Jury awards $1.7 million to Fox camera operator hurt by LAPD

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury on Friday awarded $1.7 million to a camera operator from Fox's KTTV-TV Channel 11 News who was knocked to the ground by police during the 2007 May Day melee in MacArthur Park.

In addition to the award to Patricia Ballaz, jurors awarded $39,000 to KPPC radio reporter Patricia Nazario but failed to agree on an award for a third plaintiff who sued police, Fox 11 reporter Christina Gonzalez, according to a spokeswoman for Ballaz's attorneys.

The lawsuit grew out of police actions at an immigration rally that grew unruly as it reached MacArthur Park. Police were widely criticized for overreacting in their efforts to put down the disorder and for targeting reporters and camera crews trying to cover it.

The Los Angeles Police Department later apologized and instituted sweeping changes in its crowd control policies.

The city had previously agreed to pay about $13 million to settle class-action claims brought by about 300 demonstrators, bystanders and some journalists who said they were mistreated during the incident. Last month, the City Council approved an additional payout of $450,000 to five other journalists.

Ballaz, Nazario and Gonzalez had claimed that physical and psychological injuries inflicted by police had led to lasting pain and post-traumatic stress disorder.

In a statement released by her lawyers, Ballaz said: "May 1, 2007 is a day that I will never forget, it is a day that has changed my life forever. My genuine hope is that this trial and its verdict will serve as a strong reminder to the LAPD to think twice about using excessive force in any kind of situation. Our free speech and civil rights are precious and if we can’t rely on the police to protect them, who can we trust?”

-- Mitchell Landsberg

Comments

[Jay]

Scumbags!!!! I hope the money brings her sorrow in the end.

[TheBigPicture]

I believe that was an illegal immigration rally...nobody has any qualms with legal immigration....

This was for the people who intentionally break the law by entering our country illegally...pick a couple pieces of fruit and believe they have the right to be U.S. citizens with all of the fringe benefits...

that's quality immigration.....NOTTTTTTT.

[IvanG]

Are these awards commensurate with the injuries? In a time of severely limited public resources, perhaps we need to put limits on awards against cities and counties. The money to pay this award will have to come from something else in the budget. More library closings? Fewer police officers?

[What Injuries Did She Suffer for $1.7 million?]

Reporter, there is a glaringly omitted nugget of information missing from your article.

WHAT KIND OF INJURIES DID THIS PERSON SUFFER, OTHER THAN P.T.S.D? KINDA RELEVANT!

[Joel Johnson]

For 1.7 million, you can beat me half to death.

[Larry]

Typical money grab,
City is broke but we have to pay for this? Come on people

[gregory stanley]

we can use a dozen cops like those at the rally, the problem is we have ten thousand cops like those at the rally. your tax dollars in action, thanks again lapd

[3825You]

The department should have settled the
civil rights claim long ago...
the Constitution is the HOMERUN for
all of us against those who won't protect
and defend our Constitutional Rights.

[jig]

Isn't it funny how the police attack journalists, woman, children and old people during this event and even firing rubber bullets at them but a few weeks ago after the Lakers game they let all these hooligans go on a rampage while doing nothing. Looting, fires, broken windows and cabs destroyed but no police doing anything about it.
Sort of makes a person wonder about the intelligence of law enforcement here or maybe they just like hurting women and children because it easier.

[Frankie B.]

Boo Hoo!! Christina Gonzalez, please! You knew when the cops were coming in riot gear that you should have moved. If you had your children with you, would you have stayed or left because you knew the situation was becoming volatile.

Common sense should sue these people!

[LAsucks]

What a waste of tax money. Ms. Ballaz, congratulations! You played the LA City Lottery and won. You don;t deserve $1.00, let alone $1.7 M of public funds. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for taking advantage of the public's tax money! And to the LA jury that awarded that ridiculous sum of money - great job you morons! I pity you fools! I wonder how many police officers, librarians, firemen, and teachers could have been paid for with $1.7 M. Instead you just gave it away to an idiot that doesn't know how to follow directions. Yet another reason NOT to live or spend money in the third world City of Los Angeles.

