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posted by martyb on Thursday November 24 2016, @11:24AM   Printer-friendly
from the disproportionate-force dept.

Snopes reports

On 20 November 2016, the Dakota Access pipeline protests reached new proportions when an ongoing demonstration turned into a violent [assault on protesters by] law enforcement officials.

Pipeline protesters say 21-year-old Sophia Wilansky was critically injured when she was struck with a concussion grenade thrown by Morton County sheriff's deputies while she was handing out water. As a result, she has been hospitalized and now faces the prospect of having her left arm amputated.

On 21 November 2016, Wilansky's father, Wayne Wilansky, [...] told reporters that she may need as many as 20 surgeries and that, aside from her arm injury, Sophia had welts all over her body from being shot by rubber[-coated steel] bullets, and that it took hours for an ambulance to reach her because of roadblocks.

Heavy.com continues

A statement from The Standing Rock Medic & Healing Council stated:
"Sophia was heading to bring water to the unarmed people who were being attacked for several hours by Morton County Sheriff forces. The Morton County Sheriff's Department has stated that she was injured by a purported propane explosion that the Sheriff's Department claimed the unarmed people created.

"These statements are refuted by Sophia's testimony, by several eye-witnesses who watched police intentionally throw concussion grenades at unarmed people, by the lack of charring of flesh at the wound site, and by the grenade pieces that have been removed from her arm in surgery and will be saved for legal proceedings."

Snopes also notes:

A total of 26 protesters were hospitalized and more than 300 were injured.

Previously:
Water Cannons Used in Sub-Freezing Temperatures at Standing Rock


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  • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Thursday November 24 2016, @09:58PM

    by darkfeline (1030) on Thursday November 24 2016, @09:58PM (#432617) Homepage

    Flashbangs (stun grenades) are considerably safer than sting grenades precisely because they generally don't cause physical injury (barring coming into direct contact with the grenade, which will cause burns, or triggering epilepsy). The summary mentions concussion grenades, but I'm assuming that's a typo caused by ignorance. Concussion grenades are fully intended to be lethal.

    I'm not even sure why sting grenades exist. They're like a watered down version of frag grenades that don't reliably kill, say maybe 40% of the time.

    Of course, none of these, including stun grenades, are perfectly safe; they're called less-lethal for a reason (explicitly not non-lethal).

    In theory I'm okay with the police maintaining arms in the case of emergency (for example, zombies). In practice however...

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  • (Score: 2) by Bogsnoticus on Friday November 25 2016, @07:09AM

    by Bogsnoticus (3982) on Friday November 25 2016, @07:09AM (#432774)

    There is a logical, if nasty, reason why sting grenades exist.
    You kill a man with a grenade, you lessen the attacking force by 1. You wound a man with a grenade, you lessen the attacking force by the number of wounded, AND the number of unwounded who now have to treat and stabilise the wounded.

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