Prepared
by Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council at the Standing
Rock Dakota Access Pipeline Resistance Camps
On
November 21st as a direct result of the violent police
response at Standing Rock towards unarmed people opposing the
Dakota Access Pipeline, a 21 year old woman from New York
City, Sophia Wilansky, was severely injured when a concussion
grenade thrown by police hit her left arm and exploded. 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.
Sophia
was safely taken out of North Dakota for emergent surgery and
is currently in stable condition. Below is her statement as
conveyed by her father, lawyer Wayne Wilansky.
“
At
around 4:30am after the police hit the bridge with water
cannons and rubber bullets and pepper spray they lobbed a
number of concussion grenades which are not supposed to be
thrown at people directly at protesters or protectors as they
want to be called. A grenade exploded right as it hit Sophia
in the left forearm taking most of the undersurface of her
left arm with it. Both her radial and ulnar artery were
completely destroyed. Her radius was shattered and a large
piece of it is missing. Her medial nerve is missing a large
section as well. All of the muscle and soft tissue between
her elbow and wrist were blown away. The police did not do
this by accident - it was an intentional act of throwing it
directly at her. Additionally police were shooting people in
face and groin intending to do the most possible damage.
Sophia will have surgery again tomorrow as bit by bit they try
to rebuild a somewhat functioning arm and hand. The first
surgery took a vein from her leg which they have implanted in
her arm to take the place of the missing arteries. She will
need multiple surgeries to try to gain some functional use of
the arm and hand. She will be, every day for the foreseeable
future, fearful of losing her arm and hand. There are no words
to describe the pain of watching my daughter cry and say she
was sorry for the pain she caused me and my wife. I died a
thousand deaths today and will continue to do so for quite
some time. I am left without the right words to describe the
anguish of watching her look at her now alien arm and hand.”
A
fund set up by friends and verified to help with Sophia’s
recovery is set up here:
The
Standing Rock Medic Healer Council deplores the ongoing use of
violence by the state of North Dakota to address the concerns
of the thousands of people peacefully assembled at Standing
Rock to insist on the right to clean healthy drinking water.
Water
is Life, Mni Wiconi
Signed,
Linda
Black Elk, PhD, Ethnobotanist, Sitting Bull College
Michael
Knudsen, MPH candidate, Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council
Noah
Morris, EMT
Amelia
Massucco, RN
John
Andrews, RN
Kristina
Golden, EMT, herbalist
Sebastian
Rodriguez, RN
Rosemary
Fister, RN, MNPHN, DNP Candidate
Rupa
Marya, MD, DoNoHarm Coalition, University of California – San
Francisco
David
Kingfisher, MD, JD, Wichita State University
Jesse
Lopez, MD, Heartland Surgical Care
Kalama
O Ka Aina Niheu, MD, Aha Aloha Aina
Howard
Ehrman, MD, MPH, University of Illinois - Chicago
Geeta
Maker-Clark, MD, University of Chicago
Elizabeth
Friedman, MD
Vanessa
Bolin, ALS Paramedic
Contact:
Michael Knudsen, Medic Coordinator and Standing Rock Sioux
Tribe ethno-botanist Linda Black Elk, PhD – medichealercouncil@gmail.com
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