A jury awarded $3.75 million in damages this week to a protester shot twice by hard-foam projectiles fired by Los Angeles police, in what is thought to be the biggest award yet in lawsuits stemming from the department’s response to anti-police demonstrations in 2020.
After deliberating for 13 hours, jurors on Wednesday ruled that the department was negligent when one or more of its officers fired the so-called less-lethal devices at Asim Jamal Shakir Jr. during a protest at a downtown intersection.
Shakir had been filming a skirmish line of officers when he recognized his LAPD officer uncle standing among the formation and confronted him, shouting, “Our ancestors are turning over in their grave right now!” Moments later, Shakir alleges, his uncle, Eric Anderson, directed other officers to fire a hard-foam projectile at him.
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