CJ Johnson was just trying to get to his car when he encountered a line of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers near the corner of Spring Street and Temple Street in front of City Hall, firing less-lethal munitions at a group of protesters.
Johnson wasn’t in Downtown that day to march in the No Kings Day demonstration that attracted tens of thousands of protesters; he had just finished helping a friend with some skateboard videography.
After Johnson turned around to try to find another way to his car, he was shot in his left hand just above his wrist.
“[They] literally shot me in my hand while my back was turned," Johnson told L.A. TACO during a June interview.
After being hit, Johnson dropped his skateboard, then picked it up and ran towards the first street medic that he saw.
There was “blood everywhere,” he recalled. “On my shirt, on my pants, on my body, on my skateboard.”
The medic wrapped Johnson's hand in several layers of gauze and advised him to go to the hospital to get stitches.
After being bandaged up, Johnson arrived at his car on his skateboard, sweaty, dirty, and bloodied, still trying to figure out his next move. The severity of his injury hadn’t fully registered.
“I was trying to comprehend, like, what my next steps would be, because I still needed to somehow make it out of the Downtown area,” Johnson said.
Later that evening, he drove himself to Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina. There, hospital staff treated him with “urgency” and “great care,” despite having a full waiting room, he said.
“They also were like, ‘This is definitely one of the craziest hand injury situations they've ever seen,’” Johnson recalled.
Johnson described the gash that the projectile left on his left hand as being like “a crater.” At 27 years old, he’d never experienced an injury so severe.
“I've never lost this type of blood from my body, I’ve never had a major injury,” he said. “Like I never had stitches, never broke a bone type thing.”
Johnson was referred to a hand surgeon, but because he’s without health insurance, he says he currently doesn’t have the means to pay to see a hand specialist. He was laid off from an accounting job in April, and even using his hand to search for a new job has been difficult.
Johnson left Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital with eight stitches in his hand. Weeks after being shot, he says that his hand is “still extremely numb,” and it’s been difficult to grip things and take care of basic needs, such as washing his hands and putting lotion on his body.
Johnson has a tough time wrapping his head around the reality that his “life is changed forever.”
“Due to the injuries and type of trauma at the time, [emergency room staff] weren’t really able to tell me anything at the moment because I couldn’t move my hand, I couldn’t move my fingers, [and the] swelling was extremely bad,” Johnson explained.
Before leaving the hospital he was advised to take medication and to try to “keep his hand up as much as possible,” and then see how he felt in two weeks.
“And yeah, we’re [at] two weeks and it’s still not good,” Johnson told L.A. TACO in June.
Johnson was referred to a hand surgeon, but because he’s without health insurance, he says he currently doesn’t have the means to pay to see a hand specialist. He was laid off from an accounting job in April, and even using his hand to search for a new job has been difficult.
In a written statement to L.A. TACO, a spokesperson for the LAPD said, “The Los Angeles Police Department is currently investigating several incidents related to the June 14 protest activity. Since these investigations are ongoing, we are unable to provide additional information at this time.”
“Unfortunately, I can't immediately confirm if the one you are inquiring about is among those,” the spokesperson continued. “If the person in the story has not already reported the incident to the LAPD, we would encourage them to contact the LAPD Professional Standards Bureau.”
“We remain committed to a thorough review of all related matters and appreciate your understanding,” they concluded.
In an earlier statement, the LAPD said that 35 people were arrested on various charges during the No Kings Day protest and 12 officers were injured. In an interview with KCAL news, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that the No Kings day protest remained peaceful during the beginning of the day, “but by mid-afternoon or so then it got violent when you had the agitators in the group start assaulting officers with missiles, rocks, bottles, fireworks.”
CJ Johnson is one of several people who LAPD officers reportedly injured during the mainly peaceful No Kings Day protest on June 14, a day that brought tens of thousands of anti-Trump protesters to Downtown.
Tattoo artist Bridgette Covelli was riding an electric bike towards her car, away from Los Angeles police officers, when she was also struck by a “less-lethal” projectile in her arm, according to an attorney representing Covelli. The impact from the “less-lethal” munition fractured her dominant forearm.
That same day, 27-year-old Jack Kearns was shot in the back of the head with a 40mm hard-foam “less-lethal” round. Kearns spent three days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), according to a lawsuit filed by Kearns against the LAPD.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies also injured protesters. Sergio Espejo, a 33-year-old data engineer, lost part of his finger after a flashbang grenade hit his hand and detonated on impact.
The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) told Fox 11 that the No Kings Day protest started peacefully but took a turn when "agitators became assaultive, throwing rocks and bottles at personnel in the afternoon."
Johnson says it’s unfortunate to see the unity between different groups of people at protests be stifled by “the people that are supposed to be protecting us.”
“Why can’t we have this moment of togetherness?” Johnson wonders.
But he recognizes that it’s often in difficult times that people put their differences aside and come together.
“People like Trump are what really brings humanity together, sad to say,” Johnson said. “This isn't about Black or white, or political parties, this is about humans.”
