A USC freshman who went to take photos of the recent “No Kings” protests in downtown Los Angeles was reportedly shot by a Department of Homeland Security agent with a less-lethal projectile and had to have one of his eyes removed, according to his attorney.
Tucker Collins, 18, was shot in the eye with a chemical irritant during the March 28 demonstration, his attorney, V. James DeSimone, said. He was taken to the side of the protest at the Metropolitan Detention Center and blindfolded. A nurse was driving by and offered to take him to the hospital, DeSimone said.
“Unfortunately we have seen other examples where law enforcement has targeted the press with violence,” he told The Times. “Instead of targeting people who were throwing things into the crowd, they were targeting someone who was documenting the crowd and taking photographs.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to DeSimone, Collins, who is still recovering and did not feel well enough to be interviewed on Monday, had his right eye removed as a result of his injuries.
Tucker Collins was shot in the eye by a Homeland Security agent during a No Kings protest in Los Angeles on March 28.
(Enrique Dominguez Jr.)
“This is the third person who has lost an eye, probably the fourth, by (a Department of Homeland Security agent).” DeSimone said. “Two were in Orange County. I’m not representing those people, but my former partners are. I see it as a huge problem across the board.”
DeSimone’s law firm has represented at least 15 people who were allegedly injured by Homeland Security agents during protests since last June, including a guitarist who suffered a broken finger and a 79-year-old car wash owner who was thrown to the ground and left with bleeding on the brain.
Federal judges have issued preliminary injunctions banning Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from using tear gas, pepper-ball weapons and other less lethal projectiles against protesters — with a ban on targeting the head, neck or torso except when lethal force is justified.
Desimone said he plans to file a federal civil rights lawsuit on Collins’ behalf, claiming an officer fired with reckless disregard of his rights under federal or state law.
“They are able to protect themselves in many different ways,” he said. “There was no imminent threat to those officers and it is disturbing to see the level of violence. These less lethal weapons are target specific and it’s not like they’re spraying it into the crowd and dispersing them. Using them to disperse a crowd is against policy and the law.”
DeSimone said he has seen other cases in which a member of the press or someone taking photographs was targeted by agents during protests.
He said, “I think unfortunately some people in police agencies have this mentality that people who are exercising their First Amendment rights are the enemy, rather than respecting that they are exercising their rights in the American tradition of free speech and peaceful protest.”
Desimone said other lawsuits filed on behalf of individuals who say they were injured by Homeland Security agents are all in the early stages and are still being filed. He said he is “confident” he will be able to win those cases.
“I’ve been a civil rights lawyer for 40 years, but during the protests of the ’80s, they didn’t have those kinds of weapons and they were handing them out like candy to these officers,” he said. “These officers have high-powered toys in their hands, but they’re not toys. They may have a green stock barrel, but they’re 12-gauge shotguns that go over 200 miles per hour, so with that amount of force, we get people with broken jaws and fractured skulls. It’s just heartbreaking.”
