Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #520

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Los Angeles Man Sues LAPD After His Testicle Exploded When Shot With Rubber Bullet During Protest
By Fredrick Ramirez
A protestor from Los Angeles has filed a lawsuit after his testicle exploded due to being hit by a rub- ber bullet.
Ben Montemayor was among sev- eral protesting against police brutality over the killing of George Floyd in Hollywood last June when a Los Angeles police officer shot him with a rubber bul- let. Montemayor claims that he held the sign call- ing for the LAPD to be defunded, there were calls for dismissal which he couldn’t hear. Although he stood unarmed and did not resist to arrest, as the police advanced they shot him intentionally in the groin, causing one of his testi- cles to explode.
The incident has been further
explained in the lawsuit. "As Mr. Montemayor stood there, unarmed, not resisting arrest, posing no threat whatsoever to anyone around him, and having just been violently shoved, a third officer less than ten feet away aimed his green [40-millimeter]
launcher at Mr. Montemayor and intentionally shot him in the groin with a high-speed plastic, hard foam projectile."
After he got shot, Montemayor’s testicles swelled up and he rushed to hospital emer- gency. The doc- tors, afraid that he might end up los-
ing a testicle entirely, per- formed immediate surgery 'piecing back together portions of his testicle which had exploded'.
According to the lawsuit, Montemayor is still undergoing physical therapy, and he was expe- rienced severe
mental trauma due to the event. Montemayor hopes his lawsuit - which seeks unspecified mon- etary damages - will hold the LAPD account- able and protect future protesters from such projec- tile, especially given that the LAPD policy states that officers
should only use projectiles against protesters if they present a physical threat.
In his interview with the Los Angeles Times, he said: "They're used irresponsi- bly. They're over- used. I don't want them to be down- played."
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine