By Libor Jany
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — The city of Los Angeles said it would appeal a recent court order that prevents LAPD officers from targeting members of the press with crowd control weapons.
The notice of appeal filed Tuesday comes less than a month after U.S. District Judge Hernán D. Vera barred the LAPD from using so-called less lethal munitions against journalists and nonviolent protesters.
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Los Angeles police faced multiple allegations of excessive force during protests earlier this year against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The case challenging Vera’s injunction will now head to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, with a hearing tentatively set for the middle of November.
Los Angeles deputy city attorney Shaun Jacobs declined to comment Tuesday.
Lawyers for the city of Los Angeles and the Department of Homeland Security previously argued that the judge’s ban was impractical and overly broad. Although police can still use less-lethal weapons to contain unruly demonstrators, the city claimed the rules put officers at risk of hesitating in chaotic situations.
It isn’t always possible for police to immediately recognize journalists, the city and federal agency argued in court filings.
Lawyers for journalists involved in the litigation countered that the incidents that led to the injunction were uncalled for.
“Those aren’t mistakes; those are deliberate,” said Carol Sobel , a longtime civil rights attorney who is part of the plaintiffs’ legal team. “What they’re saying to the court is, ‘We need to be able to violate the law and shoot these people indiscriminately or else it’s gonna be a melee.’ ”
It was hypocritical, she said, for the city to make a similar argument to the federal government — while arguing for an injunction against the Trump administration’s use of racial profiling in the search of Latinos who lack citizenship status.
Vera first ordered restrictions in July on the use of 40mm projectile launchers, tear gas, stun grenades and other crowd control weapons at street protests.
The lawsuits, brought by the Los Angeles Press Club, pointed to scores of video evidence and testimonials suggesting that law enforcement violated their own guidelines and state law by shooting journalists and others in sensitive areas, such as the head, with weapons that launch projectiles the size of a mini soda can at speeds of more than 200 miles per hour.
Separately, the city is still seeking to undo a 2020 injunction against the use of certain less-lethal weapons during that year’s protests.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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