FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — LaToya Ratlieff, the Delray Beach woman who was shot in the face with a rubber bullet fired by a Fort Lauderdale police officer during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, is suing the city of Fort Lauderdale and several of its police officers, accusing them of using excessive force and causing her “severe, painful and permanent physical and emotional injuries.”
Ratlieff’s lawsuit was filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, two years after police fired tear gas into the crowd and a rubber bullet struck her in the right eye. According to the lawsuit, police resorted to physical force without warning and without first giving the crowd an opportunity to disperse.
The protest in downtown Fort Lauderdale was one of dozens that sprang up across the country as video footage was released depicting the murder of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man who died when Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd had been accused of trying to pass a fake $20 bill. His death became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.
