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May 16 2024 KFF Health News

Inside the protesters’ encampment at UCLA, beneath the glow of hanging flashlights and a deafening backdrop of exploding flash-bangs, OB-GYN resident Elaine Chan suddenly felt like a battlefield medic.

Police were pushing into the camp after an hours-long standoff. Chan, 31, a medical tent volunteer, said protesters limped in with severe puncture wounds, but there was little hope of getting them to a hospital through the chaos outside. Chan suspects the injuries were caused by rubber bullets or other "less lethal" projectiles, which police have confirmed were fired at protesters.

"It would pierce through skin and gouge deep into people's bodies," she said. "All of them were profusely bleeding. In OB-GYN we don't treat rubber bullets. … I couldn't believe that this was allowed to be [done to] civilians — students — without protective gear."

The UCLA protest, which gathered thousands in opposition to Israel's ongoing bombing of Gaza, began in April and grew to a dangerous crescendo this month when counterprotesters and police clashed with the activists and their supporters.

In interviews with KFF Health News, Chan and three other volunteer medics described treating protesters with bleeding wounds, head injuries, and suspected broken bones in a makeshift clinic cobbled together in tents with no electricity or running water. The medical tents were staffed day and night by a rotating team of doctors, nurses, medical students, EMTs, and volunteers with no formal medical training.

At times, the escalating violence outside the tent isolated injured protesters from access to ambulances, the medics said, so the wounded walked to a nearby hospital or were carried beyond the borders of the protest so they could be driven to the emergency room.

"I've never been in a setting where we're blocked from getting higher level of care," Chan said. "That was terrifying to me."

Three of the medics interviewed by KFF Health News said they were present when police swept the encampment May 2 and described multiple injuries that appeared to have been caused by "less lethal" projectiles.

Less lethal projectiles — including beanbags filled with metal pellets, sponge-tipped rounds, and projectiles commonly known as rubber bullets — are used by police to subdue suspects or disperse crowds or protests. Police drew widespread condemnation for using the weapons against Black Lives Matter demonstrations that swept the country after the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Although the name of these weapons downplays their danger, less lethal projectiles can travel upward of 200 mph and have a documented potential to injure, maim, or kill.

The medics' interviews directly contradict an account from the Los Angeles Police Department. After police cleared the encampment, LAPD Chief Dominic Choi said in a post on the social platform X that there were "no serious injuries to officers or protestors” as police moved in and made more than 200 arrests.

In response to questions from KFF Health News, both the LAPD and California Highway Patrol said in emailed statements that they would investigate how their officers responded to the protest. The LAPD statement said the agency was conducting a review of how it and other law enforcement agencies responded, which would lead to a "detailed report."

The Highway Patrol statement said officers warned the encampment that "non-lethal rounds" may be used if protesters did not disperse, and after some became an "immediate threat" by "launching objects and weapons," some officers used "kinetic specialty rounds to protect themselves, other officers, and members of the public." One officer received minor injuries, according to the statement.

Video footage that circulated online after the protest appeared to show a Highway Patrol officer firing less lethal projectiles at protesters with a shotgun.

"The use of force and any incident involving the use of a weapon by CHP personnel is a serious matter, and the CHP will conduct a fair and impartial investigation to ensure that actions were consistent with policy and the law," the Highway Patrol said in its statement.

The UCLA Police Department, which was also involved with the protest response, did not respond to requests for comment.

Jack Fukushima, 28, a UCLA medical student and volunteer medic, said he witnessed a police officer shoot at least two protesters with less lethal projectiles, including a man who collapsed after being hit "square in the chest." Fukushima said he and other medics escorted the stunned man to the medical tent then returned to the front lines to look for more injured.

"It did really feel like a war," Fukushima said. "To be met with such police brutality was so disheartening."

Back on the front line, police had breached the borders of the encampment and begun to scrum with protesters, Fukushima said. He said he saw the same officer who had fired earlier shoot another protester in the neck.

