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Asim Jamal Shakir Jr. could barely hear the chants over the din of sirens and helicopters from his downtown Los Angeles apartment one evening last May, as Black Lives Matter protesters marched through the streets following George Floyd’s death.
Putting away his video games, the 23-year-old went outside to find a line of Los Angeles police officers armed with projectile guns, pressing their way against a swarm of people. Within minutes, he said, police outnumbered protesters.
Shakir focused on the officers who looked like him, approaching every Black officer he saw and urging them to take off their uniforms and join his cause.
Asim Jamal Shakir Jr., 23, filed his lawsuit on Monday, alleging that his uncle directed other LAPD officers to fire a hard-foam projectile - a rubber bullet - towards him last May.