Joyti Chand says a day of protest in downtown Los Angeles left her battered by so called less lethal rounds, and now she is taking some of California’s biggest public agencies to court. In a lawsuit filed July 10, 2026, in Los Angeles Superior Court, Chand alleges she was struck 11 times by law enforcement projectiles during June 8, 2025 demonstrations downtown. The complaint names the city and county of Los Angeles and the state of California as defendants and asks for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Chand says the incident left her with painful physical injuries and lingering psychological symptoms that have disrupted her work and daily life. She is represented by attorney Thomas B. Harvey.
According to MyNewsLA, Chand’s complaint brings negligence based claims, federal civil rights counts, and assault and battery allegations. The lawsuit also lists multiple unnamed “Doe” defendants and says it remains unclear which specific agency fired the rounds that hit her. The filing argues that state law bars indiscriminate use of these projectiles into crowds and instead requires officers to target people engaged in violent acts, according to the complaint.
Protests And Crowd Control In June 2025
The suit lands in the middle of a broader fight over how law enforcement handled demonstrations tied to early June immigration enforcement operations in downtown Los Angeles. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, officers from the LAPD, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol deployed rubber rounds, pepper balls and other crowd control devices at multiple locations. Human Rights Watch later detailed dozens of incidents in which bystanders and journalists were struck or otherwise injured by those munitions.
What Chand Says She Experienced
Chand says she was near the intersection of First and San Pedro streets on June 8, 2025, when officers began firing projectiles into the area, according to MyNewsLA. As she moved away from law enforcement, she alleges, multiple rounds hit her legs, groin and back. The complaint says Chand was struck 11 times, suffered severe pain and bruising, and has since dealt with anxiety, fear and recurring nightmares. Her lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for physical injuries, emotional distress and lost earnings, according to the filing.
Other Lawsuits And Legal Pressure
Chand’s case arrives alongside a steady stream of other lawsuits tied to the June unrest. Coverage has highlighted similar suits from protesters and a Downtown tattoo artist who say they were hit by crowd control rounds, while additional plaintiffs have come forward through other outlets. The Los Angeles Press Club and several reporting organizations also filed a federal complaint describing multiple incidents involving journalists. That filing, available from the ACLU, has been used by advocacy groups to press judges to tighten limits on the use of less lethal weapons.
Legal Implications And What’s Next
If Chand’s allegations are proven in court, the case could lead to monetary awards for negligence and civil rights violations and increase pressure on agencies to change how they deploy crowd control weapons. Public health and human rights organizations have described widespread injuries from these so called less lethal rounds and have called for stricter rules, a pattern detailed by Physicians for Human Rights. Those findings are likely to surface in future litigation and policy debates as Chand’s case moves through the courts.
