Journalist hit by LA deputies' round at ICE protest needed surgery, claim says

A British photojournalist needed emergency surgery to remove shrapnel that came from an “explosive” round shot by deputies during a Los Angeles County protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a legal claim.

The photographer, Nicholas Stern, filed the claim against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, accusing the agency of civil rights violations. The legal action was shared with McClatchy News on June 17.

“Upon information and belief, the use of force was motivated by Stern and the surrounding individuals’ perceived political affiliation pertaining to immigration,” Stern’s attorney, V. James DeSimone, wrote in the claim dated June 16.

The sheriff’s department did not immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment June 17.

Stern is a journalist in Los Angeles working for the British news industry, according to the Guardian.

At an ICE protest in Compton on June 7, Stern saw sheriff’s deputies using “less-lethal weapons” against the crowd, including “40mm munitions, flash bang projectiles” and “pepper spray,” the legal claim says.

While there, he “habitually” held his press badge and camera in the air to “make it visible that he was a journalist” after covering ICE protests in downtown Los Angeles earlier in the day, according to the filing.

A “skirmish line” — which involved sheriff’s department vehicles situated to protect deputies — was put in place by law enforcement on Alondra Boulevard at about 6 p.m., according to the claim. Then, about 10 to 15 people at the demonstration established a “barricade” and began tossing “projectiles towards the skirmish line,” the claim said.

“The skirmish line was approximately 200 feet away from the barricade,” DeSimone wrote, adding that Stern was photographing the situation from at least 40 feet away from the demonstrators’ barricade.

Projectile gets fired at the protest

Within a few hours, before, 9 p.m, the claim says Stern observed a group of people “peacefully protesting” by “waving flags and chanting” when deputies fired projectiles toward them.

While near a person holding a Mexican flag, Stern first saw an explosion, then felt intense pain, the claim continues.

Deputies had fired a round from what was possibly a 40mm launcher, according to the claim, which says a casing then “rocketed into (Stern’s) thigh causing an open wound and the pouring of blood.”

After Stern was helped to a nearby curb by several protesters in the area, DeSimone wrote in the claim that he fainted from the pain and awoke to a medic bandaging his bleeding leg.

Stern was taken to the emergency room at Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center, where a CT scan revealed he had a “40mm by 60mm” piece of shrapnel stuck in his leg, according to the claim.

He was put in an ambulance and transferred to Long Beach Medical Center for surgery, the claim says.

Surgical staff inside the center’s trauma unit removed the object, which “fits the description of a less lethal projectile deputies use and fire from a 40mm launcher,” according to the claim.

“He is still in excruciating pain after it was surgically removed,” DeSimone said in a June 17 news release.

Stern appeared with DeSimone at his law office in Marina del Rey to announce the claim’s filing at a June 17 news conference livestreamed on DeSimone’s Instagram page.

The claim accuses Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies of purposely firing projectiles at him or near him, without him or anyone near him posing a threat. The claim says they violated a preliminary injunction that puts limits on when deputies can use less-lethal weapons as crowd control measures against non-violent protesters.

The legal action seeks to hold deputies accountable under California law, specifically for alleged battery, negligence and negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

It says Sheriff Robert G. Luna and other supervisors within the county sheriff’s department have failed to properly train deputies.

As a result, the department’s supervisors have enabled and condoned deputies using excessive force, according to the claim.

“Los Angeles County Sheriffs shot an explosive device directly into a crowd, violating its policies, an injunction, and the U.S. Constitution,” DeSimone said in the release.

The protests against ICE began in Los Angeles County on June 6, according to USA Today. Similar protests ensued in the following days, nationwide in dozens of U.S. cities.

On June 7, in reaction to the demonstrations criticizing deportations in the U.S., President Donald Trump had 2,000 members of the National Guard deployed to Los Angeles, McClatchy News reported.

DeSimone previously represented Stern in a federal lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department, which resulted in a $150,000 settlement in February 2024, according to a report by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a news site and database run by the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

When he sued Los Angeles police in May 2021, he accused officers of misconduct in connection with force used against him when he covered a May 2020 protest over the death of George Floyd, according to the report.

The recent immigration protests in the U.S. were followed by nationwide “No Kings” protests on June 14, when a U.S. Army parade was held in celebration of its 250th anniversary, McClatchy News reported. It was also Trump’s birthday on June 14.