![\"LAPD](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776418631_521_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nA federal court jury has ordered the City of L.A. to pay more than $11.7 million to a man partially blinded by LAPD officers during a 2020 Dodgers World Series celebration.<\/p>\n
Isaac Castellanos told the court that he was struck and permanently blinded in one eye early in the morning on Oct. 28, 2020, when two officers fired 37mm less lethal launchers toward the crowd he was standing in. He was 22 years old at the time.<\/p>\n
The jury on Thursday unanimously found that Officers Cody MacArthur and Jesse Pineda acted negligently, used excessive force and violated Castellanos\u2019 constitutional rights when they fired into the crowd and caused his injury.<\/p>\n
Castellanos isn\u2019t the first crowd control injury case faced by the LAPD, and more are working their way through the courts.<\/p>\n
Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n
If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n
Already, Los Angeles has paid more than $19 million in liabilities stemming from LAPD\u2019s crowd control actions since the beginning of 2020, according to an LAist analysis of data from the City Attorney\u2019s office. Castellanos\u2019 verdict is by far the largest sum awarded since then.<\/p>\n
Castellanos and his lawyers told LAist that people should feel free to peacefully celebrate or exercise their first amendment rights without fear of being injured by the police.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aI’m grateful to have this system of justice where Isaac can be compensated,\u201d Castellanos\u2019 lawyer Pedram Esfandiary told LAist, \u201cand I just hope that this sends a loud and clear message to the LAPD that this is not okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
The LAPD has not responded to LAist\u2019s request for comment on the case.<\/p>\n
What happened to Castellanos<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Unidentified LAPD officers disperse crowds in downtown L.A. during a celebration of the Dodgers winning the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Oct. 27, 2020. A jury has awarded a man partially blinded by officers that night $11.7 million.<\/p>\n
(<\/p>\n
Jason Armond<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/p>\n
)<\/p>\n
When the Dodgers won their first World Series in more than three decades on Oct. 27, 2020, Castellanos and his friends went to downtown L.A. to celebrate.<\/p>\n
Castellanos told the court that he and his friends didn\u2019t see any police officers nearby when they arrived, but within minutes they noticed a squad of police officers gathering down the street.<\/p>\n
Video evidence presented in the trial showed that some people in the crowd threw rocks and glass bottles toward the officers. Castellanos said he was not involved. He said he did not act violently or aggressively.<\/p>\n
Castellanos said he saw the officers holding \u201csome kind of firearms\u201d start to move toward the crowd, but he did not hear any order for the crowd to leave. By this time, it was after midnight. <\/p>\n
He had begun to leave, he said, when he saw a bright muzzle flash from the direction of the officers and heard a loud pop.<\/p>\n
He was immediately in extreme pain and felt warm blood coming from his face, he testified. He also noticed a loss of vision in his right eye.<\/p>\n
Dr. Jerry Sebag is an eye specialist who testified as an expert witness in the case. He said that Castellanos experienced \u201csevere blunt force trauma\u201d to his eye, most likely from a rubber bullet, causing legal blindness in his right eye and a loss of depth perception.<\/p>\n
Sebag said there is no medication or surgery that could fix his condition.<\/p>\n
Evidence provided in the case later proved that the MacArthur and Pineda fired 37mm less lethal launchers at the same place and time as Castellanos says he was injured.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for Castellanos argued in court that the officers used their weapons outside of LAPD policy, being too far away from the crowd to accurately use the weapons and not issuing a warning or dispersal order to allow Castellanos a chance to leave.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s attorneys claimed that it was not the officers who caused the injury, and that the officers\u2019 use of their weapons was within policy as they were responding to a threat from the crowd.<\/p>\n
Other cases cost the city millions<\/p>\n
At least seven other cases since 2020 stemming from LAPD\u2019s crowd control actions have exceeded $1 million in liability costs to the city, according to city data.<\/p>\n
Behind Castellanos\u2019 $11.7 million verdict, the next largest was $3.6 million awarded to filmmaker A. Jamal Shakir Jr. after he was found to have been shot by LAPD less lethal projectiles during a May 29, 2020, protest.<\/p>\n
City data shows the LAPD\u2019s actions over the course of a single day \u2014 May 30, 2020 \u2014 eventually cost the city a combined total of $4.25 million to settle three lawsuits.<\/p>\n
Iz Sinistra, a Marine Corps veteran who was struck in the head<\/a> by an LAPD less lethal projectile while attending George Floyd protests on May 30, 2020, was awarded a $1.25 million settlement from the city.<\/p>\n Seconds after Sinistra was hit, Patricia Hill could also be seen struck in the head by a less lethal round fired by LAPD in a video released by the department<\/a>. Hill was awarded a $1.5 million settlement by the city, according to city data.<\/p>\n Monique Alarcon is an attorney who represented both Castellanos and Sinistra in court.<\/p>\n Alarcon said that while the severity of injuries that have led to lawsuits against the LAPD over its crowd control tactics vary, she sees the improper use of force as a common thread.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aI think this behooves the City of L.A. and the LAPD to really take a look at their crowd control practices and consider discontinuing using these weapons in those settings, because people get really hurt,\u201d she told LAist.<\/p>\n In the past year, at least two more people have filed lawsuits alleging LAPD less lethal munitions caused permanent eye damage and blindness.<\/p>\n In one such case, Marshall Woodruff claims LAPD fractured his cheekbone and ruptured his right eye while he was photographing the \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest on June 14, 2024. His lawsuit claims he is now permanently blind in that eye.<\/p>\n