Severe injuries at Standing Rock reflect extreme level of police violence
An unarmed protester is in danger of losing her arm after injuries suffered at the hands of police in North Dakota; other injuries have been reported as well.
On November 21, 2016, U.S. law enforcement units violently attacked unarmed water protectors attempting to block construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) at Standing Rock, North Dakota. Police severely injured a 21-year-old woman from New York City, Sophia Wilansky, with a concussion grenade that hit her left arm and exploded. Other protectors were shot in the face and groin by police, and at least one tribal elder is in serious condition as a result of the assault.
According to members of The Standing Rock Medic Healer Council, Wilansky was attempting to bring water to unarmed protectors at the front line who had been suffering through several hours-worth of attacks by Morton County Sheriff Department forces.
“The Standing Rock Medic Healer Council deplores the ongoing use of violence by the state of North Dakota in addressing the concerns of the thousands of people peacefully assembled at Standing Rock to insist on the right to clean healthy drinking water,” wrote the group in a statement after the incident.
The Morton County Sheriff’s Department claims Wilansky was injured by a propane explosion that the department says was caused by the protectors. The police statement has been refuted by Wilansky’s testimony, by several eye-witnesses who watched police intentionally throw concussion grenades at unarmed people, through medical evidence (the lack of charring of flesh at the wound site), and through forensic evidence (grenade shards that have been removed from her arm in surgery and will be saved for legal proceedings)
Wilansky was safely taken out of North Dakota for emergency surgery and is currently in stable condition. Below is her statement as conveyed by her father, lawyer Wayne Wilansky:.
At around 4:30 a.m., after the police hit the bridge with water cannons and rubber bullets and pepper spray, they lobbed a number of concussion grenades (which are not supposed to be thrown at people directly) at protesters—or protectors as they want to be called. A grenade exploded right as it hit Sophia in the left forearm, taking most of the undersurface of her left arm with it. Both her radial and ulnar artery were completely destroyed. Her radius was shattered and a large piece of it is missing. Her medial nerve is missing a large section as well. All of the muscle and soft tissue between her elbow and wrist were blown away.
The police did not do this by accident. It was an intentional act of throwing it directly at her. Additionally police were shooting people in face and groin, intending to do the most possible damage.
Sophia will have surgery again tomorrow as, bit by bit, they try to rebuild a somewhat functioning arm and hand. The first surgery took a vein from her leg which they have implanted in her arm to take the place of the missing arteries. She will need multiple surgeries to try to gain some functional use of the arm and hand. She will be, every day for the foreseeable future, fearful of losing her arm and hand.
There are no words to describe the pain of watching my daughter cry and say she was sorry for the pain she caused me and my wife. I died a thousand deaths today and will continue to do so for quite some time. I am left without the right words to describe the anguish of watching her look at her now alien arm and hand.
A verified fund has been set up by friends to help with Wilansky’s recovery: https://www.gofundme.com/30aezxs
