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Man awarded $6.5 million for 2020 clash with LAPD after Lakers NBA Finals win Jurors returned their verdict Tuesday, June 23, finding the city and Officer Alexander Alvarez liable for assault, battery and violations of Veras constitutional rights.
Los Angeles Police Department mounted police attend the Los Angeles Police Departments memorial ceremony honoring their 241 fallen officers at LAPD Headquarters on Wednesday, May 27, 2026.
A jury has awarded $6.5 million to a man who said he was seriously injured by mounted Los Angeles police officers during a celebration after the Los Angeles Lakers 2020 NBA championship victory.
Pablo Vera, in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, said he was peacefully celebrating near what was then called the Staples Center on Oct.
11, 2020, when mounted LAPD officers struck him multiple times with batons, breaking a forearm and causing injuries that required surgery and years of physical and emotional recovery that continue.Jurors returned their verdict Tuesday, June 23, finding the city and Officer Alexander Alvarez liable for assault, battery and violations of Veras constitutional rights.This verdict sends a clear message that constitutional protections do not disappear during crowd-control operations, said Veras lawyer, J.
Bernard Alexander III.
The jury saw body-worn camera footage that contradicted the justification offered for officers striking Mr.
Vera with a bokken baton and breaking his arm.
The jury concluded that LAPD officers used unlawful, excessive force, violated Mr.
Veras civil rights, the attorney said.The LAPD and Alvarez denied Veras allegations, saying that the plaintiff ignored an order to disburse and that reasonable and necessary force was used against him.
The jury unanimously found that Alvarez and the city of Los Angeles committed assault and violated Veras constitutional right to be free from excessive force.
The jury also found in Veras favor on his battery claim and determined that LAPD officers committed acts of violence against him because of his race.The jury further found that Alvarez acted with malice, oppression and fraud, awarding an additional $20,000 in punitive damages against him individually.
According to plaintiffs evidence presented at trial, body-worn camera footage contradicted the citys claims that Vera posed an immediate threat to LAPD officers.
Veras legal team argued that the footage shows that each time Vera was struck, it was with a baton, twice while he was attempting to move away from mounted officers.Vera missed months of work as a security guard and continues to experience the effects of the injuries he suffered, according to his lawyers.