Student Blinded by Federal Officers at Protest

0:00It's April 16th, California news today starts now, AI-powered and ready. I'm Cory with the story. An 18-year-old University of Southern California student named Tucker Collins lost his eye after getting hit by a less than lethal round-wild. Filming a protest outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles on March 28th. Collins, a freshman studying aeronautical engineering, was just documenting the No Kings Day rally when federal officers from the Department of Homeland Security fired the projectile, likely from an FN303 launcher. Medics rushed him to the hospital for two hours of surgery to remove fragments, but doctors couldn't save his vision. Collins insists he wasn't throwing anything or causing trouble, just holding his camera when the worst pain hit and blinded him in one eye. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security says they issued seven warnings to about 1,000 riders hurling rocks, bottles, and cement blocks, before using minimal, crowd control force to protect officers and property.

1:02Less than lethal weapons like these, face court restrictions against headshots or close-range fire, but federal agencies keep deploying them amid. On-going legal fights, Collins' attorney calls the incident part of a pattern of attacks on citizens and demands state probes into federal tactics. Now his legal team has filed a tort claim, seeking $100 million from the government, pushing for real accountability as these clashes. Between protesters and feds, heat up across California.