Less Lethal Weapons

 Less Lethal Weapons (pain compliance)

I watched with some amusement, the video posted to You Tube by Morton Co. Operations, Sgt. Noah Lindelow of the Bismarck Police. He goes it into great detail about how safely the Task force of police from around the country has responded to the so-called riots and “dangerous protesters” He is referring to Sunday night Nov. 20, 2016 when the police militia I call the DAPL Gang attacked a group of water protectors on the bridge on Hwy 1806. There have been so many violent acts by them that it’s hard to keep track. During these attacks it should be noted that a much larger arsenal of weaponry has been used against people who have always come unarmed and have never posed any threat to police.

Copyright John L. Wathen

It’s been this way throughout history in this region. Any time the natives stand up for what is rightfully theirs they are met with aggressive behavior from police. In North Dakota there is still a law on the books that allows one to shoot Indians on horseback as long as you’re in a covered wagon. While I know that is ridicules it just shows that it wasn’t important enough to change to the predominately white legislators however which bathroom one should use was a priority. The level of racism in the towns against Natives is deplorable.

Let’s take a look at what the Sgt. has to say point by point.

1. He like others was from Bismarck Police. There was also Burleigh County, Morton County. I have seen US Border Patrol and Game Wardens posted with semi automatic weapons along side a vast array of officers from other areas as far away as Michigan. How can this guy in the video possibly know what everyone else brought to the fight?
2. His demonstration of the “sponge round” was cute but didn’t go into the other arms used against protectors.
   I have personally seen and photographed shotguns loaded with 12 gauge shells modified with hard rubber slugs that are normally used in prison uprisings sometimes pointed at me.
   
   They have been known to kill on many occasions when used improperly or hit areas other than extremities. The intended use is to fire at the ground so that the round bounces up and hits the target on the legs, causing pain but not injury.[WIKI12] Often they are fired directly at people from close range, which has resulted in people being killed and many more badly injured.
3. The DAPL Gang also shoots “bean bags”.
   
   A beanbag round can severely injure or kill in a wide variety of ways. They have caused around one death a year since their introduction in the U.S.[2] A round can hit the chest, break the ribs and send the broken ribs into the heart. A shot to the head can break the nose, crush the larynx or even break the neck or skull of the subject. This is why many officers are taught to aim for the extremities when using a beanbag round. A strike in the abdominal area can cause internal bleeding or strike the solar plexus, which can disrupt breathing or heartbeat, but such a hit is generally safer than most other areas as well as presenting a larger target than an extremity. (WIKI)
4. Besides these “Pain Compliance” weapons they bring semi-automatic weapons which are no doubt lethal.   
   
   
    On one afternoon I was surprised to see a Game Warden Patrol boat come up the Cannonball River with both sides manned with semi automatic rifles. What a tremendous waste of tax payer dollars America!
   
   
   

Regardless of the rounds fired, it takes a special kind of coward to shoot plainly marked medics in the back. An even worse set of cowards shoot people who were dragging wounded and hypothermic people from the line. Several were shot in the legs while taking people to safety. How can anyone be a threat if they are running away from you? How can someone wearing a red cross on their backs be there to hurt the well-armed and armored militia a hundred feet away and behind razor wire, all while shooting high pressure water hoses at you in 20-degree weather? The insanity of it baffles me that we are living in the year 2016 and acting s if it were still the Wild West and Indians are expendable!

Now look at the Sgt’s explanation of gasses used.

         He says it is not tear gas but “CS Gas”.

           The compound 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (also called o-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile) (chemical formula: C10H5ClN2), a cyanocarbon, is the defining component of a tear gas commonly referred to as CS gas, which is used as a riot control agent. Exposure causes a burning sensation and tearing of the eyes to the extent that the subject cannot keep their eyes open, and a burning irritation of the nose, mouth and throat mucous membranes causing profuse coughing, mucous nasal discharge, disorientation, and difficulty breathing, partially incapacitating the subject.

CS gas is an aerosol of a volatile solvent (a substance that dissolves other active substances and that easily evaporates)2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, which is a solid compound at room temperature. CS gas is generally accepted as being non-lethal. Although described as a non-lethal weapon for crowd control, studies have raised doubts about this classification. As well as causing severe pulmonary damage, CS can also significantly damage the heart and liver.[14] At least one study has associated CS exposure with miscarriages.[14] This is consistent with its reported clastogenic effect (abnormal chromosome change) on mammalian cells. (WIKI)

CS was deployed in mass doses that night ant it wasn’t the first time. That night it was thrown and fired into the darkness. Some of the rounds went high creating arcs of fire through the air. When they landed, the explosions that “deployed” the gas started fires. Not the people being fired upon.

Last is the “Flash, Sound, Diversionary Device” or concussion grenade.

I have no hard evidence of what was used at the bridge on the 20^th but I can say that what I saw and heard was much more powerful than the little noisemaker he demonstrates in the video. I saw a white light that was very bright and heard a loud explosion that was far more powerful. Another interesting thing is the way he deployed it in the video.

Photo Sophia Wilansky

He did not hold it in his arm to replicate the injury Sophia Wilansky sustained. He should have held it if it was so harmless. She was hit while taking water to others on the line of the exchange between protectors and the DAPL Gang.

Kyle Kirchmeier claimed the protectors made a bomb that went off. Nonsense. The one propane tank he showed wasn’t penetrated. It was brought to the line with a torch tip on it to light fires to keep people from freezing after being sprayed with fire hoses.  

He also claimed “water cannons were not used, as they do not have any but a fire hose on fire trucks were called down to deal with fires started. mist and used as a measure to keep everyone safe," said Kirchmeier. Excuse me sir but you are intentionally engaging in a campaign of misinformation.

You sprayed the hell out of those people! You used water on human beings in mass quantities and in powerful direct streams and at temperatures below 20 degrees F. It was one of the most inhumane things I have ever seen.

He added they were used to repel some of the protest activities.”

All of this is so unnecessary since there has never been a single incident of weapons brought to the line by protectors. I have seen drums, feathers, Eagle and Buffalo Staffs, and one day we built a tipi frame and wrapped it in prayer ties. If we have at any time have been the violent “rioters” they claim where’s the evidence? Thousands of photos and hours of live stream and video have shown the DAPL Gang to be out of control. They are acting as a militia to protect the DAPL and the governor’s political interests.

Let’s look at the word “Riot” It’s been reported that there’s only 2 things in the DAPL insurance contract that will pay them for loss of production time. 1. Natural disaster such as extreme flood, hurricane, Tornado or the like. 2. The other is “Riot”. Could that be why Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier has been so adamant that the protectors have been riotous. He’s acting as if he’s helping DAPL with their insurance claim! Why is no one talking about this? We have not been riotous.

Wake up America this is not the 1800s and Kyle Kirchmeier is not General Custer. This is the age of civil rights accorded to all Americans not just the affluent. These treaty rights that have been broken supercede the constitution and all American Civil Rights. This is Sovereign Land that was stolen from the Northern Cheyenne and Sioux people.

We have to set this straight now! Call, write, email, and or go and see your elected officials and demand Obama stop the DAPL! Contact the banks that support it and demand they withhold funding past the end of the Jan. 01, 2017 contract.