SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Video of a Sacramento police response to a shooting prompted some strong criticism from Black Lives Matter Sacramento, but some experts aren't sharing that critique.
On Saturday evening, Sacramento police responded to shots fired on Martin Luther King Blvd. and Broadway in Oak Park.
A bystander recorded the interaction on Facebook Live, where it received more than 28,000 views before being taken down. The video showed two young Black men lying on the ground with their undergarments exposed as paramedics arrived at the scene. Police said the victims were later taken to local hospitals and were in stable condition.
"What really infuriated me when I saw the video was how the police were handling them and their bodies," said Tanya Faison, Black Lives Matter Sacramento founder. "Everybody knows that if you have a wound that you're bleeding out of that you're not supposed to move somebody."
On Sunday afternoon, Faison posted a call out to protest on the Black Lives Matter Sacramento Instagram account.
"It's like, if they're not killing us, they're killing us," Faison said. "They're not having any care for our bodies, and I know they wouldn't handle everyone's bodies that way. So, it's disappointing and it's really sad to watch and I'm sick of it."
Several protesters gathered in front of the Sacramento Police Department on Richards Blvd. around 2 p.m. on Sunday.
In a statement to ABC10, Sacramento Police Department said they responded quickly to the shooting and immediately starting giving aid.
Police also responded directly to the video of the police response.
"In the video you referenced, officers are rendering aid and attempting to locate any other wounds that could be on the victims’ body," the department said in a statement. "The video you reference indicates that fire personnel arrived on scene around the 1 minute and 15 second mark when bystanders say, 'The ambulance is right here.' You can then see fire personnel take over medical aid."
Faison said the incident further pushes BLM Sacramento's call out for police reform.
"The community needs to build our own resources because the one's that have been made for us don't care about us," Faison said.
ABC10 spoke with a retired EMT to get more perspective on what is seen in the video. Marianne Pizzitola, a retired Fire Department New York EMT with 15 years of experience, said police acted quickly and correctly stabilized the shooting victims.
She said an officer is holding each victim's head, while another appears to look for entrance and exit wounds and other injuries. She said getting clothes off is important to find injuries in a gunshot call.
"You never know what you'll find. Bullets are known to ricochet off bones and come out in weird places," Pizzitola said, adding that the victims could have had a broken bone from either the bullet or a fall.
She also noted that, as one victim's mouth fills up with blood, the officer turns him so he wouldn't choke on it.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing, police said.
On July 15th, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra released sweeping statewide reforms and Mayor Darrell Steinberg announced city-wide policies on policing.
The developments came in the wake of mass protests across the state and country, demanding action against police brutality following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
"I think what [Mayor Steinberg] proposed he's going to do is more of the same," Faison said. "It's a facade of change and it's not actual change and we need real change."
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