The protester dropped to the ground. Fukushima assumed the worst and rushed to his side.

"I find him, and I'm like, 'Hey, are you OK?'" Fukushima said. "To the point of courage of these undergrads, he's like, 'Yeah, it's not my first time.' And then just jumps right back in."

Sonia Raghuram, 27, another medical student stationed in the tent, said that during the police sweep she tended to a protester with an open puncture wound on their back, another with a quarter-sized contusion in the center of their chest, and a third with a "gushing" cut over their right eye and possible broken rib. Raghuram said patients told her the wounds were caused by police projectiles, which she said matched the severity of their injuries.

The patients made it clear the police officers were closing in on the medical tent, Raghuram said, but she stayed put. Related StoriesWearable biosensors with skin interfaces for newborn and neonatal health monitoringStranded in the ER, seniors await hospital care and suffer avoidable harmResearchers aim to use AI for early screening and prognosis of Dry Eye Disease

"We will never leave a patient," she said, describing the mantra in the medical tent. "I don't care if we get arrested. If I'm taking care of a patient, that's the thing that comes first."

The UCLA protest is one of many that have been held on college campuses across the country as students opposed to Israel's ongoing war in Gaza demand universities support a ceasefire or divest from companies tied to Israel. Police have used force to remove protesters at Columbia University, Emory University, and the universities of Arizona, Utah, and South Florida, among others.

At UCLA, student protesters set up a tent encampment on April 25 in a grassy plaza outside the campus's Royce Hall theater, eventually drawing thousands of supporters, according to the Los Angeles Times. Days later, a "violent mob" of counterprotesters "attacked the camp," the Times reported, attempting to tear down barricades along its borders and throwing fireworks at the tents inside.

The following night, police issued an unlawful assembly order, then swept the encampment in the early hours of May 2, clearing tents and arresting hundreds by dawn.

Police have been widely criticized for not intervening as the clash between protesters and counterprotesters dragged on for hours. The University of California system announced it has hired an independent policing consultant to investigate the violence and "resolve unanswered questions about UCLA's planning and protocols, as well as the mutual aid response."

Charlotte Austin, 34, a surgery resident, said that as counterprotesters were attacking she also saw about 10 private campus security officers stand by, "hands in their pockets," as students were bashed and bloodied.

Austin said she treated patients with cuts to the face and possible skull fractures. The medical tent sent at least 20 people to the hospital that evening, she said.

"Any medical professional would describe these as serious injuries," Austin said. "There were people who required hospitalization — not just a visit to the emergency room — but actual hospitalization." Police tactics 'lawful but awful'

UCLA protesters are far from the first to be injured by less lethal projectiles.

In recent years, police across the U.S. have repeatedly fired these weapons at protesters, with virtually no overarching standards governing their use or safety. Cities have spent millions to settle lawsuits from the injured. Some of the wounded have never been the same.

During the nationwide protests following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, at least 60 protesters sustained serious injuries — including blinding and a broken jaw — from being shot with these projectiles, sometimes in apparent violations of police department policies, according to a joint investigation by KFF Health News and USA Today.

In 2004, in Boston, a college student celebrating a Red Sox victory was killed by a projectile filled with pepper-based irritant when it tore through her eye and into her brain.

"They're called less lethal for a reason," said Jim Bueermann, a former police chief of Redlands, California, who now leads the Future Policing Institute. "They can kill you."

Bueermann, who reviewed video footage of the police response at UCLA at the request of KFF Health News, said the footage shows California Highway Patrol officers firing beanbag rounds from a shotgun. Bueermann said the footage did not provide enough context to determine if the projectiles were being used "reasonably," which is a standard established by federal courts, or being fired "indiscriminately," which was outlawed by a California law in 2021.

"There is a saying in policing — 'lawful but awful' — meaning that it was reasonable under the legal standards but it looks terrible," Bueermann said. "And I think a cop racking multiple rounds into a shotgun, firing into protesters, doesn't look very good."

