The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) ordered officers this week to stop using one type of less lethal weapon during protests, after a federal judge found the department was in contempt of a previous ruling limiting their use and ordered a ban on them as a crowd control tool.
Officers received a message Thursday that said, “effective IMMEDIATELY the 40mm SHALL NOT be used during any CROWD CONTROL situation.”
The LAPD confirmed the order but declined to comment. The LA City Attorney’s Office said it was reviewing the judge’s ruling and declined to comment.
U.S. District Court Judge Consuelo B. Marshall issued the order Thursday that found there was evidence that LAPD officers violated her previous restrictions on the use of the weapons last summer during protests against immigration enforcement.
“Here, Plaintiffs provide evidence that Defendants used 40mm munitions on protestors who did not pose an immediate threat of violence of physical harm, did not provide warnings before using the munitions, and hit protestors in restricted areas of the body,” the contempt order said.
The order included a list of examples of misuse of the weapons, including one officer who fired it at a man who had his hands up at a protest, then shot the same man in the face, causing a jaw injury that required surgery.
Another officer shot a woman in the head with the weapon while she was seated and holding a sign.
A third officer shot a man in the groin, then shot a lawyer in the groin when the lawyer asked the officer for his name.
A fourth officer shot a man in the back of the head while the man was leaving a protest.
LAPD documentation shows the type of less-lethal weapon that is the subject of the judge’s order this week. (LAPD)
The lawsuit behind this week’s order was filed in 2020 by Black Lives Matter, following complaints officers used these and other weapons indiscriminately against demonstrators during protests that followed the murder of George Floyd.
Marshall issued a preliminary injunction in 2021 that said officers were only permitted to use the launchers if they had been specifically trained on the weapons and met qualification requirements each year.
The injunction said officers could only fire the weapons at persons “violently resisting” police or who “poses an immediate threat of violence of physical harm” and said warnings should be given ahead of time.
The injunction also said the launchers must not be used to target the head, neck, face, eyes, kidneys, chest, groin or spine, and they must be fired when the officers is at least 5 feet away from the person who is a target.
The weapons in question use a small gunpowder charge to fire 40 millimeter foam or sponge projectiles.