Christina Astorga says she and others were fleeing the area the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was trying to clear during the Sept. 8 “Justice for Dijon Kizzee” protest when she was shot in the backside with a nonlethal projectile.
Moments later, sheriff’s deputies followed her inside an apartment complex she’d been invited to seek shelter in and seized Astorga’s smartphone, from which she had been live streaming the events, and handcuffed and arrested her, she claims.
More than six weeks later, the sheriff’s department still refuses to return the smartphone — which Astorga says has been used without her permission to access and alter a veterans social media account she administrates.
This week she decided to sue.
Astorga filed a federal class action lawsuit Oct. 26 against Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Alex Villanueva and the other unidentified deputies — listed in the legal filing as “Does 1-10” — who participated in the arrests Sept. 8.
Submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the class action lawsuit claims Astorga’s constitutional rights were violated by the sheriff’s departments use of excessive force and unlawful seizure of property.
She is asking the court to allow her to represent a Class of other protesters who were subjected to similar treatment at the Kizzee demonstration, and others, this year.
Given the number of protests held so far, the potential Class could be an imposing one, though Astorga offered the court no estimate on its size yet.
Millions of people have taken to the streets in nationwide demonstrations in 2020 — some planned, many spontaneous — protesting police brutality, use of excessive force and racial injustice.
The gatherings have come in waves after the killing of several Black men, none more controversial than George Floyd, who died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in May. Floyd’s death was captured on video by police body cameras and by smartphone cameras held by bystanders.
Astorga was arrested at a protest held in the wake of the Aug. 31 police killing of Dijon Kizzee in South Los Angeles.
Kizzee was shot to death after police tried to stop him “for an unspecified traffic violation,” while he was riding a bicycle, The Associated Press reported. Kizzee fled and police followed, later catching up to him.
At some point during the scuffle that followed, police said Kizzee dropped and then seemed to go for an automatic weapon. They opened fire, shooting him multiple times and killing him.
Protesters began demonstrating against the killing in and around Los Angeles in the days after. The local CBS News affiliate KCAL reported the day after Astorga’s arrest that more than 24 people had been arrested during the demonstrations, and Villanueva said most were from out of town.
According to the news outlet, officials used tear gas as a crowd-control measure.
Astorga says she attended the Sept. 8 “Justice for Dijon Kizzee” gathering both as a protester and as a representative for the Los Angeles chapter of the Wall of Vets, a nonprofit organization of U.S. military veterans who support peaceful protest.
The plaintiff, who says she herself is a veteran, is an administrator of the group’s social media accounts and filmed parts of the protest to post and stream live on the Wall of Vets accounts.
Around 9 p.m., Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies began “shooting what she believes were rubber bullets and pepper balls … without warnings. As they did so, the deputies advanced on the crowd,” Astorga claims in her class action lawsuit.
A resident of a nearby apartment complex opened the door to the property, allowing Astorga and the crowd she was with to come inside, according to the class action lawsuit. As she ran in, she was struck in the backside and arm with a projectiles.
The deputies followed the crowd into the complex, Astorga says, and she began live-streaming the events.
Shortly after, one of the deputies took the phone from her and she and the others were arrested, Astorga claims. The deputies also seized Astorga’s backpack during the arrest, she said.
“Rather than issuing Plaintiff and the others citations and releasing them in the field as is ordinarily required under state law and LASD policy,” the protesters were taken in, booked, processed and charged with failure to disperse, the class action lawsuit claims.
Released hours later, Astorga said her backpack was returned — minus the military-grade night-vision goggles that had been inside — but not her phone.
Sheriff’s deputies told Astorga she might get the phone back at her court appearance scheduled for Jan. 6, 2021 but on June 8 the Los Angeles County District Attorney had publicly announced no protesters charged with failure to disperse would be prosecuted.
In the time since her arrest, Astorga says, it is clear the sheriffs have accessed her smartphone and made changes to the Wall of Vets Facebook page she administers, changing the group’s profile description to read “Blue Lives Matter #supportbluelives.”
“The true reason for LASD’s refusal to return to persons their property — in particular smartphones — is to punish persons for having some connection to a protest that LASD had declared unlawful,” the class action lawsuit claims, “and/or because the [department] was upset” about the district attorney’s decision not to file formal charges against protesters arrested for “failure to disperse.”
Astorga is asking the Court to issue a declaration that the ongoing seizure of her property, and that of anyone else arrested during a protest, is unconstitutional and issue an injunction ordering the sheriff’s department to return the items immediately.
Astorga is seeking to represent an indefinite number of Class Members who were also arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department during protests in 2020 and had personal items seized in the process and not returned, “despite no lawful justification for doing so.”
Have you been the victim of excessive force by police at a protest or demonstration? Was your personal property seized, damaged or not returned by law enforcement officers? Tell us about it in the comment section below.
Lead plaintiff Astorga and the proposed Class Members are represented by Donald W. Cook CSB.
The Excessive Force Class Action Lawsuit is Christina Astorga, et al. v. County of Los Angeles, et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-9805, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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