Protester files claim against D.C. National Guard, saying she was injured by low-flying helicopter during Floyd protest

By Spencer S. Hsu
10/14/2020, 3:09:00 p.m.

The American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. filed an administrative claim against the D.C. National Guard for damages Wednesday on behalf of a woman who says she was injured by the military’s aggressive use of helicopters to disperse protesters in Washington.

Dzhuliya Dashtamirova, 23, of Baltimore, says she was caught in storm-force winds created by the rotor wash of Guard helicopters that hovered below the tops of buildings and followed crowds between Gallery Place and Judiciary Square the evening of June 1.

The complaint seeks damages of $200,000 under the Federal Tort Claims Act for physical harm and ongoing psychological injuries that it says Dashtamirova suffered from an intimidation tactic that lawmakers and human rights activists say has been deployed against insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dashtamirova traveled from Baltimore with her roommate to demonstrate peacefully for racial justice after the May killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, the complaint said. After the helicopter flights over the protest, the claim asserts, she experienced eye irritation for several days and continues to experience mental and emotional trauma including anxiety, insomnia and intensified migraine headaches.

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