PREGNANT WOMAN LOSES EYE AFTER POLICE FIRE BEAN BAG DURING FERGUSON

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As the nation continues to reel after the troubling Darren Wilson verdict, heartbreaking stories like this one seem to make a terrible situation even worse.

A pregnant St. Louis woman lost use of her left eye and is partially blind in her right after officers fired a non-lethal bean bag at her vehicle. Dornella Conners tells KMOV that she was parked at a BP gas station with her boyfriend, De’Angeles Lee, not far from a Ferguson-related protest when she was struck.

“I didn’t have any weapons. I wasn’t looting or anything,” Conners told reporters. “I was just out with my boyfriend and we were just riding around and you know, respecting Mike Brown.”

The incident occurred early Tuesday morning not long after the grand jury’s verdict was handed down. Officers say that the parking lot was full of vehicles and people at the time they fired the round that injured Conners. They also say that Lee was driving towards them, which caused an officer to fear for his safety.


According to Conners, she and her boyfriend were actually trying to exit the station when several police officers showed up.

“They pulled up towards the street when me and my boyfriend were trying to get away. They blocked us from the side and the back.”

Conners says that police struck a window in the vehicle with the bean bag, causing the glass to shatter, which is what led to her injury. After the incident, Conners went to another police officer that helped her to get medical attention.

“I’m very upset and very disappointed with the tactics that they use on trying to gain control of the situation that was going on,” the woman’s father, Donnell Conners, told reporters. “I understand they have a tough job. I understand that there was chaos, but there was no reason to fire upon an innocent person that’s sitting in a vehicle. How can a pregnant person in a car and a seatbelt be causing chaos?”

Officers did end up arresting 16 people who were at the lot. They were reportedly called to the scene because they were told that gunshots had been fired in the area; however, they were never able to find the individuals responsible for firing said shots.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Lee and bond has been set at $50,000.