This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. 

This article was reprinted from khn.org, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF – the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. Source:

KFF Health News

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Bottom 10: Where the teams aren’t hot, but the coaches’ seats are

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September 17, 2025

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Bottom 10: Where the teams aren't hot, but the coaches' seats are

  • Ryan McGeeSep 17, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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    • Senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com
    • 2-time Sports Emmy winner
    • 2010, 2014 NMPA Writer of the Year

Inspirational thought of the week:

Time everlasting
Time to play B sides
Time ain’t on my side
Time I’ll never know

Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I’m not the one to tell you what’s wrong or what’s right
I’ve seen suns that were freezing and lives that were through
But I’m burning, I’m burning, I’m burning for you

— “Burnin’ For You,” Blue Oyster Cult

Here at Bottom 10 Headquarters, currently located behind the huge pile of to-go containers that Jess Sims brings home from all of her “College GameDay” road eats segments, we know that where there is smoke, there is also fire. And barbecue. And ash. But hopefully no ash on the barbecue.

There are a lot of chairs being barbecued in college football these days. Hot seats that became kindling, and way too early for an October fall harvest bonfire. UCLA and Virginia Tech became the first FBS teams to part ways in-season with their head coaches, one a legendary former player and the other a legendary former assistant coach. And that has led to a hunka hunka burning “Who’s Next?” hot seat lists.

It’s enough to make one, well, take a seat, and pause to contemplate their place in this world. Might one day we wake up to find an athletic director standing in the door of our office with a pink slip? Or a booster who sells cars and thinks he’s an expert on the spread offense standing in our door with a buyout check? Or Lane Kiffin standing in the door of our kitchen with a tape measure and fabric samples? And … wait … as we sit here … did someone spill some Tabasco on this chair or did we accidentally get some muscle rub in our drawers?

With apologies to Navy O-lineman Connor Heater, Ole Miss D-tackle Jon Seaton and Steve Harvey, here are the post-Week 3 Bottom 10 rankings.

The Amherst Amblers fell to 0-3 via a 47-7 loss at Iowa, which was also Kirk Ferentz’s 206th victory, making him the winningest coach in Big Ten Conference history. It was a fitting coincidence considering that Ferentz took the Hawkeyes job while the original Minutemen were still in Massachusetts.

The Bearkats kouldn’t enjoy the bye week on their kalendar bekause they still kouldn’t kover the spread against Open Date U. Now they will kombat Texas and kuarterbacking konundrum Arch Manning.

There are currently 11 0-and-something teams in the FBS, and five reside in #MACtion. Sources have told Bottom 10 JortsCenter that those teams have all asked Ohio if they can have the contact info for West Virginia’s scheduling guy.

In related news, sources are also telling us that after firing head coach DeShaun Foster, UCLA officials attempted to see if the NCAA would let them return to the Pac-2, but their calls kept getting kicked to voicemail because the NCAA lines were tied up with all of the UCLA players ringing the transfer portal hotline.

Since their dramatic run to the College Football Playoff national title game, the Irish are 0-3. It’s not an ugly 0-3. It’s 0-3 against three ranked teams by a combined 15 points — and the two losses this season are by a combined four points. But with no conference championship at their disposal and only one ranked opponent remaining on their schedule, the Irish CFP safety net is thinner than the margin of whether Rudy was or wasn’t offside.

Virginia Tech spent the offseason having its roster raided like a rum runner boat boarded by Jack Sparrow, lost a game to the son of its legendary coach, got run over by Vandy, got blown out by supposed little brother in-state school Old Dominion and fired its head coach so early in the season that the players who were left from the first transfer portal raid could start their own transfer portal exit if they wanted. My pal Marty Smith hasn’t been this upset since I accidentally spilled Swiss Miss on his white Air Jordan Dior’s.

