British photojournalist hit by non lethal rounds during Los Angeles protests
Nick Stern, a British news photographer based in Los Angeles, is set to undergo emergency surgery for a wound sustained during the standoff between police and anti-Ice protesters in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Stern told the Guardian he had been covering the protest near a branch of Home Depot in Paramount, where immigrants workers are typically hired for day work, when he felt a sharp pain in his leg.
'I'm walking around taking photos and was untouched until around 9pm. I was walking across the road when I felt a mighty pain in my leg. I put my hand down and felt a lump kind of sticking out the back of my leg,' he said.
Stern believes he was likely hit my a non-lethal round that deputies were using along with flash-bang stun grenades for crowd control.
'People came over to help and got me on the curb. A medic was called, who cut off my clothes. In my leg was what felt like a five centimeter hole with muscle hanging out of it and blood all down my leg. The medic put a tourniquet on it, and a journalist I was with took me to ER.'
'It hurt so much that I thought they might be firing live rounds,' he said. 'I've been with non lethal rounds before. They hurt like hell but generally don't break the skin. But the blood made me think it was a live round.'
Stern is currently at the trauma center at Long Beach Memorial awaiting surgery. A doctor who looked at his X-rays said the dimensions of his wound indicated he had been struck by a non-lethal round.
The LA county sheriff's department deployed more than 100 deputies in response to the protest. Sheriff Robert Luna estimated that the crowd grew to about 350 to 400 people and said it had become violent, with some of the protesters throwing objects at federal agents and law enforcement officers.
During the protest police deployed teargas and other munitions.
'Anybody has the right to peacefully assemble, and exercise their first amendment rights, but when that crosses the line to where you are attacking other people, utilizing violence, or any destruction of property, that's where we as a department has to step in, warn people, and people may get arrested,' said Luna.
'Deputies will be defending themselves. I don't think anybody expects our deputy sheriffs to take rocks and bottles without defending themselves.'
Stern said protesters appeared to be 'very angry' and chanting slogans including 'Ice out of LA!'
'There's a lot of large Hispanic population in Paramount,' Stern said. 'They gave the impression from what they were chanting that it was their town and they didn't want Ice there.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
33 minutes ago
- The Sun
Actor Jared Leto denies historical claims of sexual misconduct from nine women
ACTOR Jared Leto has denied historical claims of sexual misconduct. The star, 53, was accused by nine women, including some who were teenagers at the time. But he has rebuffed the Air Mail report in which model Laura La Rue said she was just 16 when the then 36-year-old began messaging her. Describing a visit to his home, she said: 'He was flirting with me. "He'd lean in close, then pull away.' She says he later emerged from a room naked. La Rue said: 'I thought maybe this was just what adult men do.' He is also the frontman to rock band Thirty Seconds To Mars. His representative said: 'Their communications contain nothing sexual or inappropriate and Ms La Rue later applied to work as his personal assistant.' La Rue denied she ever applied for the job. Jared Leto's band Thirty Seconds To Mars perform Closer To The Edge 1
Reuters
36 minutes ago
- Reuters
Explainer: Does U.S. law allow Trump to send troops to quell protests?
June 8 - President Donald Trump has deployed National Guard troops to California after two days of protests by hundreds of demonstrators against immigration raids, saying that the protests interfered with federal law enforcement and framing them as a possible 'form of rebellion, opens new tab' against the authority of the U.S. government. California Governor Gavin Newsom on Sunday said he had formally requested that the Trump Administration rescind "its unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles County" and return them to his command. Trump cited Title 10 of the U.S. Code, a federal law that outlines the role of the U.S. Armed Forces, in his June 7 order to call members of the California National Guard into federal service. A provision of Title 10 - Section 12406, opens new tab - allows the president to deploy National Guard units into federal service if the U.S. is invaded, there is a 'rebellion or danger of rebellion' or the president is 'unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.' WHAT ARE NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS ALLOWED TO DO UNDER THE LAW CITED IN TRUMP'S ORDER? An 1878 law, the Posse Comitatus Act, generally forbids the U.S. military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement. Section 12406 does not override that prohibition, but it allows the troops to protect federal agents who are carrying out law enforcement activity and to protect federal property. For example, National Guard troops cannot arrest protesters, but they could protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who are carrying out arrests. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to assembly, freedom of speech and the press. Experts have said that Trump's decision to have U.S. troops respond to protests is an ominous sign for how far the president is willing to go to repress political speech and activity that he disagrees with or that criticizes his administration's policies. Four legal experts from both left- and right-leaning advocacy organizations have cast doubt on Trump's use of Title 10 in response to immigration protests calling it inflammatory and reckless, especially without the support of California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who has said Trump's actions would only escalate tensions. The protests in California do not rise to the level of 'rebellion' and do not prevent the federal government from executing the laws of the United States, experts said. Title 10 also says "orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States," but legal experts said that language might not be an obstacle. Legislative history suggests that those words were likely meant to reflect the norms of how National Guard troops are typically deployed, rather than giving a governor the option to not comply with a president's decision to deploy troops. California could file a lawsuit, arguing that deployment of National Guard troops was not justified by Title 10 because there was no 'rebellion' or threat to law enforcement. A lawsuit might take months to resolve, and the outcome would be uncertain. Because the protests may be over before a lawsuit is resolved, the decision to sue might be more of a political question than a legal one, experts said. Trump could take a more far-reaching step by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1792, which would allow troops to directly participate in civilian law enforcement, for which there is little recent precedent. Casting protests as an 'insurrection' that requires the deployment of troops against U.S. citizens would be riskier legal territory, one legal expert said, in part because mostly peaceful protests and minor incidents aren't the sort of thing that the Insurrection Act were designed to address. The Insurrection Act has been used by past presidents to deploy troops within the U.S. in response to crises like the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the immediate aftermath of the American Civil War. The law was last invoked by President George H.W. Bush in 1992, when the governor of California requested military aid to suppress unrest in Los Angeles following the Rodney King trial. But, the last time a president deployed the National Guard in a state without a request from that state's governor was 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson sent troops to protect civil rights demonstrators in Montgomery, Alabama.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
AP PHOTOS: Portugal beats Spain to win the Nations League
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference.
