LAPD Fires Nonlethal Projectiles Into Crowd of Protestors
For the second night in a row, a crowd gathered in Los Angeles to protest the fatal police shooting of a Guatemalan day laborer—but things quickly devolved as police fired "at least two volleys of nonlethal projectiles."
The protest was intended to express displeasure with the Sunday shooting death of 37-year-old Manuel Jamines, who was said to have been "threatening [police] and passersby with a switch-blade." When police declared the gathering an unlawful assembly around 9:30, some of the protestors began to throw things—rocks and bottles at the police.
The police responded with "nonlethal projectiles," and the demonstrators, "including families with children," ran. At least one person was hurt:
During the ruckus, witnesses said, a man fell off his bicycle and struck his head.
The 20-year-old, Jesus Alejandro Hernandez Carmona, was lying on the ground and bleeding profusely from the left side of his head....
Carmona was surrounded by a crowd, which was bookended by police lined up along 6th and Union on the east and Burlington Avenue on the west.
Los Angeles Fire Department ambulances were at the scene but were not crossing the police line. When asked by a reporter why the man was not receiving medical attention, a police commander said, "Tough."
That is not really something you want to hear a police commander say about a person bleeding profusely from his head! Especially not if he, say, worked for a department known for a culture of brutality and violence! Though it was maybe not the most WTF moment of the night (emphasis mine):
Several people, meanwhile, were shouting angrily into loudspeakers and a group of young men are weaving through the crowd on bicycles. A vendor hawked bags of potato chips.
Well. I suppose it's nice to have one's snack needs taken care of.