7. Oregon Trail State (You have died of dysentery) (0-3)

Full disclosure: I am currently writing this in a hotel room in Corvallis, where I’m working on a “College GameDay” feature about the platypus trophy that the Beavers and Ducks will play for this weekend. I am … pretty … sure … they’re … messing … wItH … THEE … hOtEl … WHYFY … 2 … kEEp … mE … frum … FY-LING … this … STorY …

I don’t want y’all to get too excited, but I am looking at the schedule and on back-to-back Tuesday nights in November, Weeks 12 and 13, Akron hosts UMess and State of Kent. That rapid clicking you heard was me checking on hotels and flights and then emailing the GameDay honchos to try to convince them to do shows from Akron with me for seven straight days. That one solitary click you heard was them hanging up on me.

The Golden Flashes in the Pan lived up to that name, constructing a NSFW 21-play, 93-yard, 12-plus-minute drive to take a 28-24 lead over the Buffalo Bulls Not Bills with 2:38 remaining … and then surrendering 76 yards on eight plays in 1:29 to lose their 24th straight FBS game, 17th straight MAC game and 11th straight conference game at home. That’s not NSFW, that’s NC-17. Shoutout to a year ago, when the Flashes’ upcoming visit to Florida State would have been the Pillow Fight of the Week.

Speaking of NC-17, have y’all peeped Florida’s schedule? It’s the scariest thing I’ve seen since that time my family visited a Florida truck stop and my daughter bought what she thought was a souvenir rubber alligator, but then a few miles down the road it bit the dog.

Waiting list: Do You Know The Way to San Jose State, Northworstern, My Hammy of Ohio, Western Not Eastern or Central Michigan, Kennesaw Mountain Landis State, No-vada, the team that barely beat No-vada, Baller State, We’re Not In Kansas State Anymore, replay reviews that make on-field refs quit.

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Dabo defends record following 1-2 start, poll exit

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September 17, 2025

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Dabo defends record following 1-2 start, poll exit

  • Andrea AdelsonSep 16, 2025, 04:41 PM ET

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    • ACC reporter.
    • Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
    • Graduate of the University of Florida.

Dabo Swinney defended his program, which has started 1-2, during a fiery news conference Tuesday, saying, in part, that if Clemson was tired of winning “they can send me on my way.”

The Tigers started the season ranked No. 4 with College Football Playoff hopes but fell out of the Top 25 this week after losing to Georgia Tech 24-21. They opened the year with a 17-10 home loss to LSU and trailed Troy at halftime in Week 2, also at home, before rallying to win.

“Hey, listen, if Clemson’s tired of winning, they can send me on my way,” Swinney said. “But I’m gonna go somewhere else and coach. I ain’t going to the beach. Hell, I’m 55. I’ve got a long way to go. Y’all are gonna have to deal with me for a while.”

Clemson has not been in sync on offense, with third-year starting quarterback Cade Klubnik struggling to find rhythm and consistency, and the defense is still learning to adapt to new defensive coordinator Tom Allen.

Swinney said Tuesday that he was confident his team would respond, starting Saturday against Syracuse, because that is what his program has done during hard moments. But he also had a message to critics who have questioned where Clemson goes from here after two tough losses.

“I would just say, if you don’t believe in us because we’ve lost two games down to the last play and we’re 1-2? You didn’t believe in us anyways, so it don’t matter,” Swinney said. “You weren’t all-in anyway.”

Swinney pointed out that in his 17 years as head coach at Clemson, he has had one bad season — going 6-7 in 2010. In 13 of the last 14 years, Clemson has won 10 or more games. That lone season without 10 wins came in 2023, when Clemson started 4-4 but wound up winning five straight to finish 9-4.

“All we’ve done is win,” Swinney said. “We’ve won this league eight out of the last 10 years. Is that not good? I’m just asking. Is that good? To win your league eight out of 10 years, to go to the playoffs seven out of 10 years, be in four national championships, win it twice. Yeah, we’re a little down right now. Take your shots. I’ve got a long memory. We’ll be all right. We’ll bounce back.”

Swinney pointed out all the other times Clemson has rebounded from difficult losses — including 2021, after losing to Georgia to open the season, and last season — winning the ACC title and making the 12-team CFP after losing to South Carolina in the regular-season finale.

Clemson lost to Texas in the first round of the playoff 38-24, but the bulk of its team returned for 2025, making the Tigers the heavy favorite to repeat as ACC champions. Instead, the season has not started the way anybody expected.

“If we stink because we haven’t played for the national championship since January of ’20, well, I guess we stink,” Swinney said. “But why are we held to a different standard from all these other teams out there who ain’t ever won nothing?”

Swinney has had to fight off questions about his program nearly every year since it last made the playoff in 2020.

In 2023, Swinney made similar comments about leaving Clemson after “Tyler from Spartanburg” called into his radio show and wondered why the school paid over $10 million to go 4-4.

“I work for the board of trustees, the president and the AD, and if they’re tired of me leading this program, all they got to do is let me know. I’ll go somewhere else where there is an appreciation,” Swinney said at the time. “I don’t know if it’ll be here, but it’ll be somewhere.”

On Tuesday, Swinney returned to the missed plays his team made in the two losses that could have made a difference and said he continues to have “faith in the storm.”

“We’re not perfect, and we may suck this year,” Swinney said. “We may lay a freaking egg and go 6-6. But I don’t think so. I know that’s going to disappoint a lot of people, but I don’t think so. The reason we are the best program in college football is because we’ve always battled. We’ve always responded.

“Let’s respond like we always have and let the story be written.”

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Mateer, Beck take over as Heisman favorites

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2 hours ago

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September 17, 2025

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Mateer, Beck take over as Heisman favorites

Three weeks of college football down, and the race for the Heisman Trophy is even more wide open than it was at the start of the season, according to oddsmakers.

Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer is the new favorite for the award at several sportsbooks, with ESPN BET showing +850 odds as of Tuesday afternoon. At some other shops, though, Miami QB Carson Beck is the favorite, getting as short marketwide as +700 at BetMGM.

Either way, it’s the longest odds for a Heisman favorite at this point in the season since at least 2012, according to data compiled by ESPN Research from SportsOddsHistory.com; the previous longest favorite was LSU running back Leonard Fournette at +500 heading into Week 4. It’s largely in line with how bookmakers saw the Heisman race playing out, as Texas QB Arch Manning was the longest preseason favorite in over 15 years at +650.

Manning’s odds to win the trophy have fallen precipitously amid struggles in his first three weeks as the full-time Longhorns starter, as he currently ranks tied for 15th on the board at +3000, per ESPN BET. Due to his name recognition and overall popularity, he is still the most-bet player in the market by tickets and handle at BetMGM and DraftKings, making him a liability with the books.

South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers also was a popular play for bettors before the season and is “currently our biggest liability for the Heisman market,” according to ESPN BET senior trading director Adrian Horton. After he was injured in the Gamecocks’ 31-7 loss against Vanderbilt, Sellers’ odds have lengthened all the way to +5000 from +1400 before the season. Cade Klubnik, who was the second favorite (+900) coming into the campaign, has seen his odds fall all the way to 100-1 amid poor play and a 1-2 record for his Clemson Tigers.

Aside from LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier, who moved from last week’s favorite to tied for third on the board at +1300, the new crop of favorites features somewhat less liability for sportsbooks. Mateer, Beck and Oregon QB Dante Moore (also +1300) were not overly popular preseason plays and have not picked up a ton of momentum with bettors despite strong starts to the season. Moore, for example, is the 10th-most-bet player by handle at ESPN BET but does not even crack the top 10 at either BetMGM or DraftKings.

There are, however, two names to watch outside of the quarterback position as the Heisman race heats up. Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith (+1800) and Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love (+6000) are both listed as significant liabilities at BetMGM, and Love, in particular, has gotten significant action at ESPN BET. “That will have us keeping a close eye on the Irish running back,” Horton said.

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