British photographer, 60, shot by police at LA protests

[highplainsdem]

Last edited Mon Jun 9, 2025, 12:36 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: The Times (UK)

A British photographer has undergone surgery after being shot by police while covering the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.

Nick Stern was hit with what doctors believe was a 14mm high-velocity “sponge bullet” that tore into his thigh while he was taking pictures of a stand-off between protesters and law enforcement on Saturday evening.

“I had a press ID round my neck, a large camera, a video camera … I was making a point of making myself visible as media,” he told The Times.

-snip-

With blood pouring from his leg, medics tied a tourniquet and piled on dressings. At the hospital, he underwent scans and X-rays. “The doctor came in and said, ‘There’s something in your leg, we’re not sure what it is.’ I said, ‘Is it shrapnel?’ He said, ‘Well, it’s about 40mm wide and 60mm long’, and I said ‘Ah … I know exactly what that is now’ and I explained and the doctor [said], ‘Yeah, that’s it’.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/nick-stern-shot-la-riots-british-photographer-ftk9sh22x

---

Important note: The word "riots" was used ONLY in the headline, not in the story, or by the photographer, Nick Stern, as far as I can tell. Misleading headline.
Note on the note above, added 8 hours after posting this story. The word "riots" in the original headline was changed to "protests" sometime before reply 40 was posted, so I'm correcting "British photographer, 60, shot by police at LA riots" to "British photographer, 60, shot by police at LA protests" - and the original link using the word "riots" still works.

Stern had taken photos of two women waving a Mexican flag, their backs to him as they stood facing a line of sheriff's deputies down the street. He had turned and was walking away from the women and deputies when he was shot.

He said that from what he'd seen earlier, he felt what the police were doing with flash-bangs, rubber bullets, pepper bullets and sponge rounds "was indiscriminate targeting of everybody who’s at the protests."

[enid602]

1. Bill

Poor guy will probably have a heart attack once he sees his hospital bill.

[Orrex]

15. It's a shame he wasn't a terrorist shot while breaking into the capitol

Then his family would be in line for $30M.

[IronLionZion]

17. They're super efficient with our tax dollars like that

[Bayard]

2. That will be a shot heard round the world

[underpants]

3. A tourniquet? It doesn't seem to be limb losing from what I'm reading.

Sean Taylor was a franchise safety (10+ years typically) who confronted an intruder in his house in 2007. He was 24. The kid who broke into his house shot him in the leg at it hit the femoral artery. He never had a chance at that point.

[GiqueCee]

9. Even of the bleeding is not arterial...

... if it's heavy, a tourniquet is appropriate. Better safe than sorry.

[underpants]

21. Are there degrees of tourniquets? I honestly don't know.

We trained on tourniquets in the Army. I thought it was end-stage stuff or at least preventing end-stage. Looking back, we trained on tourniquets a lot. Probably twice a year. Probably not just technical (not complicated) but mental - to make sure you’ve thought about doing this. Such was the nature of the job.

[Srkdqltr]

24. Now we are questioning wound care from our screens? Seriously?

[underpants]

26. As I posted above," tourniquet" was life changing from what I understood in

[Akakoji]

31. SOP in combat and situations just like this.

A tourniquet is applied to stop bleeding when you really have no idea of the victim’s circumstances, health history, and extent of injury. I’d say it has to come off within 60 minutes, although no really serious repercussions like permanent nerve damage, necrosis manifest until 2 hours.

[IbogaProject]

35. 1.75 x 2.36 inches

That is a large object to have pierce the skin.

[moniss]

4. Targeting/suppression of media is an old playbook and is obviously prevalent

In Israel and the West Bank and Gaza.

[Clouds Passing]

5. Looks like the treasoners are using nittywittyhoohoo's playbook

[benpollard]

6. That's not surprising

The police intentionally shot reporters during the BLM protests. The truth makes the police look bad, so they're getting their revenge on reporters.

[Wisky64]

16. Exactly what they did in Minneapolis

The MPD special tactics Gus were driving around in unmarked vans shooting supposedly non lethal rounds at anyone and anywhere. They called it “plinking” They took bets from each other on whether they could hit a far distant citizen. They tried to plink a black fellow but missed. The guy looked around and all he saw was an unmarked van with gun barrels sticking out. So he grabbed his real gun from his trunk and returned fire. He didn’t hit anything but MPD charged him with attempted murder. He was found not guilty at trial but you can see the dichotomy between shooters.

