.

A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles City Attorney, Karen Richardson, provided the times with a California State Bar report that said it was sufficient evidence to discipline the attorney involved; The case was closed in June 2024.

Richardson declined further comment, citing Smith’s pending lawsuit.

According to Smith, some senior lapd officials are going along with the misleading story that the Tujunga administration was acting in response to a hostile crowd.

Smith says he faced retaliation for reporting his co-captain who said the police were caught using a protest against a protester who turned into a placard and turned weapons. ”

The body camera footage showed a different version of events, Smith said, with officers launching an unprovoked attack on the man and others around him.

Colleague Smith reported, the German hertado, has since been promoted to Deputy Chief.

The city has denied those allegations in court. When reached for comment on Friday, ChinAdo said he was limited in what he could say because the case is ongoing.

“From what I understand, everything that has been investigated is baseless,” he said, referring to Shith’s allegations.

“The case, I don’t know where it is and I don’t know anything about it. No one talked to me. No one removed me.”

Critics say the lapd continues to violate laws that prohibit surveillance of journalists during demonstrations.

After a quiet afternoon “No kings day” Downtown Oct. 18, about 100 to 200 people slept outside the city center after sunset. The police announced the rally and the illegal officers started firing 40mm projectiles.

Lexis-Olivier Ray, a reporter for the news site La Taco who often covers protests, was among those hit by the rounds.

In a video that has been widely shared online, a lapd official is heard justifying the incident by saying that they were shooting at “non-professional” journalists.

A spokesperson for the Lapd, said that the incident with ray is under internal investigation and cannot give any further comment.

Ray said it is not the first time that he has been hit by a deadly cycle in protests despite the effects of laws and court orders.

“It’s very disappointing that things like this keep happening,” she said.

Lapd Chief Jim McDonnell defended the Department at the Commission’s weekly meeting, saying that “kings” stayed in the village after dark and lobbed at the police, and threw rocks, bottles and firecrackers.

Asked about the incident involving Ray, the king said he did not want to comment on it publicly, but definitely “offline” – drawing jeels from the audience who wanted an explanation.

McDonnell told the Commission he supported the city’s efforts to lift the court order. To reduce the restrictions, means “that” he can allow our officials to access the options of less lethal force so that it is not undeniable beyond that. “

Times Cast Writer Noh Goldberg contributed to this report.