Police officers and sheriff’s deputies used excessive force on an Orange County accountant who was shot in the side of the head with a less-than-lethal launcher while walking away from law enforcement at a Santa Ana protest last summer, according to a newly filed civil rights lawsuit.
Tony Lawrence Olson suffered a skull fracture and traumatic brain injury when a law enforcement officer shot him with a 40mm less-lethal projectile from a 12-gauge launcher in the midst of a June 9 protest in Santa Ana held soon after aggressive immigration raids carried out by the Trump administration across Southern California began to draw public condemnation.
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V. James DeSimone, an attorney representing Olson, said the injuries his client sustained were a result of law enforcement misusing less-than-lethal weapons, opening fire on peaceful protesters for the actions of others and not being held accountable.
“Here is someone who was exercising their fundamental constitutional rights, what our founding fathers gave us, and they receive a lifelong injury for exercising those rights,” DeSimone said. “I think, unfortunately, it is a trend that is proliferating because no one is putting a stop to it. Elected officials, chiefs of police, are ignoring the problem and not taking appropriate corrective action. You are going to have police officers handed these weapons and they feel they are handed these weapons to use them.”
The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, appears to be the first in Orange County to target local law enforcement — in this case, the Santa Ana Police Department and the O.C. Sheriff’s Department — in connection with the immigration-related protests, based on a search of local court records. Federal law enforcement, including ICE and Border Patrol, have drawn the bulk of criticism for force used against protesters, including the apparent shooting of protesters in the face during a separate protest outside the federal building in Santa Ana earlier this year.
The O.C. sheriff, county and Santa Ana officials declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing a policy not to discuss pending litigation.
Olson, a 41-year-old Orange County resident, joined hundreds of others in downtown Santa Ana on the evening of June 9 to protest the immigration raids. According to the lawsuit, Olson, an accountant, was wearing his professional work attire — a button-up short-sleeve shirt, dress pants and dress shoes — and was carrying an American flag.
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Around 10 p.m., Olson and a family member moved to the front of a crowd of protesters at the intersection of Broadway and 4th Street, across from a skirmish line of sheriff’s deputies and Santa Ana police officers, according to the lawsuit.
Fifteen minutes later, the lawsuit said, a lone protester who was 15 to 20 feet away from Olson, threw a firework near law enforcement. According to the lawsuit, “Instead of targeting the one individual who posed a threat, the deputies and officers responded by opening fire at everyone in the crowd with their less-lethal projectiles.”
“Officers use the excuse of one person throwing things to take it out on the entire crowd,” DeSimone said. “These weapons are completely being misused by being shot into a crowd.”
As Olson began to walk east on 4th Street, away from law enforcement, he was struck in the upper right side of his head with a less-lethal projectile shot by a deputy, according to the lawsuit. His ears immediately began ringing, his head began bleeding profusely, his speech became slurred and he started to feel like he was losing consciousness, according to the lawsuit. A family member pressed a flag against his head to stop the bleeding, and took him to the emergency room at Kaiser Permanente in Irvine.
According to the lawsuit, a Santa Ana officer spoke to Olson at the hospital and “apologized on behalf of all law enforcement for what had happened” to him.
DeSimone said local officials in Southern California have expressed criticism for the actions of federal law enforcement, but have not commented when local officers or deputies use force on protesters.
“I think there is a great deal of hypocrisy when you have city officials criticizing ICE,” the attorney said. “It is well-placed criticism. But we as Californians also have to look inward at our own police departments and demand better.”
While neither Santa Ana police nor the sheriff’s department specifically commented on the lawsuit, both agencies previously have released public posts related to the June demonstration at which Olson was injured.
The Santa Ana Police Department previously noted that officers, on June 9 and during several days of demonstrations that followed, arrested 24 people, including arrestees alleged to have launched fireworks at police and crowds, to have thrown rocks or bottles at officers and to have driven vehicles recklessly among large crowds.
The sheriff’s department, in a publicly released incident report, wrote that they assisted Santa Ana officers when an unlawful assembly was declared, adding that some among the crowd of hundreds threw water bottles, rocks and fireworks at law enforcement. Deputies used “kinetic energy projectiles and chemical agents in response to those specific threats,” according to the sheriff’s report. That included deputies firing one round from a bean bag shotgun, four rounds from a 40mm launcher and 23 rounds fired from pepper ball launchers, the report stated.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of financial damages. In a claim against the county, Olson previously sought $50 million. Such claims are considered precursors to lawsuits.
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