Another Photographer Struck by Rubber Bullets During LA Protests, This Time in the Eye

A photographer says he may never regain his sight after being shot in the eye with a rubber bullet by police while covering protests in Los Angeles over the weekend.

According to a report by NBC4 Los Angeles, 28-year-old photographer Marshall Woodruff is recovering at Los Angeles General Medical Center after being struck in the eye on Saturday.

Woodruff was documenting demonstrations near LA City Hall, where around 30,000 people had gathered to protest President Trump and his policies. The photographer says the rally was peaceful until tensions escalated and police began firing rubber bullets.

At around 5 P.M., officers from the Los Angeles Police Department formed a line facing the crowd. It was then, Woodruff says, that rubber bullets hit his arm and right eye.

“They came in with horses and people almost got trampled. They were firing like 40 bullets in the span of like five seconds. I mean, it would — it sounded more like fireworks being rapidly shot off,” Woodruff tells NBC 4 Los Angeles.

“It sort of felt like I got slammed into the side of the head with a baseball thrown by the world’s greatest pitcher. You just think to yourself, ‘I need to get out.’”

After being hit, Woodruff underwent surgery for five hours to reconstruct part of his eye.

“Even the doctors aren’t sure of just how much vision I’m going to be able to get back in my right eye,” the photographer says. “So, it’s just been a painful process.”

The Latest Photographer Injured at The L.A. Protests

This is at least the fourth incident in which a photographer has been injured by less-lethal weapons while covering the Los Angeles protests. It’s one of several cases where working journalists and photographers have been hurt by law enforcement.

An AFP photographer was also shot in the head by a rubber bullet during the Los Angeles protests on Saturday — while a New York Post photographer recorded himself getting shot in the head by a rubber bullet while above the 101 freeway — leaving a nasty bruise.

Meanwhile, photojournalist Nick Stern, was shot by a high-velocity sponge bullet that tore through his thigh. Stern needed emergency surgery after it left his muscle exposed and surgeons found a 40mm wide and 60mm long object in his leg which he suspects was a round that consisted of a sponge nose and a plastic body.

On Tuesday, Stern filed a civil rights claim against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, alleging that deputies violated a federal injunction by firing a projectile that seriously injured him.