SANTA ANA, Calif. – During a protest in Southern California, a demonstrator suffered significant injuries after being struck in the face by a projectile fired by a federal officer at close range. This incident was captured on video and recounted by fellow protesters at a news conference held on Tuesday.
The protest took place on Friday outside the federal immigration building in Santa Ana, sparked by the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a federal agent in Minneapolis. This event has ignited a series of demonstrations across the United States.
Initially, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Santa Ana, but by evening, only a smaller group remained outside the federal building. They expressed their anger towards Immigration and Customs Enforcement using megaphones. At one point, the protesters burned what seemed to be an American flag on the building’s steps while chanting “Justice for Renee Good.”
The situation escalated when the protesters moved onto the plaza, confronting a small number of federal agents dressed in riot gear. The agents, equipped with crowd-control gear, urged the demonstrators to step back. An orange cone was seen rolling onto the plaza, prompting officers to begin firing munitions as they advanced toward the crowd. It remains unclear who threw the cone or why.
The injured protester, identified by other demonstrators and family members only as “K,” was visible in the video using a megaphone alongside others outside the building, where several officers in riot gear were stationed. The officers approached and detained another protester, Katelyn Skye Seitz, as mentioned in a federal criminal complaint.
As “K” and other demonstrators stepped forward, shouting in response, an officer discharged a crowd-control weapon, hitting “K” from a short distance. “K” clutched his face and collapsed. Video footage shows an officer dragging “K” by the shirt across the ground as other demonstrators cried out, “leave him alone.” Following this, “K” was taken into the federal building, and later footage 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.
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