LAPD releases video after man accuses officer of shooting him in the head with projectile at protest
FAIRFAX DISTRICT, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The LAPD has released video of an incident involving a man who has accused police of shooting him in the head with rubber bullets during a protest in the Fairfax District.
According to the LAPD, an officer's body-camera footage shows C.J. Montano and other demonstrators on a street on May 30. Montano is seen raising his hands in the air before being struck, then getting back up and running off.
According to the the LAPD, officers fired upon the crowd after protesters threw objects at them.
Montano, a Marine Corps veteran, said he was hospitalized with serious injuries after the incident.
Marine vet injured by police rubber bullets at Fairfax protest
Speaking to ABC7 from his hospital bed on June 2, he confirmed that some people threw bottles and other objects at officers at the scene. Montano said he tried to talk to officers to offer to help calm down the crowd, but was shot with rubber bullets in the abdomen, chest and face.
"I'm on blood thinners, so I started leaking blood pretty bad," he said. "This one gentleman, I don't know his name. I had my arm around him. He carried me a block away."
The incident is being investigated by the department's Force Investigation Division, officials said.
The LAPD said Montano has not been cooperating with investigators. ABC7 reached out to him for comment after the bodycam video was made public.
"I'm not trying to go out there to harm anyone or bring a bad name to police officers," Montano said on June 2. "But I'm trying to bring good to the people that deserve it."
