A judge ruled that a jury will hear most of the claims in a lawsuit filed against the city of Los Angeles by a man who says he was shot in the groin with a rubber bullet without provocation during a mass protest in the Fairfax District over the death of George Floyd in 2020.
Bradley Steyn's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit was brought in September 2020 and in December, attorneys for the city filed a motion to dismiss the case, stating that the LAPD's response was justified and called the plaintiff an aggressor.
But in a final ruling issued Wednesday, Judge Maurice A. Leiter dismissed Steyn's claims for violation of the Unruh Act and breach of a mandatory duty. The ruling left for trial the plaintiff's claims for assault, battery, aiding and abetting battery, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and two civil rights claims. Trial is scheduled Sept. 5.
"Plaintiff argues that shooting plaintiff in the genitals with a projectile was not a proportionate response to plaintiff's actions," the judge wrote. "This is sufficient to create a triable issue of fact as to the reasonableness of defendants' uses of force."
According to the city's court papers, Steyn kicked an officer to the ground in front of what the plaintiff called an "ignited" crowd of thousands of people, and Officers Jeffrey Rivera and Officer Brandon Purece used reasonable force to stop the plaintiff's "uncontrolled aggression and unjustified assault" on a third officer.
Steyn's kick of the officer was so hard that the officer fell, his pistol magazine fell out of his vest and he was injured in the stomach, shoulder and elbow, the city's attorneys state in their court papers.
Steyn is about 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs about 240 pounds, the defense lawyers state in their court papers.
In deciding to fire, Purece saw that Steyn "had already shown a propensity to assault an officer" and the plaintiff appeared to be moving toward the fallen officer to continue his assault or to penetrate the skirmish line, according to the city's attorney's court papers.
In his suit, Steyn maintains he was shot while taking part in a May 30, 2020, protest, one of many throughout the country in the wake of the in- custody death five days earlier of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, in Minneapolis.
"Without any warning or instruction, the LAPD officer shot him in the genitals," the suit states.
At no time before Steyn was shot did he hear any officer issue a lawful dispersal order, provide time for demonstrators to disperse, warn the crowd that less-lethal firearms would be deployed if protesters did not disperse or provide any direct orders to the plaintiff, according to his court papers.
The suit says Captain Stacy Spell of the LAPD's Media Relations Division narrated a video in which the LAPD alleges the plaintiff kicked an officer, causing him to fall on his back. But if the officer did fall, he "then quickly stood back up, uninjured," according to the plaintiff's court papers, which say the LAPD officer who shot Steyn did so in retaliation for the plaintiff allegedly kicking the other officer.
Steyn, who alleges another officer beat him in the chest with a baton, also saw weapons used against other protesters, the suit states.
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