DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A woman who was shot in the face with a less-lethal round at a recent ICE protest is now filing a claim against the Los Angeles Police Department.
Friday marks three weeks since 25-year-old Jasmin Lomas joined a protest against ICE in Downtown Los Angeles. The Southern California resident and mother told Eyewitness News she is still suffering physical and emotional pain after police shot her with a less-lethal round just centimeters below her eye.
“I feel like I can’t really grasp what’s happening and how severe it really is,” said Lomas, who said she was peacefully protesting when she arrived near the Metropolitan Detention Center. “It was getting a little out of hand, and there was tear gas and stuff,” she said, adding, “We didn’t stay long, and I moved towards Temple.”
Law enforcement reported issuing a dispersal order around 5:45 p.m. Lomas said in the chaos, she did not hear a dispersal order, but was actively trying to get out of the area.
Lomas said just after 6 p.m., she was using her phone, trying to give a driver directions for pick up, when an officer struck her in the face without warning, and witnesses rushed to help. Her attorney believes it was an indelible paint bullet, which struck her cheekbone, centimeters below her eye.
Viewer discretion advised: Images of Lomas’ injury are graphic.
“They sat me down, and there was an EMT there that ended up helping me with the bleeding, and during that time, I still wasn’t aware of what exactly happened, but with their reactions, I knew it was probably very bad,” recalled Lomas.
Viewer discretion advised: Images of min Lomas’ injury are graphic.
She has now filed a claim with the Los Angeles Police Department, saying police used excessive force. She also plans to file a formal lawsuit.
“We’ve also filed a claim with the LAPD Internal Affairs Division, and we’re hoping they do their own, separate investigation to figure out who was the shooter, what kind of qualifications they had, did they have any training to use a weapon like this, and why was it that she got hit in the face without any warning?” said Paul Aghabala of the Prestige Law Firm.
Aghabala’s office said some of the metal is still embedded in Lomas’s face due to the medical risk of removing it.
“The next step is to do a CT scan to see if the metal is in her bones,” he said.
Aghabala said they’re also trying to gather any witness video that may have documented what took place.
Eyewitness News reached out to LAPD regarding the claim filed, but has not heard back.
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