Sacramento pays $2.2 million to man injured by officer while filming 2020 protest
The city of Sacramento will pay a $2.2 million settlement to a man after a police officer fired a projectile at his face while he was video recording a 2020 protest.
The settlement, which The Sacramento Bee received from a California Public Records Act request, will be paid to Daniel Garza. Garza was a legal observer, wearing a distinctive neon green hat that read, “National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer,” during a protest in Sacramento on May 30, 2020.
The demonstration, in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, was against police brutality.
Officers are supposed to treat observers, recognizable by their neon green hats, the same as members of the press and not as participants, the complaint alleged.
“Legal observers create documentation during events which can later be use in defense cases, public statements, and litigation which aims to hold law enforcement agencies accountable for the actions of their officers,” according to a National Lawyers Guild web page.
Through a spokesperson, the city declined to comment on the settlement in a deal struck ahead of a trial; the city did not admit wrongdoing or liability in the case.
“This release is a result of a compromise of a disputed claim,” the settlement agreement, signed in December, said. “The payment of consideration and the acceptance of the release is not an admission of liability on the part of any party.”
The protesters marched in downtown and midtown, and Garza filmed interactions between police and protesters. A police line formed, and officers ordered Garza to get on the side of the line with the protesters, even after he said he was not a protester, the complaint alleged. Officers set off tear gas and flash-bang grenades to move the crowd, including Garza, down J Street.
Garza then put on a gas mask to protect himself from tear gas while keeping his hat on. A standoff then occurred between the two groups at 21st and J streets, which Garza filmed from the sidewalk outside First United Methodist Church, the complaint said.
Officers fired less-lethal weapons directly at demonstrators, and several fell to the ground bleeding and unable to move, the complaint alleged.
Someone behind Garza threw an object at the police, which did not hit any officers, the complaint alleges. Officer Michael Mantsch then lifted his weapon and fired it at Garza’s face several times. The projectile hit his forehead, causing him to bleed, and he was concussed. A nursing student tended to Garza’s wounds as officers continued to shoot them with pepper balls even as she yelled, “Medic! Don’t shoot!”
Medical professionals at the hospital later diagnosed Garza with a traumatic brain injury, for which he continues to need treatment, the complaint said. He still suffers from memory loss, PTSD and panic attacks.
Garza had been a legal observer at protests throughout the country since 2012 and had previously served six years in the Navy, the complaint said. He earned a J.D. from Lincoln Law School of Sacramento in 2019 and was preparing to take the bar exam.
Due to the injury, Garza has experienced a loss of executive function, and can no longer pass the bar exam and become an attorney, as he had been planning, said Mark Merin, Garza’s attorney.
Sacramento has paid millions to injured protestors
In addition to the city and its police department, the suit named then-Police Chief Daniel Hahn and Mantsch as defendants.
Mantsch is still employed by the department, and is now a sergeant, a police spokesperson said.
The department has not provided the public with records, audio and video footage regarding the use of force that caused Garza’s injury, even though Senate Bill 1421 requires it in cases involving “grave bodily injury.”
A department spokesperson said Tuesday the records would be uploaded to the website since litigation was complete, but a timeline to provide the material was not known.
The city and county have paid millions in other settlements to people injured by officers’ and deputies’ projectiles during a handful of nights in late May and early June 2020.
Most notably, the city paid a $3 million settlement to a woman who was blinded in one eye during a demonstration outside a south Sacramento police station the day before Garza was injured. The city also earlier this year paid a $350,000 settlement to a group of people who were injured during the protests, and $20,000 to a woman who an officer shoved to the ground.
“The city finally settled the last of the civil rights cases resulting from injuries caused by cops in the George Floyd protests,” Merin said. “He has now received adequate compensation to replace what he could have earned as an attorney.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
