XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, misc.immigration.usa, alt.law-enforcement   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.los-angeles   
   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   Police have been banned from using a powerful, non-lethal weapon to   
   control protests in an extraordinary federal court decision.   
      
   Judge Consuelo B. Marshall ruled on Thursday the Los Angeles Police   
   Department violated a standing court injunction by deploying the 40mm   
   and 37mm projectile launchers against protesters who did not pose an   
   immediate threat of physical harm.   
      
   The ruling arose from protests in Los Angeles during the summer of 2025   
   following immigration enforcement raids carried out by the U.S   
   Department of Homeland Security.   
      
   It comes as video, obtained by The Post, shows LAPD using the non-lethal   
   weapons while under fire from protestors using fireworks against them.   
   The videos were recorded during anti-Trump and anti-ICE protests in Los   
   Angeles in June 2025.   
      
   Police believe using the projectile launchers is essential for officers   
   facing fast-moving, unpredictable situations. They say they prevent more   
   dangerous confrontations one-on-one confrontations, which increase   
   danger not only to police, but to protesters and innocent bystanders   
   during large-scale unrest.   
      
   The rounds fired from the weapons are from foam, rubber and plastic.   
      
   While those demonstrators were not part of the original order, which was   
   made after Black Lives Matter protests, the court said the incidents   
   were relevant in determining whether the city was complying with   
   existing federal laws.   
      
   In a sharply worded order issued by the U.S. District Court for the   
   Central District of California, Judge Marshall found that LAPD officers   
   fired 40mm munitions without providing required warnings and struck   
   protesters in areas of the body explicitly prohibited under the court’s   
   earlier injunction.   
      
   “Here, Plaintiffs provide evidence that Defendants used 40mm munitions   
   on protestors who did not pose an immediate threat of violence of   
   physical harm, did not provide warnings before using the munitions, and   
   hit protestors in restricted areas of the body,” Judge Marshall wrote.   
      
   The injunction at the center of the contempt ruling dates back to May   
   2021, when the court imposed strict limits on LAPD’s use of so-called   
   “less-lethal” weapons following widespread protests in Los Angeles in   
   2020 after the murder of George Floyd.   
      
   That order barred officers from targeting sensitive body areas, required   
   warnings before use when feasible, and restricted deployment to   
   situations involving immediate threats of violence.   
      
   Judge Marshall found the city failed to take all reasonable steps to   
   comply with those requirements and rejected arguments that the   
   violations were technical or inadvertent.   
      
   Marshall held the city in civil contempt and ordered an immediate ban on   
   the LAPD’s use of the weapons for crowd control.   
      
   The judge cited multiple incidents involving LAPD officers’ use of the   
   weapons against protesters and the press in 2025.   
      
   One involved an LAPD officer shooting a man filming police, which caused   
   facial injuries that required surgery. The court also cited another   
   incident in which a woman was shot while crouched behind a chair, on the   
   ground, and a third time in the back.   
      
   After that shooting, the court said an attorney who asked an officer for   
   identification was himself shot twice in the groin.   
      
   The judge also cited an incident where a man in the back of the head as   
   he attempted to leave a protest. Another was firing at a registered   
   nurse treating injured demonstrators and wearing a visible medical   
   symbol.   
      
   The court also granted plaintiffs permission to seek attorneys’ fees   
   related to the court action, but stopped short of appointing an official   
   to oversee LAPD compliance with the ruling.   
      
   The contempt finding follows earlier judicial restrictions imposed   
   during the same wave of immigration-related protests.   
      
   In December, Hernan D. Veran banned LAPD officers from using the weapons   
   against journalists and nonviolent protesters, which the city appealed.   
      
   That appeal, now before the U.S Court of Appeals, challenges the scope   
   of restrictions arising from the same protest activity cited in Judge   
   Marshall’s contempt ruling.   
      
   City attorneys and federal officials previously argued that the   
      
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