In response to my story gaining traction online, media reached out to the police department for comment.
"Astonishingly, local police are not just attempting to tell a different story about the incident. They're refusing to say it even happened at all," writes Fusion. "A spokeswoman for the Morton County Sheriff's Office told [Fusion] that, while officers are aware of the footage, they have no way to prove Schrode was actually shot. 'We don't even know if that's even true,' spokeswoman Donnell Preskey told [Fusion]. 'We're not confirming that that's even the case.'
In the video, a shot can clearly be heard ringing out. Schrode's camera is immediately sent haywire, and she cries out in pain. But Preskey said the video 'doesn't tell me anything.'"
Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier told a reporter for Outside Magazine that he believed the incident didn't happen. Lieutenant Tom Iverson, the North Dakota Highway Patrol Public Information Officer, said on local television that my video had "terrible optics" and "we are not aware of her being shot."
If police are actually unaware that a rubber bullet was discharged and struck an individual, that is a massive issue in and of itself.
I was hit by a ~37" millimeter rubber bullet, which is ironically referred to as "less lethal" force.
For every 90 people hit by a rubber bullet, 2 die, 18 suffer permanent disabilities, and 44 require hospital treatment, according to one study.
Where is the accountability? Especially given the fact that eyewitnesses say the rubber bullet was launched out of a grenade launcher, which is used for smoke or teargas to disperse crowds and designed to knock down doors from a 20-foot range.
A military expert said there is no standard training for that round at that range, only provided for last-resort self defense before bullets.
I will continue to stand in solidarity with my brothers and sisters at Standing Rock, though the thought of being within striking distance of police brings on a wave of terror in a way that it never did prior to Wednesday.
I can understand the trauma and PTSD of which the Native Americans speak, though mine is not compounded with the historic trauma of hundreds of years of attack and oppression by military forces.
I am nervous and on edge, though my fear is no where near on par with that of black men and women who face the omnipresent threat of violence at the hands of police.
I tremble and shutter at the sight of raised weapons or loud sounds, unable to fathom the degree of danger our soldiers and veterans endure.
One other man was shot with a rubber bullet that day; he was close to the officers, hit in the back of his ribs and is still coughing up blood days later. I have returned to see the doctor for pain and tension in my back/hip/leg, wherein they reminded me that this type of injury from a gunshot takes weeks for recovery.
I am grateful to be alive, that I was not permanently maimed or shot lethally. Too many videos show people -- specifically black men -- shot dead by armed officers. Rarely does a camera presence or recording change a thing.
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