Sophia Wilansky, NYC Activist, Nearly Loses Arm in 'Dakota Access Pipeline' Police Clash

UPDATE: A rally is scheduled for Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Columbus Circle to show support for anti-pipeline protesters who, like Wilansky, have been risking their lives to stand up to Big Oil executives and sheriff's forces in Standing Rock.

NEW YORK CITY, NY — NYC resident Sophia Wilansky, 21, a local supporter of the "No Dakota Access Pipeline" (or #NoDAPL) protest movement to block a massive, under-construction oil pipeline from crossing through the Standing Rock Native American Reservation in North Dakota and dirtying its water supply, saw her left arm grossly mutilated Monday morning, and nearly taken off, by what her fellow protesters claim was a concussion grenade hurled at her by Morton County Sheriff’s forces along Highway 1806.

Wilanksy was one of hundreds of activists injured by "excessive police force" during a 10-hour standoff between cops and protesters on a highway bridge from Sunday night through Monday morning, according to the Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council, a volunteer group treating their injuries.

"At least 26 seriously injured people had to be evacuated by ambulance to 3 area hospitals," the group said, after police allegedly used grenades, tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and water cannons — sprayed amid below-freezing temperatures — to try and disperse the crowd.

Sheriff's officials have since denied using water cannons — only fire hoses.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department was unreachable by phone Tuesday.

However, a spokeswoman for the department told the Los Angeles Times on Monday that sheriff's deputies had not deployed a single concussion grenade during the standoff. The sheriff's spokeswoman suggested to the Times that Wilansky may instead have been injured while protesters were “rigging up their own explosives” — aka, propane bottles they intended to throw at police.

Protesters have likewise denied throwing propane bottles at sheriff's forces.

One officer was hit in the head with a rock during the clashes, sheriff's officials said at a press conference Monday, and "there was an explosion behind in the protester area that we don't know where it came from, but it wasn't from law enforcement."

Wilanksy attended LaGuardia High School on the Upper West Side. She has since become a regular at social-justice protests around NYC, and has "been an active [participant] and family to the activist groups NYC Shut It Down and Hoods4Justice," according a GoFundMe page set up to cover her medical costs.

"Sophia has always been committed to confronting injustice through vigilance and resistance," the page says.

Here she is at a protest outside New York City Hall over the summer:

Wilansky underwent surgery on her mutilated arm Monday and is currently in recovery, according to the American Indian Movement's Grand Governing Council. "Her arm was not amputated, but the extent of the injury is likely to have a devastating impact on her," the council said.

You can donate to her medical fund here.

Bronx attorney Wayne Wilansky, Sophia's father, was in North Dakota with his daughter Tuesday, according to a staffer at his law firm.

Wayne Wilansky said in a statement that "most of the undersurface" of his daughter's arm was taken off by the police grenade, and that "all of the muscle and soft tissue between her elbow and wrist were blown away." (As evidenced by gruesome photos posted to Facebook by another protester.)

Her arm now looks "alien," the local attorney said.

"There are no words to describe the pain of watching my daughter cry and say she was sorry for the pain she caused me and my wife," Sophia's father said. "I died a thousand deaths today and will continue to do so for quite some time."

Photo via GoFundMe