Protester injured by sheriff's deputy awarded $3.5 million

A Los Angeles filmmaker and his daughter were awarded more than $3 million after a jury found L.A. County negligent for injuries the man sustained when a sheriff's deputy shot him in the face with a projectile during a protest against police brutality in 2020.

- BY CONNOR SHEETS

JULIANA YAMADA Los Angeles Times CELLIN GLUCK and daughter Caroline sued L.A. County over his facial injuries.

Cellin Gluck, 67, alleged in a lawsuit filed the following summer that the county and a number of unnamed sheriff's deputies committed negligence and battery, violated Gluck’s civil rights and falsely imprisoned him and his daughter Caroline, 28.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury determined this month that the deputy — whose identity was never determined — used unreasonable force to control the crowd of protesters when firing the projectile and harmed the elder Gluck. It also found that witnessing the incident caused Caroline to “suffer serious emotional distress,” according to the complaint.

The director, producer and actor — who has worked for decades on films including “Transformers” and “Remember the Titans” — said he did nothing wrong during a protest in the Fairfax District on May 30, 2020, less than a week after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis.