Bodycam Footage Shows LAPD Cop Shooting Foam-Covered Bullet at BLM Protester’s Groin, Hitting Testicles

Police are now investigating the officer's actions.

According to the Daily Mail:

California police have released bodycam footage that shows a Black Lives Matter protester being shot in the groin with a foam bullet during a march in Los Angeles.

The video shows 28-year-old photographer Ben Montemayor being shot by a 40mm foam pellet gun along Hollywood Boulevard on June 20.

Montemayor has already announced his intention to sue the LAPD, saying he required emergency surgery when one of his testicles swelled to twice its normal size after he was shot.

Police subsequently announced their own investigation into the shooting.  

The bodycam footage was released Friday, as part of the police probe.

The footage shows a group of officers who were sent to tackle protesters who were gathering on part of Hollywood Boulevard on June 20.

In the video, officers run towards a junction of Hollywood Boulevard and another street as bottles are thrown at them, and attempt to clear the activists away.

Two protesters can be seen standing on the crosswalk holding a banner, one of whom has his hands raised in the air.

Officers take the banner away and push the man with his hands up away from the crossing. He takes a single step towards the officers, and is shot in the groin.

Montemayor told the LA Times that he was trying to help up a friend who had been pushed to the ground when he was shot.

He said fellow protesters helped him away from the scene, and that afterwards he went to hospital when one of his testicles swelled to twice its normal size.

He was taken in for emergency surgery which lasted around three hours in an attempt to preserve his ability to have children.

Montemayor has said he intends to file a lawsuit, and referred all questions to attorney Dan Stormer.

He described the shooting as a 'brutal assault' and said the video shows that 'in some ways, it's even worse than we thought.'

Dismissing the police investigation, he said the department were simply covering their own backs 'to protect themselves from the lawsuit that is coming'.

LAPD policy states that crowd-control weapons, such as foam bullets, should only be used on people that are more than five feet away.

The incident quickly went viral on social media after it happened.

During the height of the BLM protests and riots, police officers began using crowd control equipment (such as rubber bullets) to help keep things from getting out of hand.

Apparently, the situation in LA isn't the first time this happened.

A similar incident happened in Pennsylvania.

The BLM protester has threatened to sue the LAPD.

It is currently unclear whether the lawsuit has actually been filed.

The New York Post has more details on what happened last June:

Newly released bodycam video shows a Los Angeles police officer firing a foam-coated projectile at a man’s groin in June, during city-wide protests over the death of George Floyd.

The footage, released by the LAPD on Friday, shows cops in riot gear moving in to take control of a Hollywood intersection amid an anti police-brutality demonstration on June 2.

One officer yanks a sign out of the hands of a protester, who puts his hands up as another cop pushes him backwards, the video shows.

A third cop then shoots a 40-millimeter projectile at the protester’s crotch at close range.

The department said it launched an investigation into the use-of-force incident on Aug. 19, in response to a Los Angeles Times story and an Instagram post from the protester.

Ben Montemayor, a 28-year-old filmmaker, told the Times he suffered serious injuries to his testicles, with one swelling to twice its usual size, as a result of being shot. He said he was rushed into emergency surgery to preserve his ability to have children.

Montemayor has said he intends to file a lawsuit against the LAPD.

For an in-depth analysis of the body-cam footage, we recommend watching the video below: