Overview
- Tucker Collins, 18, was documenting the March 28 No Kings protest outside Los Angeles’ Metropolitan Detention Center when a less‑lethal round allegedly fired by a Homeland Security agent struck his right eye and doctors later removed it, with video showing him photographing the crowd before he fell.
- The Department of Homeland Security called the event a riot, saying officers faced rocks, bottles and concrete, issued seven warnings, and made three arrests as roughly 1,000 people gathered around the Roybal Federal Building.
- Collins’ attorney, V. James DeSimone, says he will file a federal tort claim next week as the first step toward a lawsuit and has scheduled an April 15 news conference in Marina Del Rey to seek witnesses and outline the case.
- A federal judge last September limited agents’ use of tear gas and projectiles and barred aiming at the head or neck absent deadly‑force justification, and an appeals court last week said the injunction was overbroad and sent it back for further proceedings.
- Customs and Border Protection policy instructs officers not to aim pepper balls and similar rounds at the head unless deadly force is warranted, and the attorney argues Collins was only documenting the scene and posed no threat.