[Jon]

This FOX camera operator will get what's coming to her soon enough, either in this world or the next.

[kuruc]

all 3 are full of it. they just want to rape the la taxpayers, and have done it.

[susanica]

Patricia Nazario works for KPCC not KPPC.

[Bob]

It would serve as a much stronger reminder if individual responsible police officers were to personally pay their own settlements... as opposed to holding innocent tax payers accountable for their childish indiscretions.

[Unlimited Web Hosting]

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[RWh]

Yah right, psychological injuries from being pushed to the ground. Long lasting physical injuries ....another stretch.
As with most people who sue the city.....ka ching$$$$$$$.

[Outraged]

This is just wrong. The camera operator was somewhere he shouldnt have been and the cop pushed him to the ground. His injuries were so minor that they werent even mentioned in the article.

I realize that the cops were wrong and got a little too agressive but not $1.7 mil worth. That is $1.7 million worth of City services that we will not get in the future. How many firemen could that pay for? If this incident had not happened on TV, the payout would have been 1% of this amount!

[J in Pasadena]

Jackpot. If you are a reporter going into the middle of a civil disturbance why wouldn't you expect to see bad things or get hurt? They took the risk and now the city has to pay. Pile on the B.S. for court. This should have been a small workers comp case and nothing else.

[IvanG]

I have seen nothing to indicate that the award was commensurate with the injuries. I think we need court oversight of the amount of these awards. Public services in the City of Los Angeles will suffer as a result of the payout.

[City Dave]

These are very sick rewards. The "news people" who were injured should not have been there. The crowd turned on the police. If you are dumb enough to get in front of a police officer swinging a club you deserve to get hit. These kinds of rewards are what have almost bankrupted the city of los angeles. Mass insanity, money to nut cases.

[brushpile]

what a joke ........ the judge has to be removed.

[Bob Billings]

of course it changed her life forever she just won 1 million dollars, whose life wouldn't that change.

[mindee]

So $13 MILLION was already paid out to 300 "pro immigrant" read, pro illegal-immigrant, marchers and some reporters, including for Spanish television.

Many of those "marchers" were illegals themselves, a nice payday when you split the amount they got from US the citizen taxpayers, for not dispersing when they were told. Some were even intentional trouble-makers, who crashed the "party" over barricades, throwing ice water bottles and so on at cops - some of them even PLANNED to create mayhem and then benefit politically AND financially.

The so-called "injuries" were never established. NO ONE had to be carried away in an ambulance. This so-called "PTSS" psychological injuries are B. S.

NOW one camera operator gets $1.7 million but since NO ONE was evidently injured on the scene, this is more P. C. garbage from some "downtown jury."

Add this to the $2.5 million a jury awarded 2 Firefighter Captains today for alleged discrimination stemming from the Tennie Pierce dogfood case, and we've got almost $20 Million that's NOT being used for vital services. Our streets aren't paved, homeowners have to pay now to fix public sidewalks or get sued, library assistants fired and libraries and parks closed. But Latino politicians have whipped this up into a huge civil rights issue for votes.

Carmen Trutanich's phony claims to be "saving money" on suits like this are jsut that, phony. NO hard facts whatsoever. These are worse payouts than under even Rocky. But he's a stubborn joke who NEVER "settles." Not even on a tiny $80,000 to make good on his promise to Controllers Laura Chick and Gruel, when he needed them for his sham campaign. It's ALL about his ego.

Like the camera guy's lawyer says, they'd have settled for $250,000 to avoid going to court - now we're paying almost $2 million. Multiply THAT all over.

[Mufon]

"May 1, 2007 is a day that I will never forget, it is a day that has changed my life forever. "

Get over yourself, your feelings were hurt and now you're a millionaire. Don't be a sore winner.