Dodger Fan Sues LAPD Over Use Of Projectiles During 2020 World Series Celebration

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - A 22-year-old student at California State University Long Beach at the time, Isaac Castellanos said he was peacefully celebrating the Dodgers 2020 World Series victory when officers began shooting projectiles to move the crowd.

For Castellanos, celebrating near what is now crypto.com ARENA, it took just seconds for the moment to go from joy to agony. Now, his lawsuit alleges the Los Angeles Police Department used unreasonable force and fired into the crowd without warning.

"This is hurting really, really bad, probably the worst, like, pain I ever felt," Castellano said.

He was among hundreds of people celebrating, he said peacefully, when police moved in and started firing projectiles. Castellanos, who said he never heard any order to disperse, was hit in the eye, leaving it red, swollen and, a year and a half later, still dark.

"The majority of the vision in my right eye is completely black, the middle is completely black, the upper side is completely black," he told CBSLA.

LAPD has come under fire repeatedly for its use of projectile weapons and Castellanos' lawsuit is just one of several pending cases filed by others who said they were also hurt when officers used the less-lethal weapons for crowd control, including at a Lakers celebration just two weeks before the World Series celebration.

Last May, a federal judge ruled LAPD did have to restrict its use of less-lethal weapons for crowd control.

While that might be a start, Catellanos and his attorney hope this case will force even more reforms on LAPD.

"Unfortunately, we have to leave it up to these lawsuits to be the driver of change because apparently the LAPD won't change otherwise," said Castellanos' attorney, Pedram Esfandiary.

"There needs to be regulations that allow us to exercise our rights and not be scared and not be...not have fear of some life ending or career-ending incident might occur," he said.

Castellanos was able to finish college, but a promising career in e-sports is on hold, maybe permanently. He said he deals with the emotional toll of partially losing his sight every single day.