CA Sheriff’s Office Given Restrictions on Less-Lethal Rounds

The settlement restricts the sheriff's department's use of impact munitions and flashbang grenades to situations where it's necessary to defend against the threat to life or serious bodily injury or to bring a dangerous and unlawful situation under control.

Alameda County, CA, has agreed to ban rubber bullets, bean bags and less-lethal munitions for crowd control as part of a settlement after sheriff's deputies fired rubber bullets and injured two protesters in 2020, the plaintiffs’ lawyer said Thursday.

Oakland police officers and Alameda County sheriff's deputies used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Oakland during a June 1, 2020, protest.

The City of Oakland has had a policy banning the use of rubber bullets and bean bags for crowd control unless there was an "immediate danger of death or great bodily injury." However Alameda County Sheriff's deputies, while assisting Oakland officers, fired impact munitions at the demonstrators, attorney Rachel Laderman tells CBS News Bay Area.

The settlement restricts the sheriff's department's use of impact munitions and flashbang grenades to situations where it's necessary to defend against the threat to life or serious bodily injury or to bring a dangerous and unlawful situation under control, according to Laderman.

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