A University of Southern California student filed suit against the city of Los Angeles yesterday after he was hit by a rubber bullet during Pro-Palestinian campus protests last spring.
Senior game development and interactive design major Boston Moreland was hit by an unknown Los Angeles Police Department officer while filming officers at the Trousdale entrance on the night of April 24. Annenberg Media captured the altercation in a viral video.
“It was very stressful and all during finals. I was keeled over. I went home, started feeling worse. [It was] a big red welt, a big bruise that lasted for weeks afterwards. I went to the ER and it was a really long night. The bruise took a while to heal and I still have a scar,” Moreland said.
His attorney, Thomas Seabaugh, alleged that Moreland’s rights were violated and that he did nothing to warrant the use of a 40 mm “less-lethal” projectile by the LAPD.
Annenberg Media received and reviewed a photo of the injury, sent by Seabeaugh.
“Boston and his family feel very lucky that he was hit in the abdomen, because while that must have been very painful and traumatic as it was, if he had been hit in the face or neck it could have been catastrophically worse,” Seabaugh said. “USC students and faculty can ask themselves whether they think these so-called less-lethal weapons belong on their campus at all.”
The suit also claims that police used excessive force in shooting the projectile and violated Boston’s rights to free speech and assembly.
“[Students] have a right to exercise those rights on a public walkway without being afraid of being hit without warning by a weapon that can severely injure or even kill them,” Seabaugh said.
Moreland is a member of the USC Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) — one of the many organizations that led Pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
“Cops shouldn’t be able to get away with that. I was chanting outside the fence and we were well within our rights out there,” Moreland said. “Questions should be asked like ‘Hey why are cop’s out here? Why are they allowed to do this?’ They bring violence into USC and the neighboring communities. Now I’m a walking example of that.”
USC Public Relations declined to comment at this time.
The LAPD declined to comment on pending litigation.
Editors note: The story has been updated to reflect an interview with Boston Moreland and statements from his lawyer, Thomas Seabaugh.