SAN ANTONIO – A man is suing the City of San Antonio over claims that a police officer used excessive force during one of last year’s protests in downtown San Antonio following the murder of George Floyd.
Alexander Lance spent three days in a hospital for injuries caused by a pair of paint bullets, according to the lawsuit filed on June 24.
Lance and two of his friends went to the protest on May 30 to “witness the march,” the lawsuit states. While at the protest, Lance told a San Antonio Police Department officer “that the rifle he was carrying better have the safety on,” according to the suit.
The officer allegedly responded by shooting Lance twice with paint bullets, first in his arm and then in his leg.
Lance alleged that other officers rushed toward him following the shooting.
“Not to provide medical attention to the badly injured plaintiff but to surround (the officer) and use flashlights in an attempt to blind the cell phones of other citizens recording the aggravated assault,” according to the lawsuit.
Lance was hospitalized for three days following the shooting, according to the lawsuit.
He accused the city of being “deliberately indifferent” to treat his injuries and the officers of negligence. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages for medical expenses, lost wages and physical and mental injury.
Demonstrations were mostly peaceful that day in downtown San Antonio, until late into the night, when some people in the crowd threw objects at police officers and damaged property at Rivercenter Mall and nearby businesses. Police responded by using tear gas and other nonlethal projectiles to disperse the crowd.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg issued a disaster declaration that night, which included a curfew.
Demonstrations would continue in San Antonio for the next several days, and Nirenberg later questioned the police’s use of projectiles at protesters and members of the media.
The local protests over the murder of George Floyd, a Black man killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, eventually led to more police accountability efforts in San Antonio.
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