Filmmaker settles LAPD brutality lawsuit

Documentary maker suffered fractures from a baton while taking video at 2021 protest.

- By Lipor JANY

AL SEIB Los Angeles Times

VISHAL SINGH, center, with attorneys Humberto Guizar, left, and Christian Contreras in July 2021.

Attorneys fora documentary film maker who sued the city of Los Angeles for excessive police force said Wednesday that they had reached a settlement over claims their client was assaulted by an LAPD officer at a 2021 protest.

The settlement came abruptly after the first day of the civil trial, when the plaintiff, Vishal Singh, was accosted by a man, with his phone out recording, as Singh walked out of the federal courthouse downtown.

Christian Contreras, an attorney for Singh, identified the man who confronted his client as Tomas Morales, a prominent alt-right livestreamer.

Proceedings had just wrapped up for the day Tuesday when Morales approached Singh, Contreras and others as they walked out of the glass-paneled building at ist and Hill streets, according to video posted on social media.

Morales posted a clip on his Instagram account in which he can be heard demanding to know whether Singh still wants to “burn LAPD to the ground” and asking whether he is a member of “antifa.”