{"id":678323,"date":"2026-04-18T11:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T11:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/678323\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T11:34:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T11:34:21","slug":"la-must-pay-11-8m-to-man-blinded-by-police-during-dodgers-world-series-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/678323\/","title":{"rendered":"LA must pay $11.8M to man blinded by police during Dodgers World Series celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city of Los Angeles must pay $11.8 million to a man who was blinded by a projectile fired into a crowd by police officers while he was celebrating the\u00a0Dodgers<\/a>\u00a02020 World Series win.<\/p>\n

A federal jury ordered the payment Thursday after a trial brought by 27-year-old Isaac Castellanos, who was in college when he was struck in the face by the projectile while peacefully celebrating in downtown LA early Oct. 28, 2020.<\/p>\n

Castellanos was permanently blinded in one eye and filed a federal lawsuit in 2022, alleging excessive use of force.<\/p>\n

LAPD officers order fans to disperse on Sunset Boulevard, Oct. 27, 2020, after the Dodgers won the World Series. AP<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, Los Angeles Police Department officers<\/a> advanced toward the crowd and began firing projectiles, also known as \u201c\u00a0less lethal\u201d munitions, without warning. Less lethal munitions can include rubber bullets and bean bags.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the trial, the jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a verdict. Castellanos, sitting next to his attorneys, was brought to tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is incredibly relieved and feels very vindicated,\u201d Castellanos\u2019 attorney, Monique Alarcon, said. \u201cHe\u2019s really hopeful \u2026 that this will cause the LAPD to take a hard look at their crowd control practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police in Los Angeles have been banned from using a powerful, non-lethal weapon to control protests. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The LA City Attorney\u2019s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Castellanos was a senior at California State University, Long Beach when he was struck, and Alarcon said he had a promising future as a professional esports player before he was blinded.<\/p>\n

Just a few weeks before he was hit, he had won first place in a tournament, winning a $40,000 prize with a teammate.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate after defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 to win the World Series, Oct. 27, 2020. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was at a pivotal point in his life \u2026 and this completely derailed him,\u201d Alarcon said.<\/p>\n

The LAPD has been the subject of several lawsuits over the use of less lethal munitions for crowd control.<\/p>\n

After journalists\u00a0were hit by projectiles\u00a0during June protests against the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown since the start of the president\u2019s second term, a federal judge blocked LA police from using rubber bullets and other less lethal munitions<\/a> against reporters.<\/p>\n

A federal judge in January also issued an injunction against the LAPD blocking the use of 40 mm launchers, a type of less lethal munition, in any crowd control situation.<\/p>\n

In 2021, California restricted the use of less lethal munitions until alternatives to force have been tried to control a crowd.<\/p>\n

Police cannot aim \u201cindiscriminately\u201d into a crowd or at the head, neck or any other vital organs. They also cannot fire solely for a curfew violation, verbal threats toward officers, or not complying with directions given by law enforcement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city of Los Angeles must pay $11.8 million to a man who was blinded by a projectile…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,26266,39,1165,4332,4333,82773,774,57,3224,4331,4,4750],"class_list":{"0":"post-678323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-blind","10":"tag-dodgers","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-dodgers","13":"tag-ladodgers","14":"tag-lapd","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-losangelesdodgers","19":"tag-mlb","20":"tag-us-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116425507899271041","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}