An 18-year-old USC freshman allegedly shot in the eye by a federal agent during a No Kings protest last month, resulting in the loss of his right eye, is seeking $100 million from the government, his attorney announced during a Wednesday news conference.
In a video captured of the shooting, Tucker Collins is seen recording a protest outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA, where protesters gathered after the protest at City Hall culminated, when he suddenly falls to his knees.
“I was in no way an agitator. I just had my camera… I was recording and the next thing I know, I can’t see,” said Collins at the Wednesday press conference. “It was some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Collins underwent surgery for more than two hours, during which doctors found half-inch-long fragments of the munition he was shot with, according to his attorney, James DeSimone.
DeSimone said he believes Collins was shot with an FN 303, an air-powered weapon similar to a pepper-ball launcher.
“Five fragments taken out of his eye a very hard plastic and then [is] matching up with an FN 303,” he said.
The multimillion dollar request for damages was outlined in a tort claim, which DeSimone says has been filed. Such claims allege that someone’s injuries were the result of negligence or the wrongful act of another person and can be a precursor to a lawsuit.
What happened to Collins isn’t an isolated incident.
Twenty-one-year-old Kaden Rummler was blinded in the left eye at an anti-ICE protest in Santa Ana in January after a Department of Homeland Security officer shot the man in the face with a “less-lethal” projective from point blank range.
Like in Collins’ case, the federal officer who shot Rummler appeared to shoot him with an FN 303 launcher, according to video footage.
Twenty-three-year-old Jesus Javier Gomez also lost his left eye at an anti-ICE protest in downtown LA in January while he was talking with a friend who was with the media, ABC7 reported. He has since filed a $100 million lawsuit against the LAPD.
Recently, three prominent LA activists filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department alleging an officer shot the three activists last summer with “less-lethal” rounds at point-blank range, including in the groin.
The group is seeking compensatory, statutory, and punitive damages against LAPD Officer Rick Linton for egregious misconduct and causing physical and psychological pain, lawyers representing the three men said at an April news conference.
In September, a California judge issued a preliminary injunction against DHS, which seeks to limit DHS’ use of force against journalists and legal observers exercising their first amendment rights who pose “no threat of imminent harm” within the state’s central district.
“We call upon the United States of America and all law enforcement to stop shooting at people’s heads. How many eyes have to be lost? How many concussions do we have to have?”
“The First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly – not rioting. DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters. Our law enforcement has followed their training and used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property,” an unnamed DHS spokesperson said in a statement in response to questions about DHS shooting Collins.