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At that point, the situation escalated.
As reported by multiple outlets, and captured on video:
“A demonstrator was hit in the face with a projectile fired by a federal officer at close range during a Southern California protest, leaving him bloodied and with serious injuries, according to video and accounts from fellow protesters and family on Tuesday…”
The video shows agents holding the line while protesters continue to advance. At one moment, an orange traffic cone rolls onto the plaza area where officers were positioned. Whether it was thrown intentionally or rolled forward remains unclear, but immediately after, agents began deploying crowd control munitions while moving toward the crowd to restore order.
Rummler was identified by his aunt as one of the demonstrators shouting into a megaphone near the front of the crowd. Moments earlier, federal officers had grabbed another protester, identified in a criminal complaint as Katelyn Skye Seitz, after she moved into a restricted area. That arrest appears to have triggered the next confrontation.
In response, Rummler and others surged forward toward the officers.
That decision proved disastrous.
Video footage shows an officer firing a crowd control weapon from several feet away. Rummler was struck in the face. He immediately clutched his eye and collapsed to the ground. Moments later, an officer pulled him backward away from the confrontation as the crowd continued shouting.
The injuries were severe. According to family members, Rummler has lost the use of his left eye.
While activist groups have rushed to frame the incident as police brutality, the reality is far more straightforward. Rummler advanced toward armed federal officers during an active riot control situation. Agents were in full protective gear, operating under crowd dispersal protocols, and facing an increasingly aggressive group.
This was not a peaceful sidewalk protest. This was a hostile confrontation with federal law enforcement.
Responsibility matters.
There is no indication the officer acted outside standard procedures for riot control. Crowd control munitions exist for exactly these scenarios, to stop advancing threats without resorting to lethal force. The alternative outcomes could have been far worse.
There is also an uncomfortable truth for the activist class now exploiting Rummler’s injury. Legal experts note that lawsuits stemming from self initiated confrontations with police are notoriously difficult to win. Advancing on officers during a dispersal order severely weakens any civil claim. In plain terms, his own actions will likely block any meaningful legal recovery.
That raises a grim question.
Once the cameras move on, once the hashtags fade, and once Rummler is no longer useful as a political prop, will the activists who encouraged escalation be there for him?
History suggests otherwise.
The left has a long track record of abandoning individuals once they have served their narrative purpose. Fundraisers dry up. Media interest disappears. And those who paid the physical price are left to deal with lifelong consequences alone.
This entire incident was avoidable.
Federal agents did not seek this confrontation. They were enforcing the law, maintaining security, and repeatedly instructing the crowd to back away. Rummler chose instead to rush forward during a volatile situation.
Now he will live with the consequences of that decision forever.
Was it worth it?
That is the question no activist organizer seems willing to answer.
