Federal Lawsuit Announced in May Day Clash

LOS ANGELES, June 18, 2007 (KABC-TV) (KABC) -- More fallout from the May Day clash between Los Angeles police officers and demonstrators in MacArthur Park.

Another lawsuit is about to be filed.

This lawsuit will be one of the first to be filed in the federal court. The victims claim that the LAPD violated their civil rights. One of the victims, a 51-year-old woman, still bears marks on her arm from where she was shot by a rubber bullet. After she fell to the ground, she says an officer then hit her other arm with a baton. The other victim says he was pushed to the ground by LAPD officers and then hit in the leg.

The attorney representing the pair says the actions of the LAPD officers were a flagrant violation of their basic human rights. Dozens of people, including journalists, were hurt during the May Day immigration rally in MacArthur on May 1st.

Police in riot gear fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd, trying to clear the park.

Attorney Eugene Matthews says many victims are not legal residents and have been intimidated. They have been told to not come forward or they will be deported. He says they are seeking damages in their federal lawsuit, but more importantly they want to see changes within the police department.

Eugene Matthews, Attorney: "The primary point here is not so much the physical injuries but the emotional injuries and the invasion of their civil rights. They came out here to march for freedom and to march for solidarity."

Matthews had nothing but praise for Chief William Bratton's handling of the ongoing investigation, but he says that their federal lawsuit deals more specifically with the LAPD's mid-level management and those officers on the street, especially the ones they allege struck the two victims.

The federal lawsuit here is expected to be filed by the end of the week.

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