AUSTIN, Texas — Anthony Evans, a man shot in the jaw by a less-lethal round during the May 31 Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Downtown Austin, on Tuesday filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Austin and an unidentified police officer.
According to a press release from Edwards Law, Evans was leaving the demonstration when he was shot and seriously wounded. He underwent surgery to repair his broken jaw and is raising money for reconstructive jaw surgery via a GoFundMe page.
“Shooting someone in the head while they are merely exercising their free speech rights should not be tolerated at any responsible police department,” said Jeff Edwards, Evans’ attorney. “Anthony went out that day to lend his voice to help prevent further violence against unarmed minorities. Incredibly, the Austin Police Department responded by shooting him in the head and breaking his jaw.”
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“The police knew they had seriously injured people by shooting into crowds the day before, but did it again anyway,” said Shawn Frazier of FVF Law, Evans’ other lawyer. “Shooting into a crowd is obviously dangerous on any occasion, but that APD leadership knew that people had actually been hurt earlier and kept it up is truly outrageous.”
Similar lawsuits were filed from other demonstrators in September. After reports of injured protestors in late May, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley announced that these less-lethal rounds would no longer be used by police as a crowd control method.
And, in August, a group of surgeons at Dell Seton Medical Center who treated some of those injured during the protests released a report highlighting their injuries and urging officials to no longer use these rounds.
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