FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Delray Beach woman shot in the face with a rubber bullet by a Fort Lauderdale police officer during a May 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstration is suing the city and its police department.
LaToya Ratlieff filed the civil rights lawsuit in federal court late Wednesday night, according to her attorneys.
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FLPD Detective Eliezer Ramos shot Ratlieff, then 34, in the eye amid a chaotic protest following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
Ramos was later exonerated in an internal department review in February 2021, something Ratlieff called disappointing, but “expected.”
Ratlieff testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in June of 2020, calling for more police accountability.
The court filing accuses FLPD Internal Affairs investigators of using a sham investigation into improper use of force to embarrass and intimidate Ratlieff. It also accuses officers of battery for the use of tear gas and impact projectiles, as well as negligence in the use of impact weapons.
Read the full lawsuit here: