City seeks to overturn limits on LAPD’s use of crowd control weapons

The city of Los Angeles said it will 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 blocked the LAPD from using so-called less-lethal munitions against journalists and nonviolent protesters.

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 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with a hearing tentatively set for mid-November.

Deputy Los Angeles District Attorney Shaun Jacobs declined to comment Tuesday.

Lawyers for the city of Los Angeles and the Department of Homeland Security have previously argued that the judge’s ban was impractical and overbroad. Although police can still use less-lethal weapons to contain unruly protesters, the city said the rules put officers at risk of hesitation in chaotic situations.

It is not always possible for police to immediately recognize journalists, the city and federal agency argued in court documents.

Lawyers for the journalists involved in the dispute countered that the incidents that led to the injunction were not taken into account.

“These are not mistakes; they are deliberate,” said Carol Sobel, a longtime civil rights attorney who is part of the plaintiffs’ legal team. “What they’re saying in court is, ‘We have to be able to break the law and shoot these people indiscriminately, otherwise it’s going to 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 tracking down 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 during street protests.

The lawsuits, filed by the Los Angeles Press Club, highlighted dozens of video evidence and testimony suggesting that law enforcement violated its 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 overturn a 2020 injunction against the use of certain less-lethal weapons during this year’s protests.