SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A demonstrator was hit in the face with a projectile fired by a federal officer at close range during a Southern California protest, leaving him bloodied and with serious injuries, according to video and an account from fellow protesters during a Tuesday news conference.
The Friday gathering outside the federal immigration building in the city of Santa Ana was in response to the shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis by a federal agent, which has kicked off a wave of protests around the country.
Hundreds of people had marched in the streets in Santa Ana until a smaller group was left outside the federal building by evening, shouting expletives through megaphones about Immigration and Customs Enforcement, video showed. At one point, they burned what appeared to be an American flag on the steps of the building while shouting “Justice for Renee Good.”
The demonstrators came up onto the plaza where a handful of agents stood in riot gear and held crowd-control gear. At one point, officials forcefully move a demonstrator back down onto the steps, and the group continues to chant as the agents appear to urge them to move back. Later, an orange cone can be seen rolling up onto the plaza, and officers begin firing munitions as they walk toward the crowd. It is not clear if the cones were thrown and by whom.
The injured demonstrator, who other protesters and a family member identified only as “K,” is seen on video shouting through a megaphone along with others outside the building, where several officers are stationed in riot gear. The officers approached the crowd then grabbed another demonstrator by the arm, identified in a federal criminal complaint as Katelyn Skye Seitz, pulling them onto the steps.
In response, “K” and a few other demonstrators step forward shouting. One of the officers fires a crowd-control weapon, striking “K” from several feet away. “K” grabs his face and falls to the ground. An officer grabs “K” by the shirt and drags him backward across the ground, the video shows. His face is bloody and other demonstrators shout “leave him alone.” Officers take “K” into the federal building, and later video appears to show him face down on the ground being handcuffed.
Video of the incident was taken by OC Hawk, which films breaking news in Orange County.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, called the group violent rioters and said that two officers were injured. Two protesters were arrested and charged with assault on a federal officer and disorderly conduct, she said. She did not respond to questions about the nature of the officers’ injuries or the injury of the protester.
Protester says he lost sight in his left eye
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t answer questions about what type of projectiles were fired, but another protester said Tuesday they were pepper balls.
“K” was blinded in his left eye, according to his aunt, Jeri Rees.
Rees said her nephew, a 21-year-old college student, was in the hospital for two days and underwent six hours of surgery to his left eye.
She said he was released from the hospital Tuesday while doctors work to determine what the fragments are made of to assess whether additional procedures are needed to remove them. Rees said he was hit in the left eye and suffered skull fractures.
“He’s completely blind” in that eye, she said. “There’s a hole in his eyeball.”
Rees said her nephew was given a citation for disorderly conduct.
In a statement read by another protester Tuesday, “K” said he felt ringing and pressure around his skull and was dragged toward the building bleeding while struggling to breathe.
“I will never see through my left eye again, not even light,” he said in the statement. “I’m just glad I’m alive to tell my story.”
It was not immediately possible to independently confirm details of the injuries. The fellow protesters, from the group Dare to Struggle, declined to say what hospital he had been taken to.
Seitz, one of the arrested protesters, said the group was there to “rightly protest the brutal execution of Renee Good, and the government agencies that uphold ICE’s ongoing brutality.” Seitz identified themselves at the news conference as Skye Jones.
A federal complaint alleges Seitz failed to leave the property despite warnings and threw an orange cone at officers, then resisted arrest and struck an officer on the shoulder and in the groin. Details weren’t immediately available about the second set of charges filed, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office didn’t immediately respond to questions about them.
Additional video shows demonstrators still gathered and shouting at agents after the confrontation breaks out. Some officers are standing at the door to the building, and another demonstrator approaches. Officers can be heard firing more rounds. The protester walks back toward the group covered in a white powder. He appears to have a cut on his face, and other demonstrators call for a medic.
