The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating more than 80 complaints of officer misconduct during last month’s protests, with more than half of the cases involving claims of excessive force.
The head of the LAPD’s Professional Standards Bureau, Michael Rimkunas, said 86 incidents are under investigation as of Friday, including 59 for possible excessive force, along with some others that involve “discourtesy” by officers and other less severe allegations.
“We are looking at all reports that are brought in,” said Rimkunas, a deputy chief who oversees internal affairs and the Force Investigations Division, which handles police shootings and other incidents that result in death or injury.
Rimkunas said most of the claims were generated by citizens who contacted the inspector general’s office or the LAPD’s complaint hotline, but a handful were initiated internally after the department saw reports of questionable officer behavior in reporting by The Times.
The department’s response to the demonstrations has been criticized as heavy-handed and indiscriminate, spawning a series of lawsuits by protesters and press advocacy groups alleging excessive force.
A spokesperson for the ACLU of Southern California said the organization was contacted by more than 250 people “who were harmed by police or government agents while protesting, or who witnessed others being harmed by police or other government agents while protesting” in the two weeks after the immigration raids began last month.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has promised to review what happened while defending how members of his force handled themselves when faced with crowds hurling bottles, bricks, Molotov cocktails and commercial-grade fireworks, which left 52 officers injured.
Rimkunas said an internal task force — a captain, a lieutenant and six investigators — has been poring over hours of body-worn camera video and interviewing witnesses for evidence of rule-breaking by officers, a process that began when the protests were still underway. The use of 40-mm “less-lethal” projectiles is also receiving scrutiny, he said.
So far, the department has opened investigations into three incidents in which people injured by police actions required hospitalization.
Rimkunas said that the number of cases involving injuries caused by police could rise as more people come forward. He added that he had instructed his detectives to visit local hospitals to gather information about other potential victims who didn’t reach out to the department. Many protesters have alleged LAPD projectiles left them with severe bruises, lacerations and other serious injuries.
Some longtime LAPD observers said they are looking at the response as a true test of whether years of reform efforts have increased the department’s willingness to hold officers accountable for dangerous crowd control tactics that have cost the city millions in liability payouts in recent years.
“In order for this to stop, the message has to come across that this is wrong,” said James DeSimone, a longtime civil rights attorney, at a news conference last month where he announced legal actions by three clients injured by police projectiles.
The LAPD’s expansive system for investigating and disciplining officers has long faced criticism for failing to punish bad cop behavior, while some within the department complain of being inundated by frivolous complaints.
Several after-action reports from the massive protests in 2020 found glaring problems in the department’s handling of the demonstrations, concluding that poor planning, inadequate training and inconsistent leadership within the department contributed to disorder in the streets.
One lawsuit filed in 2021 by a veteran police captain accused the department of downplaying and covering up many excessive force claims that stemmed from a clash between Trump supporters and counterprotesters in Tujunga in August of 2020.
The captain, Johnny Smith, alleged civilian complaints were systematically deemed “unfounded” even in the face of clear video evidence showing that officers were firing their hard-foam rounds and other crowd control weapons at protesters who didn’t present an imminent threat.
Smith wrote in an internal memo, reviewed by The Times, that he and investigators under his command uncovered “numerous” use of force and body-worn camera policy violations, as well as concerns about biased policing.
Several of the cases Smith flagged were cited in lawsuits brought by people injured by police, including an Associated Press photographer who was struck with a beanbag shotgun round.
Smith said his decision to come forward led to the reevaluation of numerous complaints that had previously been rejected.
Smith alleged in his lawsuit that when he tried to send the memo with his findings up the chain of command, it was “intercepted” by another LAPD official and scrubbed of its most serious allegations.
He further accused a fellow captain of lying in a sworn declaration that said officers only fired less-lethal munitions after they were attacked by protesters. Smith alleged department leaders retaliated against him by placing him under internal investigation.
Smith and his attorney declined to comment Wednesday.
The city has denied the allegations in court filings.
Rimkunas declined to discuss the lawsuit, saying he wasn’t authorized to discuss pending litigation.
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