Protester shot in face with foam projectile during anti-ICE protest suing LAPD
A protester is filing a civil rights lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department, alleging an officer shattered his jaw after shooting him multiple times with a foam projectile during an anti-ICE protest last summer.
Atlachinolli Tezcacoatl was among the protesters that took to Los Angeles streets June 8 to denounce federal immigration enforcement operations. As tensions escalated between protesters and federal agents, the LAPD ordered the crowd to disperse and Tezcacoatl was shot.
"I was filming... I had the phone in my right hand, the water bottle in my left hand, just walking back, retreating, not posing any form of threat whatsoever."
That's when he says an officer aimed at him, firing a foam projectile directly into his face.
"I still have the bruise of the rubber bullets on my ribs... and my left area, this whole area is numb. It was broken, shattered," he said, gesturing to his face.
Those unhealed injuries and nightmares of the intense moments are the basis of a newly-filed lawsuit against the LAPD officer and department.
"When you're shooting these less-lethal projectiles at someone's head, that is the use of deadly force," said attorney James DeSimone. "It has to be the deadly force standard."
DeSimone is representing Tezcacoatl and nearly a dozen others who were seriously injured at the hands of law enforcement during the 2025 ICE protests in the Los Angeles area.
"You have LAPD officers shouting at the crowds, saying 'keep moving or you're going to get hit." That means that they're intentionally using these weapons as a crowd dispersal tool," DeSimone said.
Eyewitness News reached out to the LAPD for comment, but the department will not talk about pending lawsuits.
A federal judge has now banned officers from using the kind of force that Tezcacoatl says has left him with life-altering injuries and severe pain.
The ban applies to 40mm less-than-lethal weapons and the LAPD says it is abiding by that ruling. Officers have been told those foam projectiles are not to be used in any way for crowd control.
