A woman who says her right hand was maimed by a projectile fired by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy during a protest in September has sued the county in a federal civil rights lawsuit.
The suit, filed by Gabrielle Bynum on Friday in the Central District of California, alleges that she was peacefully attending a protest condemning the fatal shooting of Dijon Kizzee near the South L.A. sheriff’s station when she was struck from behind by multiple nonlethal police projectiles, violating her right to free speech and assembly, as well as her right to be free from excessive force.
One of the projectiles, Bynum alleges, fractured her right thumb, requiring surgery. She says she still has difficulty using that hand for everyday tasks such as writing, gripping a doorknob and turning the key in the ignition of in a car.
“It was very terrifying and traumatizing,” the South L.A. resident told The Times, adding that she hasn’t attended protests over police violence since then. “I don’t feel comfortable risking going anymore. It was … just too much for me.”
Read the full story on LATimes.com.