{"id":17584,"date":"2026-06-24T22:02:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T22:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17584"},"modified":"2026-06-24T22:02:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T22:02:22","slug":"man-awarded-6-5-million-for-2020-clash-with-lapd-after-lakers-nba-finals-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17584","title":{"rendered":"Man awarded $6.5 million for 2020 clash with LAPD after Lakers NBA Finals win"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A jury has awarded $6.5 million to a man who said he was seriously injured by mounted Los Angeles police officers during a celebration after the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 2020 NBA championship victory.<\/p>\n

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Pablo Vera, in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, said he was peacefully celebrating near what was then called the Staples Center on Oct. 11, 2020, when mounted LAPD officers struck him multiple times with batons, breaking a forearm and causing injuries that required surgery and years of physical and emotional recovery that continue.<\/p>\n

Jurors returned their verdict Tuesday, June 23, finding the city and Officer Alexander Alvarez liable for assault, battery and violations of Vera\u2019s constitutional rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis verdict sends a clear message that constitutional protections do not disappear during crowd-control operations,\u201d said Vera\u2019s lawyer, J. Bernard Alexander III. \u201cThe jury saw body-worn camera footage that contradicted the justification offered for officers striking Mr. Vera with a bokken baton and breaking his arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jury concluded that LAPD officers used unlawful, excessive force (and) violated Mr. Vera\u2019s civil rights,\u201d the attorney said.<\/p>\n

The LAPD and Alvarez denied Vera\u2019s allegations, saying that Vera ignored an order to disburse and that reasonable and necessary force was used against him.<\/p>\n

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The jury unanimously found that Alvarez and the city of Los Angeles committed assault and violated Vera\u2019s constitutional right to be free from excessive force. The jury also found in Vera\u2019s favor on his battery claim and determined that LAPD officers committed acts of violence against him because of his race.<\/p>\n

The jury further found that Alvarez acted with malice, oppression and fraud, awarding an additional $20,000 in punitive damages against him individually.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

According to plaintiff\u2019s evidence presented at trial, body-worn camera footage contradicted the city\u2019s claims that Vera posed an immediate threat to LAPD officers. Vera\u2019s legal team argued that the footage shows that each time Vera was struck, it was with a baton, twice while he was attempting to move away from mounted officers.<\/p>\n

Vera missed months of work as a security guard and continues to experience the result of the injuries, according to his lawyers.<\/p>\n

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Jurors returned their verdict Tuesday, June 23, finding the city and Officer Alexander Alvarez liable for assault, battery and violations of Vera’s constitutional rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMan awarded $6.5 million for 2020 clash with LAPD after Lakers NBA Finals win - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17584\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man awarded $6.5 million for 2020 clash with LAPD after Lakers NBA Finals win - 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