Photo: Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A man who was allegedly shot three times with projectiles while running from Los Angeles police during a 2020 demonstration protesting the killing of George Floyd is suing the city.
Samuel Howell's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations include excessive force, failure to intervene, negligence and civil rights violations. He seeks unspecified damages in the suit brought Monday.
A representative for the City Attorney's Office could not be immediately reached for comment.
Powell was protesting near Third Street and Fairfax Avenue at about 3 p.m. on May 30, 2020, when he saw a woman being pepper-sprayed by LAPD officers, the suit states.
“Samuel Howell attempted to assist the young, helpless woman,'' the suit states. “However, without warning and without provocation, Samuel Howell saw multiple Los Angeles Police Department officers from a distance beginning to approach him and 15 other protesters with weapons drawn in a very aggressive manner.''
Suddenly, the officers began shooting projectiles at Howell and the other protesters, prompting Howell to start running away, according to the suit. As he did so, he was hit by three projectiles, once in the head, another in the back and the third in the chest, the suit states.
“Howell was not presenting a danger to (the officers) nor anyone else,'' the suit states.
Howell saw other protesters nearby being struck by projectiles as well, according to the suit.
The plaintiff was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for treatment of orthopedic injuries and he also had to have five stitches for a head wound, the suit states.
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted earlier this year of murder in Floyd's May 25, 2020, death and was sentenced on June 25 to more than 22 years in prison.
Copyright 2021, City News Service, Inc.