Caught On Video: LAPD Officer Helps Man Seriously Injured By Firework During Downtown Laker Celebrations
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — An LAPD officer put his Army Ranger training to work to help a man who was seriously injured after a firework exploded in his hand amid the downtown LA revelry after the Lakers won the 2020 NBA Finals.
Officer Christopher Gonzalez had been part of the LAPD response in downtown LA that night to respond to any Lakers celebration violence.
Body cam video released by the LAPD shows Gonzalez, a former Army Ranger, coming to help the man, who lay in the street with his arms covered in blood. In the video, Gonzalez is seen tying a tourniquet around the man's left arm to help staunch the bleeding.
The video later shows Gonzalez telling paramedics the man had lost his left hand, seriously injured the right hand, and suffered a wound to his groin.