Pregnant St. Louis woman loses left eye after police officer shoots non-lethal round at car
A pregnant St. Louis woman lost her left eye after a violent run-in with law enforcement earlier this week.
Dornnella Conners says an officer fired a non-lethal bean-bag round at the car she was in – shattering the passenger side window.
Shards of glass bloodied her face and robbed her of sight in her left eye, according to reports.
“I will have justice for what they did to me but I’m happy I’m alive,” she wrote on Facebook on Thanksgiving.
Conners was injured early Tuesday morning shortly after the announcement that Darren Wilson would not be indicted in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Crowds of demonstrators had taken to the streets to protest what they consider a travesty of justice.
Conners, who was angry about the grand jury’s decision, and her boyfriend, De’Angelas Lee, were parked at a BP gas station on New Halls Ferry Road in St. Louis, just north of Ferguson,KMOV reported.
As her boyfriend started to drive away, she says, several police officers arrived.
“They pulled up while we were coming towards the street, De’Anglas was trying to get away, they blocked us from the side, front and back,” Conners told the CBS affiliate.
That’s when an officer fired the bean bag round because he feared for his safety, police said.
Conners found another officer who could help her get medical attention.
Dornella’s father, Donnell Conners, says he understands that the cops have a difficult job to do but there was no excuse for what happened to his daughter.
“I’m very upset, very disappointed with tactics that they used trying to get control of situation,” he told KMOV. “I understand tough job, I understand that it was chaos, there was no reason to fire upon innocent person sitting in a vehicle.”
Conners says her left eye was so badly damaged that it needed to be removed and reports blurriness in her right eyes but is thankful she can still see the world at all.
Police say they arrested 16 suspects at the station after gunshots were reportedly fired.
Authorities have issued a warrant for Lee’s arrest, according to reports.
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