LOS ANGELES (KTLA) A man who was out protesting against ICE raids in downtown Los Angeles this week spoke with affiliate KTLA after he says an officer’s close-range shot to his groin with a rubber bullet severely bruised one of his testicles and “shattered” the other.
“It sucks to sit down,” the 33-year-old demonstrator, Martin Santoyo, told KTLA.
Santoyo, who is now home from the hospital but still in recovery and unable to walk, said the incident happened on Monday in the area of Temple Street, just after he got off his bicycle within the crowd of protesters and law enforcement. He noted that before this happened, he did not hear any officers declaring an “unlawful gathering.”
He told KTLA that he was grabbing a water bottle from his backpack when authorities started pushing forward toward the group.
“Then they start shouting, ‘Move back!’ But I’m still fixing up my backpack and my bike, and then they just pushed me,” recounted Santoyo. “On instinct, I tell a cop, ‘Don’t push me, I’m already moving back.’ And then the cop right next to him had a gun and just aimed and shot.”
Santoyo said he would estimate that the officer who shot him was standing about two to three feet away from him, and shot him in the groin.
“After I got hit, I couldn’t really walk– I was too much in shock, and then they’re still pushing me,” said Santoyo. “Some other protesters were trying to help me walk, but they’re pushing them too, and everyone’s shouting, ‘Yo, he just got hit, let him breathe.’ I needed to sit down for a bit, but they kept pushing.”
Bystanders eventually helped Santoyo get medical attention, and he was ultimately taken to the hospital, where he had to undergo surgery for the injuries he sustained.
“I have a bruised left testicle and my right testicle was shattered,” Santoyo explained. “They say that they somewhat fixed it, so it should have some function, but it’s still very badly damaged.”
Doctors did not have a time estimate for his recovery, but they told Santoyo to return in about five to eight days to be seen again, and then they will assess how he’s doing and when he can return to work.
As for the protests he participated in before his injury, Santoyo said he went to have his voice heard and speak out for others.
“I went for the people that can’t, the people who are too scared to go. There are a lot of kids that I know who’ve lost their parents,” he said.
When reached for comment, Los Angeles police told KTLA it was unable to “confirm information” related to the alleged incident but said “all incidents involving the deployment of less lethal munitions will be investigated.”
Los Angeles police shared similar remarks last week when a West Hollywood woman was allegedly struck by a less-lethal round fired by an officer within a skirmish line. Another woman, who captured the moment on camera, said the West Hollywood woman was trying to get to her home beyond the line of officers.
Police told KTLA they were unable to confirm whether their officers were involved in the incident, but emphasized all use-of-force incidents involving less-lethal munitions would be investigated.
At a press conference on Friday, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell did not directly address the video, but said ongoing reviews would assess potential training, tactics, and equipment failures.
“These incidents are investigated thoroughly,” McDonnell said. “We’ll look and see are there training issues? Are there less-lethal issues that need to be addressed?”
Earlier this month, an Australian television journalist was hit in the leg by a nonlethal round Sunday while reporting live from downtown Los Angeles on the large-scale protests over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and subsequent deployment of California National Guard troops to the city.
Video of the incident released by 9News shows correspondent Lauren Tomasi, microphone in hand, reporting live when an officer behind her suddenly raises their firearm and fires a nonlethal round at close range. Tomasi, who doesn’t appear to be wearing personal protective equipment, cries out in pain and clutches her lower leg as she and her cameraman quickly move away from the police line.
Speaking later Monday to 9News, Tomasi confirmed she was safe and unharmed.
“I’m okay, my cameraman Jimmy and I are both safe. This is just one of the unfortunate realities of reporting on these kinds of incidents,” she said.
The Associated Press and KTLA’s Jesse Gill and Shelby Nelson contributed to this report.