[DENVERPOPS]

51. Sounds like the DPD

in Denver during the BLM demonstrations......The Denver City Council paid out millions and millions in settlements for Police Brutality.
The DPD was shooting the rubber bullets directly at people, not at the ground in front of them as told in the manufacturers directions of allowable uses. Many got hit in the torso some in the face.
The metal tear gas grenades that are launched from a gun that are supposed to be shot way up in the air, and come down in the crowd? A DPD officer shot one directly at a persons FACE........Fracturing his facial bones and causing him to lose an eye......
There are many good cops on the DPD......and some not.
Both Denver City Council and Aurora City Council have paid out tens of millions for settlements of Police Brutality. In one case in Aurora, Aurora PD and Paramedics literally euthanized a young black guy, who was just walking down the street with his can of pop. Two? APD and Two? Aurora Paramedics were charged with Felonies, but I believe only two received prison sentences.......
The Colorado State Patrol who were at the Denver BLM, saw what the Denver Cops were doing, and got between the DPD and the protestors, turned their backs to the DPD attempting to shield the people, and told the Demonstrators to run.
The Colorado State Patrol officers are at a whole higher level above the City LEO's

[Reader Rabbit]

7. Was it LAPD, or ICE?

Article didn’t seem to specify (although I am trying to read in a very distracting environment).

[highplainsdem]

12. It says sheriff's deputies.

[yellowcanine]

46. Sheriff's deputies or Proud Boys?

[highplainsdem]

47. Real deputies. LA County.

[Vinca]

8. Come to America! The police will shoot you, too!

[AntiFascist]

10. I was in LA during the '92 riots....these minor skirmishes are not the same thing! n/t

[stillcool]

11. seems like yesterday...

Feds Promise to Force Officers to Wear Name Tags but Otherwise Settle BLM Lafayette Square Lawsuit ‘Without Any Admission of Liability’
Aaron KellerApr 13th, 2022, 6:37 pm

Two federal agencies have agreed to settle a civil lawsuit by protesters and activists who were forced out of Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. on June 1, 2020, while protesting the death of George Floyd, Jr., the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

It then noted that the DOJ later “officially acknowledged that Defendant Barr ordered Lafayette Square cleared minutes before the assault started.”

“Defendant Barr issued this order following a series of statements from Defendant Trump in the days and hours leading up to this attack in which he clearly threatened to use and encouraged violence against protesters,” the lawsuit alleged
-------------
“The federal government is committed to the highest standards for protecting civil rights and civil liberties in any federal law enforcement response to public demonstrations,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement. “These changes to agency policies for protest responses will strengthen our commitment to protecting and respecting constitutionally protected rights.”

https://www.motherjones.com/anti-racism-police-protest/2021/06/photoessay-eyes-shot-police-brutality-protests/
The Shot in the Eye Squad
After losing a retina to “less lethal” police munitions during a George Floyd protest, I decided to start a club.
Photos and Interviews by Wil Sands
June 2, 2021
It’s been a year since I was shot in the face with a tear gas canister. I remember hearing the shot. When I close my eyes I can still see the spinning aluminum canister flying toward me. Like ripples in a puddle the impact rolled through my eye, instantaneously detaching my retina. It was the eye I used to create, to document, to share—a photographer’s eye—but now all I could see through it were dancing shards of light on a background of emptiness.

I was near Lafayette Square in Washington, DC, photographing the protests that had erupted in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd. But my mind immediately went to Chile, to the work I had done there in 2019, to the dozens of eyes I saw destroyed during protests in that country, and others. In that moment I knew exactly what my injury could mean.

By September 2020 at least 23 people had been blinded or partially blinded by “less lethal” munitions used by the police to disperse protests across the country. Blinding by cop, largely an international phenomenon, had arrived in force in the United States. While calls for bans on these weapons have led to limited prohibitions of their use, most police departments continue to see “less lethal” weapons as legitimate tools for crowd control.

?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=644%2C362&ssl=1

[taxi]

13. Here is more information about what a sponge round is.

40 by 60 mm is more than 1-1/2" by 2-1/4, or about the size of a bottle of aspirin. As the excerpt below states, this device is meant to incapacitate agressive, non-compliant subjects [like the press according to our current administration]

The 40mm eXact iMpact™ Sponge Round is a “point-of-aim, point-of-impact” direct fire round
that is most commonly used by tactical teams in situations where maximum deliverable
energy is desired for the incapacitation of an aggressive, non-compliant subject. In many
municipalities, these are being selected for both tactical call outs and as an available option
for patrol.

(emphasis mine)

https://www.defense-technology.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/40mm-eXact-iMpact-Sponge-Round-6325.pdf

[Marthe48]

22. Thank you

for the information. My grandson shot me with a Nerf bullet when he was a lot younger. It hit my back and stung. I can't imagine a larger missile aimed at and hitting a more vulnerable area.

[alfredo]

27. Your good ole rubber bullet

[taxi]

28. A device designed to be as close to lethal as possible.

There is a reason that limits are placed on things like scuba tanks, oxygen breathing apparatus, vehicle speeds, and exposure limits. There is a term for when something kills 50% of the time, but I can't remember what it is. This clearly may or may not kill someone. It depends on who, how, and where a person is hit. Will it kill an fetus? How about a baby or a child? A person with heart trouble? Balance issues?
Let me just say it. This is a deadly weapon. It's just not deadly 100% of the time.

[intrepidity]

37. LD50? nt

[taxi]

43. Thank you !

After several search attempts I had to accept trying to find the term LD50 wasn't as easy as it once was.

[C Moon]

42. And they love it.

[Blue Jean]

34. Exactly The Kind That The Capitol Police

Were NOT allowed to use in the Capitol Riot. If the Capitol cops had been allowed to “hit ‘em with the 40s”, then Trump’s rioters would not have been able to ransack the Capitol.

But “the 40s” were with held from the Capitol Police, because Trump’s rioters are delicate and bruise easily. 🫤

[taxi]

44. It's upsidedown world now.

What kind of stable genius gets this association wrong?

Choose the aggressive, non-compliance group:
a - Retreating reporters
b - Brutal invaders destroying public property

[sheshe2]

14. From the article:

“They’re supposed to shoot the ground in front of people, not target individuals — but this hit me directly. There was no group to disperse at that point, I can’t explain why they even fired,” he said.

[highplainsdem]

23. Thanks!

[4catsmom]

25. they're psychos and bullies

and chomping at the bit to shoot unarmed protesters and bystanders. But not armed protesters and bystanders. That would be too scary.

[IronLionZion]

18. There was plenty of that in 2020 George Floyd protests

they deliberately targeted journalists and cameramen. Lots of footage of it.

What are you going to do, call the police?

[chia]

19. Said Stern: "I wouldn't be surprised if they start firing live rounds over people's heads next."

I won't be surprised if they aren't *over* people's heads.
Stay safe out there.

[3825-87867]

20. Roberts! THIS IS ON YOU ALONE!

He needs to be reminded of this in every possible way. Everywhere he goes he needs to meet protestors.
If there is any blood, it's because of Roberts.
Never let him or the families and friends and business acquaintences of those who ruled for this forget this during their lifetimes.
One intentionally fucked up ruling by 6 people who should know better but are accomplices.
And IF there are ever elections again, there should NEVER be any Republican or Conservative Democrat elected to ANY political position...EVER!
And to those here who tried to be oh so legal goodies defending the likes of Garland and his ilk...you really should never post here again. You had to follow the law yet even when they didn't, you made pseudo patriotic excuses pretending we're a country of "laws." Tell that to Miller, the Heritage Foundation and each of those incompetents appointed by a psvchotic along with those who agreed with him.
Shame on you forever.

[wolfie001]

38. Please don't leave his Clara Petrucci wife out of this

She's assisting him in every way possible as a former RW kook lawyer. *from a Politico article

[rickyhall]

29. IDEA: STOP SHOOTING PROTESTERS

I remember Watts and I was a little kid.

[SheltieLover]

30. Wtaf????

[DENVERPOPS]

32. Better than the BLM peaceful demonstration in Denver

When the DPD fired the Rubber Projectiles at the demonstrators faces, and also shot a metal tear gas canister at a demonstrators face.

The Denver City Council is paying out a fortune in settlements for the DPD's Police Brutality claims......

[SalamanderSleeps]

33. "sponge bullet?" Isn't that just another name for "Nerf Nuke?"

[wolfie001]

36. Bonafide nat-ZEE terror unleashed by the orange fatso imbecile

We're at that point in time. What's next from these sick, racist f6cks?

[dawgdan]

39. Quit shooting Membes of the Press

Members of the press are there to record events, nothing more. They are not there for target practice.

[vanlassie]

40. I have looked and not seen the word "Riots."

Perhaps it has been changed? Do you have a photo of your source? Just curious.

[highplainsdem]

41. That one word was changed. As you'll see if you look at the link, which was not changed, they used

the word "riots" originally. I've edited the OP.

I have no idea when they made the change. Your reply here was more than 7 hours after I posted the story. They probably heard from people who disagreed with their original word choice.

It isn't unusual for newspapers to change headlines, sometimes more than a day after publication.

Anyway, thanks for pointing that out!

[jayschool2013]

45. I'm not looking forward to dusting off those 2020 lessons

to my journalism students about how to survive as a reporter or photojournalist in a police state.

But here we are.

Simply "making a point of making myself visible as media" is not only ineffective, it likely puts an even bigger bullseye on your back.

[Old Crank]

48. That is at least 2 press people shot.

Are they are learning from Israel and how they treat the press in Gaza where there seems to be a large number of press members killed or injured. Even with ID and equipment.

[highplainsdem]

49. Yes. I posted about the Australian journalist hit with a rubber bullet while she was doing a live

broadcast. Fortunately she was just badly bruised, not wounded.

That post in GD:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220378456

[Old Crank]

50. I would submit that suffering

a bad bruise is being wounded.
Severe bruising in a limb can result in circulatory problems.

[Martin68]

52. This has got to stop.